REGIONS RISING NATIONAL SUMMIT SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES Conference – Wednesday 17 March 2021
Dominique As a foreign correspondent for the ABC, Dominique reported from Schwartz more than fifty countries across the globe and was also a primetime TV Associate news presenter and radio current affairs host. Director Communications, Most recently Dominique was the ABC’s national rural and regional Regional correspondent, and she’s delighted that with RAI, she can continue to Australia Institute fight for, and be inspired by, the people and places of regional Master of Australia. Ceremonies Liz Ritchie As the CEO of RAI, Liz’s primary goal is to make a difference through CEO, providing leadership, engagement, and evidence-based knowledge to Regional shape a better Australia. Heralding from country NSW, she Australia Institute understands the issues and opportunities impacting regional Australia and she is dedicated to reforming our regional economies so that more Australians can choose to live, work, and invest in regional Australia.
Dr Kim Kim leads the think tank’s policy and research work. He was previously Houghton the Institute’s General Manager Policy and Research, and in both these Chief Economist, roles works to ensure the Institute’s work has practical application that Regional supports a better policy environment and more vibrant regional Australia Institute economies. Having worked on regional economic development in Australia for almost 20 years, Kim has a passion for engaging, motivating, informing, and connecting regional leaders from business, community, and government.
The Hon Michael Michael McCormack has lived and worked in the Riverina region all of McCormack MP his life. He was elected as The Nationals’ Member for Riverina in 2010 Deputy Prime and has held the roles of Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Minister; Minister Finance, Assistant Minister to Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, for Infrastructure, Assistant Minister for Defence, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Transport and Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel and in February 2018 Regional Michael was elected the 14th Leader of The Nationals and was sworn Development in as Australia's 18th Deputy Prime Minister as well as the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development.
Prior to entering Parliament, Michael began his professional life as a cadet journalist with The Daily Advertiser newspaper in Wagga Wagga in 1981. He became editor of The Daily Advertiser at the age of 27, making him the youngest person appointed to edit a daily newspaper in Australia at the time. Michael later co-founded a media and publishing small business in Wagga Wagga, which he owned and operated in partnership until he was elected to Parliament.
Michael is also a keen sportsman with interests in horse racing, Australian football, Rugby League and cricket, a sport which he still regularly plays – MP commitments permitting – with Wagga Wagga’s St Michael’s Cricket Club.
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The Hon Mark As Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Leader of the National Vaile AO Party from 2005 to 2007, Mark established an extensive network of Board Member, contacts throughout Australia and East Asia. His focus at home was with Regional regional Australia and particularly northern NSW. As one of Australia’s Australia Institute longest serving Trade Ministers from 1999 through until 2006, Mark led negotiations which resulted in Free Trade Agreements being concluded with the United States of America, Singapore and Thailand as well as launching negotiations with China, Japan and ASEAN. Importantly, early in his Ministerial career as the Minister for Transport and Regional Services, Mark was instrumental in the establishment of the ARTC which operates the Hunter Valley rail network.
Mark brings significant experience as a company director having been Chairman of Aston Resources, CBD Energy Limited and SmartTrans Limited and a former independent Director on the board of Virgin Australia Holdings Limited. Mark is currently a Director of ServCorp Limited which is listed on the ASX (since June 2011), Stamford Land Corp which is listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, a Director Trustee of HostPlus Superfund and Chairman of Palisade Regional Infrastructure Fund. Saul Eslake I went to school in Smithton (in the far north-west of Tasmania) and Economist Hobart, and subsequently gained a First Class Honours degree in Economics from the University of Tasmania.
I began my professional career in 1979 at the Australian Treasury in Canberra. In mid-1984 I secured my first position as an economist in the Australian financial markets, with an investment banking joint venture between the National Australia Bank and the Australian subsidiary of Chase Manhattan Bank.
In 2009 I joined a then newly-established ‘think tank’, the Grattan Institute, in a part-time role as Director of its Productivity Growth Program, whilst also seeing if it was possible to earn a reasonable living as an independent economist, writing and speaking about a range of contemporary economic issues.
I returned to the financial markets towards the end of 2011 as Chief Economist (Australia & New Zealand) for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, one of the world’s largest investment banks. Having fulfilled a long-held ambition of returning to live in Tasmania at the end of 2014, six months later I resigned from that role to re-establish my own business, Corinna Economic Advisory Pty Ltd. In addition to running that business, since April 2016 I’ve had a part-time role as a Vice- Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Tasmania.
John O’Duinn John O’Duinn is a Senior Strategist at CivicActions, an agile design and Senior Strategist, software firm with 100+ employees and no office since its founding in CivicActions 2004. John has written code and led engineering teams in companies
John has worked in various kinds of distributed companies for 28 years, led distributed teams for 14 years, and provided workshops and mentorship on remote work best practices for 7 years.
John is the author of “Distributed Teams: The Art and Practice of Working Together While Physically Apart” – a business management book on the essential practical mechanics of how to work in and run distributed organizations, as well as the wider diversity, environmental, urban planning and community renewal benefits of distributed
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organizations. In the US, he also helped write the State of Vermont’s “Remote Worker” law – a very different approach to Economic Development which was so wildly successful that he is helping draft bills and write policies for multiple other jurisdictions worldwide. Since August 2019, John has been advising California's Dept of General Services on various aspects of effective long-term telework. Gavin Williams Mr Williams was appointed to the Chief Development Officer Regional Chief & Remote in October 2019, bringing more than five years’ experience Development at NBN Co and 25 years within the telecommunication industry across Officer, Regional Australia. and Remote, NBN Co He has held leadership roles that have spanned engineering, product management, marketing and strategy disciplines across consumer, business and wholesale markets.
Prior to joining NBN Co, Gavin held positions in Optus, Telstra and was principal of an independent consultancy. He was a Board Director of Southern Cross Cable. Sean McGoldrick Seán is a senior executive in the utility industry, having served at Executive managerial and board level for energy organisations worldwide. He Manager, Major joined the TransGrid Executive Team in 2019 and oversees the Projects, delivery of several major projects across NSW and the ACT. In TransGrid February 2020, Seán also became Acting Executive Manager, Network Planning and Operations, with responsibility for asset management and investment strategies, asset performance, environmental approvals, non-network solutions and system operations. Seán was previously Executive Manager of Asset Management at Western Power, where he was responsible for a $10.2 billion asset. With more than 30 years’ experience working on electrical power systems globally, Seán has acted as consultant on many EU, World Bank and EBRD funded projects. Victoria Victoria heads up the Intergenerational Report (IGR) and Population Anderson, First Division at the Australian Treasury. The division is responsible for the Assistant Government’s Centre for Population and delivery of the next IGR in Secretary, IGR mid-2021. and Population Division, The The Centre for Population was established in 2019 and is the primary Treasury location for population-related issues within the Australian Government. The Centre is working closely with the states and territories, academics and think tanks in order to share data, research, ideas and build expertise on population. The Centre’s analysis, forecasts and projections cover the main elements of population change – net overseas migration, natural increase and at the domestic level, net internal migration.
Victoria’s division is also responsible for the IGR. Every five years, the Australian Government produces an IGR that assesses the long-term sustainability of current Government policies and how changes to Australia’s population size and age profile may impact on economic growth, workforce and public finances over the next 40 years.
Victoria has held a number of senior executive roles in the Treasury and the Department of Agriculture, covering foreign investment, business conduct of multinationals, risk and governance, drought policy, agricultural trade policy and industry assistance and adjustment.
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Andrew At Aurizon, Andrew has implemented initiatives to leverage the core Harding, CEO, expertise of the business in heavy haulage and rail infrastructure. Aurizon These include a new operating structure, a renewed leadership team and a refreshed Company strategy.
Prior to starting with Aurizon, Andrew was the global Chief Executive of Rio Tinto’s Iron Ore business.
His 24-year executive career with Rio Tinto and its subsidiary companies included extensive operational experience in the resource industry and in managing supply chains for the world’s largest integrated portfolio of iron ore assets.
He is focused on leading performance improvement initiatives, and was the Global Practice Leader, Asset Management, Technology and Innovation group of Rio Tinto from 2005 to 2009.
Andrew completed a Bachelor of Mining Engineering at the University of New South Wales and holds a MBA from Deakin University. He is a member of the 2012 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.
Romilly Madew Romilly Madew AO FTSE was appointed Chief Executive Officer, AO FTSE, CEO, Infrastructure Australia, in early 2019 and is responsible for overseeing Infrastructure Infrastructure Australia’s critical role in helping governments prioritise Australia projects and reforms that best serve our communities.
Before joining Infrastructure Australia, Ms Madew was CEO of Green Building Council of Australia for 13 years. In acknowledgment of her contribution to Australia’s sustainable building movement, Ms Madew was awarded an Order of Australia in 2019.
She is currently a Member of Placemaking NSW Advisory Committee and Independent Chair of the Currawong State Park Advisory Board (NSW). Ms Madew was recently on the Expert Advisory Panel for the CSIRO Report on Climate and Disaster Resilience and a Commissioner for the Northern Territory Economic Reconstruction Commission. She has held Board positions with the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council and Sydney Olympic Park Authority. She has sat on numerous Federal Government panels including the Cities Reference Group, National Sustainability Council, Climate Futures Independent Expert Group and the National Urban Policy Forum.
Ms Madew is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and Technology, Honorary Fellow, Planning Institute of Australia and Life Fellow GBCA. She is an active member of Bilgola Surf Life Saving Club as well as being involved in programs at both a State and National level for surf life saving. She is a Founder and Board member of Minerva Network, supporting our elite female athletes, which includes Romilly mentoring a member of Australia’s Olympic Team.
Christian Zahra, Christian is the Principal of specialist policy and strategy consulting firm Board Member, Impact Partners Australia and a long time champion of rural and Regional regional Australia. He is former Chairman of the Federal Government’s Australia Institute $1B Regional Development Australia Fund Advisory Panel and a former Member of the Ministerial Council on Regional Australia (MACRA). Christian has twice served as the CEO of major regional Indigenous organisations, leading significant reforms in both roles. Christian represented a country electorate in the Federal Parliament between 1998 and 2004 during which time he served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Minister for Transport,
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Infrastructure and Regional Development. He is widely regarded for his ability to link rural and regional issues to national policy debates. Christian holds a Bachelor of Economics (La Trobe), a Master of Assessment and Evaluation (Melb.) and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Marisa Purvis- Marisa is currently the First Assistant Secretary of the Regional Smith Development, Local Government and Regional Recovery Division in the First Assistant department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Secretary, Communications. Department of Infrastructure, Prior to this, Marisa worked in the federal Treasury in a range of areas Transport, and roles, including in commonwealth-state relations and taxation Regional policy. Development and Communications Gary Barnes, Gary joins the Department of Regional NSW from the NSW Secretary, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment where he was the Department of Coordinator-General for Regions, Industry, Agriculture & Resources. Regional NSW Gary’s was responsible for delivering a government-wide approach to providing quality services and infrastructure to drive sustainable economic growth across our regions.
Before joining the Department of Planning, Industry & Environment, Gary held a number of senior executive public service roles across Australia, including Deputy Secretary Regional NSW, Department of Premier and Cabinet; Deputy Secretary, Economic, Skills & Regional Development in the NSW Department of Industry; Coordinator- General, Office of Major Projects, Infrastructure and Investment, Chief Executive Officer, Department of the Chief Minister and Cabinet, and Chief Executive Officer, Department of Education and Training in the Northern Territory, and Deputy Chief Executive of the Public Service Commission in Queensland.
Ralph Addis, Ralph Addis is the Director General of the Western Australian Director General, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development with Department of responsibility for ensuring our primary industries and regions are key Primary Industries contributors to the Government’s agenda for economic growth and and Regional diversification, job creation, strong communities and better places. He Development, was formerly Director General of the Department of Regional WA
Rebecca brings a highly strategic, broad sector lens and strong executive experience to her role. Her professional experience includes leading transformational change, building sustainable business models, government relations, strategic policy development and stakeholder engagement.
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Rebecca has held advisory roles across a number of sectors and is deeply committed to the development of regional Western Australia – where she was raised and educated.
Rebecca is the Chair of the Wheatbelt Development Commission and serves on the Board of Perth Zoo and the Senate of Murdoch University. Her qualifications includes a Bachelor’s Degree in Community Development, Post Graduate Diploma in Public Policy and a Post Graduate Certificate in Social Impact. Ita Buttrose AC Ita Buttrose has held executive and editing roles for major Australian OBE media companies including Australian Consolidated Press, News Ltd Chair, ABC and Fairfax, and has run her own media company, Capricorn
A founding member and former president of Chief Executive Women, Ita is a committed community and welfare contributor. She chaired Arthritis Australia from 2003 to 2006 and later Alzheimer’s (now Dementia) Australia from 2011 to 2014 and is now National Ambassador for Dementia Australia. She is Chair of The Australian Mental Health Prize Advisory Group.
She has been a member of the Sydney Symphony Council since 2010 and served as a Trustee of Centennial and Moore Park Trust in Sydney from 2012 to 2020. She is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Rob Clayton, CEO, Nutrien Ag Rob Clayton, is based in Melbourne Australia and has held the position Solutions of VP and Managing Director of Nutrien Ag Solutions for the past 3 years. Originally from a wheat, sheep and beef farming background in Northern NSW, Rob holds strong ties to the agriculture industry across both the supply and demand channels. Rob has spent the last 19 years of his career in the Nutrien Retail business having held many senior roles across varied geographies and responsibilities. Prior to joining Nutrien Ag Solutions he was a partner in a mid-sized logistics firm and also headed up a corporate crop production business in the North West of NSW. Rob studied business at the University of Melbourne, has completed an agribusiness module at Harvard Business School and he is currently undertaking the final module of an MBA at the Melbourne School of Business. His passion is and always has been agriculture and works hard every day to inspire his team to improve the profitability and sustainability of the Australian farmer. Tony Mahar, CEO, NFF Tony comes from a farming background in South Western Victoria and has worked in and around agriculture for the majority of his working life. He has experience in working with global food manufacturers, major Australian agribusinesses and the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture.
He was appointed NFF CEO in March 2016 after holding the positions of Trade and Economics Manager and Deputy CEO.
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He has tertiary qualifications in agricultural commerce from Sydney University and a masters degree in industry policy from Australian National University.
Andrew Andrew McConville is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian McConville, Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA), a position he CEO, APPEA has occupied since April 2019. APPEA is the peak national body for Australia’s oil and gas exploration and production industry. APPEA represents almost 200 companies involved in oil and gas exploration and production as well as the provision of goods and services to the upstream oil and gas industry. As Chief Executive, Andrew is responsible for leading the Association and its members to be the effective voice the Australian oil and gas industry, building community trust and support, driving advocacy and engagement, developing the industry’s key policy positions and executing a strategy for growth of the Association. Andrew is an advocacy and corporate affairs professional with more than 25 years’ experience across the oil and gas, agribusiness, banking and finance, FMCG and government sectors. Andrew holds a first class honours degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of New England, a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics from Oxford University and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Alison Watkins Alison joined Coca-Cola Amatil as Group Managing Director in March Group Managing 2014. Alison is a non-executive director of The Centre for Independent Director, Coca- Studies and the Business Council of Australia. Cola Amatil Alison’s previous roles include Chief Executive Officer of agribusiness GrainCorp Limited and of Berri Limited, the market leader in Australian juice, and Managing Director of Regional Banking at ANZ. Alison spent 10 years at McKinsey & Company from 1989-1999 and became a partner of the Firm in 1996 before moving to ANZ as Group General Manager Strategy. Alison has been a non-executive director of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, Woolworths Limited and Just Group Limited. She is a former Victorian President and National Board Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Alison holds a Bachelor of Commerce (University of Tasmania), is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Financial Services Institute of Australasia, and the AICD. Geraldine Professor Geraldine Mackenzie is Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mackenzie, Southern Queensland, appointed September 2017. Board Member, Regional Professor Mackenzie returned to the University having been Foundation Australia Institute Head of the University’s School of Law in 2007 and 2008, before she took up senior executive positions at Bond University (2009-2014): Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), Pro Vice-Chancellor (Business and Community Engagement), and Executive Dean, Faculty of Law. Before returning to the University of Southern Queensland, she was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Southern Cross University (2014-2017). Prior to joining the University in 2007, as Head of the Law School, she held various senior roles at QUT, and served on QUT Council for nine years. She has a strong commitment to widening participation in higher education, particularly in Australia’s regional areas, flexible learning opportunities and encouraging a strong link between the University and business, industry and the community. She is currently Chair of the
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Board of the Ipswich Hospital Foundation, and a Board member of the Regional Australia Institute and Universities Australia.
Professor Mackenzie has held a number of senior positions at State and Federal level including Deputy Chair, Universities Australia DVC (Research) Committee; Co-Chair, Universities Australia Executive Women; Chair, NSW DVC (Research) Committee; Chair, RUN Research group; Chair, RUN Executive Women; Chair, Humanities and Creative Arts panel, Australian Research Council College of Experts; Chair, Queensland Selection Panel American/Australian Fulbright Commission, and was an executive member of the Council of Australian Law Deans. Nick Klomp, Professor Nick Klomp is the Vice-Chancellor and President of Chair, RUN CQUniversity Australia. As the Vice-Chancellor, he leads the University
Professor Klomp is passionate about student engagement in learning, excellence in teaching, and research with impact. He has been presented with a teaching excellence award, has been nominated for awards in the promotion of science, and was a Science Correspondent for ABC radio for more than a decade. Professor Klomp is a vocal advocate for regional universities and is currently the Chair of the Regional University Network in Australia.
In addition to his extensive teaching career, Professor Klomp is recognised internationally for his research in applied ecology and environmental science, having produced three books and around 60 refereed publications, successfully supervised more than a dozen doctoral students, and attracted several nationally-competitive grants. Professor Klomp has a Bachelor of Applied Science degree from Curtin University, First Class Honours from Murdoch University, and a PhD in Environmental Science from the University of Glasgow. He is also a graduate of Harvard’s Advanced Management Program (AMP 189) and the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).
Duncan Taylor, Duncan Taylor is the CEO of the Country Universities Centre which has Regional a network of 15 highly connected higher education centres operating University Hub through regional NSW, Queensland and Victoria. He was the Cooma inaugural Chair of the original Cooma Universities Centre which later became the CUC Snowy Monaro.
Duncan was a member of the TAFE NSW Commission Board, and President of the Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association of New South Wales that seeks equity of educational opportunity for rural and remote families.
Duncan is a farmer on the Monaro who was also a founding director of agricultural assets management company, Growth Farms Australia. He
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was the Volunteer of the Year for the South Coast and Southern Inland NSW in 2019 for his work with the CUC.
Associate Adjunct Professor Ruth Stewart was appointed as the second National Professor Ruth Rural Health Commissioner for Australia in July 2020. She brings to this Stewart, National role nearly 30 years of work as a Rural Generalist doctor with the Rural Health advanced skills of a GP obstetrician. Ruth and her husband Anthony Commissioner Brown now live and work on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait. For 22 years Ruth and Anthony were General Practitioners in private practice in Camperdown in south west Victoria where they had Visiting Medical Officer status in the local public hospital. In 2008 Ruth was employed as the inaugural Director of Clinical Training Rural with the then new medical school of Deakin University. Her role was to establish the rural program. She created a network of 12 growing to 18 Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship placements for third year medical students from Deakin University to spend the whole of their core clinical year in rural practice.
In 2012, Ruth moved to north Queensland to become Adj. Professor of Rural Medicine, Director Rural Clinical Training with James Cook University. In this role she oversaw the doubling of rural clinical placements for the medical school and worked clinically as a Senior Medical Officer at Mareeba Hospital. Ruth is the immediate Past President of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine and was on the College’s board from 2002-2020 in various roles. She was on the board of the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service for 6 years, the Cape York Hospital Board for two years and has been on the board of several Regional Training Providers/Organisations for General Practice Training, on the board of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia for two years and the Tropical Australian Academic Health Centre board. For three years. She has held a number of representative and medico political roles including on the Distribution Advisory Group, and the Health Innovation Advisory Committee for the National Health and Medical Research Authority. Ruth received a PhD from Flinders University in 2014. Her thesis examined the lessons learnt from a Managed Clinical Network of rural maternity services in South West Victoria. She has an abiding interest in quality of rural maternity services and sustainable models of rural health care.
Gabrielle Gabrielle has been immersed in rural communities for over 30 years, O’Kane working as a rural allied health academic and practitioner, before CEO, National moving to her current role as CEO of the National Rural Health Rural Health Alliance, where she has been for over 12 months. She has extensive Alliance experience in the private and public health sector, which has contributed to her deep understanding of the need for collaborative partnerships across the health system and beyond, to address the social determinants of health, support the rural health workforce, provide integrated care and achieve positive health outcomes for rural communities. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor with the University of Canberra and with Charles Sturt University. Gabrielle has research interests that intersect with her interest in rural health, which includes food culture, food citizenship and food system sustainability, particularly from a social perspective.
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Daniel Finch, Daniel Finch has held the position of Wotif Group General Manager in Wotif Group Australia and New Zealand since early 2015 and has been a leader Managing within the wider Wotif Group business since 2010. Director, Expedia Group Overseeing both Wotif.com and lastminute.com.au in Australia and New Zealand, Daniel is a customer centric, results-driven business leader, who is highly respected by his colleagues and industry partners.
Daniel has lived and breathed the travel industry for more than 20 years with experience across Australia, United Kingdom, Thailand and Malaysia whilst working in online travel and in the hotel industry in some of the world’s and Australia’s largest chains.
Prior to Daniel’s current role, he was a member of the Wotif Group Executive Team, and led Wotif Group’s business in Asia, managing the Wotif.com, Asia Web Direct and LateStays.com businesses and brands, along with the Group’s network of travel content and destination sites including Bangkok.com and Phuket.com.
Before returning to Australia in early 2015, Daniel was based in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. Now Daniel and his family are back on home ground in Australia and more than ever, Daniel is passionate and committed to encouraging Aussies to explore and see more of Australia. The Hon Catherine King was first elected to Federal Parliament in 2001 to Catherine King represent the electorate of Ballarat. She was re-elected as member at MP, Shadow subsequent Federal Elections in 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and Minister for 2019. Infrastructure, Transport and Ms King was appointed Parliamentary Secretary in the portfolios of Regional Health and Ageing and Infrastructure and Transport in the Gillard Development; Government following the 2010 election. As such she held responsibility Federal Member in the Health portfolio for nine health regulatory agencies including: the for Ballarat Therapeutic Goods Administration, Food Standards Australia New Zealand and the Organ and Tissue Authority and in the Transport portfolio for national road safety policy and regional aviation.
Following the 2019 election, Ms King was appointed to the role of Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development in the Shadow Cabinet led by the Hon. Anthony Albanese.
She holds a Degree in Social Work and a Masters in Public Policy from the Australian National University and has recently completed a law degree from Deakin University.
Ms King worked in the social welfare sector in Ballarat and later in the public sector in Canberra, as an assistant director for the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care and then as a director.
Prior to entering Parliament she was a senior manager at KPMG’s Health Consulting Practice.
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Gala Dinner – Wednesday 17 March 2021
The Hon Andrew Andrew Gee was appointed Australia’s Minister for Decentralisation Gee MP, Minister and Regional Education, and Minister Assisting the Trade and for Investment Minister on 6 February 2020. Decentralisation and Regional Andrew was born in Wagga Wagga and raised in Maitland, where Education his father was the local mayor. He studied Economics and Law at Sydney University where he met his wife Christina. They have four children.
Prior to entering politics, Andrew set up a business with his brothers in Hong Kong before practising as a barrister in Orange, NSW in the fields of civil litigation and family law.
Andrew’s foray in politics began in 2011, following his successful campaign (74.2% of the two-party preferred vote) to secure the NSW state seat of Orange for The Nationals. In 2015, he backed-up his 2011 result, winning 66% of the primary vote, an 8% increase, and 71.7% of the two-party preferred vote. This was one of the strongest results in the state.
Andrew resigned from the NSW Legislative Assembly in 2016 and was elected to the House of Representatives the same year, for the seat of Calare, NSW. He has since been re-elected in 2019, with a 1.5% increase in the two-party preferred vote. In January 2019, Andrew was appointed Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister. Mal Peters Mal is a beef producer, former Mayor of Inverell in Northern NSW, Chair, Regional Chair of Regional Development Australia Northern Inland and former Australia Institute NSW Farmers’ Association President. Mal is a passionate advocate for regional Australian issues, with a particular focus on improving the opportunities and services for people in regional areas.
Grace Brennan, Grace Brennan grew up in Sydney and now lives on a sheep and Founder, Buy cropping farm in Warren, NSW with her husband Jack and their four From the Bush children, Eliza, Maggie, Charles and August. She is the Co-Founder of AgDraft, an employment platform for agriculture and has a background in community development.
In October 2019 Grace founded the #buyfromthebush social media campaign to support rural communities facing drought. In June 2020, Grace launched stayinthebush.com.au, an online directory for accommodation in rural Australia. The #buyfromthebush and #stayinthebush campaigns celebrate the beauty, creativity, innovation and ingenuity of rural communities and call on people in the city to invest in bush business as a means of ensuring the survival of rural communities in to the future.
Grace was named by the Sydney Morning Herald as one of the nine most influential women entrepreneurs for 2019. In January 2020, Grace was invited by the Australia Day Council of NSW to give the Australia Day Address to the nation. She is passionate about story- telling and community-driven change and believes in the power of investment over charity.
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Masterclass – Thursday 18 March 2021
Shyla Vohra Shyla Vohra has over 20 years of experience in the migration and Policy Director, refugee sector. Formerly with the United Nations, Shyla has worked on Regional migration issues in Australia, Europe and the Pacific. An Indian-born Australia Institute Australian, she is passionate about working toward successful settlement outcomes that benefit both Australian communities and migrants themselves.
The Hon Mark Mark was first elected to the House of Representatives for the seat of Coulton MP Parkes, New South Wales, in 2007. He has since been re-elected Minister for numerous times, and earlier this year was sworn-in as the Minister for Regional Health, Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government. Regional Communications, During his time in the Federal Parliament, Mark has also held the and Local positions of Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, National Government Party’s Chief Whip, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Ageing and the Voluntary Sector, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Water and Conservation and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Emerging Trade Markets. Mark has also served on numerous parliamentary committees since entering Federal Parliament in 2007.
Prior to his election to the House of Representatives, Mark was the Mayor of Gwydir Shire Council from 2004 until 2007.
Mark has an extensive agricultural background having spent 30 years as a farmer and grazier. Mark and his wife Robyn owned and operated a mixed farming system growing cereal crops and running beef cattle. Sam Dimarco, Sam Dimarco is Head of Stakeholder Relations at NBN Co. General He leads a team that is responsible for managing key stakeholder Manager, relationships across industry, business, special interest groups and Segments and regional Australia. Sam is also responsible for enabling the nbn™ local Stakeholder team in executing their comprehensive community engagement Relations, programs. Regional and Remote at NBN Sam is a 25+ year veteran of the Australian telecommunications scene. Co. Having started his career designing and building networks to later focus on marketing, sales and communications, Sam developed a passion for customer experience and product evolution. Vanessa Leigh, Vanessa has spent most of her life in regional South Australia, having Program grown up on the family farm near Brukunga, a little unknown town in Manager, the Adelaide Hills. When the opportunity arose to travel and live Murray River abroad, she spent a few years in New Zealand before returning to Study Hub South Australia and settling in Napperby. Over the next 10 years, Vanessa juggled fulltime work in the family business while raising two children and studying online. Returning to her hometown in 2015, Vanessa commenced working for Regional Development Australia Murraylands and Riverland, where her passion for regional South Australia, and experience in practical business operations has seen her lead many economic development initiatives for the region.
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Ali Davenport, Ali Davenport is the CEO of TSBE and brings to the role a unique mix CEO of of leadership skills, business knowledge and relationship management. Toowoomba and Her background is in media where she has managed Radio and Surat Basin Television Stations as well as Newspapers. Enterprise (TSBE) Ali’s professional career has taken her to many parts of regional Queensland including Cairns, Mackay and the Gold Coast as well as the city of Brisbane but she is very happy to be back on the Darling Downs. She believes that this region is exceptional due to the diversity of the economy, the resourcefulness of the people and the powerful community spirit.
A previous board member of TSBE, Ali is working hard to ensure the entire TSBE team continues to successfully drive economic growth by linking businesses with opportunity. Jenni Mattila, Ms Mattila has over 30 years experience advising on social and Director, CIVITAS owner occupier housing projects. She has a wide range of experience Solutions around Australia with developing different housing finance models with a focus on APRA requirements and affordability. Whilst her speciality is owner occupier housing co-ops with freehold or community title, she also is acutely aware to the need to develop affordable medium density housing close to services to meet the growing demand for a more diverse range of housing in the regions.
Jo Palmer Jo is the Founder and Managing Director of Pointer Remote, a Founder and company that supports communities, businesses and individuals to Managing leverage remote work to grow, through training, recruitment and a Director, Pointer decentralisation tool, the Community Finder. She is particularly Remote passionate about how remote work is an economic development tool to attract and retain populations in the regions. Pointer Remote runs training programs that support business owners to make remote and flexible work actually work in an organisation as well as supporting team members to be the most effective and efficient remote worker possible. Her recognition includes 2019 AgriFutures Rural Women's Award National winner, 2018 Crow Awards Startup Superstar and Young Entrepreneur Awards, 2017 Soar Awards Regional Contribution winner and 2017 Finalist in the Regional Australia Institute's Lightbulb Moments and Regional Online Heroes competitions.
Nick Lane After a personal turning point in his life, Nick has dedicated his career Founder and to delivering collective impact and better outcomes for regional Executive communities, businesses, and their environments. He is driven by a Director, Passive passion to create more liveable, inclusive, accessible, and resilient Place communities.
Nick focusses on developing business systems that deliver whole of community impact and uplift and has created a community development model to assist regional communities to tackle some of the critical issues that are facing them such as housing supply, population growth, skills, training, and employment pathways.
He is the co-founder for Passive Place and Shift Regional, providing employment and housing solutions for regional Australia, and has extensive engagement and project experience in regional communities both here and overseas. Nick has sat on the Property Council’s Sustainability Board and is an Associate Director of the renowned Social Licence firm Futureye. Nick has deep insights into the complex social, economic, and community issues facing our regions.
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He is currently delivering both digital and physical platforms focused on regional resilience and community development. Passive Place will deliver a unique 120 dwelling regional housing project, demonstrating the power of community co-design, the need to aggregate housing demand, and collective impact. The project is an illustration of complex system mapping and deep community and business engagement. The project will provide a framework for tackling the chronic and systemic market failure in the regional housing market that impacts businesses, councils, and communities alike. Ros Ros has been working in the arts and creative industries for over 20 Abercrombie, years with experience in Creative Direction, Strategic Design and Arts Executive Management. Director, Regional Arts Ros is committed to the concepts of collaboration as vital to building the Australia arts and creative industries and believes in the need to be innovative, accessible and cross industry. She provides programs that support a creative ecosystem that is interconnected and integrated across art forms, across communities and across landscapes.
Her cross-disciplinary approach blends practical and academic experience facilitating stakeholder engagement that stimulates a dialogue that supports accessible arts and cultural environments. Ros considers art spaces as a cultural landscape to be more than their physical place and designs programs for the spaces in-between crafting unique contemporary experiences. Working across the arts regionally, Ros is currently the Executive Director (CEO) at Regional Arts Australia (RAA). Tracey Grosser, Tracey is a dedicated community advocate who is passionate about Community her community and its people. Raised in the Mid North of SA before Development relocating to Melbourne, only to return to the country following Officer – marriage to a local Bordertown farmer, Nathan, 22 years ago. Tracey Migration, has worked across various health fields, studying, and working as a Tatiara District Registered Nurse for 25 years. Council An active community member and on various local committees and community groups, which has included working for the Australian Migrant Resource Centre Bordertown as Multicultural Community Services Coordinator.
Currently Tracey’s role is Community Development Officer - Migration at the Tatiara District Council. This role has a focus of fostering partnerships to achieve broad community participation and connecting communities. Tracey loves sport, values health, and cherishes family times with her two teenage children and husband. Jillian Kilby, Jillian is the Founder of The Exchange, an innovation hub and Founder and coworking space that burns brightly in Dubbo NSW. Located in a 134- CEO, The year-old heritage Post Office, Jillian mobilised the community and Exchange trades during its restoration, and business owners and entrepreneurs in its ongoing operation awarded the 2018 Agrifutures NSW/ACT Rural Woman of the Year. The Exchange is growing to do more good, ensuring the commercial success of regional startups and small businesses.
Jillian is an Australian Sir John Monash Foundation Scholar and a Civil Engineer who makes a conscious choice to serve the infrastructure needs of the private sector, Local Councils and Joint Organisations of Councils in regional NSW, through her boutique advisory company The Infrastructure Collaborative. The business is unique for having operations in both regional Australia and Silicon Valley (pre-COVID).
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Jillian currently serves on several boards including the NSW Public Policy Institute, and committees including the NSW Innovation and Productivity Council, the NSW Skills Board and the NSW Expert Road Panel.
Jillian holds degrees in Civil Engineering (Sydney University) and Master of Business Administration and Master of Public Policy (Stanford University) and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Kerry Grace, Economic and Community Development practitioner Kerry Grace RDA Mid North (Bachelor Business) has been the CEO of RDAMNC since August 2016. Coast Kerry brings a range of skills to RDAMNC incorporating her experiences in the vocational education, advertising and media and human services industries. Kerry worked with all levels of government as well as not for profit organisations and Aboriginal corporations via her consultancy Evolve Group Network between 2003-2016 in this time forming a strong understanding of the issues faced by people in the region.
As a sixth generation Mid North Coast resident Kerry is a passionate advocate for the people of the region. She is a mum of school aged children and resident of the Nambucca Valley. Matt Linnegar, Matt Linnegar joined the Foundation in 2014, becoming the first Australian Rural program alumnus to lead the organisation. Leadership Foundation Matt has worked for over 25 years in for-purpose, representative and commercial roles focused on leadership, agriculture, water, natural resource management, trade and marketing. He is passionate about building capacity in rural, regional and remote Australia.
Before joining the Foundation, Matt was CEO of the National Farmers’ Federation, working on some of the most complex challenges facing the rural sector. Past leadership roles include working as general manager, corporate and customer operations at Murrumbidgee Irrigation Limited; executive director at Ricegrower’s Association of Australia; and marketing coordinator, South-East Asia, for the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation (now MLA).
Matt is a director of the Telstra Foundation, Agribusiness Australia, and The Leadership Network. He is also president of the Carwoola Community Association and serves on the Charles Sturt University Strategic Advisory Committee, Bush Summit Advisory Panel, and Investing in Rural Communities Reference Panel. Rosemary Rosemary Shapiro-Liu is the Founder and Director of Triple Win Shapiro-Liu, Enterprises and author of ‘The Mentor Within’. She is a passionate Triple Win facilitator and has built a facilitation toolkit for people who don’t yet Enterprises & The call themselves facilitators but who find themselves in front of groups. Facilitation Academy Rosemary coaches and mentors leaders, change-makers, Agile practioners and community builders.
In collaboration with colleagues, Rosemary will help you create Triple Wins in your business, your organisation and your life. She has a penchant for brilliant conference processes, and excellent customer experiences.
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Sam Birrell, CEO, Sam graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor Committee for Applied Science (Agriculture) in 2003. He worked as a horticultural Greater agronomist in the Goulburn Valley, and from 2008 to 2016, was Shepparton agronomist with global micro irrigation pioneers Netafim, in which capacity he worked across Australia and New Zealand. In March 2016 Sam was appointed CEO of the Committee for Greater Shepparton. A lifelong resident of the region, he graduated from the Fairley Leadership program in 2013, and in 2017 graduated with an M.B.A from La Trobe University. He chairs the Latrobe University Shepparton campus regional advisory board.
Rachel Whiting, CEO, RDA Rachel is the Director of Regional Development at RDA Riverina. She Riverina NSW has lived in regional communities in NSW, Western Australia and Queensland throughout her professional career. Rachel has worked extensively with not-for-profits both as a board member and as management. Rachel is passionate in her quest for others to understand the need for skilled workers in regional Australia and the benefits of living regionally. ‘More Jobs than People’ has become her mantra!
In her spare time, Rachel has also been breeding horses for the Olympic disciplines for 20 years and is involved in Arts Practice and Facilitation. Rachel is an Adjunct Professional Staff Member at Charles Sturt University, a Fellow of Leadership WA, holds a Master of Communications from Charles Sturt University, a Graduate Certificate in Animal Studies from UQ and a Bachelor of Education majoring in Visual Arts and English from QUT.
Todd Babiak, Todd Babiak has worked in places around the world – some big and CEO, Brand some not so big. He’s worked with these places to build brand stories, Tasmania turning each individual story into economic, social, and cultural development strategies. Of all the places around the world he has worked, he was most moved by the Tasmanian brand story.
He and his team at Brand Tasmania are in the listening and building business in a Tasmanian way. In collaboration with partners and the community they work to inspire and encourage Tasmanians, and those who aspire to be Tasmanian, to quietly pursue the extraordinary.
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