Charles R. Conn

Charles R. Conn (born 22 August 1961) is Warden of Rhodes House, Oxford,^[1] the global CEO of the Rhodes Trust and the Rhodes Scholarships. His career has also spanned time in Silicon Valley as a technology entrepreneur and working as an environmental foundation manager and grantmaker. He sits on the boards or advisory committees of Patagonia, the Arcadia Foundation, the Oxford Internet Institute ^[2] and the Atlantic Salmon Foundation.

Biography

Conn studied at Boston University's University Professors Program before reading Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Balliol College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar from Massachusetts. Conn worked at the Boston Consulting Group, gained an MBA at Harvard Business School and was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he focused on growth strategies and energy.^[3] He was a co-author of 'Staircases to growth' in McKinsey Quarterly ^[4] and 'Revolution in Upstream Oil & Gas' in the same publication.^[5] He co-founded Citysearch in 1995,^[6] and in 1997 the California Software Industry Council named him Entrepreneur of the Year.^[7] Conn oversaw the merger with Ticketmaster, acquisition of Match.com and the company’s public share offering. He became Chairman of Ticketmaster Online-Citysearch in 2001.^[8]

Conn subsequently worked for more than a decade as Senior Advisor to the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation where his conservation projects included the preservation of wild salmon ecosystems^[9] and the Palmyra Atoll research station. He published articles on conservation and conservation biology,^[10] including in the 25th anniversary edition (December 2011) of the journal Conservation Biology, and on the advantages of Foundations adopting a long-term perspective.^[11]

He is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute.^[12] Mr Conn also sits on several company and non-profit boards or advisory committees, including Patagonia, the Arcadia Foundation, and the Atlantic Salmon Foundation. He acts as an adviser and investor in start-up technology companies that focus on clean energy solutions and related areas.

Conn became Warden of Rhodes House in June 2013.^[13] He is the second Rhodes Scholar, the first American and first former McKinsey & Company consultant to hold this position, and the first Warden of Rhodes House not to have served on the University of Oxford faculty.^[14]

Since moving to Oxford, Mr Conn has become an Advisory Board Member of the Oxford Internet Institute.^[15] In January 2014, he became a Professorial Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford University.^[16]

In September 2013, as part of the 110th anniversary celebrations of the Rhodes Scholarships, the Rhodes Trust announced a donation of £75 million from John McCall MacBain and Marcy McCall MacBain and the McCall MacBain Foundation to support the Scholarships. Mr. McCall MacBain, a Canadian Rhodes Scholar from 1980, had served as a Rhodes Trustee from 2010,^[17] and as Chair of the Rhodes 110th anniversary celebrations.^[18] Mr. McCall MacBain was named "Second Century Founder" of the Rhodes Scholarships in recognition of this culminating gift.^[19]

Personal life

Conn was married to Beverley Robertson.^[20] With Ms. Robertson, he has three children named Alexander, Cameron and Hannah.

His partner is Ms. Camilla Borg,^[21] who is a member of the staff of Rhodes House as Director of Special Projects.^[22]

List of Wardens of Rhodes House, Oxford

• Sir Francis Wylie 1903–1931
• Professor Sir Carleton Allen 1931–1952
• Brigadier Sir Edgar Williams 1952–1980
• Dr Robin Fletcher 1980–1989
• Sir Anthony Kenny 1989–1999
• Dr John Rowett 1999–2004
• Sir Colin Lucas 2004–2009
• Professor Don Markwell 2009–2012
• Dr Andrew Graham Acting Warden 2012-2013
• Charles R. Conn 2013–Present

References

External links

• http://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/rhodes-trust/the-warden