Brigadier Connor enlisted in the Australian Army in 1985, being commissioned in 1988 through Sydney University Regiment. He was allocated to the Royal Australian Infantry Corps. He served as a platoon commander with 4th Battalion Royal Green Jackets, a British Army Territorial infantry unit based in London. His further regimental service was through 2nd /17th Battalion, the Royal New South Wales Regiment (2/17 RNSWR) in Sydney. He commanded 2/17 RNSWR from 2005 to 2006.

Brigadier Connor has served in a wide range of appointments including Liaison Officer, operations and personnel staff officer at Brigade level, Eastern Region Infantry Corps adviser and Corps Consultant. At a Divisional level he served as SO1 Recruiting and Retention and as SO1 Regional Operations, responsible for the coordination of deployments to the Solomon Islands.

As a Senior Officer Brigadier Connor focus has been on capability development, force generation and change management. He served as Assistant Commander Headquarters 8th Brigade where he was responsible for individual training, operational generation and capability projects. He then served as G5, Headquarters 2nd Division with a focus on implementing Plan Beersheba and modernisation. In 2017 he served as Director General Reserves, Headquarters Forces Command and is currently Director General Reserves – Army.

Brigadier Connor’s command experience includes deploying to the Solomon Islands in 2007 as Commander Combined Task Force 635 (Rotation 12), Commander of the 9th Brigade in 2014 and Commander of the 8th Brigade from 2015 to 2016. From November 2017 to September 2018 Brigadier Connor deployed to Kabul as Commander Task Group Afghanistan. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his command and leadership of 2/17 RNSWR and CTF 635.

He is currently a Senior Investigator in the Sydney office of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, working in the Close and Continuous Monitoring Program.

About RUSI NSW

The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies NSW (the Institute) is an independent, apolitical, not for profit public education association that since 1888, has been promoting debate on and understanding of defence and national security.

The Institute’s library – the Ursula Davidson Library, named after its librarian from 1942 to 2005 – has been assessed to be of ‘national significance’ and holds a unique collection of defence and security literature dating from the late 18th century to today.

RUSI Lunchtime Lectures are open to Members, their guests and members of the public. No booking required.

Telephone: +61 2 8262 2922 | Email: office@rusinsw.org.au | Website: www.rusinsw.org.au