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.

With over 20 years’ experience working at the ABC on programs like Four Corners and Background Briefing, Liz has in-depth knowledge of story telling with purpose and audio production. Since she joined Headline Productions in 2020, Liz has produced their multi award-winning podcast ‘The Long Haul’, Seasons 2 & 3 of ‘We Are Lonely’ for Medibank, and ‘After The Disaster’ for The Red Cross and The University of Melbourne. She is currently working with the Global Institute of Women’s Leadership on Julia Gillard’s ‘A Podcast of One’s Own. Liz lives on Gumbaynggirr land with her family.

Tom Dawkins is a serial social entrepreneur with a passion for using technology and entrepreneurship to build a better world, and supporting others to do likewise.

Tom is the Co-Founder and Chief Impact Officer of LendForGood, a platform that connects social enterprises with impact investors. Their mission is to grow the business for good movement by democratising impact investment, letting everyone invest in their values and unlocking the impact potential in small and emerging businesses globally.

Tom co-founded StartSomeGood, an innovation agency and global social enterprise ecosystem builder, in 2011 while living in San Francisco, and was CEO until March 2024, when StartSomeGood was acquired by General Good. He continues to work with StartSomeGood as Entrepreneur-in-Residence, hosting their accelerator programs and coaching promising founders.

Connect with Tom on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/tomdawkins

Geoff Woolcock is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southern Queensland’s Institute for Resilient Regions, an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast’s School of Social Sciences and an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at Griffith University’s Creative Arts Research Institute (CARI), assisting with the evaluation of Brydie Leigh-Bartlett’s Future Fellowship. His doctoral thesis on the HIV/AIDS activist movement whetted his appetite for meaningful, applied community-based research. His long-standing work with the public, private and not-for-profit sectors concentrates on developing qualitative and quantitative measures of progress and community wellbeing, closely collaborating with local communities in place-based, early intervention/prevention initiatives. Geoff is an experienced social researcher with considerable expertise in social and community service planning and evaluation, including social  and ESG impact assessment and project evaluation, social capital and community capacity building. He has 35 years community-based research experience nationally and internationally, and has co-published over 175 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters and community reports.  He has been an advisor to Communitas Community Development and Social Analysis, spoken at several writers festivals and written regular opinion pieces.

As a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD), he is a board director of the Brisbane Housing Company (since 2009), the Australian National Development Index (ANDI) (since 2012, Chair since 2019), Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership (TQKP) and co-established Logan Child-Friendly Community Ltd in 2012 overseeing the high-profile collective impact initiative, Logan Together. Geoff is also a Research Fellow of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, a member of the Anglicare SQ Research Evaluation and Advocacy Reference Group, and on the Centre for Just Places Advisory Board. As a founder and co-director of Global Talent Tracker, he has worked closely with the Australian Football League (AFL) for over a decade and is a Visiting Professor at Loughborough University’s Institute for Sports Business. He was the Australian member on the executive committee for the Asia-Pacific Child-Friendly Cities Network (2010-2013) and the inaugural Queensland convenor for the Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth (ARACY) from 2013-2014. Geoff is a frequent public speaker and commentator about social and community development using a whole-of-community approach.

Caitlyn Touzell is the General Manager of StartSomeGood, coordinating and co-delivering programs for aspiring social entrepreneurs. Caitlyn has unique experience supporting impact-driven startups and social enterprises across Australia, and is knowledgeable in government, industry and community liaising. Caitlyn additionally works as the General Manager of Boomerang Labs (circular economy startup accelerator) and Rocket Seeder (agrifood startup accelerator).

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!

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

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.

Dr Dimity Podger is Co-founder of Regen Labs, a strategic design and innovation lab on a mission to catalyse local inclusive, regenerative economies across regional Australia that create wellbeing for communities and the planet.

The team does this through support for place-based regenerative enterprises, nurturing regeneration ecosystems in regional communities, and scaling the right finance. For Regen Labs, Dimity leads the Regen Economy Activator Program, is lead convenor for WEAVE Regen Economy Systems Lab, a 12 month place-based innovation collaboration learning community commissioned by Social Enterprise Australia for SEDI, is a core team member for the feasibility study of the Regen Community Investment Fund, supported by Paul Ramsay Foundation, and collaborated with Really Regenerative CIC on a global study commissioned by Joseph Rowntree Foundation to understand how philanthropy can more effectively catalyse Place-based Community-Led Regeneration. She also hosts the zesty Orchard Exchange, a peer learning space for regenerative enterprises from across Australia, and is a thought partner for regenerative enterprise leaders and backbone organisations.

Her work builds on her role as Regenerative Communities portfolio lead with WWF-Australia’s Innovate to Regenerate program supporting action across 30 communities, as well as her experience as a learning designer and facilitator for values-driven business, and as an agricultural economist across regional NSW, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. She lives and works on Dharawal Country, with her family.

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.

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.

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.

Crystal Taylor has spent over 20 years working alongside communities across Australia — from remote communities to regional towns and urban hubs. She brings a breadth of hands-on experience across complementary sectors and is known for a contagious passion for social justice and bringing people together for innovative ideas.

As the National Communities of Focus Lead for Mission Australia, her work supports backbone teams navigating complexity, coaches emerging leaders, and designs approaches to help communities lead their own futures. Specialising in community development, community organising, place-based approaches and deep collaboration, she holds fast to the belief that young people should not only be heard — they should be leading. Whether she’s making a balloon animal as she conducts deep community listening at a BBQ, volunteering in her own local, or leading a system-change initiative, Crystal brings warmth, strategic thinking, and a whole lot of heart to the work of place-based, community-led change.

Crystal’s passion is contagious, rooted in social justice and grounded in the strengths of local people coming together for good. Outside of work, you’ll find her running up trails or jumping off cliffs (with a paraglider, don’t worry) — always chasing adventure, new opportunities and a great sunset picture.

My name is Paul Dutton, I am a Barkindji man from far western NSW, I belong to the Corner Country.

I am the First 2000 Days Programs Manager at Child & Family Wellbeing Hub, Grafton.

“The Hub” works with supporting families with children aged 0 – 5 years of age.

I am a member of the Stolen Generation and grew up in Liverpool, south-western Sydney.

I returned home as a 18 year old where I met many family in Wilcannia and Broken Hill.

I have worked in numerous Federal and State Govt Departments including, Immigration for 10 years, NSW Department of Housing for 2 years, NSW Department of Communities and Justice for 10 years, as well as NSW Link-Up reuniting Stolen Generations families, AbSec (NSW Aboriginal Child, Family and Community Peak Body) and several other NGO agencies in Coffs Harbour and Grafton.

My partner Shelly Phillips and I have six children Merinda working with NSW Legal Aid Senior Solicitor, Manduway working Gumbayngirr Giinagana Freedom School teach , Keeden mining vehicle engineer, Alinta recently NSW Transport Manager, Talara Dept Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation Brisbane and Jara’na, student.

Teresa Bullock-Smith is a highly experienced economist and demographer with expertise in interpreting complex data to support regional development and planning. At REMPLAN, Teresa helps government, industry, and community stakeholders “know their numbers, plan for the future, collaborate deeply, and tell a compelling story with data.”

Her passion lies in transforming detailed demographic and economic insights into clear, actionable strategies. With a strong focus on population and employment forecasting, Teresa supports clients in planning for growth, navigating market shifts, and making confident, evidence-based decisions. She specialises in place-specific insights that address critical regional challenges such as housing affordability, service provision, and job creation.

A firm believer in breaking down silos, Teresa works across economic development, infrastructure, and social services to embed impact and alignment in decision-making processes. She is particularly skilled at turning data into visually compelling, easily digestible narratives that foster stakeholder engagement and drive informed action.

Werner blends leadership development, data, strategy and design to strengthen social impact across rural, regional and remote communities, always asking deeper questions to understand what drives change, and the values underpinning it. With a PhD in Psychology and an academic foundation in human behaviour, he brings a sharp, curious mind to the work of systems change.

At the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, Werner leads impact strategy, designing tools and systems that centre community voices and measure what matters. He has contributed to initiatives ranging from impact evaluation, sense-making, program facilitation, community resilience, First Nations partnerships and participatory governance.

Grounded in principles of transformational leadership and adaptive thinking, Werner’s work champions changemaking that is collaborative, values-led and community-driven. He believes leadership is most powerful when it enables others, especially in the face of complexity and inequality.

Werner serves on the RDA Hume Committee and is a Board Director at Merriwa Industries in Wangaratta, a social enterprise that creates meaningful employment for people with a disability. His approach is anchored in place, guided by purpose, and fuelled by curiosity. He draws strength from the power of nature, spending time hiking, exploring Country, travel, and being with his family.

Jen Parke has worked alongside young people and as a senior manager in a wide range of settings including Juvenile Justice, youth homelessness, counseling, and youth development and leadership. She has a Social Science degree and graduate diplomas in Counselling and Mediation.  She also has a bush regeneration and horticulture background and knows the power of reconnecting with nature to reconnect with yourself. Jen is currently the CEO of Human Nature Adventure Therapy.

Jen is passionate about supporting young people to be heard, and to have meaningful, genuine opportunities for participation in systems and decisions that affect their lives.

Marcus Watson is CEO at BackTrack, and was previously Executive Manager. With a diverse background spanning the engineering and construction industries and the community sector, Marcus is a senior leader in youth training and employment initiatives, and social enterprise. He spearheaded the BackTrack Network to scale the impact of BackTrack’s life changing work, and also established the social enterprise, BackTrack Works, to provide a holistic approach to training and employment opportunities for BackTrack’s young people. He is keenly aware of how entrenched disadvantage makes young people vulnerable to incarceration, substance abuse and homelessness and has built multiple initiatives that operate in the gap between youth work services and the labour market.

Originally from Scotland, Liz now lives, works and plays on Bundjalung country, Northern Rivers NSW. Liz is known globally for her deep expertise in designing and developing systemic leadership with multisector collaborations to address complex adaptive challenges in an increasingly complex world.

Over the past three decades Liz has pioneered practice in systemic and adaptive leadership for equitable and inclusive social change, including firsthand catalysation of systemic change initiatives in Australia and the UK.  Liz is now working alongside place based systemic change collaborations as part of her research as a PhD Candidate at the School of Cybernetics, College of Systems and Society, ANU.  She is researching the systemic leadership required for navigating Polycrises.   Additionally she is Director and founder of The Adaptive Practice, Cofounder and former Director and Chair of Collaboration for Impact (CFI), a leading Australian for purpose intermediary supporting people to collaborate to change the way systems work to create positive social change. There, she advised and supported  hundreds of cross sector leaders in place and issue-based systemic change initiatives; she also co-created the practice of Deep Collaboration, working with First Nations leaders and other Australians on collaboration for racial equity. Her deep practice and expertise was built on foundations as Principal Consultant with Social Leadership Australia, The Benevolent Society.

She has co-authored two books: “The Australian Leadership Paradox: What it takes to lead in the Lucky Country” Allen & Unwin, and the critical thought leadership piece “Lost conversations: Finding new ways for black and white Australians to lead together”.

Liz is aiming to develop her PhD research into a practical resource for change agents working on systemic change.

Elly Bird is the Executive Director of Resilient Lismore, a community-led organisation at the forefront of recovery and resilience efforts in the Northern Rivers following the catastrophic flooding and landslides that impacted the region in 2022. With over two decades of experience in community organising and governance, Elly has played a central role in developing place-based, community-driven recovery models whilst leading the delivery of repairs to more than 700 homes, coordinating thousands of volunteers, and advocating for disaster-affected residents. Her former roles include Lismore City Councillor, Chair of Arts Northern Rivers, and regional coordinator with Gasfield Free Northern Rivers. Elly is deeply committed to the critical need for meaningful partnerships between communities, organisations, and government, and she is a passionate advocate for housing security, climate justice, and community empowerment.

Simon Jankelson is a social entrepreneur, musician, and place-based practitioner dedicated to the power of music and community to drive social and environmental regeneration. He is the founder of The Human Sound Project, a global participatory songwriting initiative that has worked with communities and organisations across six continents—using music to build capacity, foster identity, and strengthen connection and belonging.

Now living, breathing, and singing in Mullumbimby, Simon is a Projects and Partnerships Lead at Seed Northern Rivers, a long-standing backbone organisation supporting over 35 local environmental organisations and initiatives. There, he is helping grow an ecosystem of regenerative leaders and initiatives working toward a thriving, resilient future for the Northern Rivers. His work is grounded in place-based development, collective impact, and regenerative practice.

Simon has performed at TEDx, VIVID Sydney, and Channel 10, and was named one of Asia-Pacific Design Lab’s 40 Under 40 emerging design leaders. His current work sits at the intersection of community, creativity, and systems change—using both song and strategy to help leaders co-create the futures they are called to serve—rooted in purpose, place, and potential.

Di leads Mission Australia’s community services across NSW and the ACT, drawing on extensive experience in both government and NGOs within the social services sector. With two decades in the NSW State Government, Di has influenced policy and program reform in areas including homelessness, housing, Aboriginal policy, employment, reconciliation, and strategy development. She has a strong commitment to social justice and fairness, particularly in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice, and has contributed to early Treaty discussions in NSW. Di’s leadership has driven transformational change, including major reforms in Aboriginal Affairs, social housing, and community care initiatives.

Carmen has a Masters in Applied Science (Social Ecology) and a background in community, not-for-profit and government sectors. She lives in Murwillumbah with her partner and two children, where she leads Imagine Northern Rivers – an exploration of safer, regenerative and adaptive futures and the actions needed to get there. Carmen is working with 28 place-based communities across the region to build a shared understanding of possible futures to activate new ways of living and working. Historically she designed and led It Takes a Town which generated over 28,000 hours of contribution towards the common-good, through a focus on building a culture of trust, generosity and responsiveness. For this work Carmen was awarded the 2021 NSW Woman of the Year for the Lismore Electorate. She is a futurist with a passion for community-led change.

Jane Anderson is the Director, Enable at Partnerships for Local Action and Community Empowerment (PLACE), where she is leading the organisations efforts to develop and implement a national workforce strategy that strengthens the capability and capacity of place-based work across the country.

Jane is committed to enabling equity and addressing social issues within our communities, having worked in the community, government and industry sectors with a focus on place-based engagement and systems change.

She is an experienced leader, with prior roles including an appointment as the Latrobe Health Advocate by the Victorian Minister for Health – providing independent advice to the Victorian Government on behalf of her community; as the regional director of Anglicare Victoria; and as the Director of The Fair Co in Gippsland where she led the pilot of a place-based approach to workforce and community engagement.

Jane lives in regional Victoria where she has a small farm and enjoys life with her partner and spoilt dogs.

My name is Cody Lamberth, and I am a Year 12 student at Clarence Valey Anglican School. I have lived in the Clarence Valley my whole life, growing up in Iluka, moving to Grafton in 2016 and I now live in Lanitza.

I’m interested in cars, watches, motorsport and really anything to do with maths and physics. In the future I want to pursue mechanical engineering at university, hoping to work in the automotive/motorsport industry.

I’m also a member of Grafton Rotary Club and spent 12 months in Japan as a Rotary Youth Exchange student in 2024. Over the course of the year I not only learned the language and the culture, but also how to live in a new environment away from home.

Dr Kim Houghton is an independent economist who has been researching regional economic development issues since 1997, helping hundreds of communities understand the challenges they face and work on solutions. Kim brings a practical ‘bottom up’ approach to economic development, based on nearly 30 years working with small and medium sized businesses, startups, entrepreneurs and business service providers. Kim is well known for his ability to ‘make data make sense’, demystifying data through telling entertaining and meaningful stories. 

Kim’s consulting company, Strategic Economic Solutions, helps communities respond to the economic challenges they face through understandable analysis and tailored small business development support. As well as consulting, Kim was Chief Economist at the Regional Australia Institute and the Council of Small Business Organisations. Kim continues to make voluntary contributions to regional development, and is currently a Director of the Country Universities Centres and Council member of the Australia New Zealand Regional Sciences Association.

Mark is a leading figure in the social enterprise sector in Australia. He has run social enterprises, procured from social enterprises, advocated for social enterprises and provided services to social enterprises.

Mark was a co-founder of Social Traders and an Executive Director for 13 years, leading the development of their social enterprise marketplace. At White Box Enterprises he overseas a range of programs that are designed to pilot new ideas designed to build the jobs focused social enterprise field including payment by outcomes, the Social Enterprise Loan Fund and the Evolve program.

Elise Parups is an experienced senior executive with over a decade of leadership in purpose-driven sectors. She thrives at the intersection of purpose, collaboration, and measurable outcomes, driven by a mission to amplify the quadruple bottom line – culture, society, environment, and impact economies.

Passionate about purposeful impact, place-based regional communities, and the power of networks and partnerships, Elise has held key leadership roles including CEO of the Impact Club and the Queensland Social Enterprise Council, Business Development and Communications Manager at P&Cs Qld.