Gina Despres

Gina Depres is a member of the US Studies Centre's Council of Advisors. Prior to her retirement, she was most recently Senior Vice President of Capital Research and Management Co.

Gina was born and raised in Sydney. She graduated from the University of Sydney, BA (Hons) in 1964. From 1965-70, she studied Chinese language and literature in the Oriental Languages Department at the University of California, Berkeley, including 18 months of intensive language training in Taiwan and Hong Kong as a National Defense Foreign Language fellow.

She received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1974 and subsequently practiced law with firms in Los Angeles and Washington, DC.

From 1977-79, she worked for the Department of Energy and then joined the staff of Senator Bill Bradley (Democrat, New Jersey) as tax council and foreign policy advisor.

In 1991, she joined Capital Research and Management Company, the investment advisor to the American Funds family of mutual funds, with current assets under management of over US$800 billion. She was Vice-Chairman and Principal Executive Officer of four large global mutual funds.