Catherine Brown

Catherine Brown OAM serves as Enterprise Professor at Melbourne Law School and the Centre for Sustainability and Business at Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne. Her research specializations encompass philanthropy, particularly innovative philanthropy, climate philanthropy, and impact investment, with an emphasis on blended finance to fund climate transitions. She completed her PhD in 2018 at the Centre for Social Impact, Faculty of Business and Law, Swinburne University of Technology. Her thesis, titled Unlocking the innovation potential of philanthropic organisations, examines innovation within philanthropic entities. As a qualified lawyer, she maintains a corporate solicitor’s practising certificate and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Prior to academia, Brown built a career in law and social impact leadership. She practiced in commercial law firms before becoming in-house counsel at the Multiple Sclerosis Society and Wesley Mission. From 2012 to early 2024, she led the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, Australia’s largest community foundation with over $250 million in assets, as CEO for 12 years. There, she introduced impact investing, applied a climate lens across initiatives, developed an impact framework, and funded innovations in affordable housing, climate mitigation and resilience (energy, food, water, disasters), health, and social enterprise. She contributed to policy as a member of the Social Impact Investment taskforce advising the Prime Minister and Treasurer. Current roles include Chair of the Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network and board director at Impact Investing Australia and Philanthropy Australia. Former positions encompass Chair of the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre Trust and Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust, and Deputy Chair of the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. Brown authored Great Foundations: A 360° guide to building resilient and effective not-for-profit organisations (ACER Press, 2010) and advises organisations on grantmaking, strategy, governance, and impact. For her services to charitable organisations, she received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2020.

Professional Email: catherine.brown.1@unimelb.edu.au