The 119-year-old firm has named its first-ever board chairman, recruiting a luminary from the world of business and philanthropy.

Chapman Eastway, the family and business advisory firm in Australia, has named Clyde McConaghy as its chairman, bringing more than 30 years of business experience and family office expertise to the role. He is the first board chairman in the firm’s 119-year history. 

As a nonexecutive director, he will work with the firm’s partners and senior management, advising on business strategy, family wealth management and philanthropy for Chapman Eastway clients in Australia and Asia, it said in a statement yesterday.

“Clyde is a highly respected business executive who has served as an independent director for leading companies in Australia and internationally. He also has significant family office experience and philanthropic expertise in his work for foundations and non-profits,” Sean Cortis, chief executive, said.

McConaghy serves an international company director and advisor to publicly listed and private companies, as well as family offices, foundations and not-for-profit entities. His career encompasses technology, publishing, venture capital, wealth management and online sectors, having lived in the UK, Germany, China and Australia. 

McConaghy also serves as a director of the Institute for Economics and Peace, at which he was the inaugural President and CEO of the Global Peace Index, and is a director and chairman of the Investment Committee of the Neuroscience Research Institute of Australia. 

Among other commercial appointments during his career, he was formerly chairman of audit and risk of ASX-listed Integrated Research, and general manager of The Economist Intelligence Unit based in London, and a founding director of the World Markets Research Centre on the LSX.