[1] In October 1997 Pretty was appointed managing director of Australia's public and largest telecommunications company Telstra.
[19][20] With a number of South Australian universities, the SA Government and Premier Jay Weatherill, Pretty established two centres in Adelaide to foster innovation and support start-up companies.
[24][25] Pretty was a director of ASX listed NextDC Limited[26][27][1] and was advisory chairman, Australia and New Zealand, of Indian IT company Tech Mahindra Group.
[34] He advised on the "E-commerce expert group"[35] set up by the then Minister for Financial Services and Regulation, the Honorable Joe Hockey[36] and served as one of the "Members of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Cultural Councils"[37] In February 2022, Pretty was appointed Chairman of Firmus, the world's first scaled immersion-cooling platform.
[39] As chairman, Pretty oversees two cutting-edge companies that provide AI infrastructure and super-compute solutions using liquid immersion and advanced technologies.