DON KANAK, based in Bellevue, Washington, lived and worked in Asia for over 35 years. From 2008 to 2022 he served in senior roles for Prudential plc ultimately as chairman, Prudential Insurance Growth Markets and Chair of Prudence Foundation. From 1992 to January 2006, he worked at American International Group (AIG), ultimately as executive vice chairman and chief operating officer. Early in his career Kanak worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and in consulting. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a director and senior fellow of the Program on International Financial Systems affiliated with the Harvard Law School, and a member of the National Council of WWF-US. He was also a member of the United Nations Global Environment Facility’s Technical Advisory Group on its 2014-18 climate change mitigation strategy. Kanak co-chaired the steering group of the ASEAN Hub of the Sustainable Development Investment Partnership, a joint venture between the World Economic Forum and the OECD (2016-22). He chaired the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Insurance and Asset Management (2011-12). From 2016 through June 2022, he chaired the EU-ASEAN Business Council, the primary voice for European businesses within the ASEAN region. Kanak holds a JD with honors from Harvard Law School, an MLitt in management studies from University of Oxford (UK), and a BA with highest honors in economics from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
