Craig Chapman is Chairman of the American Australian Association. He has been a member of the Association since 1984, on the Association’s Board of Directors since 2002 and on the Board’s Executive Committee since 2003.

Born and raised in Connecticut, Craig’s first association with Australia was living with an Australian family in the Sydney suburb of Castle Cove and attending North Sydney Boys High School as an American Field Service exchange student in 1971. After completing law school in 1980, Craig started his career as a lawyer with Dawson Waldron, then one of Sydney, Australia’s top four law firms, where he worked for three years on a variety of corporate matters and met his wife, Susan Manton. Susan was born and raised in the Sydney suburb of Strathfield. Craig’s 36-year marriage to Susan constitutes his longest lasting and personally most rewarding “American Australia Association”. They have two daughters, Jane and Louise, both of whom are dual citizens.

Craig is also a partner in the New York office of Sidley Austin LLP. Sidley is a global law firm with more than 2,000 lawyers in 20 offices around the world, including an office in Sydney, Australia. Craig has worked at Sidley (starting at the predecessor firm Brown & Wood) since returning to the United States from Australia in 1983. Craig was head of Sidley’s Tokyo office from 1992 to 1995 and head of the Capital Markets practice in Sidley’s London office from 2006 to 2009. At Sidley, among other things, Craig is currently co-chair of its Capital Markets practice and co-chair of its Opinion Committee. One of Craig’s primary areas of focus at Sidley is representing Australian issuers and underwriters of Australian issuers (including Australia’s major banking and other financial institutions) on U.S. securities offerings and other transactions. He has worked closely with Sidley’s Sydney office since its opening in 2007.