Jeff Roach is Assistant Secretary of innovationXchange at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs. Jeff joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in 1994. He has a Bachelor (Hons) degree in Commerce from the University of Melbourne and a Masters of Arts in International Affairs from Monash University. From 2002-2004, Mr Roach ran the department’s consular crisis and information section, where he received a Medal of the Order of Australia for his role in the Australian Government’s response to the 2002 Bali bombings. From 2008-2010, he was seconded to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) where he was responsible for Pacific, Middle East, Europe, Africa, and United Nations matters. He received a 2010 Australia Day citation from the Secretary of PM&C for his role in advancing the policy outcomes achieved at the 2009 Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting, held in Cairns. After serving as Assistant Secretary, Executive Branch from April 2013 to February 2016, Mr Roach is currently assigned to the innovationXchange. In April 2015, he was deployed to Kathmandu to lead the Government’s crisis response to the Nepal earthquake; in January-March 2016, he led the crisis team on a kidnapping case in Burkina Faso/Niger. Mr Roach has had three overseas postings: as Third, later Second Secretary, in Vientiane (1997-2000), Counsellor in Paris (2005-2008), and High Commissioner to Vanuatu (2011-12).