Sir Ian Potter (1902-1994) was the founder and benefactor of The Ian Potter Foundation. Sir Ian was one of Australia's most visionary and internationally minded leaders in the period after World War II. He played a leading part in financing the manufacturing industry and the semi-government authorities in the 1950s and 60s and the mining industry in the 60s. He was engaged in stockbroking and investment banking but spread his activities to be on the boards of many leading Australian manufacturing companies, the boards of Australian subsidiaries of international companies, and was actively involved in the cultural life of Australia. He was a Member of the Stock Exchange of Melbourne from October 1931, served on the Stock Exchange Committee from 1942 to 1962, and was made an Honorary Fellow in 1991. He formed one of the country's first merchant banks, Australian United Corporation Ltd. In the cultural area Sir Ian Potter served as Chairman on the boards of the Australian Ballet, Australian Opera, Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust and as a member of the Victorian Arts Centre Building Committee. He was also a member of the finance committee of the Australian Academy of Science, of which he was elected a Fellow in 1978. In 1962 Sir Ian became the first stockbroker in Australia to be knighted. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Melbourne in 1973.
