Helen Sawczak

​Helen Sawczak
National CEO
Australia China Business Council


Helen started her career as a corporate lawyer at international law firms both in Australia and overseas.

In Australia, Helen worked in the China practice of MinterEllison, and then moved to Moscow and Kazakhstan to work for Clifford Chance, acting for European and American clients participating in the privatisation of former Soviet state industries.

After returning to Australia, Helen worked as in-house counsel with Alcoa and Telstra, and then moved into senior management roles at Australia Post and ANZ Bank.

Helen studied Mandarin throughout her secondary and tertiary education, which included three long-term study trips to Nanjing University and Fudan University in Shanghai.

More recently Helen undertook Chinese postgraduate studies at the University of Melbourne and graduated in 2016 with First Class Honours.
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Helen is also an independent director of Clean Seas Seafood, an ASX listed company which produces and exports yellowtail kingfish.  She is also an Advisory Board Member of the Monash Migration and Social Inclusion Centre and Advisory Board Member of the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Melbourne.

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