Mr Craig Connelly

Craig Connelly started his career with Chartered Accounting firm, Price Waterhouse, in January 1987. A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and also a Fellow of The Securities Institute of Australia, Craig is a former partner at Goldman Sachs JBWere (1993 to 2004) co-founder of the Ascot Fund, an Australian equities long/short fund (2004 to 2012) and most recently the former Chief Executive Officer of The Ian Potter Foundation (2015 to 2023).

Spanning approximately 30 years, Craig’s experience affords him a unique perspective when considering community and social investment in his current role as a Partner in the Community Social and ESG Investing division at Perpetual Private.

Having joined Perpetual in March 2023, Craig is working to assist Perpetual’s philanthropic and not-for-profit clients think deeply about effective philanthropy, social impact, values and investment alignment and the role Perpetual can play to amplify social impact and social outcomes that benefits both its clients and Australian society more broadly.

Outside of Perpetual, Craig supports several charitable organisations, including as a Board member of SANE Australia, a Board member and Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee at Watertrust Australia Limited, as Chair of Philanthropy Australia’s Financial Advisor Senior Working Group and is a former trustee of the National Parks Conservation Trust.