Carnegie was born in Melbourne on 27 November 1932, the eldest child and only son of Douglas and
Margaret Carnegie (née Allen). He was educated at
Geelong Grammar,
Trinity College at the
University of Melbourne (B.Sc. 1954),
Oxford (M.A. and Dip. Ag. Ec. 1957) and
Harvard (M.B.A. 1959). In the late 1950s, he was
president of the
Oxford University Boat Club. In 1958, he became a consultant with McKinsey & Company Inc. in the United States. In 1963, he founded the Australian practice of McKinsey in Melbourne and, in 1967, he returned to New York to become a Director of the company. In 1972, he joined
CRA Limited (now Rio Tinto) as finance director, and served as managing director, and as chairman, from 1974 to 1986. After 1986, he was a director of several companies, including the Australian Advisory Board of
General Motors, the
CSIRO, the Business Council of Australia, and the
Group of Thirty, and was chairman of the Advisory Committee on Relations with
Japan. In the
1978 Queen's Birthday Honours, Carnegie was created a
Knight Bachelor "In recognition of service to industry" and, in the
2003 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was awarded
Companion of the Order of Australia "in recognition of service to the promotion of innovative leadership and to the development of competitive practices in business, both national and international, and to the community, particularly in the health and arts fields." He was also awarded a
Centenary Medal "for service to Australian society in resource development and management". His business activities included the chairmanship of Pacific Edge Group. Carnegie was a Fellow of Trinity College, Melbourne, and he served as patron of the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases. He was also member of the Saltbush Club, a group that promotes
climate change denial. Carnegie died on 14 July 2024, at the age of 91. ==Honours and awards==