Day One - 1 July 2026
8:00 - 9:00
REGISTRATION
9:00 - 9:15
WELCOME TO COUNTRY
Binowee Bayles
9:15 - 9:30
SUMMIT WELCOME
MC – Dan Ilic
9:30 - 10:20
OPENING KEYNOTE
Clarity forged under pressure
Clarity is easy when the path is straight. It’s far harder — and far more meaningful — when the situation feels impossible. Professor Arnold Dix brings this to life like few others. As a tunnel engineer, barrister and scientist who has led teams through some of the world’s most challenging underground disasters, he knows what it takes to make sound decisions when information is limited, emotions are high and the stakes are unmistakably real.
In this opening keynote, Arnold shows how clarity is forged under pressure — through steady communication, earned trust and the discipline to stay focused on what truly matters. It’s a powerful way to open the Summit and set the tone for a year centred on clarity.
Keynote Speaker
Professor Arnold Dix
Moderator
Dan Ilic
10:20 - 11:00
CONNECTION AND CLARITY
Session details coming soon!
11:00 - 11:30
MORNING TEA
11:30 - 12:45
Profit & Purpose
Clarity on cost and outcomes for employment‑focused social enterprises
Speakers
Tara Anderson, CEO (Social Traders)
Rachel Power, Associate Director (Deliotte Access Economics)
Ryan Ginard, Head of Sector Development and Innovation (Minderoo Foundation)
Jessica Graham-Franklin, Senior Associate (Paul Ramsay Foundation)
Social enterprises across Australia are tackling some of the hardest employment challenges. They support people facing complex barriers into paid work that lasts. Yet the real cost of doing this well is still poorly understood.
This session shares emerging insights from new research led by Social Traders and Deloitte Access Economics, with support from the Paul Ramsay Foundation and the Minderoo Foundation. Drawing on data from hundreds of employment‑focused social enterprises, the research offers a clearer picture of what it actually takes to support people into sustained work, where cost shortfalls sit, and how outcomes are being measured across the sector.
The session looks at how shared evidence on costs and outcomes can improve pricing, procurement, investment and policy decisions. And how better measurement can move from a reporting exercise to a practical input into everyday decision‑making.
Attendees will leave with clearer evidence, stronger language and sharper insights to support inclusive employment and help reshape the systems that underpin it.
People & Communities
Youth co-design in action: Lessons from regional Queensland
Speakers
Sara Brown, Social Innovation Program Manager (Central Queensland University)
Steve Williams, Program Manager Social Impact (Central Queensland University)
Jodie Gosel Ågotnes, General Manager Philanthropy (The John Villiers Trust)
Nova Whitmore – Q-SEED Project Youth Participant
Alime Ali – Q-SEED Project Youth Participant
This session explores the unique qualities of co-design in regional settings, drawing on the lived experience and shared learning of the Q-SEED project. The process of co-design is incredibly unique to regional contexts.
The panel will unpack how these dynamics shaped the project and led to unexpected breakthroughs—such as new employer partnerships, young people designing their own engagement pathways, and community-led prototypes influencing local systems.
A youth codesigner will speak directly e.g. to how it felt to be trusted with decision-making power, and how this shifted their confidence and sense of belonging in community.
Collective Transformation
Primary Care, ADHD support and psychosocial safety
Speakers
Beth McKenzie, CEO (GPEx)
Leanne March, General Manager – Models of Care (GPEx)
Mardi Webber, Mentally Healthy Workplace Consultant (ReturntoWorkSA)
How do we build systems that move beyond service delivery to create real pathways for participation, confidence and belonging?
What happens when a young person leaves child health services – but there is no clear pathway into adult care?
This transition can become a cliff edge at the very moment young people step into study, training and work. This session shares the meaningful social impact of designing a transition pathway where none previously existed – connecting young people with ADHD aged 16–18 with a GP to ensure continuity, safety and confidence at a pivotal life stage.
Using this as a case study of system change, we explore a broader insight: healthcare continuity is essential – but not sufficient. Real outcomes are shaped not only by access to care, but by how workplaces are designed and experienced.
Bringing together primary care and workplace perspectives, this session highlights how organisations play a critical role in shaping those outcomes. Through leadership, psychosocial safety, and manager capability, we explore a shift from responding to harm to preventing it – creating workplaces that are designed to support participation, inclusion and wellbeing from the outset.
Participants will gain a powerful, transferable lens: many challenges we see are not service gaps – but pathway gaps – and addressing them is key to meaningful social impact.
GPEx – Bridging the gap between health, safety, wellbeing initiatives from effective frontline access to knowledge.
11:30 - 12:45
IMPACTLAB MASTERCLASS #1
AI Tools for Impact
Speakers
Royden Howie, Director (ImpactInstitute)
Session details coming soon!
*Note: Small group session with a maximum of 40 participants per session. Booking via event App required.
IMPACTLAB MASTERCLASS #2
Unlocking the S in ESG: Start with Purpose
Speakers
Think Impact and Settlement Services International
Session details coming soon!
*Note: Small group session with a maximum of 40 participants per session. Booking via event App required.
12:45 - 13:45
LUNCH
13:45 - 15:00
Profit & Purpose
How social performance is reshaping corporate strategy
Speakers
Aaron Reid, GM Social Sustainability (Ventia)
Tara Anderson, CEO (Social Traders)
Dr Martin Loosemore, Distinguished Professor (UTS)
Suhair Alkilani, Senior Lecturer in Construction Management (UTS)
Expectations around social performance are rising, but how it shapes real strategic decision making inside organisations is still unevenly understood. Many organisations can articulate intent, fewer can explain how social performance holds together across governance, procurement, delivery and reporting when the pressure is on.
This session opens with a demanding real‑world context from the construction sector, using it to explore how social performance gains or loses traction as it moves across an organisation and its supply chain. Drawing on buyer, operating business, delivery partner and system‑level perspectives, it examines the strategic choices, risks and trade‑offs organisations are now navigating as social performance becomes more material to how they operate.
Participants will leave with clearer insight into how social performance influences corporate strategy in practice, stronger language to engage internal stakeholders, and a grounded understanding of what it takes to sustain social performance at scale.
People & Communities
Purpose under pressure: Leading for social cohesion in contested environments
Speakers
Adele Stowe-Lindner (Institute of Community Directors Australia)
Social impact leaders face growing pressure from funders, boards, staff and communities – often with competing expectations and deeply held views. The challenge is to stay true to purpose while working across difference without fracturing relationships.
Lead by ICDA, this interactive workshop style session explores how to hold strong positions while listening deeply, engage with evidence, and navigate tension with courage and curiosity, making decisions that are both principled and inclusive.
Collective Transformation
The data funders want (and how to use it)
Speakers
Jo Garner, Founder and CEO (Strategic Grants)
Kristi Mansfield, Founder and CEO (Seer Data)
Emily Fuller, Head of Strategy and Operations, Snow Foundation
Tim Taylor, CEO (Assistance Dogs Australia)
13:45 - 15:00
IMPACTLAB MASTERCLASS #3
Co-designing with regional communities: Practical tools for impact
Speakers
Sara Brown, Social Innovation Program Manager (Central Queensland University)
Steve Williams, Program Manager Social Impact (Central Queensland University)
This hands-on session will guide participants through tools and methods for authentic co-design in regional or resource limited contexts. Participants will experience practical activities used to engage diverse
stakeholders—from youth with lived experience to local business leaders—focusing on:
• Translating co-design principles into practice in regional settings
• Building equity, safety, and creativity into engagement
• Turning community ideas into actionable, measurable outcomes
*Note: Small group session with a maximum of 40 participants per session. Booking via event App required.
IMPACTLAB MASTERCLASS #4
Topic and session details coming soon!
*Note: Small group session with a maximum of 40 participants per session. Booking via event App required.
15:00 - 15:30
AFTERNOON TEA
15:30 - 16:45
Profit & Purpose
Creating the conditions for social innovation
Speakers
Paul Thambar, Associate Professor (Monash University)
Interest in social innovation is growing, but the conditions needed to support it are often fragile or missing altogether. While individual ventures are expected to deliver change, the systems around them are rarely designed to help them succeed.
This session focuses on what enables social innovation in practice. Drawing on the Care Together program as a live case study, it examines how innovation ecosystems are built alongside social ventures, and what this reveals about the roles of intermediaries, government, and community‑led organisations.
Participants will leave with sharper insight into why social innovation stalls, where support structures matter most, and how different actors can contribute to innovation that is viable, not just visionary.
People & Communities
From insight to influence: making impact visible and actionable
Speakers
Theresa Collignon, Group CEO (Macquarie Community College and Gateway Community High)
Theresa Collignon, Head of Delivery (Huber Social)
Paula Cowan, Managing Director (ImpactInstitute)
Clear, credible impact does not emerge from data alone, nor from storytelling in isolation, but from the interplay between the two.
This session explores that dynamic through the Gateway Community High case study. Bringing together perspectives from Macquarie Community College, Huber Social and ImpactInstitute, it examines how impact data is measured, interpreted and translated into narratives that resonate with different audiences.
The discussion highlights how clarity gained through rigorous measurement can shape decision-making, and how effective communication extends the reach and influence of evidence.
Attendees will gain a concise understanding of how to align measurement and storytelling to produce insight that is both robust and meaningful.
Collective Transformation
What happens when we design care differently?
Speakers
Sophie Boyle, Senior Manager, Implementation and Engagement (Healthy North Coast)
Sam Huntley, Implementation and Engagement Manager (Brain and Mind Centre – University of Sydney)
Hayley Oaks, Lived Experience Advocate
What if we could design mental health care to be clearer, smarter and more effective — instead of simply adding more services to an already strained system? This session explores Right care, first time, where you live program, a nationally recognised approach delivered by the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre. Centred in participatory design, the program used youth lived experience, co-design, system modelling, and shared data to explore the complexity of the health system and develop an tool for community informed and evidence-based decision-making.
Using a powerful regional case example, we’ll show how patterns, trade‑offs and opportunities that usually stay hidden can be identified to inform change. Attendees will leave with practical examples of how communities, services and decision-makers can work together to better understand local challenges, strengthen advocacy, and support more connected, responsive mental health systems.
IMPACTLAB MASTERCLASS #5
Why, when, how – shifting from rhetoric to reality
Speakers
Kathy Hilyard, Co-Founder (Centre for Collective Leadership)
Session details coming soon!
*Note: Small group session with a maximum of 40 participants per session. Booking via event App required.
16:45 - 17:30
MEET THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS
17:30 - 19:00
NETWORKING DRINKS
Day Two - 2 July 2026
8:30 - 8:45
REGISTRATION
WELCOME TO SUMMIT
MC – Dan Ilic
9:00 - 11:00
INTERACTIVE KEYNOTE: SEEING THE WHOLE: CLARITY IN COMPLEX SYSTEMS
Facilitator
Renu Burr, Director (Burr Consulting)
11:00 - 11:30
MORNING TEA
11:30 - 12:45
Profit & Purpose
Impact stacks in practice: from the organisations capital is built for
Speakers
Hanna Ebeling, CEO (Sefa)
Wadzi Katsidzira, Head of Sustainability (Minderoo Foundation)
Katherine Leong, Acting Managing Director (Csnet)
Impact stacks bring together philanthropic, government and private capital – each playing a different role. This session centres on how capital actually lands for impact-led organisations: what makes it usable, what creates friction, and where well-intended structures fall short.
Drawing on perspectives from both funders and organisations, we’ll explore what different types of capital enable, the conditions that make them work, and where expectations diverge.
People & Communities
Community 2050: designing the places we’ll belong
Speakers
Peter Lalor, Head of Strategy and Community Engagement (Beyond Bank)
Session details coming soon!
Collective Transformation
Building pathways, not programs: A systems approach to youth futures
Speakers
Assmaah Helal, Chief Operating Officer (Creating Chances)
Laurie Michel, Business Development Operations & Partnerships Lead (Creating Chances)
Frida Komesaroff, Senior Manager National Youth Employment (Brotherhood of St Lawrence)
Youth unemployment persists not for lack of effective programs, but because those programs are expected to resolve challenges that sit beyond their reach in policy, funding and system design.
This session reframes youth employment as a systems question. Combining system-level insight from the Brotherhood of St Laurence with an in-depth case study from Creating Chances, it examines the conditions required for sustained pathways from education into employment, alongside the practical work of building them over time.
Through a facilitated design lab, participants will interrogate where pathways break down, distinguishing between challenges within program control and those that require coordinated, cross-sector response.
Attendees will leave with a more precise understanding of how program practice and system architecture interact, and where meaningful intervention is most likely to produce lasting outcomes.
11:00 - 12:45
IMPACTLAB MASTERCLASS #7
Storytelling for Impact: Telling participant stories
Speaker
Rian Newman, Head of Brand Experience (ImpactInstitute)
Frontline teams are surrounded by powerful moments every day — but turning those moments into respectful, evidence‑aligned stories isn’t easy.
This workshop gives your team a practical way to gather and craft participant stories that honour lived experience, build trust with communities, and help others understand the difference your organisation makes.
*Note: Small group session with a maximum of 40 participants per session. Booking via event App required.
IMPACTLAB MASTERCLASS #8
Co design for all: A four phase framework and toolkit for easy co-design
Speaker
Co.Design4All
Session details coming soon!
*Note: Small group session with a maximum of 40 participants per session. Booking via event App required.
12:45 - 1:45
LUNCH
13:45 - 15:00
Profit & Purpose
Topic and session details coming soon!
People & Communities
Seven keys to social connection in growth areas
Speakers
Bronwen Clark (National Growth Areas Alliance)
Jhermaine Capistrano (City of Whittlesea)
So Pyay Thar (City of Whittlesea)
Ezgi Sahin (City of Whittlesea)
Local governments are uniquely placed to strengthen social connection and a sense of belonging, particularly in fast growing outer suburban communities where population change, diversity and rapid development can place pressure on social cohesion.
This session brings together two complementary perspectives on the role of local government in building social connection. The first focuses on how councils can deeply understand their communities through high quality, locally driven data and insights. The second explores how local government can take an active role in designing, enabling and measuring social connection in practice.
Attendees will walk away with a grounded understanding of how evidence‑based frameworks can guide meaningful local action and create conditions where social connection can thrive at scale.
Collective Transformation
Who decides? Ethics, judgment, and AI in the real world
Speakers
Kara Bombell, Director of Operations (EthicAi)
As artificial intelligence becomes more embedded in everyday decision-making, questions of ethics, accountability and trust are becoming increasingly urgent, particularly in complex human-centred systems.
This session, led by EthicAi, explores the practical boundaries of AI: what it can meaningfully support, where its limitations lie and why human judgment, empathy and contextual understanding remain essential. Grounded in real-world application, it will unpack how organisations can responsibly integrate AI into their operations, with clear guidance on governance, ethical safeguards and best practice for implementation.
Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how to balance innovation with responsibility and how to embed AI in ways that strengthen rather than replace human decision-making.
13:45 - 15:00
IMPACTLAB MASTERCLASS #9
Community ownership: Could it unlock growth in your region?
Speaker
Session details coming soon!
IMPACTLAB MASTERCLASS #10
From purpose to proof: A hands-on guide to impact measurement
Speaker
15:00 - 15:30
AFTERNOON TEA
15:30 - 16:30
Profit & Purpose
From intent to endurance: embedding social impact for long-term value
Speakers
Pam Wilson, National Community Manager, Marketing & Community (Scentre Group)
Chad Renando, Co-founder (Ready Communities)
Developing social impact programs that sustain momentum and influence beyond initial investment or intent is a fundamentally important component of responsible business. A key measure of success is being able to effectively embed social purpose into core business over time, shaping both how a business operates and the role it plays within the communities it serves.
This session examines Scentre Group’s Westfield Local Heroes program as a distinctive model of corporate-led, place-based impact. For almost a decade, Westfield Local Heroes has recognised and awarded grants to community leaders and organisations who are driving meaningful change, positioning Westfield destinations as platforms for helping communities to thrive, strengthening local networks and building enduring partnerships
Drawing on longitudinal evaluation, organisational insight, and personal experience; the session explores how the program has been sustainment over time, and offers practical insight into how social impact initiatives can gain traction, grow internal accountability, and evolve into enduring drivers of community value and organisational strategy.
People & Communities
Are we okay? Australia’s wellbeing check
Speakers
Cressida Gaukroger, Moderator (Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership)
Siobhan Henderson, Head of Social Impact & Strategy Manager (Australian Unity)
Rachel Power, Associate Director (Deloitte Access Economics)
Australia’s wellbeing agenda is entering a more consequential phase, as national frameworks, large-scale datasets and outcomes-based commissioning begin to shape policy, investment and institutional priorities.
This session examines what happens when wellbeing shifts from aspiration to infrastructure. Bringing together perspectives from Australian Unity, Many Rivers and Deloitte Access Economics, it explores how wellbeing is constructed, measured and mobilised across systems; and the implications these choices carry for value, accountability and power.
Attendees will gain a more rigorous understanding of how measurement frameworks influence strategy and evaluation, and how to engage with them in ways that preserve nuance, context and plural definitions of wellbeing.
Collective Transformation
The way we ask: rethinking fundraising in a low-trust era
Speakers
Katherine Raskob, CEO, Fundraising Institute Australasia
Led by Fundraising Institute Australasia, this session explores how fundraising practice both reflects and shapes the broader social contract between organisations and the communities they serve. Drawing on current sector dynamics, it considers how funding models influence behaviour, incentives and collaboration, and what it would take to move beyond transactional approaches toward more durable forms of support.
Attendees will leave with a clearer perspective on how fundraising approaches can strengthen trust, deepen connection and contribute to a more resilient and sustainable social impact ecosystem.
16:30 - 17:15
HINDSIGHT 2020: THE VALUE OF GETTING THINGS WRONG
Speakers Paula Cowan, Managing Director (ImpactInstitute)
Margot Morton, CEO, (CareZen)