Secretary-General of ASEAN

The secretary-general of ASEAN is the chief administrative officer of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The secretary-general must come from an ASEAN member state and will be appointed during the ASEAN Summit based on the alphabetical order of member states. The term of office is five years.

Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Incumbent Kao Kim Hourn since 1 January 2023
Style	His Excellency
Residence	ASEAN Secretariat
Seat	Jakarta, Indonesia
Appointer	ASEAN Summit
Term length	Five years, non-renewable
Constituting instrument	ASEAN Charter
Inaugural holder	Hartono Dharsono
Formation	7 June 1976 (1976-06-07)

List of secretaries-general

#	Term	Portrait	Name	Country
1	7 June 1976 – 18 February 1978		Hartono Dharsono (1925–1996)	Indonesia
2	19 February 1978 – 30 June 1978		Umarjadi Njotowijono	Indonesia
3	10 July 1978 – 30 June 1980		Ali Abdullah	Malaysia
4	1 July 1980 – 1 July 1982		Narciso G. Reyes (1914–1996)	Philippines
5	18 July 1982 – 15 July 1984		Chan Kai Yau (born 1930)	Singapore
6	16 July 1984 – 15 July 1986		Phan Wannamethee (born 1923)	Thailand
7	16 July 1986 – 16 July 1989		Roderick Yong	Brunei
8	17 July 1989 – 1 January 1993		Rusli Noor (born 1927)	Indonesia
9	1 January 1993 – 31 December 1997		Ajit Singh (born 1939)	Malaysia
10	1 January 1998 – 31 December 2002		Rodolfo Severino Jr. (1936–2019)	Philippines
11	1 January 2003 – 31 December 2007		Ong Keng Yong (born 1954)	Singapore
12	1 January 2008 – 31 December 2012		Surin Pitsuwan (1949–2017)	Thailand
13	1 January 2013 – 31 December 2017		Lê Lương Minh (born 1952)	Vietnam
14	1 January 2018 – 31 December 2022		Lim Jock Hoi (born 1951)	Brunei
15	1 January 2023 – present		Kao Kim Hourn (born 1966)	Cambodia