John's biography

John Connolly
Chairman

John P. Connolly retired as the Senior Partner and Chief Executive of Deloitte UK and the Global Chairman of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited on 31 May 2011. John also chaired the Deloitte Global Corporate Responsibility Council.

John qualified as a chartered accountant in Manchester and was made a partner at 26. He then spent three years establishing an office in the Middle East before returning to the UK in 1980 following the Touche Ross merger with Mann Judd. He is now 60.

John was made partner in charge of the Leeds office in 1983 and was appointed to run the firm’s Northern Region in 1985. He took over the operations of all regional offices in 1987 and the London and Southern offices in 1990. In 1995, he was appointed Managing Partner of all practice offices and in 1999 he was made the Senior Partner and Chief Executive of the UK firm.

He had been elected to the Board of Partners continuously since 1983 and had been a member of the firm’s Executive Committee since 1985.

John had also held important global leadership roles in Deloitte for the last 15 years. Before being appointed Global Managing Director in 2003, he was Global Managing Partner for the Assurance, Accounting & Advisory practice. He was previously Chairman of the Global Management Committee, previously a member of the firm’s Global Executive and has been a member of the Global Board for many years.

A corporate finance specialist,he has been a senior advisory partner for a number of the firm’s top clients.

John is a member of the International Business Advisory Council London, the International Business Advisory Council Rome, the Board of Trustees of the International Business Leaders Forum, the CBI Advisory Board, the Governing Body of the London Business School, the British American Business International Advisory Board and a member of the Board in the World Economic Forum Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI). He is also a member of one of the NSPCC’s Charity Boards.