She is a professor in the Centre for Public Culture and Ideas at Griffith University. She has had a distinguished career in both the media and academia and is the author and editor of numerousl books including Reviving the Fourth Estate (Cambridge) and librettos for the award-winning operas Black River and Going into Shadows. She co-chaired the Creative Stream at the 2020 Summit in April 2008.

Previously she held senior management positions in Australia and North America and consulted on projects in Europe and Asia across business strategy, marketing management and Olympic strategy. Recently she was chosen to participate in the Australia 2020 Summit in the stream "Future of the Australian Economy" . She has been a regular participant of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue and Co Chair of the Young Leadership Dialogue. Recognised in Ad News Magazine "Australia's Top Marketers" and in the 2008 AdNews Power 50 (Advertising, Media and Marketing) ranked No 10. Amanda is a regular industry speaker on brand development, new media and broadband.

Amanda holds a Masters of Science - Management (University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA), Bachelor Human Movement Studies Education (University of Queensland), and Post Graduate Diploma Olympic Studies (International Olympic Academy, Greece).

Recently married to Matthew Pell, Amanda lives in Bondi.

Prior to joining Macquarie Radio Network Limited, Angela was Managing Director of JCDecaux Australia Pty Limited for over six years. She is also a director of Commercial Radio Australia Limited, Digital Radio Broadcasting Australia Pty Limited, JCDecaux Australia Pty Limited and Biennale of Sydney Limited.

Angela holds an honours degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University.

Anna, 24, founded the Australian Youth Climate Coalition in November 2006. The coalition unites a diversity of youth organisations to mobilise a generation of young people to solve the climate crisis. The coalition runs a ‘Switched On Schools’ program as well as undertaking advocacy campaigns such as last year’s ‘Adopt a Politician’. Anna has been involved in youth environment and social justice organising since she was 14.

Anna was elected National Environment Officer for the National Union of Students in 2005 and is past National Convenor of the Australian Student Environment Network. In this role she designed and launched a nation-wide ‘Campus Clean Energy’ campaign across all 37 Australian Universities, based on work she had done as University of Sydney Student Representative Council (SRC) Environment Officer in 2003. So far, the campaign has achieved significant victories in energy reduction targets and renewable energy across Australian Universities. In her role as NUS National Environment Officer, Anna trained and mentored hundreds of new student leaders in environmental and social justice work, running training workshops on campuses across Australia and writing the first ASEN Campus Organising Guide. She instigated the first annual ASEN Summer Training Camp and worked closely with the staff group Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS).

Anna is a former editor of the Sydney University student paper Honi Soit, member of the United Nations Pacific Youth Environment Network, and Sustainability Team Leader for Project Australia. She frequently speaks and write on climate and energy issues at forums including the recent Blue Planet Summit (Hawaii), Vibewire.net’s e-festival of ideas, the This Is Not Art festival, Power Shift 2007 (USA) and the Re-Energize Texas Summit (USA). The highlight of her public speaking career so far was being one of three keynote speakers alongside the Dalai Lama at the Spirituality & Sustainability Forum in Perth’s Burswood Dome in June 2007.

Anna completed a summer clerkship in the climate law practice group of the law firm Baker & McKenzie and continue to research climate law issues as a researcher for Professor Tim Stephens at Sydney University Law School. She is also involved in the newly formed University of Sydney Climate Law and Policy Group. Anna recently graduated from an Arts(Asian Studies)/ Law degree with 1st class honours from the University of Sydney.

Anna was a participant in Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s ‘2020 Summit’ in April this year. In 2005 she was a youth representative to the Kyoto Protocol negotiations in Montreal and in 2007 was a youth delegate to the UN Secretary General’s Meeting on Climate Change in New York. She is a contributing editor to the blog ItsGettingHotinHere.org- Dispatches from the Global Youth Climate Movement, and holds a Global Youth Action Net Fellowship from the International Youth Foundation for 2007-2008. Anna recently returned from seven months in the United States, where she studied at Cornell on exchange, helped build the US youth climate movement with the Energy Action Coalition, and began working with youth from around the world to establish a global youth climate coalition. Anna continues some internationally focused work, and recently spoke in Japan at the G8 Civil Society Forum and to a large audience of Japanese student climate activists. She is a recipient of the Future Summit Leadership award, to be presented by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd this May.

Anna’s most recent project is establishing a green-collar jobs project in the Hunter Valley for low-income young people. She is passionate about building a new, clean energy economy for Australia that rests on good, well-paid jobs in the green economy providing pathways out of poverty for hundreds of thousands of low-income, marginalised and Indigenous Australian youth.

Before joining RA, Barbara was a consultant providing training in public policy development; strategic planning, corporate social responsibility and issues management for government and non-government agencies.

Barbara has held senior management positions across state and federal governments and has been a senior adviser to former Federal Ministers and the Treasurer. Barbara also brings corporate experience as a senior public affairs manager for the peak credit union industry body (CUSCAL) and through her work as a consultant within the banking industry.

She has a strong interest in social justice, Indigenous affairs and community-government relations.

She was at various times W.A Minister for Education and Aboriginal affairs and was the first woman Premier and Treasurer of a State government. She shifted to Federal politics in 1994 when she was elected as the Member for Fremantle and was appointed Minister for Health and Human Services and Minister assisting the Prime Minister on the Status of Women.

She has held various portfolios in Opposition, including Indigenous Affairs, Environment, Industry and Innovation and was elected national President of the Labor Party in 2004. She retired from politics in 2007.

She is now a Professorial Fellow at the University of Western Australia where she is working to establish a centre to undertake research and to facilitate discussion on the processes of persuasion and indoctrination and the factors contributing to the development of fanatical ideas and extreme, including violent, behaviour.

Catherine studied at RMIT in Melbourne, graduating with a degree in social work in 1987. Catherine worked in the Ballarat region after university. Her passion for making life better for young people and their families motivated her to get involved in politics. Catherine’s strong belief is that everyone should have an equal chance in life, no matter where they come from or how much money their parents have - this belief led her to join the ALP when she was in her early twenties.

After gaining experience in the public sector as an assistant director for the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged and then as a director respectively, Catherine entered the private sector as a senior manager at KPMG Consulting.

While working for the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, Catherine completed further study at the Australian National University in 1999 and after working in Canberra and Melbourne she returned to Ballarat and has been active in our local community ever since. Catherine has a strong commitment to education for all Australians, equality and access to health care services, a high quality of aged care, affordable childcare, regional development and the creation of job opportunities for local people and assisting families.

Christine is a leader in the environment movement in Australia and overseas. She was appointed to the United Nations Environment Programme's Global 500 Roll of Honour in 1990 and was elected at the World Conservation Congress in Amman, Jordan, to the Global Council of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and is currently one of four global vice presidents.

She represented the IUCN at the Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention at Montreal, Canada, in December 2005 and at Bali in November 2007. Christine initiated the Senate Inquiry into Australia's future oil supply and alternative transport fuels which was completed in February 2007.

During the June 2008 sitting of Parliament she introduced a Private Members Bill; Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment (Feed-in-Tariff) Bill 2008, a bill to amend the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 to establish a national feed-in-tariff scheme which will provide greater financial support for the commercialisation of a broad range of prospective renewable energy technologies.

In this position Robyn facilitated an investment program totalling in excess of $1 billion AUD in innovative infrastructure projects above the core business of State owned water authorities. These projects will deliver water savings for stressed river systems, economic growth for Victoria, as well as providing opportunities for reuse and recycling in urban environments.

For the past three years, Robyn has managed an extensive government water investment portfolio for the Victorian Government as outlined in the Victorian White Paper “Our Water Our Future” Her areas of responsibility encompassed projects such as restoring Snowy River and Murray River Flows, major recycling projects, innovative urban water projects, irrigation efficiency, desalination and stormwater projects. Robyn was also senior responsible officer for the commencement of construction of the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline, one of the largest water infrastructure projects in Australia. Robyn was a key member of the Victorian team which negotiated the corporatisation of the Snowy Hydro Scheme in 2001 and restoring environment flows to the Snowy River in Australia and has extensive experience in intergovernmental negotiations.

In addition, Robyn was leading the development of the major augmentation options for Melbourne to secure future water supplies before joining KPMG She has a strong reputation for delivery, and innovation in project management and procurement.

During her service, Brigadier Cosson has served in a variety of supply, administrative and logistics appointments in Australia and on operations.

Brigadier Cosson was awarded a Conspicuous Service Cross in 2001 for her service in planning the logistics support to operations in East Timor and for her time as the Chief of Staff of the Peace Monitoring Group in Bougainville.

She was promoted to Brigadier in December 2005 and posted to the position of Director General Regions and Bases, Defence Support Group, responsible for the management of integrated service delivery to Defence bases across Australia.

After assuming the appointment as Acting Head National Operations, Defence Support Group, in March 2007, she was confirmed in the role and appointed on promotion to Major General in November 2007.

Gavin joined Freehills in 1982 and has been a partner since 1988. He has served on the firm’s Board of management and, immediately prior to his current position, he was the firm’s Chief Operating Officer.

Gavin completed his law degree at the University of Sydney and undertook a Master of Business Administration (Executive) at the Australian Graduate School of Management.

He is currently a member of the UNSW School of Business Advisory Council and Freehills’ representative on the Business Council of Australia.

Helen is currently a member of the National Health and Medical Research Licensing Committee, Director of the Adult Migrant Education Services and Director of the Melbourne High School Foundation.

During her four years based in Singapore, Jac worked in a senior regional marketing communications role for IBM as well as Client Services Director for a global advertising agency.

Returning to Australia in 2005, Jac joined ANZ as National Marketing Manager for the Financial Planning area of the business – promoting the benefits of seeking professional financial planning advice from the large network of qualified ANZ Financial Planners. It is in this role Jac can indulge her passion for helping customers – especially women, improve their financial wellbeing and achieve their long term goals.

Jac is a Certified Practising Marketer (CPM), fellow member and State Councillor with the Australian Marketing Institute (AMI) and late last year launched her own lingerie brand, Cheekwear.

Jac’s two greatest achievements are her children Madeleine and Louis – both who keep their Mother fit, firing on all fours and far from ever being able to take herself too seriously!

Mrs. Moylan has held the seat of Pearce since 1993, maintaining her strong majority through six successive elections.

Prior to entering Federal Parliament she owned her own Real Estate Company and took a keen interest in community affairs. Mrs Moylan was President of the Midland & Districts Chamber of Commerce and awarded Business Person of the Year by the Chamber in 1991, she was a Board Member of Whiteman Park, a Member of the Eastern Region Economic Development Committee and Board Member of the Midland Business Incubator. In 1996 Mrs. Moylan was awarded the prestigious Kevin Sullivan Memorial Prize by the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia, for individual excellence and achievement.

Since her election to Parliament Mrs. Moylan has been Shadow Minister for Small Business and Women, Minister for Family Services and Minister for Women.

For over 9 years Mrs Moylan was Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Public Works, a Member of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee and Chair of the Australia/China Parliamentary Friendship Group (leading of many Delegations to China). In addition Mrs. Moylan was Permanent Delegate to the International Parliamentary Union in the last Parliament and in 2000 she established and continues to Chair the Parliamentary Diabetes Support Group. Mrs Moylan is currently the Deputy Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth and member of the Coalition Backbench Economics Committee.

Professional dancer/Financial Planner ... It’s a curious mix, I know. You don’t picture a Financial Planner ballroom dancing anymore than you imagine a ballroom dancer working in a bank! It’s a juxtaposition of the highest order. But that’s been the story of my life. Dancing and finance have been my lifelong passions, and not only have I enjoyed satisfying and rewarding professional careers in both - I’ve somehow managed to enjoy them simultaneously! As a dancer I have won five Australian Ballroom Championships and earned fourth place in the 199? World Championship. I have also been a freelance dance instructor and the proprietor and senior instructor of South Australia’s largest and most successful dance studio and academy. Conversely, as a finance professional I have been a money market dealer, an assistant to a international Foreign Exchange Treasurer, a financial planner, and an ANZ Financial Planning Relationship Manager – the position that I hold and enjoy immensely, today. At times it has been difficult to maintain a balance, but I’ve always found a way. This has probably been made easier by the fact that because I find different pleasures, satisfactions, and stimulation from both, one serves as a welcome and necessary relief from the other. My financial career has also funded the majority of my dancing career, too. Indeed, at times I have poured literally all of my salaries into my dancing necessities – from outfits and shoes to stylists, makeup and airfares, competition dancing is a very costly activity. In fact, I did the sums recently and what I have outlaid on my competitive dancing career would buy me a couple of houses, outright!

I grew up in Adelaide and have been dancing since I was two. Even though I was a conscientious, dedicated and ultimately successful student at school (mathematics was always my favourite subject), I was determined from my earliest years to be a professional dancer. The minute I left school, I dove headfirst into a full time dancing career. Admittedly my family thought I was nuts, particularly when they watched me pouring every cent I had into lavish costumes and shoes, but they appreciated my talent and supported it wholeheartedly nonetheless. I married my dancing partner when I was 21, and shortly after we moved to England to follow our dream of competing in a ballroom world championship. We could have achieved this from Australia, but the hub of international competition at that time was undoubtedly Europe. The cost of living in the UK was extremely high and we didn’t have any significant savings behind us - every single dollar we had went towards our dancing. So, to take the pressure off our extremely tight financial situation, I picked up a position at a large UK finance company, BTR, as the assistant to the Foreign Exchange Treasurer. For two years I worked in finance all day and danced and trained long into the nights. It was tough, but our efforts soon paid off when, in 1982, we successfully qualified for the world championships (held that year in Norway) and exceeded even our own expectations by coming fourth.

Satisfied with our international efforts and growing increasingly homesick, we moved back to Adelaide in 1988 and immediately opened our very own dance studio. Intent on continuing my financial career at the same time, I enrolled in an economics degree and became a money market dealer for the National Bank of Detroit (NBD). This was a great position that broadened my skills base, knowledge and training, but as the dance studio grew, I found myself unable to do both. What had started out as a small studio, where my partner and I instructed small groups of beginners and tutored young competitors, was all of a sudden Adelaide’s largest and highest profile dance academy. From teaching classes after NBD and on weekends, as the business and size of the studio grew I slowly found myself having to run its ever-demanding day to day operations – from payroll and human resources, to marketing, PR and advertising! Whilst it was difficult to leave my finance job at the time, in hindsight it was somewhat of a tremendous bonus because the administrative and professional business skills that I gleaned as a small business owner have stayed with me for life. After all, it’s not easy to run your own business, let alone for five years, unless you understand the intricacies of business, financial, and time management!

In 1993, I sold the dance studio and my home and moved to Melbourne – in search of fresh new challenges and more importantly, greater financial career opportunities. In a complete role reversal my relocation to Melbourne saw me use my dancing skills to support my financial career. I managed to pick up a significant amount of work as a freelance dance instructor (teaching novices, top level performers … even weightlifters!), and having enrolled in a Bachelor of Business and Financial Planning at RMIT, used the money I made to fund my tuition. Having previously worked in several areas of finance, including credit management, foreign exchange, and money markets, the area of financial planning was new and exciting territory for me. I guess part of its initial appeal for me was the fact that it centered upon helping others find solutions to their problems, and that it also involved an educational and instructional element. I loved teaching others to dance, and relished the chance to transfer these skills of tutelage, assistance and patience to a financial domain. My instincts were correct, and my decision was spot on. The very first thing I had to do for my studies at RMIT was create and develop my own financial plan – which was particularly relevant and useful, as well as educational, because I had just sold a business, sold a property, and changed careers! I enjoyed the task from start to finish and from that moment forward, I knew that a career in financial planning was where I belonged. Teaching others to dance and to know their left from their right was one thing, but helping them to secure their futures and to enjoy comfortable lives was another thing all together! It was exactly the challenge I had been looking for.

Upon completion of my studies and armed with my Bachelor in Financial Planning, I quickly secured a job working as a Private Client Manager (PCM) for a dynamic and highly successful boutique planning and advisory group - Western Pacific. Located in the heart of Toorak, Western Pacific handled extremely high-net-worth clients, and as such, taught me the intricate ins and outs of portfolio management, client relations, and professional networking. These things (along with many other skills that I learned at Western Pacific) simply couldn’t be taught in an institution. Upon reflection today, there is little doubt that that’s where I truly learned my trade – on the job, then and there. An extremely enthusiastic and dedicated PCM, I was soon promoted to the position of Financial Planner, and for the next 6.5 years honed my skills, grew my client portfolio, and most importantly: helped as many people as possible solve their financial problems. In 2004, I left Western Pacific and assumed my current role at ANZ – as a Financial Planning Relationship Manager

Just as my time as a planner at Western Pacific taught me a lot, the enjoyment and satisfaction my position at ANZ gives me has in turn been its ultimate reward! The reasons for this are simple. I take great pride in looking after my clients, and ANZ’s philosophy, size and emphasis on customer service enables me to assist them on a much greater scale. Furthermore, my days at ANZ are filled with doing what I love to do most: helping people achieve their financial dreams, and saving them from existing or future nightmares. To top it all off I also love being back in the corporate world!

When all is said and done, I love being a Financial Planner because I get enormous satisfaction out of solving other people’s dilemmas. I always have. When I see a problem, I want to fix it, and as a planner I see lots of them! Over the years I have helped a wonderfully broad social spectrum of clients with their financial management - From elite sports men and women and celebrities, to single middle income earners, divorcees, and family couples … and everything in between. But while the magnitude of these client’s financial difficulties or problems might have differed, my approach to solving them has been, and still is, always the same: cautious, objective, friendly, and helpful.

Lesley was appointed the Managing Director of Sotheby’s Australia in March 2008 and had previously been Director of Heide Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne since 2003 where she oversaw the major redevelopment of the Museum which re-opened in July 2006. Between 1997 and 2000, Lesley was the Director of Arts Victoria where she managed the introduction of many new policy initiatives including projects for the major collecting institutions such as Museum Victoria, the National Gallery of Victoria and the State Library, new professional and artistic development opportunities for contemporary artists and arts organisations as well as a range of marketing initiatives directed at expanding local, international and tourism audiences

Prior to joining Arts Victoria in 1995 as Manager, Industry Development, Research and Information, Alway was Director and CEO of Artbank for four years. She had also previously worked for Sotheby’s Melbourne, in local government cultural management, arts education and has also been a consultant in business planning, and cultural policy to various interstate and federal arts based organisations. She has lectured in post-graduate cultural policy and management at the Victorian College of the Arts and the University of Melbourne.

Her academic qualifications include a BA (Hons) in Fine Arts and B.Ed from the University of Melbourne, and an MBA from Monash University. She has also undertaken further research towards a PhD in cultural policy and governance at Melbourne Business School.

Managing Director of Arrilla - Indigenous Consultants and Services, an Indigenous owned and managed private firm in its 19th year. It provides services and products that help create change, by

• enabling sound partnerships between Indigenous Australians and the wider community by providing more effective ways of working together.
• incorporating Indigenous practices into mainstream business and government environs.

Director of Reconciliation Australia, the national reconciliation foundation whose core objective is to remove the 17-year life expectancy gap between an Indigenous child and a non-indigenous child.

Vice-Chairman and Director of The National Australia Day Council which appoints the national Australian of the Year, Young Australian of the Year, Senior Australian of the Year and Local Hero of the Year. The organisation is also responsible for a national launch designed to offer meaning and focus for Australia Day celebrations across the nation.

Managing Director of Indigenous Film Services, a film, video and multimedia resource and production service. While offering Indigenous presenters and crew, the content ranges from mainstream to Indigenous specific.

Professional Adviser to a range of organisations and identities. This includes several state/commonwealth government agencies, the private sector and individuals such as entertainment entrepreneur, Harry M Miller.

Director 2005 – 2008 (Vice-Chairman 2005 – 2007) of The Fred Hollows Foundation, the world health organisation leading the agenda in unnecessary blindness.

She is the former Victorian chair of Nutrition Australia and Melbourne head of Slow Food. She has worked in some of the worlds best restaurants, presented Master classes and spoken internationally, presented on television. She is currently working on a book titled Nature’s Principle - what’s good for the planet is good for the body and making a documentary film called the Lethal Recipe – the truth about food.

Sherry works with individuals, corporations, government and community groups to turn create people who perform at a higher level that then turns workplaces into higher functioning environments.

Sherry has international clients who hire her to do lifestyle makeovers on top executives and management teams. Her programs focus not only on dietary changes, but changes in thinking which covers areas such as stress, energy, improving quality of life through beliefs and self-talk, and energizing relationships.

Sherry has studied many streams of human nutrition health & behavioural science and food for over 20 years developing unique perspective on why eating and thinking well is so vital to our productivity and happiness. Her programs see an average of 26% increase in energy levels after just 8 weeks largely due to a refreshing approach that is designed to demystify the health and wellness maze and inspire people to take control of their own health.

“As a chef I want to make sure my food nourishes the body as well as pleasing the palate and as a nutritionist I insure that the vital food I serve tastes delicious. It is a myth you can’t have both.”
Sherry Strong

It was the first privately owned company in Vietnam facilitating foreign investment and developed clients such as ANZ, Phillip Morris, Coca Cola, IBM and Citibank. After graduating with her MBA, joined ANZ Investment Bank in 1996 in Singapore to help set up the investment bank business in Asia for 10 years. To be in charge of various functions including director of project finance for oil and gas, and subsequently managed the resources business for the whole of Asia. In November 2005, to be appointed Country CEO of ANZ Vietnam, is now managing the full banking operations for Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City branches and the representative office in Can Tho city with 160 staff country-wide.

An ASX-150 company, Pacific Brands is best known for some of its leading brands which include Berlei, Bonds, Clark’s, Hard Yakka, Hush Puppies, Holeproof, Sheridan and Tontine. It has a workforce of over 9,000 people and generates close to $2 billion in sales annually.

Prior to her appointment as CEO in 2008, Sue was Group General Manager for Underwear & Hosiery at Pacific Brands, the largest operating group within the business.

She joined Pacific Brands in 1996 as General Manager of Tontine – the first female GM within the business – before taking on the role of General Manager of Bonds in 1999. Her strengths are in marketing and brands, and under her leadership, the team at Bonds relaunched the icon brand, more than doubling sales. Bonds is now one of the Top 10 most recognised brands in Australia.

Sue’s working life commenced in school teaching before moving to run a number of family businesses. From there she worked in marketing roles within a number of large food and fashion companies.

As well as managing her professional career, with the help of her husband Barry of 30 years, she also enjoys time spent with her family, Rachael, Melissa and Jack.

She was the first elected female member of the Freehills national board and has line management responsibilities for the firm’s commercial litigation groups in Sydney and Brisbane.

She is committed to increasing the roles and profile of women in business, both at Freehills as chair of the Women @ Freehills steering committee and more widely by active engagement in the debates about the continuing low representation of women in senior roles in business and the professions.

Rebecca is a part time partner at Freehills. She chaired the trustee for MLC/NAB public offer superannuation funds for many years, is currently a member of PHIAC - the prudential regulator for private health insurance and has been actively involved in a range of not for profit organisations, as a board member and volunteer. She is married with two teenage children.

Avril’s career has spanned senior roles in Finance, IT, Project Management, Change Management and HR. In 2003, she set up her own business, focusing on Public Speaking, Consulting and Executive Coaching in the areas of Leadership, People and Performance strategies.

In 2006, Avril won the Lifetime Achievement in HR Award at the Australian Human Resources Awards, and in 2002, was a finalist for Best HR Director. In 2005 Avril was a finalist in the Sydney Business Review Business Woman of the Year.

In 2006, Avril completed a Ministerial Review into recruitment and retention practices in the Australian Army, Navy and Air Force. Following the review, she was appointed to the Navy Workforce Planning Committee.

Avril is the author of “Leadership Revelations: An Australian Perspective”, “The Who What When and Y of Generation whY?”, and has written a chapter on Generational Leadership in the book “Ideas, Original Perspectives from Leading Thinkers”. She is featured in the newly released book “Secrets Exposed of Inspiring Leaders”. Her latest book, due for release in October 2007, is titled “Inspiring Tomorrow’s Leaders Today: Breaking Down Generational Barriers At Work”.

Megan Davis is Director, Indigenous Law Centre and Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law. Megan`s scholarship involves critical analysis of Indigenous public law issues in particular constitutional reform and democratic theory and governance. Megan`s research also includes Indigenous peoples rights in international law, in particular UN treaty body jurisprudence and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and she is also an Australian member of the International Law Association’s Indigenous Rights Committee.

Megan's previous positions include Director, Bill of Rights project, G + T Centre of Public Law; Senior Research Fellow, Jumbunna, UTS and Legal Counsel, Administrative, Legislation and Corporate Law Section, Legal Branch, ATSIC. Megan has held a UN Indigenous Fellowship, UNOHCHR, Geneva and has participated for a decade in UN expert seminars and working groups as an Indigenous lawyer. Megan is an admitted Legal Practitioner of the Supreme Court of the A.C.T.

Megan is completing her PhD (Law) at the Regulatory Institutions Network, ANU examining Aboriginal women and democracy.

Katherine has wide experience in the not-for-profit sector, having been a board and committee member of several Sydney-based charities. In this capacity, Katherine helped to establish the Young Garvan Committee to raise funds and awareness of the Garvan Institute for Medical Research. She currently sits on the Foundation Board of NIDA, the NIDA Gala Committee, the SAD Kids Charity and is an ambassador for MOVE for Aids.

Katherine was recently awarded a Churchill Fellowship in recognition of her work in the area of philanthropy. She has published a paper titled "The National Governance of the Non-Profit Sector."

Katherine currently runs a Government relations and investment consultancy in Sydney, consulting to a number of major ASX listed companies, industry associations and non-for-profit organisations. She is a director of Keating Consulting Pty Ltd. She is also a director of GoFundriase, an online organisation that raises funds for Australian based charities.

Katherine holds an honours degree in Philosophy and Politics from the University of New South Wales.

For the past ten years she has worked in the heath retreat industry in a variety of key roles and has seen the concept of a health holiday dramatically increase in popularity during this time. “More often now people are seeking lifestyle solutions and a place to restore their energy and refocus their priorities” said Ms Kolkka. As General Manager of Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat, located in Queensland’s Gold Coast hinterland, Sharon is fulfilling her goal of creating a new and unique lifestyle retreat. Gwinganna opened in March 2006 and offers nine different program options for 2007.

Sharon has over 25 years experience in the fitness industry and has presented workshops and seminars across Australia, New Zealand, UK, Europe and Asia at conferences and conventions. Her sessions are regarded as informative, inspiring and fun and range from practical activity sessions such as visualization, tribal dance and stretch to theory based seminars on lifestyle balance, stress management and womens health.

Sharon’s previous roles have included Program Director, Spa Manager, Personal Trainer and Health Club Manager. These positions have centred around teaching and advising both staff and guests how to achieve a better lifestyle. Sharon’s focus is in the key areas of Women’s Health, and Lifestyle and Stress Management. Her role at Gwinganna incorporates development of the various programs on offer, key activities and seminars for guests, overall management of the retreat, business development and presenting at special events. Sharon is the recipient of many awards, author of countless articles and is regularly quoted in the media as an authority on health and wellness.

Advising thousands of people from all walks of life, her inspirational yet practical words are highly sought after and are both motivating and informative.

Determined to be taken seriously and to make a real contribution, Joy challenged assumptions about what women can do by forging a successful career as a detective and later specialising in the areas of sexual assault, child abuse and family violence investigations. Joy has throughout her career been visionary and continually challenged culture and practices which she saw as being out of step with the rest of society and what was fundamentally wrong in policing. Joy has been and remains an activist and agent for reform regarding policing responses to family and intimate partner violence. Joy has also been an active supporter of men and women in policing who do not conform to stereotypes. In addition to informal mentoring throughout her career, Joy has played a leading role in establishing formal support mechanisms and fighting discrimination in the workplace.

Committee's

• Past member of Board of Management of the Women's Domestic Violence Crisis Service.
• Victorian Gay and Lesbian Police Employee's Network.
• Nillumbik Women's Network.
• Banyule and Nillumbik Family Violence Network.

Career Highlights

• 1974 first ever female D24 operator.
• 1975 one of the first women to be appointed to the then Criminal Investigation Branch, to provide a specialist investigation response to victims of rape.
• Body guard to Lady Stella Chan during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Melbourne in 1981.
• 1987 one of the first women ever to be appointed 'In Charge' of a Crime Squad. (Still very much a male dominated area of policing)
• In 1988 the only woman selected to attend the Federal Bureau of Investigation forum on 'Psychological Profiling'.
• Sexual Offences & Child Abuse Unit and Diamond Creek Sexual Offences & Child Abuse Unit.
• 23rd June, 2008 assigned to the Crime Department, Sexual Offences & Child Abuse Coordination Office, to assist with the implementation of a specialist multi disciplinary investigation response to sexual assault that will be the envy of law enforcement agencies around the world.

Awards

• 5th March 1981 commended for initiative, persistence and devotion to duty over a lengthy period during an investigation which resulted in the apprehension and conviction of a violent offender on 35 charges of rape and associated crimes of violence.
• 4th June, 1987 commended for initiative and dedication which enabled funds to be raise to send a 4 year old boy, Haydn Myers to the United States for a life saving operation. 1993 Awarded the National Medal for long service and good conduct.
• 26th January, 1995 received an Australia Day Award from Federal Member in recognition of my long standing policing contribution to the local community.
• 1997 Awarded the Police Service Medal for diligent and ethical service.
• 7th May, 2007 received the "Wise & Wild Award" from Danielle Green MP for my work on the police approach to family violence issues. 'Wise' for wisdom, 'Wild' for willingness to lead and take risks.
• 28th August 2007 Awarded by the Australasian Council of Women and Policing "Most Outstanding Female Leader" for 2007.
• 9th October, 2007 Awarded recognition as a member of 'Same Same 25', the inaugural celebration of the 25 Most Influential Gay and Lesbian Australians in 2007.
• 17th March 2008 Celebrated as one of Nillumbik's extraordinary local women who have made a significant contribution to the community.
• 9th June 2008 Received the Australia Police Medal for 'distinguished service'.

Prior to joining MTAA Ms Trimmer practised as a commercial partner of a major Australian law firm.

During her legal career Ms Trimmer held leadership roles with the Law Council of Australia (the peak body representing lawyers where she was President from 2000-2001), and the Licensing Executives Society of ANZ, the body representing interests in technology licensing and commercialisation.

Ms Trimmer is currently Chairman of the Australian Government’s Advisory Council on Intellectual Property and Chair of the Advisory Board for the Centre of Excellence in Vision Sciences at the Australian National University. Until June 2008 Ms Trimmer was Deputy Chancellor of the University of Canberra.

Ms Trimmer was recently a participant in the Health Stream at the 2020 Summit. In 2003 she was awarded a Centenary Medal for Services to Law and Society.

Prior to establishing Hattonneale earlier this year with Jane Neale, former Managing Director of George Patterson, Anne spent 14 years in the recruitment and HR industry, the last 5 years as CEO for Hudson, Australia and NZ. Anne’s experience in leading change processes resulted in 4 successive years of record profit growth at Hudson.

Anne has significant client acquisition and development experience with national blue chip companies, government and small/medium growth organizations. Anne commenced her career in the banking sector, specialising in corporate and international banking.

These include: Huntly and Willowdale bauxite mines, and Kwinana, Pinjarra, and Wagerup alumina refineries in Western Australia; Anglesea Power Station, and the Point Henry and Portland smelters in Victoria. Additionally, he is responsible for best practice knowledge sharing and equipment/technology development for Alcoa’s global refining and mining system. Alan is also a Vice President of Alcoa Inc.

From December, 2004, Alan was President, Global Manufacturing for Alcoa’s Global Primary Products group based in New York. In this role, he was responsible for Manufacturing in Alcoa’s Global Primary Products. This included mining, smelting and refining operations in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Australia, Surinam, Europe and Jamaica. He also served as chair of Alcoa’s Employee Relations Council in the US.

Alan began his Alcoa career in Western Australia after graduating in 1980 from the University of Western Australia with an honours degree in Civil Engineering. He worked in the Alcoa Bauxite Mining Group and the Western Australian alumina refining system in various engineering, business analysis, planning and managerial positions from 1981-1997. He was appointed Pinjarra Alumina Refinery location manager in 1998.

In 2001, Alan moved to the US to become location manager of Alcoa's Point Comfort, Texas, alumina and chemicals complex. In 2003, he moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, as President of Primary Metals, USA. His job was expanded to President Primary Metals North America in 2004, with direct responsibility for locations in the U.S. and Canada as well as the coordination of Alcoa’s worldwide smelting facilities.

Alan has led community employment initiatives in the Peel Region in Western Australia and been on various advisory committees focused on jobs development in Australia and the US.

Alan lives in Mandurah, Western Australia. His interests include bridge, travel, theatre, four-wheel-driving and sport. Alan played 115 games for Swan Districts Football Club in the Western Australian Football League from 1976 – 1983. He is married to Jenny and has four children.

Whilst at LNA, Kirrily immersed herself in beer education, through a combination of hands on experience and study, completing a number of sensory certificate courses and the Brewing and Malting course at Ballarat University. She has always had an enormous passion for the category and industry.

Today, Kirrily as The Beer Diva is dedicated to bringing great beers to modern dining through private, corporate and public events. She also facilitates beer masterclasses, provides staff training and works with chefs who share in her passion! Kirrily has been invited as a guest beer judge for the Australian Beer Festival and will be appearing at 'meet-the-brewer' sessions for a number of upcoming beer festivals.

All combine good times and great fun with beer sophistication designed to heighten the enjoyment of this wonderful beverage and awaken a thirst for more!

After beginning her career as a journalist in the UK and Bermuda, Pamela came to Australia in 1980 and began work as a political adviser to State and Federal Labor Ministers, including Federal Minister for Community Services and Health, Neal Blewett, and Federal Minister for Communications, Michael Lee.

She began the corporate phase of her career as Executive General Manager of Corporate Affairs at Ansett Australia (1996-2000), and subsequently held executive leadership roles at the National Australia Bank (2000-01) and Coles Myer Ltd.

As Group General Manager of Corporate Affairs at Coles Myer, Pamela was responsible for Investor Relations, Media Relations, Government and Regulatory Relations, Internal Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility.

Pamela is now Deputy Chairman of Tourism Victoria and a Director of Racing Victoria Limited and Circus Oz.

She also mentors individuals and teams to help them achieve their full potential.

Great great great grand daughter of Wurundjeri Gunung-william-balluk Poers-roen-gy & Barla.

Great great great grand daughter of Wurundjeri balluk Bebjan (d. 1835) & Tootoorie (d. 1850s).

Great grand daughter of Wurundjeri balluk Ann Borate (d. 1870) & Kurnai Andrew Pondy Yaweet (Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve)

Grand daughter of Wurundjeri Robert (d. 1908) & Jeminma (d. 1944) Wandoon (Wandin) (Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve)

Daughter of James Henry (d. 1956) & Olive (d.2006) Waldin.

Sister to Jim Wandin Jnr (d. 2006), Bill Wandin (d. 1963), Edward Wandin (d. 2008) Isobel Wandin (d. 1942), John Wandin (d. 1943), Joy Murphy Wandin, (Doreen), Allan Wandin, Norman Wandin.

Mother to five sons, George, Tony, Jason, Shannon and Wade.

First nations family; Native Title claimants.

Janice Sarre Smiths' lifetime of work as a consulting Naturopath is the foundation of the JANESCE valued knowledge on skin health and nutrition .Her unwavering belief in the healing and balancing power of plants has not changed since she began consulting in 1968.

The Janesce belief is that to feed your skin with good nutrition from the outside is as important as feeding your body with good nutrition from the inside. This has been proven many times at Janesce as clients see amazing results with their skin health after following simple programs to support internal health, while soothing and healing with beautiful Janesce skin care from the outside.

At Janesce we believe in the power of plants in their purest form to heal, nurture, and support our whole being and through this celebrate the good that it brings to all.

Companies who have 'enjoyed her charm and wit' include Australian Breast Cancer Foundation, Women In Business, Aust Directors Guild, Australia Day Council, Compaq, E-women Enterprises, Media Entertainment Arts Alliance NSW and VIC, IF Awards, National Gallery of Victoria, Siemens, STA, The Royal Women’s Hospital, Women for Challenge VIC and ORYGEN Youth Health.

In the past, Julia has been a regular panellist and debater for Good News Week (ABC TV) and was as a performer/writer on the sketch comedy show Totally Full Frontal, playing over 30 characters during 2 seasons. Recent comedy work includes the Bosnian host, Bronya in Eurobeat - The Eurovision Musical, and Sally-Anne De Finklestein in Spontaneous Broadway (Burberry Productions). Other TV credits include Ten's hit show Thank God You're Here, It Takes 2 and co-hosting What a Year with Bert Newton. Earlier this year, Julia made her debut with the MTC as Joan in LOVE SONG. On Radio, she can be heard on The Jonathan Coleman Experience with Julia Zemiro daily between 5pm and 7pm.

Testimonials include:

"Just wanted to let you know how wonderful Julia was last night. The IKEA team absolutely loved her and thought that she was the perfect 'host' for the launch. We also had heaps of positive comments from the media and other guests about Julia's unique humour, charm and professionalism. Everyone had a great time, and Julia played a major part in making the IKEA Catalogue launch a great success, so please thank her again"
Entwistle Public Relations

Photo: Kim Tonelli

Peta's foray into sparkling winemaking that ignited this passion began in 2000 when, as part of the Vasse Felix winemaking team, she liqueured her first sparkling wine.

Following her time at Vasse Felix, Peta joined the winemaking team at the renowned Domaine Chandon in the Yarra Valley under chief winemaker Neville Rowe for two years.

Internationally, Peta's experience includes such prestigious wineries as La Crema in Sonoma County, California; Rippon in Central Otago, NZ and the home of sparkling wine, at Bollinger in Champagne.

In 2005 Peta was the deserving recipient of the Graham Thorpe Memorial Scholarship for the Best Sparkling Wine at the Royal Sydney Wine Show, enabling her to complete her vintage with Bollinger in Champagne, France. Peta was also one of five finalists, and the only state finalist, from South Australia in the Professional section of the 2006 Vin de Champagne Award, awarded by the Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne.

Peta's aspirations are to further learn about the art form which is Champagne making, as well as other sparkling winemaking techniques from both New and Old World countries, and continue to master Sparkling winemaking with Australian cool climate fruit.

In her spare time, Peta has a great interest in European cultures, having recently travelled to the Piemonte wine region in the north of Italy and enjoys exploring new places and trying new cuisines. At any opportunity she enjoys conversing about the finer points of fizz making and the intrigue of wine in general.