Dr Henry held senior policy advising positions in the Australian Treasury from late 1984 until early 2011. From 2001 to 2011 he was Secretary to the Treasury and a member of the Board of the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Board of Taxation. In 1997 and 1998 he chaired the Howard Government’s tax review task force that produced the policy blueprint, A New Tax System. He was a member of the Howard Government’s Task Group on Emissions Trading in 2007. In 2009‐10 he chaired the Review into Australia’s Future Tax System commissioned by the Rudd Government. As Special Adviser to Prime Minister Gillard in 2011 and 2012, Dr Henry was responsible for leading the development of the White Paper on Australia in the Asian Century.

Dr Henry is Chair of National Australia Bank and the Sir Roland Wilson Foundation at the ANU. He is also a Non‐Executive Director of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), Cape York Partnership and Reconciliation Australia. He is a Governor of CEDA and a Council member of Voiceless.

Dr Henry holds a first class honours degree in economics from the University of NSW (1979) and a PhD in economics from the University of Canterbury, NZ (1982). Dr Henry was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2001 and made a Companion of the Order of Australia, General Division (AC) in the Australia Day Honours 2007. In May 2009, Dr Henry was awarded the degree of Doctor of Business honoris causa from the University of NSW. In November 2012 Dr Henry was made a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. In February 2016 he was made a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs.