The Speakers

Kerry Grace is the conference founder and producer

Kerry Grace is known for her authentic approach and ability to get things done in communities.

A passionate regional Australian she learned from a very young age that many skills are required to enable the social change she is passionate about, the most important one being the ability to build trust.

Like many entrepreneurs Kerry is multi-skilled and while her skills may broadly be defined as community and economic development, writing and community advisory, through her decades in the workforce she has honed a unique mix of practical skills, connections, deep understanding and abilities which make her a sought after person for facilitation, MC and community advisory services.

Kerry works with clients at every level of government, not for profits, Aboriginal Corporations and Corporates.

At the heart of her work she thoroughly believes in healthy and sustainable regional communities. The methodologies surrounding the delivery of this goal vary.

www.kerrygrace.com.au

Jo-Anne Kelly is the Partnership lead of Learning the Macleay, Kempsey’s backbone organisation leading the Stronger Places, Stronger People Program.

Jo has experience working in the trauma informed space and family research with a demonstrated history of working with individuals and family services industry. She is skilled in Social Policy, Change Management, Leadership Development, Community Development, Engaging with Government, Culture & Heritage, Building Community Capacity and Program Management.

Jesse Taylor is dedicated to creating practical and inclusive solutions to societal challenges. With 25 years of experience leading place-based, co-design initiatives and reform campaigns across Australia, New York City, and the USA, Jesse excels in building high-performing collaborative teams and driving transformative change.

Sue has over 40 years’ experience in a range of community care and health settings and has been with Blue Sky Community Services since 2010. Sue holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences, a Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment, an Advanced Diploma of Management: Social Enterprise. She is also a School for Social Entrepreneurs Australian Fellow and has completed the Challenge Of Leadership course through Leadership Management Australia (LMA). Sue has a passion for the principles of social justice and is a strong proponent of working collaboratively and in partnerships with communities and services within a strengths-based and inclusive model of practice. Sue is currently the Program Manager for the Families, Young People and Communities team and is based at the Groundworks Youth Centre.

With over 30 years of experience in culturally diverse community engagement, PR, and communications, Angela has a proven track record of successfully leading teams and delivering impactful programs that drive social impact.

Angela thrives in stakeholder engagement and strategic planning. Her expertise lies in fostering collaboration and partnerships between organisations, government agencies, and communities to drive collective action.

Angela’s passion lies in collaborating with likeminded people and organisations to develop activities that focus on the mental health and wellbeing of individuals and families, with the purpose of creating positive, meaningful, and sustainable systems change for the benefit of community and particularly for those disadvantaged as a result of complex, long-term systemic issues.

Jo has 25+ years of leading for-purpose organisations. Over her career, she has raised over $100m leading for-purpose organisations and has distributed more than $400m globally through philanthropic organisations. She knows how hard it is to fundraise, spend and donate money effectively if you want to create transformational change.

This experience has given Jo a deep understanding of the challenges of building resilient organisations focusing on impact and a burning passion for leaders to do their best work AND look after themselves. Jo has designed and led reflective leadership retreats and action learning programs for social change leaders, LGBTQI leaders, young leaders, social entrepreneurs, women, culturally and linguistically diverse leaders, directors and philanthropic leaders nationally and internationally.

Jo is the inaugural CEO of the Siddle Family Foundation, a non-executive director of the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) and Asthma Australia, the Chair of the Pay What it Takes coalition, a Leap Ambassador, an advisor to philanthropic organisations and a range of for-purpose organisations that are starting or deepening in their work. She lives in regional NSW with a partner, a tween and a teenager who keeps her engaged and a little bit exhausted.

Kerry Grace is the conference founder and producer

Kerry Grace is known for her authentic approach and ability to get things done in communities.

A passionate regional Australian she learned from a very young age that many skills are required to enable the social change she is passionate about, the most important one being the ability to build trust.

Like many entrepreneurs Kerry is multi-skilled and while her skills may broadly be defined as community and economic development, writing and community advisory, through her decades in the workforce she has honed a unique mix of practical skills, connections, deep understanding and abilities which make her a sought after person for facilitation, MC and community advisory services.

Kerry works with clients at every level of government, not for profits, Aboriginal Corporations and Corporates.

At the heart of her work she thoroughly believes in healthy and sustainable regional communities. The methodologies surrounding the delivery of this goal vary.

www.kerrygrace.com.au

Jo-Anne Kelly is the Partnership lead of Learning the Macleay, Kempsey’s backbone organisation leading the Stronger Places, Stronger People Program.

Jo has experience working in the trauma informed space and family research with a demonstrated history of working with individuals and family services industry. She is skilled in Social Policy, Change Management, Leadership Development, Community Development, Engaging with Government, Culture & Heritage, Building Community Capacity and Program Management.

Working with both large national and grassroots community non-profits, Deb has gained extensive experience engaging stakeholders through meaningful partnerships, inspiring significant philanthropic support, developing and delivering highly effective and innovative programs and projects, and empowering successful teams, boards, donors and volunteers to achieve high impact outcomes.

Deb’s work is motivated by a deep commitment to social justice and the opportunity to connect game-changing social impact ideas with inspired solutions that lead to life-changing outcomes for young people and communities.

Jesse Taylor is dedicated to creating practical and inclusive solutions to societal challenges. With 25 years of experience leading place-based, co-design initiatives and reform campaigns across Australia, New York City, and the USA, Jesse excels in building high-performing collaborative teams and driving transformative change.

Jo has 25+ years of leading for-purpose organisations. Over her career, she has raised over $100m leading for-purpose organisations and has distributed more than $400m globally through philanthropic organisations. She knows how hard it is to fundraise, spend and donate money effectively if you want to create transformational change.

This experience has given Jo a deep understanding of the challenges of building resilient organisations focusing on impact and a burning passion for leaders to do their best work AND look after themselves. Jo has designed and led reflective leadership retreats and action learning programs for social change leaders, LGBTQI leaders, young leaders, social entrepreneurs, women, culturally and linguistically diverse leaders, directors and philanthropic leaders nationally and internationally.

Jo is the inaugural CEO of the Siddle Family Foundation, a non-executive director of the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) and Asthma Australia, the Chair of the Pay What it Takes coalition, a Leap Ambassador, an advisor to philanthropic organisations and a range of for-purpose organisations that are starting or deepening in their work. She lives in regional NSW with a partner, a tween and a teenager who keeps her engaged and a little bit exhausted.

Emma is part of a growing movement of political leadership entrepreneurs. As a recovering lawyer, turned conflict and engagement specialist, she is focused on creating better connections between communities, government and those that we elect to lead us. Her business, Locale Learning, has recently been recognised as a political leadership entrepreneur organisation to watch across the world for its efforts in supporting local councillors in Australia. She is a member of the global Leadership Excellence in Politics Expert Council and an expert in regional local government issues.

Courtney is the founder of Alt-Collective. Over the past 6-years Alt-Collective have supported over a 1,000 local small business through Workshops and 1on1 Support. Courtney is currently facilitating the Regional Innovation Program supporting innovators on the Mid-North Coast to bring their innovations to Market. Previously Courtney was the founder of a Craft Beer Bar & Live Music Venue on the Mid-North Coast & has spent over 10-years delivering large scale community events on the Mid-North Coast.

Anna McAfee is a Community Educator, LinkedIn™ Trainer and Author.  She co-founded the #LinkedInLocal movement, an initiative to connect offline in real life that spread to 90+ countries in 22 months.  Anna helps people and brands looking to create and scale their own communities and build better and more authentic connections and spaces of belonging. She has a unique background in social media and recruitment and works with values-based organisations to build their digital communities on LinkedIn™.

Anita has a strong background in social change, particularly through advocacy, campaigning and community organising across a range of social justice and community service areas. She is currently Community Organising director at the Centre for Australian Progress, building the capacity of civil society for systems change, following five years running her own advocacy and campaigning consultancy supporting NGOs to bring about social change. Her other experience includes more than a decade at Cancer Council NSW where she led the transformation of its advocacy work, and senior roles in the Community Services Commission and the Social Issues Committee of the NSW Legislative Council.

Anita has completed the Leadership, Organizing and Action: Leading Change program through Harvard University, and the Stanford Executive Program for Non-Profit Leaders. Anita has served on the Boards of the Council for Intellectual Disability NSW, the Intellectual Disability Rights Service, the Centre for Australian Progress and Democracy in Colour, a racial justice campaigning organisation, and is currently Co-Chair of CHOICE, the consumer rights association.

She is passionate about community led social change, particularly for communities that are subject to oppression.

Tom Dawkins has an impressive social enterprise background. He is the Cofounder/Entrepreneur-in-Residence StartSomeGood | Cofounder/Chief Impact Officer LendForGood | Social Entrepreneur, Speaker, Coach, Advocate.

Tom is a speaker, mentor, coach and advocate for social impact business.

He is a regular speaker and advocate for social enterprise, a coach for founders and a teacher of community-building and fundraising skills. I have shared my insights and expertise at events and workshops around the world, including SXSW, SOCAP, The Social Enterprise World Forum, Nexus Summit and many more. I am a non-executive director of the Centre for Social Impact, Australia’s leading social impact research and teaching organisation.

Youth Futures Theme Convenors

Futures Isle exists to support people, communities and organisations to find the next step on their journey.

We partner with organisations, projects and initiatives that share our values and have meaningful impact. We are facilitators, program managers/developers and consultants.

Most importantly though, we love people and places and want to see them shine.

Talitha ‘Taz’ Devadass

Taz lives and breathes futures. As one of Australia’s first Entrepreneurship Facilitators from 2017-2020, she mentored over 800 people to support them finding potential pathways for empowered futures and is thrilled to see so many participants’ businesses still thriving.

She believes in community development through the sharing of ideas, transfer of skills and relationship-driven collaboration. Taz’s dynamic approach was recognised when she was awarded 2018 ABC Trailblazer, 2018 Foundation for Young Australians: Young Social Pioneer and 2019 Telstra Business Women’s Awards: Emerging Leader Tasmania.

At her core, Taz is the ideas queen; she dreams audacious dreams and questions the status quo to achieve the best outcome, and refuses to settle for anything less.

She has also collected over 350 board games and also makes the best road trip playlists.

Emilee Rigby

Em loves impact. She has a background as a commercial specialist, providing high-level procurement strategy advice during her time at the Department of Defence. This role also saw her travelling (nationally and internationally) to deliver bespoke training courses, resulting in over 1200 commercial and project management professionals trained in contracting methodology. Her determination and facilitation skill in delivering these programs saw her recognised as Leader of the Future at International Association for Contract and Commercial Management’s 2018 Australasia Conference. (She’s still the most proud of being named Deloraine Drama Festival’s Most Promising Actor 2008).

Em’s strategic experience makes her your girl when it comes to implementation; she has the ability to comprehensively plan for successful outcomes, spot problems and logic flaws during concept ideation, and then report on these outcomes. Plus, she loves talking all things contracts!

Liz Ritchie, CEO Regional Australia Institute

The daughter of a farmer who grew up amongst the rice crops and river redgums around Deniliquin in south-western New South Wales, Liz Ritchie’s had a lifelong affiliation with regional Australia.

As CEO of the Regional Australia Institute her purpose is to empower regions to thrive through leadership, activation, and impact.

Liz firmly believes that by replacing myth and stereotype with facts and knowledge, the RAI can help build a bridge between city and country Australians. She spearheaded the development of the Regionalisation Ambition – a framework to ‘rebalance the nation’ by driving a parity of population between the regions and cities.

Prior to joining the RAI, Liz worked for Westpac and the Committee for Economic Development of Australia.

Dr. Chad Renando

Dr Chad Renando is a Research Fellow (Innovation Ecosystems) with the Rural Economies Centre of Excellence at the University of Southern Queensland, with a focus on understanding the contribution of innovation and entrepreneurship on community resilience in rural economies.

Chad’s other roles include leading the innovation and policy mapping theme of the Queensland Decarbonisation Hub, mapping and measuring the Australian innovation ecosystem as CEO of the not-for-profit Startup Status, and Chair of Global Entrepreneurship Network Australia.

As co-founder of the Ready Communities two-year place-based program, Chad applies his experience towards practical outcomes for local impact and global relevance.

PRESENTATION:
View Chad’s Masterclass presentation as featured on Day 1 with Jo Kelly, Deb Samuels and Jesse Taylor HERE

Philip Gaskin has spent over 20 years leading complex national and global philanthropic and for-profit organisation transformation initiatives to positively impact people and communities.

He is currently chair of the United States Small Business Administration’s Invention, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Advisory Committee, a volunteer federal service effort which serves as an independent source of information, advice, and recommendations on matters broadly related to the U.S. startup and small business innovation ecosystems.

Gaskin previously served as Vice President, Entrepreneurship, at Kauffman Foundation where he led the Foundation’s entire Kansas City and national entrepreneurship portfolio and $50M+ budget.

Sally McGeoch is a Senior Advisor at Westpac Foundation, a philanthropic organisation, independent from Westpac Group. Sally manages the design and delivery of grant and capacity building programs for community organisations and social enterprises that create jobs and employment opportunities for Australians facing complex barriers to work.

Sally has worked at the intersection of philanthropy, business and social enterprise for close to 17 years and is a founding member of The Bread & Butter Project. She is also currently undertaking a practice-based PhD at the Centre for Social Impact Swinburne on the role of cross-sector collaboration in supporting Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISE) to scale.

Dr Dimity Podger is co-founder of Regen Labs, which is on a mission to catalyse the shift to local regenerative economies across Australia, by growing regenerative enterprises, nurturing regeneration ecosystems in regional communities, and scaling regenerative finance.

In her role with Regen Labs, Dimity builds on the work she led as Regenerative Communities Project Manager with the Innovate to Regenerate team at WWF-Australia, which involved co-creating and co-facilitating the Regen Local Learning Labs and Community Vision Workshops with community change makers, community organisers, local councils, Traditional Custodians, and regen enterprises in 27 regional places across Australia.

Dimity has also served the Regen Places Network as co-convenor, led her own purpose-led enterprise advisory business, curated the Masterclass Series: Leading with nobility for a new era, and facilitated The Regenerative Life Short Course for regenerative leadership. She brings her passion for regeneration and regional entrepreneurship, and 20 years experience in leadership development, action learning, learning design and facilitation to this Masterclass. She resides on the lands of the Wodi Wodi people, on Dharawal Country.

Meaghan is passionate and dedicated to enabling local places and communities to take hold of their economic agency and thrive. She is an Executive Director for Ethical Fields and a recognised leader in Community Wealth Building, Place Based Capital and Natural Capital in Australia.

Her current focus is to unlock the capital model and system needed for enabling local economic resilience, inclusion and prosperity. She holds a substantial track record in designing and leading innovative and transformative initiatives to achieve this including the Place Based Capital Initiative and Natural Capital and Environmental Markets Leadership Program. She recently completed a twelve-month National Community Wealth Building Tour where she visited over thirty communities across Australia to learn and share about community wealth building solutions.

In her twenty-year career, she has served in many leadership and advisory roles, driving strategy, innovation and delivery in Australia’s public and private sectors including as Chair of Ethical Fields Board of Directors, Chair of the Better Regulation Committee for the Australasian Environmental Law Enforcement and Regulators Network, and as Board Member for the New Economy Network Australia.

Internationally she has contributed to major impact initiatives including: The May Day Network on Climate Change which inspired thousands of UK organisations to commit to action on climate change; the Prince’s Responsible Business Network the UK’s largest and most influential responsible business network and CSR Europe’s MarketPlace which gathers sustainability leaders from across Europe and the world to advance corporate social responsibility practices across all sectors.

Her focus has always been on improving justice, equity, regeneration and collective prosperity. In pursuit of these values, she has worked across the public, non-government and private sectors in a range of areas including policy, strategy, regulation, community development, local economic development, corporate social responsibility, sustainability and climate change. She hold a Masters of Government Law and Regulation, Post-Graduate Diploma in Environment and a Bachelor of Commerce.

Sam is a Director at Ethical Fields – a consulting business that develops and implements community wealth building and place based capital initiatives alongside communities around Australia.

Her diverse experience in a variety of roles including research economics, government policy and advisory, accounting and business has guided her deep curiosity of how communities could create economic systems that are more localised, people centred, equitable, sustainable and inclusive. Sam has a particular interest in empowering and helping local people to have greater ownership and control of assets, enterprises and initiatives in their community, and loves uncovering the many success stories of communities taking the lead.

Outside of Ethical Fields, Sam is involved in many grassroots initiatives in her home town of Lake Macquarie including the Lake Macquarie Sustainable Neighbourhood Alliance and the Lake Mac Repair Café.

Parish Priest Father Jesse Poole’s background is all about service from jobs in hospitality, event management and even politics. At the age of 27, following 7 years in regional Ministry he relocated to Kempsey taking up the position of Parish Priest.

He knows that church communities are full of passionate people who love the communities they live in, that are an untapped nexus for supporting place-based community-led change.

David Hetherington is the CEO of Impact Investing Australia. He was previously the CEO of the Public Education Foundation and the founding Executive Director of the progressive think tank Per Capita. He has also worked at the UK’s Institute for Public Policy Research and with LEK Consulting in Sydney, Munich and Auckland.

David has authored over 100 reports, book chapters and opinion pieces on a wide range of economic and social policy issues. His work has appeared in The Guardian, The Economist, The Sydney Morning Herald, AFR and The Australian, and was a regular commentator on ABC TV’s The Drum. David holds an MPA with Distinction from the London School of Economics and a BA with First Class Honours from UNSW. In 2022, he was named in Pro Bono’s Impact 25 list as one of Australia’s 25 most influential non-profit leaders.

Jo-Anne Kelly is the Partnership lead of Learning the Macleay, Kempsey’s backbone organisation leading the Stronger Places, Stronger People Program.

Jo has experience working in the trauma informed space and family research with a demonstrated history of working with individuals and family services industry. She is skilled in Social Policy, Change Management, Leadership Development, Community Development, Engaging with Government, Culture & Heritage, Building Community Capacity and Program Management.

Jesse Taylor is dedicated to creating practical and inclusive solutions to societal challenges. With 25 years of experience leading place-based, co-design initiatives and reform campaigns across Australia, New York City, and the USA, Jesse excels in building high-performing collaborative teams and driving transformative change.

Youth Futures Theme Convenors

Futures Isle exists to support people, communities and organisations to find the next step on their journey.

We partner with organisations, projects and initiatives that share our values and have meaningful impact. We are facilitators, program managers/developers and consultants.

Most importantly though, we love people and places and want to see them shine.

Talitha ‘Taz’ Devadass

Taz lives and breathes futures. As one of Australia’s first Entrepreneurship Facilitators from 2017-2020, she mentored over 800 people to support them finding potential pathways for empowered futures and is thrilled to see so many participants’ businesses still thriving.

She believes in community development through the sharing of ideas, transfer of skills and relationship-driven collaboration. Taz’s dynamic approach was recognised when she was awarded 2018 ABC Trailblazer, 2018 Foundation for Young Australians: Young Social Pioneer and 2019 Telstra Business Women’s Awards: Emerging Leader Tasmania.

At her core, Taz is the ideas queen; she dreams audacious dreams and questions the status quo to achieve the best outcome, and refuses to settle for anything less.

She has also collected over 350 board games and also makes the best road trip playlists.

Emilee Rigby

Em loves impact. She has a background as a commercial specialist, providing high-level procurement strategy advice during her time at the Department of Defence. This role also saw her travelling (nationally and internationally) to deliver bespoke training courses, resulting in over 1200 commercial and project management professionals trained in contracting methodology. Her determination and facilitation skill in delivering these programs saw her recognised as Leader of the Future at International Association for Contract and Commercial Management’s 2018 Australasia Conference. (She’s still the most proud of being named Deloraine Drama Festival’s Most Promising Actor 2008).

Em’s strategic experience makes her your girl when it comes to implementation; she has the ability to comprehensively plan for successful outcomes, spot problems and logic flaws during concept ideation, and then report on these outcomes. Plus, she loves talking all things contracts!

The Hon. Fiona Nash
Regional Education Commissioner

Fiona Nash grew up in Sydney and has spent the last three decades living and working in regional Australia. For many years she was involved in a family farming enterprise in the central west of NSW, which her sons Will and Henry are now running.

Fiona spent 12 years in the federal parliament as a Senator for NSW and also held ministerial positions including Rural Health, and in Cabinet the positions of Regional Development, Regional Communications and Local Government and Territories.

From 2018 to 2021 Fiona was the Strategic Adviser, Regional Engagement and Government Relations for Charles Sturt University.

Fiona was appointed by the Australian Government as the Regional Education Commissioner in December 2021.

From surviving an earthquake in Nepal, to wrangling Councils in remote outback Queensland, spending a week alone in the bush with nothing but water and the clothes on her back, to walking with her backpack across an entire country solo, Michelle McFadyen will share many of her life and work experiences as she guides you through a session on Strengths – what they mean for us as individuals, and as communities, and how we can all harness them.

Jamie is the National Community Impact Manager at Community Housing Limited, Australia’s largest social housing NFP. Responsible for community development, customer engagement and social impact. Jamie has extensive experience in the community housing sector in both Australia and the UK. Developing strategy, community programs, employment and training initiatives as well as re-generation plans for UK Council Estates.

Jill’s background in business and education, and her strong connections to community means she is well placed to deliver on her passion of helping young people achieve their goals through skills development in the ShoreTrack STeps social enterprise. Jill has developed a number of award-winning programs which focus on developing young people’s skills and confidence through hands on project-based activities while linking them to industry and community-based mentors. Jill loves the beautiful Nambucca Valley where she has lived with her family for over 35 years.

Dr. Chad Renando

Dr Chad Renando is a Research Fellow (Innovation Ecosystems) with the Rural Economies Centre of Excellence at the University of Southern Queensland, with a focus on understanding the contribution of innovation and entrepreneurship on community resilience in rural economies.

Chad’s other roles include leading the innovation and policy mapping theme of the Queensland Decarbonisation Hub, mapping and measuring the Australian innovation ecosystem as CEO of the not-for-profit Startup Status, and Chair of Global Entrepreneurship Network Australia.

As co-founder of the Ready Communities two-year place-based program, Chad applies his experience towards practical outcomes for local impact and global relevance.

PRESENTATION:
View Chad’s Masterclass presentation as featured on Day 1 with Jo Kelly, Deb Samuels and Jesse Taylor HERE

Phil was a founding member in 2012 of the community group known as ‘Voices for Indi’. Ordinary people from different walks of life came together around a shared and passionate desire to see the standard of political representation raised above and beyond the diminished party system offerings. He has been the campaign manager for each of the four successful community independent campaigns in Indi in northeast Victoria, beginning with Cathy McGowan in 2013.

Helen Haines became the first independent to succeed an independent in 2019 after Cathy retired and was returned with an increased margin in 2022. Phil was the driving force and multiple chapter author of the recent book, ‘The Indi Way.’  He is now a committed political activist and along with many others from Indi, a proud champion of what has become a major political and social movement in Australia.

Tom Allen is Founder and CEO of Impact Boom, one of Australia’s leading purpose-driven intermediaries, helping changemakers globally to create a better world. As social innovation experts, their advisory services, initiatives, programs and partnerships help people & planet to thrive. Impact Boom has worked intensively with over 335 purpose-led organisations to help them launch and scale and featured over 700 global leaders on their podcast.

Tom’s work has been recognised with two Australian Good Design Awards. He led the successful Australian bid for the Social Enterprise World Forum held in 2022; a project which catalysed sector growth nationally.

Eleanor Booth (MDS, BCM, BA)

Eleanor is the Managing Director and Founder of For-Purpose Evaluations. She is a skilled evaluator, social impact measurement specialist, facilitator and trainer with extensive experience leading workshops on how to measure social impact. She has been a guest lecturer and tutor at the Centre for Social Impact and School of Social Sciences at UNSW. Eleanor’s diverse experience working with not-for-profit service providers, as a consultant and in direct service delivery roles, informs her belief that human services must effectively measure and communicate their social impact to be sustainable.

Eleanor has a Master of Development Studies (Measurement & Evaluation) as well as Bachelor degrees in Communications and Philosophy. She also holds qualifications in data analytics and visualisation.

Jenna McDonald,  BA, MPubPol (current)

Since graduating from a Bachelor of Arts (International Studies) at RMIT Jenna has worked in various service delivery roles across regional Australia within disability and family violence organisations. This hands-on experience gives her a unique understanding of the challenges services face when juggling reporting requirements, time and resources limitations while working to maximise their social impact. Jenna is a advocate for improving service quality and accessibility and places trauma-informed practice at the forefront of her approach.

Ashley Watt, the visionary behind Why Leave Town, holds a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney and has amassed over 15 years of experience in consumer market research. His impressive portfolio includes collaborations with major brands like Westpac, Telstra, and Dairy Farmers. In 2007, Ashley channelled his extensive knowledge into supporting smaller retailers, founding Why Leave Town with the mission of promoting local shopping.

Raised in the tight-knit community of Narrabri, NSW, Ashley, alongside his business partner Justin Smith, identified a gap in the market for local gift cards. This insight led to the creation of the Why Leave Town gift card, a pioneering initiative designed to keep spending within local communities. Since its inception, the program has expanded to over 80 communities, generating $26 million in local spending.

Beck is a Facilitator, Coach, and Systems Change practitioner with a background in Arts-based practice. From her home on Awabakal and Worimi land (Newcastle NSW) she consults to large systems-wide organisations and smaller regional initiatives and groups to build capacity within individuals and systems, with a particular focus on skills and structures to support Collaboration and Community Leadership.

Beck is a dynamic collaborator with skills forged in the fires of communities where she has extensive experience with community engagement and particularly in navigating collaboration and conflict. She has worked in the Social Change sector for the past two decades, was Director of Milk Crate Theatre, working with people with a lived experience of homelessness and complex mental health, ran group programs for Mission Australia, St Vincent De Paul, Salvation Army, Wesley Mission, Richmond PRA, in Juvenile Justice, CALD & Indigenous communities, and in schools.

She regularly facilitates collaborations of multiple stakeholders, including Local Area Health services, community housing providers, large and small NGOs, usually in the areas of collective impact and community self-determination. She currently runs public trainings in Facilitation, Working with Conflict in Groups and working Creatively with difference in groups. Aside from her own practice, she is the Public Program Lead and on Faculty for ANZPOP (Australia New Zealand Process Oriented Psychology), is on the Executive Committee for Whale Chorus (Newcastle-based Theatre company) and is an Associate with Collaboration for Impact.

Lucy Brotherton serves as the Community Capacity Building Lead, Social Investment for The City of Parramatta Council, where she plays a pivotal role in driving social investment initiatives across the Parramatta Local Government Area. She knows that local government has a key role to play in this area, using local knowledge and networks to deliver meaningful and highly visible local projects. Through innovative strategies, she fosters sustainable social transformation, catering to the diverse communities of Western Sydney.

Leveraging her extensive connections in government and the social investment community, she excels at fostering relationships, bridging organisational gaps, and bolstering strength through strategic partnerships and collaboration.

Senior Lecturer (Social Work and Human Services) | Accredited Mental Health First Aider | School of Psychology and Wellbeing | Faculty of Health, Engineering & Sciences UniSQ

Dr Aastha Malhotra specialises in supporting social sector organisations and social enterprises through complex strategic change while enhancing their ability to achieve sustainable social impact. Motivated by listening to dinner table debates between her social worker mother and a management executive father, she developed a passion for social change with a focus on organisational sustainability.

Aastha considers herself to be a multidisciplinary pracademic (an individual who bridges the worlds of academia and practice) and has over 15 years of experience partnering with organisations on several strategic readiness and capacity building initiatives across Australia, Canada and India. Examples of projects include a number of capacity building projects, including international fellowship programs for women entrepreneurs from Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka funded by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, digital skill building for migrant and refugee women entrepreneurs funded by Advance Queensland, and resilience building for social enterprise founders in Regional Australia funded by Department of Employment, Small Business and Training that is currently underway.

Aastha’s educational background includes a Masters in Human Services and a PhD in Management from UQ Business School for which she received a Social Innovation Scholarship. Previously the Program Director for Human Services, she is an experienced management executive and brings expertise in transformational leadership, strategic planning, impact measurement and community engagement. She is passionate about facilitating practical outcomes from research, and continues to be actively involved in the industry through management seminars, and serving on panels and advisory committees to help organisations enhance health and socio-economic wellbeing outcomes.

BBus (USQ), PGCert Car Ed & Dev (RMIT), MLAD, PhD (USQ), SFHEA Senior Lecturer | UniPrep Program Director | UniSQ College

Dr Naomi Ryan is a dedicated multidisciplinary researcher with a passion for understanding and addressing the challenges faced by marginalised populations. Throughout her academic journey, she has committed herself to shedding light on the experiences of those often overlooked in society.

During her PhD research, Naomi delved into the lives of marginalised youth who pursued secondary education through flexible learning programs. Her work focused on unravelling the intricacies of their experiences and understanding the profound impact on both their career development and overall well-being.

Her current research is focussed on rural, regional, and remote social enterprises, addressing critical challenges exacerbated by the pandemic along with the wellbeing and resilience of social enterprise founders, leaders and employees.

With a deep-seated belief that meaningful change is a collective effort, Laura has dedicated her career to harnessing the power of community voice, policy evidence, and collaborative leadership to drive impactful systems change. Over the years, Laura has honed her skills in uniting diverse groups—spanning government, non-government organizations, and community teams—to achieve shared goals and foster sustainable development.

Laura’s professional journey is characterized by a strong commitment to regional and community development. As an experienced public and community sector policy manager, has played a pivotal role in shaping strategic policies that aim to enhance social and economic outcomes for individuals and communities.  This includes leading policy and community development for QCOSS; leading whole of government employment policy at Qld Treasury and Department of Premier and Cabinet and leading workforce planning and development strategies for the health and community services industry.

Laura is currently employed at Collaboration for Impact as the Lead for ChangeFest, convening national and local partners to build the ChangeFest movement for community led systems change.

Stephen Neale is the NSW Community Development Manager for Community Housing Limited, where he leads a dynamic team dedicated to enhancing the mental and physical health, as well as the overall wellbeing, of social housing tenants. Under his leadership, numerous impactful initiatives have been implemented, addressing specific community needs from Coffs Harbour down the NSW east coast to Sydney.

Notable programs include the establishment of a community centre in the West Kempsey estate, spearheading the Local Drug Action Team, and launching comprehensive environmental health programs. These initiatives have significantly contributed to improving the quality of life for residents in these areas.

Before his current role in community development, Stephen made substantial contributions at the Northern Territory Department of Education, where he led a team in creating culturally appropriate resources and education programs for Aboriginal students in remote NT communities. His dedication to education extended to teaching youth at risk and people with disabilities at TAFE Western (NSW).

With a successful career focused on empowering disadvantaged communities, Stephen now channels his passion for grassroots development into creating and nurturing projects that make a tangible difference in the lives of social housing tenants.

In his spare time, Stephen enjoys family life and manages a small property on the mid-north coast of NSW.

As Liberty’s DFV Prevention Manager, Brooke oversees the Everybody’s Business domestic and family violence workplace program, providing services and training to businesses, government agencies, and community organisations. She also co-facilitates Liberty’s Respectful Relationships education program in local primary and high schools.

With over 18 years’ experience in leadership, coaching and training, and organisational and workforce development in both corporate and not-for-profit sectors, Brooke brings a wealth of knowledge to her role.

As People & Culture Manager, Brooke leads Liberty’s strategic HR initiatives in recruitment, learning and development, and employee relations, fostering a supportive, inclusive workplace culture and a highly skilled, engaged team. Brooke holds a Bachelor of Training and Development, chairs the Port Macquarie Hastings Domestic Violence Committee, and serves on DVNSW’s Workforce Development Advisory Committee.

In previous roles Can has worked for the Upper Mountains Youth Services, St. George Migrant Resource Centre, Blackheath Area Neighbourhood Centre, Mountains Community Resource Network and for ANTaR NSW (Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation).

Having gained experience in the community sector as a community development worker and project coordinator, Can is committed to promoting the importance of small, community based not-for-profit organisations and the value of cross-cultural understanding and community engagement. Can has a passion for challenging equity and social justice issues affecting our community and believes that Neighbourhood Centres play a vital role in our civic society through community management, their ability to facilitate cross-cultural understanding and through engaging their community in shaping their future.

(Can is a Turkish name; the ‘C’ is pronounced like the English ‘J’ and the ş pronounced ‘sh)’.

Maree McKenzie has been the CEO at Homes North Community Housing since 2007 and has overseen the transformation of the organisation from a small regional social housing provider managing approximately 150 properties to one now managing over 2,700 properties across the New England and North West of NSW. This growth has been achieved by having a strong strategic vision that enabled Homes North to take advantage of a range of opportunities from mergers to tenders for property management and title transfers.

Most recently Maree has overseen Homes North’s success contributing to the largest project to date in Australia transferring public housing to the Community Housing sector. Homes North successfully bid for the management of 1,700 public housing properties in the New England and North West of NSW and is now implementing an ambitious plan to re-image social housing services in the region.

Previously Maree worked for over 12 years in Government, in a range of areas, from leading Social Housing community renewal projects to managing housing and homelessness front line services.

Maree is committed to the growth and development of strong not-for-profit services within regional areas.

To that end Maree was one of the founding members of the Housing Alliance, a partnership of key regional mid-sized Social Housing providers committed to achieving outcomes for regional communities through joint capacity building, cost-sharing initiatives and joint procurement. Through The Housing Alliance Maree spearheaded, in partnership with a respected UK economist, the development of the Australian Social Value Bank which provides robust financial proxies for over 60 well-being indicators. The “bank” aims to put social outcomes to the fore of return on investment.

Maree has overseen recent property developments for affordable housing in the region and is leading Homes North in partnerships with developers to build innovative housing solutions for Social Housing.

To improve positive outcomes for Social Housing tenants in the region Maree is leading Homes North in developing a separate arm within the Company delivering direct support services to the most vulnerable tenants. This initiative is demonstrating how aligning support more closely to tenancy outcomes brings immediate benefits to the tenant and the organisation.

Maree initiated with our industry peak body in NSW the first independent Tenant Satisfaction Survey, now widely used by the sector.
Maree is a Director, and Deputy Chair, on the Board for the Community Housing Industry Association of NSW and sits on the housing advisory committee for Habitat for Humanity Australia.

Maree works to build the profile of Community Housing through regular local media interviews, strong stakeholder connections and a demonstrated commitment to progressing the overall positive impact of Community Housing in Australia.

Sarah has over 20 years’ experience designing, leading and measuring systems change, peacebuilding and democratic governance initiatives globally and in Australia.

She has worked in and alongside the private and public sector, communities and social purpose organisations to build capability for, progress, and measure and learn from transformative change programs. Sarah brings a solid understanding of the practical opportunities and challenges in building momentum for and embedding policy, practice and power changes across teams, organisations and collaborations.

As Head of Demonstration & Learning Sarah leads CFIs work with partners to demonstrate promising practices in Australia for transformative change, and capture the learning from these.

Sarah is from Port Lincoln, SA, and now lives on Yugambeh/Bundjalung country.

Adam has been part of the community housing industry in Australia for the past twenty years. Adam’s role for CHIA NSW is in developing new services and partnerships, including building the industry’s own benchmarking platform, House Keys, and creating and growing the CHIA NSW resident satisfaction survey service nationally.

Adam’s focus is always on community outcomes, and he is proud of his role in establishing and supporting the Community Housing Tenant Network and of using data to support continuous improvement for residents and communities.

Before moving to Australia, Adam worked for Priority Estates Project; one of the UK’s leading not for profit housing regeneration and community engagement consultancies.  In this role he acted as independent tenant advisor in numerous stock transfers and advised tenant groups in establishing tenant management organisations.

Presentations

Regional Housing Place-Making innovation
Authentic Placemaking

Jo-Anne Kelly is the Partnership lead of Learning the Macleay, Kempsey’s backbone organisation leading the Stronger Places, Stronger People Program.

Jo has experience working in the trauma informed space and family research with a demonstrated history of working with individuals and family services industry. She is skilled in Social Policy, Change Management, Leadership Development, Community Development, Engaging with Government, Culture & Heritage, Building Community Capacity and Program Management.

Jesse Taylor is dedicated to creating practical and inclusive solutions to societal challenges. With 25 years of experience leading place-based, co-design initiatives and reform campaigns across Australia, New York City, and the USA, Jesse excels in building high-performing collaborative teams and driving transformative change.

Kylie Flament is a social enterprise leader and sustainability expert with a background in managing large teams and projects in the corporate, government and not-for-profit sectors. She managed the cardiac department at both children’s hospitals in Sydney before becoming the CEO of Green Connect, a circular economy, fair food and employment social enterprise, for five years. She currently holds multiple positions including CEO of the Social Enterprise Council of NSW & ACT, and an Expert in Residence at the University of Wollongong. Kylie brings valuable knowledge and experience in promoting sustainable business practices and building strong communities through social enterprise.

Youth Futures Theme Convenors

Futures Isle exists to support people, communities and organisations to find the next step on their journey.

We partner with organisations, projects and initiatives that share our values and have meaningful impact. We are facilitators, program managers/developers and consultants.

Most importantly though, we love people and places and want to see them shine.

Talitha ‘Taz’ Devadass

Taz lives and breathes futures. As one of Australia’s first Entrepreneurship Facilitators from 2017-2020, she mentored over 800 people to support them finding potential pathways for empowered futures and is thrilled to see so many participants’ businesses still thriving.

She believes in community development through the sharing of ideas, transfer of skills and relationship-driven collaboration. Taz’s dynamic approach was recognised when she was awarded 2018 ABC Trailblazer, 2018 Foundation for Young Australians: Young Social Pioneer and 2019 Telstra Business Women’s Awards: Emerging Leader Tasmania.

At her core, Taz is the ideas queen; she dreams audacious dreams and questions the status quo to achieve the best outcome, and refuses to settle for anything less.

She has also collected over 350 board games and also makes the best road trip playlists.

Emilee Rigby

Em loves impact. She has a background as a commercial specialist, providing high-level procurement strategy advice during her time at the Department of Defence. This role also saw her travelling (nationally and internationally) to deliver bespoke training courses, resulting in over 1200 commercial and project management professionals trained in contracting methodology. Her determination and facilitation skill in delivering these programs saw her recognised as Leader of the Future at International Association for Contract and Commercial Management’s 2018 Australasia Conference. (She’s still the most proud of being named Deloraine Drama Festival’s Most Promising Actor 2008).

Em’s strategic experience makes her your girl when it comes to implementation; she has the ability to comprehensively plan for successful outcomes, spot problems and logic flaws during concept ideation, and then report on these outcomes. Plus, she loves talking all things contracts!

With a 25-year career in the non-profit and philanthropic sector in consulting, fundraising and
partnerships, and organisation development roles, Natalie is passionate about facilitating effective
and enduring responses to issues facing rural communities.

Since becoming CEO of FRRR in 2015 she has led the organisation through a period of significant
growth and impact, facilitating over $100m in funding to remote, rural, and regional communities
through hundreds of partnerships and collaborations.

Natalie holds a B. Social Science (Public Policy/Research/Public Relations), Grad Dip Applied Science
(Organisation Dynamics), and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
She lives in the small rural town of Maldon in central Victoria.

Jamie is the National Community Impact Manager at Community Housing Limited, Australia’s largest social housing NFP. Responsible for community development, customer engagement and social impact. Jamie has extensive experience in the community housing sector in both Australia and the UK. Developing strategy, community programs, employment and training initiatives as well as re-generation plans for UK Council Estates.

Mary-Anne Scully loves working with and supporting regional people to achieve financial independence. She is an experienced business strategist, educator and communicator.

Mary-Anne grew up on a mixed grazing and cropping property at Coolah in Central West NSW. Now based in Albury Wodonga on the NSW/Victorian border. Mary-Anne led the development of the first regional presence for Global Sisters – an organisation that is about making business possible for women who are excluded from mainstream employment due to their circumstances.

Initially trained as a broadcast journalist, Mary-Anne is adept at identifying and communicating stories and connection points that resonate with people. She later embarked on post graduate studies in environmental management to offer a communication ‘bridge’ between business, science and sustainability.

Sam Daykin (they/them)

Sam Daykin, the 2024 Young Citizen of the Year for Bellingen Shire, is a 21 year old who has called the mid-north coast of NSW home for the past six years. Currently serving as the Sponsorships and Events Coordinator at OzGREEN, Sam has a rich history of working with young people, providing them with unique experiences and opportunities they might not have had access to before.

Sam is dedicated to ensuring that organisations collaborate closely with regional young people, delivering activities that are both meaningful and enjoyable. Through their work, Sam continues to make a significant impact on the community around them, fostering a vibrant and inclusive environment for all.

Lily Kostka (she/her)

Lily, a passionate 20 year old from Bellingen, NSW, currently works for OzGREEN as their Events Coordinator. She is passionate about organising, facilitating, and delivering engaging programs for young people on the Mid North Coast. With extensive experience in her community, Lily excels at creating fun and educational events that inspire young people to explore and nurture the environment around them.