Ross Connelly

Ross Connelly is the Managing Director of Akkadian, and its affiliate company Penn Quarter Strategies, that started in 2005 to explore project development opportunities in the Broader Middle East and North Africa region.

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Before establishing Akkadian, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (now known as the U.S. Development Finance Corporation), a U.S. Government agency responsible for mobilizing U.S. private capital into developing economies.

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In August 2001, President George W. Bush nominated him for the positions of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at OPIC, and he was later confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Before joining the Bush Administration, Mr. Connelly had a 21-year tenure with the Bechtel Group of companies. He served as CEO of Bechtel Energy Resources Corp. from 1991 to 1995, where he supervised the company's organization and various development efforts across the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.

From 1983 to 1991, Mr. Connelly was a managing principal at Bechtel Investments, Inc. and later served as managing partner of the successor entity, Fremont Group, Inc. In 1993, he was elected president and vice chair of the NorthGas Ltd. joint venture between Bechtel and the Russian State gas concern, Gazprom, focusing on the development of gas condensate resources and related transmission and processing infrastructure in the Western Siberian Arctic.

After departing Bechtel in 1996, Mr. Connelly pursued various energy and natural resource ventures in the Former Soviet Union. In 1998, he ran for U.S. Congress in Maine's 1st Congressional District and later served as Maine State Chairman for the "Bush for President" campaign. Additionally, Mr. Connelly contributed to academia as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service for five years, where he taught a Corporate Finance course.