We welcome Mr Clare John Fairfield to march with us on ANZAC Day, and join us at lunch as guest speaker.

Mr Fairfield marches to honour the military heritage of his family and the family of his wife, Catherine Dionisopoulos. The two families served or currently serve in the US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Merchant Marine. The most significant decorations received by the families include 3 Combat Infantry Badges, 4 Presidential Unit Citations, 4 Purple Hearts, 3 Silver Stars, 5 Bronze Stars with V, and Theatre Ribbons with 22 combat stars.

Clare’s family served in combat in the American Revolutionary War, the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Global War on Terror. Currently, five of his children and two sons-in-law serve in the US military, including 5 graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Catherine’s family served in combat in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Her father and three uncles served in the Pacific Theater for the entire duration of World War II. Catherine’s father was the Navy talker who gave the order to fire the first US shot of World War II at Pearl Harbor. Her Uncle James fought in combat in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.

Clare Fairfield has over 30 years of entrepreneurial experience, including developing and operating venture funds, founding, and operating companies, developing nationally recognized research university entrepreneurial programs, and driving innovation ecosystem development programs in the US and globally. He has been involved with the start-up, acquisition and/or development of companies in the education, communications, information technology, energy, space, healthcare, manufacturing, medical device, defense technology, and software industries.

Focus areas for Clare are national security technologies and solutions for the US and US allies and working to improve technology development and exchange between the US and critical US allies, with a particular emphasis on Australia, AUKUS, and Sweden.