Laura is SIMNA’s Executive Officer. SIMNA (Social Impact Measurement Network Australia) exists to rapidly connect the ideas, people and resources that will drive positive social and environmental impact into the core of organisations and decisions. She works with SIMNA’s members, partners and volunteers to build a powerful community of practice that can lead and shape the development of social impact measurement.  

Her background is in strategy, events and marketing and she loves connecting and collaborating with fellow changemakers who are working to bring about positive change. Working in the social impact space globally for the past two decades, Laura keeps finding herself coming back to the same two questions: what problem are we trying to solve and how do we know that we’re actually making a difference? 

Dr Cressida Gaukroger is a writer, philosopher, and Lead of the Wellbeing Government Initiative at the Centre for Policy Development (CPD). The initiative is focused on working with Australian governments at all levels to put wellbeing at the heart of government decision-making.

She regularly writes op-ed pieces for Australian media, appears on national radio, and writes children’s books.

John O’Mahony is a Partner at Deloitte Access Economics, specialising in the impact of the creative sector.

He is the lead-author of three studies estimating the economic and social impact of the Sydney Opera House. Previously, John served as a Senior Economic Adviser to two Prime Ministers of Australia and was a journalist at the Australian Financial Review.

Sarah Firth is an artist, writer, cartoonist, graphic recorder, and animator, originally trained as a classic sculptor. 

Her debut graphic novel, Eventually Everything Connects, was listed as The Age’s Non-Fiction Pick of The Week, ALIA’s Notable Graphic Novels of 2023, and one of The Best Graphic Novels Ever by Refinery 29.

Pat Grant is a comics maker, writer and designer from the Illawara in NSW. He is the Author of two graphic novels, Blue (2012) and The Grot (2020). Pat works as a lecturer in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Technology Sydney on Gadigal Country. He is also co-founder of Comic Art Workshop, a project development retreat for graphic storytellers which has helped to incubate Australian graphic novels since 2015.

Kira Day has extensive experience in the not-for-profit sector, working with organisations and individuals to understand the power of business to drive positive impact in our economy and society.

As Policy and Advocacy Manager, Kira leads the development of B Lab Australia & Aotearoa New Zealand’s policy platform and advocacy strategy.

Jane O’Brien is a practitioner and co-creator of the future of healthy and meaningful work and community.

She brings great authenticity to her work designing and hosting regenerative and transformative spaces, and a deep commitment to practising this in her work and all relationships.

Mel Geltch is a passionate and skilled collaborative process designer and host, immersed in creating the kind of workplaces, communities and systems we dream of.

She is committed to the socio-ecological transition, working with courageous organisations and people that share her belief that our shared future depends on us working together like never before, for all life.

Dr. Renu is a highly intuitive and skilled executive coach and workshop facilitator who has worked with private, public and for purpose sectors across Australia.

She loves holding space for the inner and outer work of leadership to make the invisible visible and for the unspoken to be spoken for the well-being of all.

In her time at Next25, Chloë has managed the programs team and overseen both the ‘think’ and ‘do’ initiatives of the organisation.

She brings over a decade of experience in prorgam design, delivery, communications, and evaluation to this year’s Social Impact Summit.

Dr Georgie McClean oversees sector engagement, research and professional development and digital culture strategies.

She looks for opportunities to extend the public value of the cultural and creative industries with new partners in new ways.   

Jon Blackburn brings iconic perspective to the program as Executive Director, Corporate Services & Chief Financial Officer at the Sydney Opera House.

Jon has a core understanding of the value that social impact brings across businesses small and large.

Melissa practices engaged scholarship on social impact and sustainability. Her research explores sustainable development and stakeholder capitalism, circular economy, ESG disclosures, and blended finance. She has conducted collaborative research with social economy organisations, businesses, and government, publishing outcomes in professional and academic journals.  

An award-winning educator, she designed innovative, experiential curricula embedding sustainability into business and leadership programs, demonstrating her passion for upskilling purpose-driven and inclusive changemakers. She serves as the Australian Business Dean Council’s Inaugural Climate Action Fellow, leading a national impact plan across 38 member schools’ education, research, and operations. 

Dr. Karina Davis has worked for equity and social change across her career in education and employment and has led various teams across significant transformational organisational, policy and/or management change.   

Karina was the first in her family to finish high school. Understanding the impact of disadvantage inspired Karina to pursue a career in social change, and she has spent over a decade developing innovative educational and training programs to make the system more inclusive. 

She has held executive and/or senior roles including as Executive Director, Education at Monash College; Executive Director, Programs and Educational Leadership at Melbourne Polytechnic; and a Research Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Melbourne.  Across her career experience, Karina has focused on big picture strategic and transformational change with a commitment to help create environments where all can achieve and succeed.  

Karina is currently the CEO of Jobsbank, an independent for purpose organisation based in Naarm (Melbourne), helping employers reach their diversity, inclusion, and social procurement goals. Jobsbank aims to achieve results that are sustainable in the long term. In every project her team identifies the social issues as well as the business opportunities and works on both levels to deliver positive social impact and commercial results.  

Kate Graham is the CEO of Gippsland Women’s Health. Kate’s career has focused primarily on health, social services, social justice, equality, and diversity. Kate has worked within community health, social services, and acute health for over 40 years.

Over the years, Kate has consolidated and enhanced her executive leadership skills with a focus on improving organisational governance, cultivating partnerships, and utilising her roles and privilege to generate opportunities that benefit rural and regional communities. 

Louis Mokak is a Djugun man from the West Kimberley who has a background in architecture, design and systems change.

He is a Director at First Nations Futures, a new economic justice organisation building systems to redistribute wealth and power to First Nations communities. He also is a Senior Designer at Blaklash, and Member of the First Nations Advisory Committee at the Australian Institute of Architects. 

Ingrid Burkett is Professor and Director of Griffith Centre for Systems Innovation. Ingrid is a social innovator, a maker, a big picture thinker. She draws experience from fields as diverse as finance, social work and design into a focus on systems innovation.

Ingrid has a passion for innovating the ‘boring’ – underlying civic and institutional capabilities and infrastructures to enable society to co-create positive futures. Her research and work have contributed to the design of policy and processes across many fields including procurement and impact investment.  

Dr. Katherine Trebeck is a political economist, writer, and advocate for economic system change. Her roles include writer-at-large at the University of Edinburgh, Economic Change Lead for The Next Economy, and Strategic Advisor for the Centre of Policy Development.

Katherine co-founded the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEA) and instigated the group of Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo).

Jen Simpson is Managing Director of All the Best To You (ABTY) Venture and Advisory, focused on creating wealth and societal value impact.

She’s built an award-winning, 20-years career as Board, CEO, CTO/CIO, senior Product, Commercial, Customer & Operations leader in distinguished for-profit and for-purpose organisations. 

Arti is the CEO and Founder of a Vividhata Pty Ltd a diversity and inclusion consulting company. “Vividhata” means diversity in Sanskrit and is a certified Social Trader organisation. The company epitomises her vision to globally advance social and economic justice by embedding the value of diversity and inclusion in business and organisations.  

 In setting up Vividhata, Arti is guided by her lived intersectional experiences of being a female immigrant, person of colour, Physicist and an out lesbian. 

 Arti has won numerous awards for her work on diversity and inclusion. Arti’s work experience history reflects her passions: she was the Director of Inclusion, Diversity and Involvement at Anthony Nolan Trust, a blood cancer charity and before that was Director of Women in Engineering at UTS. 

Tom Dawkins brings to the Summit a skillset which allows social entrepreneurs to develop the skills they need to successfully launch and run their own impact businesses.

As CEO of StartSomeGood, Tom works to provide fundraising and community infrastructure for social entrepreneurs, as well as designing and delivering impact accelerators and capacity-building programs. 

Hanna Ebeling works with purpose-driven organisations on capital solutions and capability uplift to suit their needs, helping to build organisational resilience.

As the CEO at SEFA, Hanna brings a global practice lens through her diverse experience that ranges from traditional banking to venture philanthropy. 

Nicholas is a procurement and supply chain professional with 11 years’ experience focused on metals and mining, industrial gases and energy projects. He has experience and technical skills in remote site supply chain development, procurement project management, and negotiation with state and local government.

He has supported multiple feasibility studies for brownfield and greenfield mining operations projects with contract negotiation, supply chain reviews, project costings, and logistics support.

Prior to joining Corio, Nicholas worked in procurement, strategy and mergers and acquisitions roles with BHP, MMG Mining, International Airlines Group (UK), Newcrest Mining, and Air Liquide SA. He is a qualified lawyer.

Emma Watton is a globally experienced brand and purpose strategist who has committed the rest of her professional life to only working with organisations who are prepared to face their relationship with society.

She believes in creating better business for a better world and is the strategist for Shared Value Project. 

Tara is passionate about seeing more businesses embed purpose and drive more social value in our communities.

As the CEO of Social Traders, she brings a wealth of international experience across social enterprise, social innovation and for-purpose intermediaries – to help create a thriving social enterprise sector that delivers a more inclusive and sustainable economy in Australia.

Dr. Chad Renado, a Research Fellow at The Rural Economies Centre of Excellence at USQ, will delve into his research on entrepreneurship policy and practice.

He will share how he works with various stakeholders to measure the long-term impact of their innovation investment and helps regions connect entrepreneurial activity to community resilience. 

Wendy is a social worker by background and worked in that capacity for many years with young people and women who were homeless and had complex lives.  She subsequently gained a second degree in Social Sciences.   

She is passionate about driving systems change and demonstrating impact and has driven this focus in her many years working in leadership roles across community sector, policy and advocacy organisations and public service sectors at State and Commonwealth Government levels. 

Wendy is currently Head of Policy, Programs and Strategy with The Smith Family where she has responsibility for program design, implementation support and data and digital transformation as part of her broad portfolio.  Prior to joining The Smith Family she held a number of leadership roles across a variety of policy and program areas in the Australian Government. 

Alison Michalk is the CEO & Founder of Quiip, a company with a mission to “connect, protect and support people and organisations online.” Quiip delivers round-the-clock services in social media and online community management.

In 2020, her alma mater Charles Sturt University awarded her Alumni of the Year, naming her an “ethical business activist.” The female led company is carbon-positive, and actively leading emission-reduction strategies tailored to its remote-based workforce. 

Kerry Grace is a skilled communicator who generates impact through brokering solutions between community, business, and government. She founded her business, Evolve Group Network, in 2004.

Kerry is currently working on facilitating conversations focused on regional communities, developing the annual national conference, Social Impact in the Regions and delivering the Ready Community initiative with her co-founder in Kempsey, NSW.

John is a senior leader with CEO/Director level experience across the charity, education, government and banking sectors. Before joining System 2, he was Director of the Social Mobility Commission, where he led a team of 20 within the U.K. Cabinet Office carrying out research and promoting social mobility.

From 2016-2022, John was CEO of upReach, a social mobility charity that supports students from disadvantaged backgrounds to secure professional jobs. During his tenure as CEO, upReach received a Queens Award for Enterprise for Promoting Opportunity, and twice won national Charity of the Year awards. Previously, after graduating with an MA in Economics from the University of Cambridge, John worked in investment banking for 11 years and as a teacher.

Nick is an experienced community development practitioner with over ten years’ experience working with diverse communities across Australia in government, tertiary, and non-profit sectors. He is passionate about participatory and asset-based community development practice that moves beyond traditional consultation models.

Bringing experience in in collaborative processes and complex systems change frameworks, Nick is a firm believer in centring lived experience to co-design and implement interventions to complex social and environmental issues. His diverse experience has shaped his view of what it means to work with community in a reciprocal, two-way learning relationship and he has built a strong practice that fosters community-driven solutions.

Molly Kendall collaborates with inspiring co-operatives daily, advocating for democratic governance in her role as Communications & Business Development Officer at The Co-op Federation.

She spent seven years as Coordinator of Resource Work Cooperative in Hobart, fuelling her passion for worker ownership as a means of empowerment of creating secure employment in marginalised communities. 

Tania is a community leader, social housing resident-activist, and senior’s rights advocate. Originally from Aotearoa (New Zealand), Tania moved to Sydney as teenager and has been a tireless force for good in her community ever since. With a diverse career spanning hospitality, sales, and steel manufacturing, Tania brings a wealth of skills and a passion for community to bear in creating positive change.

Tania was instrumental in creating the Social Housing Women’s Forum that promoted women’s health services and legal advice, as well as instigating programs during Covid targeting social isolation among seniors. She is a critical voice for tenant’s rights in her neighbourhood and has forged strong partnerships between community, housing providers, and services. Most recently she has been involved in a partnership with Glebe Youth Service targeting food insecurity by providing food hampers and teaching cooking classes 

Dr. Martin Farley is a micro-economist specialising in the systemic performance and productivity of places, industry, policy/programs, and enterprises.

He has a keen eye for how these fit into society and markets, how they operate, and how they contribute to balanced environmental, social, and economic outcomes.

Gavin Findlay is the CEO of the New Zealand Food Network and brings with him a background spanning the travel, aviation, and business sectors.

As a former Officer in the Royal Air Force (based in the UK), Gavin gained firsthand experience engaging with vulnerable communities worldwide. 

Toby is the Principal at Tomorrow Together. He is charismatic, passionate and committed to tackling the wicked problems that impact individuals, families and communities.

For two decades he has been working within and consulting in business, public health, not-for-profit and social impact settings. Covering a range of roles across Boards, leadership, governance, strategy, innovation, investment and implementation. Toby’s collaborative and personable approach helps demystify social impact, sustainability and ESG.

Jodie is a seasoned arts management professional with a proven track record in cultivating purpose-driven organisations. She is a passionate believer in the transformative power of stories and their ability to bring communities together, bridge divides, and most importantly, resonate with audiences to drive positive change.

She is currently the CEO of Milk Crate Theatre, a leading Australian arts organisation working at the intersection of arts, homelessness, mental health, and disability. Jodie holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney and was a Fellow in the prestigious Social Impact Hub 2023 Fellowship.

Jen Rae (PhD) is an award-winning artist-researcher of Canadian Scottish-Métis descent based on Djaara Country/Castlemaine, Victoria. Jen is recognised for her practice and expertise situated at the intersections of art, speculative futures and climate emergency disaster adaptation + resilience – predominantly articulated through transdisciplinary collaborations, multi-platform projects, community alliances and Indigenous pedagogies. 

She is a Co-founder and the Creative Research Lead at the Centre for Reworlding, a member of the National Task Force for Creative Recovery, and was awarded a prestigious 2023 Creative Australia Fellowship for Emerging and Experimental Art. In 2024, Jen was awarded Australian National University’s H.C. Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship and the 2024/25 University of Wisconsin’s International Visiting Artist Residency.

With extensive experience across the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors in Australia, Jordan, and India, Caroline leads initiatives to advance inclusion, community cohesion, sustainability, and systems change.

In her current role as Senior Manager Design, Participation and Inclusion at Neami National Caroline seeks to drive authentic collaboration; elevating the diverse voices of lived and living experience and shifting power towards people and communities so to reimagine and transform the mental health system. Her commitment to elevating diverse voices underpins her vision for a fairer, more sustainable, and connected world.

Joel Pearson is an author, Psychologist, Neuroscientist, and public intellectual working at the forefront of science. He is an ARC Future Fellow and Prof. of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia. He is the founder and Director of Future Minds Lab.

Joel started his career studying art and filmmaking, however, he then decided to apply his creative discovery techniques to the scientific mysteries of human consciousness and the complexities of the brain. His pioneering research has changed our understanding of intuition, the human imagination, aphantasia and the psychological effects of AI on humanity. 

Dr Christen Cornell is Research Fellow and Manager, Research Partnerships Creative Australia. In this position, she conducts and facilitates research to support the Australian arts sector, to advocate for the value of arts and culture and to provide advice to the Australian government on arts and cultural policy.

Before working at the Australia Council, Christen was a lecturer in the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney, conducting research in cultural studies, cultural policy, Inter-Asia cultural studies, and urban and housing studies.

Christen is also a Chinese speaker, living in China intermittently between 2001-2011 and writing about the contemporary Chinese arts scene in those years.

Layusa Isa-Odidi is a Partner working across Asia Pacific and leading Dalberg Advisors’ presence in Australia. Dalberg is a global social impact advisory firm that works to champion inclusive and sustainable growth. 

Layusa is passionate about helping actors think about their unique role in contributing to a sustainable world. From her studies across an MBA and an MPA in international development to her roles across the private, public, and civil society sectors, her career has reinforced the importance of cross-sector collaborations.

In particular, she has extensive experience in private sector engagement and development with a human rights lens and has advised governments, corporates (e.g., Mars Corporation, Shell Global), foundations (e.g., the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust), and multilateral organisations (e.g., UN Women, World Bank) on taking multi-sectoral approaches in service of their SDG-related agendas. 

Laura is a dynamic executive leader driven by purpose and a people-centric commitment to making a difference.

As CEO of Tender Loving Care and President of
the Sutherland Shire Football Association, Laura strives to foster inclusive growth and community engagement. Outside of professional pursuits, Laura is deeply involved in her local community, advocating for causes she believes in and providing steadfast support. Laura holds multiple positions across various boards and committees including Director of Fibrous Dysplasia/McCune Albright Syndrome Australia.

As a testament to her commitment to civic service, Laura has been honoured as Local Woman
of the Year in 2022 and 2024. Elected to the Sutherland Shire Council in 2021, she is dedicated to ensuring the community remains connected and safe, enabling residents of all ages to lead active lifestyle.

Dr Elissa Farrow is a futurist, author, facilitator, coach, and strategist. She has over 25 year’s experience in research, organisational adaptation, benefits realisation, assurance. Dr Farrow has supported many organisations to define positive futures and then successfully transform to bring lasting value.  She has successfully transferred her skills to different contexts and industries.  

 Dr Farrow is known for her compassionate leadership and engagement approach stemming from background as a Social Scientist. She is an experienced board director and has held global leadership positions with the Change Management Institute as well as past chair of DVConnect a service preventing Domestic and Family Violence in Queensland. Her published doctoral research explored the implications of Artificial Intelligence on organisational futures.  

Dr Edgar Liu is a Senior Research Fellow at UNSW Sydney’s City Futures Research Centre, an Investigator with the UNSW Ageing Futures Institute, and a Research Director at UTS’ Institute for Sustainable Futures.

He is a cultural geographer with extensive experience in urban and housing policy research, specialising in their impacts on vulnerable populations, working with government, industry and non-profit sectors alike. These include the outcomes of public housing estate regeneration in Australia; multigenerational family housing; ageing in place; and concepts of community and place. His recent research extends to examining the role of intersectionality and diversity on these outcomes.

Lydia Turda is about passionate about contributing to system change and transformation for positive social impact.

She utilises and advocates for approaches grounded in community centred design and solution finding which empower and elevate lived experience voices and wisdom.

Gillian is the author of BCCM’s paper on Action to Empower: Why Australia needs more co-operatives and mutuals in health, community and social services. She brings to the summit a wealth of experience in aged care, disability services, housing and community services.