Philipp is a public policy leader, strategist and China specialist. With extensive executive experience in government, business, think-tanks and universities in Australia, United States, China, Asia and Russia, he is an innovative and strategic leader with a strong commercial acumen and track-record of transforming organisations and teams.

He is the Founder of Geopolitical Risks & Strategy Practice (GRASP) advising governments, businesses and universities and their leaders on geostrategy. He is an Industry Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Business School, Senior Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, where he founded the China-Russia Program, and a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies, Georgetown University. He is an advisory board member of Geopolitical Strategy, Global Women Asia and and the Office of Diplomatic Engagement and Training, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York.

In 2024, he completed his tenure as Global Chief Programming Officer at Asia Society New York, where he led the global strategy and alignment of Asia Society’s 16 global centers. From 2015 to 2023 Philipp was the Chief Executive Officer of Asia Society Australia Center. He transformed the Center into Australia’s leading business and policy think-tank, established its new national center in Melbourne, grew its Sydney office, tripled the Centre's revenue and lifted its policy impact.

A globally recognised China analyst and public policy leader, he is a co-leader of the National Asia Taskforce by the Business Council of Australia, the founder of Disruptive Asia - a 5-volume essay series on Asia's rise, and China Executive Briefing, tracking China’s economic policies. In 2023, Philipp was a Fulbright Scholar in Australia-United States Alliance Studies at Georgetown University. In 2009, he was the Australian Government’s Endeavour Executive Fellow at the China National Academy of Education Administration researching China's policies on leadership. Philipp spent 6 years studying and working in China. His analysis has appeared in The New York Times, Financial Times, The South China Morning Post, Voice of America, CNBC, The Australian, Bloomberg, Melbourne Asia Review and The Australian Financial Review.

Previously, he was a diplomat and policy officer working on China at the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, where he was one of the principal authors of the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper - China Country Strategy. Philipp was Acting Director of the Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific at the University of Sydney, advised the University’s Vice-Chancellor on China offshore strategy, and managed La Trobe University's partnerships in the Gulf States, Vietnam and Thailand. Philipp has a Bachelor (Honours) degree in Chinese history from the Far Eastern National University and a Master of Educational Leadership from RMIT University. He has completed the McKinsey Executive Leadership Program. He is a fluent Chinese and Russian speaker.