economist foreign service officer nonprofit director
Lawrence Fly Connell was born on November 3, 1955. His family connections include Sara Connell, identified as his mother, and Karl Connell, identified as his father. He is also associated with the Fly family papers held at Columbia University through his mother, Sara Fly Connell, whose research concerned the career and public-service legacy of her father, James Lawrence Fly.
Connell studied at Colgate University, where he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Religions and French in 1977. He subsequently attended Lehigh University, completing further university study in 1979. In 2004–2005 he studied economics at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University, with work in development economics, finance, and cost-benefit analysis.
Connell's professional life began with teaching and commercial experience. From 1977 to 1978 he taught adult basic education at a State Correctional Institution, and from 1979 to 1981 he taught English as a foreign language with the Peace Corps. He worked as a salesperson for Word of Mouth Foods Incorporated from 1981 to 1982. He entered the United States foreign service in the mid-1980s. He trained at the Foreign Service Institute in 1986 and again from 1987, and served as a vice consul at a United States consulate general from 1987 through 2000. He also participated in the trainee credit-development program of Chase Manhattan Bank North America in 2000. After advanced study in economics, Connell served as a financial economist and development policy officer with the U.S. Department of State from 2005 to 2008. His work included coordinating interagency positions on economic growth and aid effectiveness, contributing to preparations for G8 and OECD development meetings, liaising with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and participating in international export-credit discussions. From December 2008, Connell worked with Conservation International, where he directed multilateral programs and helped develop cooperation with multilateral finance and development institutions, particularly the World Bank. His responsibilities included developing innovative financing strategies and advising on policies and programs linking sustainable development, conservation, and international finance. His professional work also included participation in international forest-governance and conservation-finance initiatives. By 2025 he was identified as a nonprofit director with the Bank Information Center.
Developed and coordinated international development-policy positions involving economic growth, aid effectiveness, multilateral finance, and export-credit negotiations.
Directed multilateral programs at Conservation International, advancing collaboration with international finance and development institutions on conservation and sustainable development.
Contributed to international forest-governance and conservation initiatives involving Conservation International and World Bank-related programs.
Unitarian Universalist.
Connell has been associated with the Foreign Service Association and Beta Theta Pi. His professional affiliations reflect both his early diplomatic career and his later work in international development and nonprofit environmental policy.
Connell is the son of Sara Connell and Karl Connell. His mother, Sara Fly Connell, was connected with the preservation and study of the papers of her father, James Lawrence Fly, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and counsel of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Columbia University records identify Lawrence Fly Connell and his brother Karl Kim Connell as donors of materials relating to Sara Fly Connell's research.
