Thank You to our Speakers

Master of Ceremonies

Nina Macken

Director of Engagement, Ethos Urban

Nina is an expert in bringing together diverse groups, communities and stakeholders to deliver positive urban outcomes.

A trusted adviser to her clients and a skilled facilitator, Nina has an excellent understanding of the complex challenges and risks during the planning, design and delivery of major developments.

Nina has chaired a number of stakeholder and community reference groups and is regularly called on to facilitate workshops for clients, including the NSW Government.

She has 20 years’ experience developing and implementing tailored stakeholder engagement and communications strategies within the planning, infrastructure and policy space, and a reputation for delivering outstanding results for both government and private sector projects.

Keynote Speakers

Emma Gibbens

Co Founder and Director, Acknowledge This! Author of Anatomy of a Conversation

Emma inspires people to take action and create inclusive change through keynotes, training, conversations and strategic campaigns. Emma’s energetic, playful and dynamic approach enables everyone to participate and belong, creating change that sticks.

Her journey started in 2008, helping to elect Barack Obama, and she hasn’t stopped believing in the power of people since. She is IAP2 certified and has worked in community engagement with local and state governments and on major infrastructure projects, including Westport and METRONET.

Holly Ransom

CEO, Emergent Global and Author of The Leading Edge

At five years old, Holly’s Grandmother Dorothy said to her “Honey, if you walk past it, you tell the world it’s okay”

Holly has devoted her life and leadership to this mantra ever since; inspiring audiences around the globe to stand up and lead the change they care enough to make.

Through her leadership development firm, Emergent, she has produced real-world results for clients such as P&G, Microsoft and Virgin. Holly is also an accomplished board director for organisations such as Port Adelaide Football Club and Hudson.

A proud champion for diversity and inclusion, Holly is Chair of Pride Cup Australia and devoted to challenging LGBTI+ discrimination within sporting clubs. She also co-founded Energy Disruptors Conference, named Canada’s number 1 conference, 2 years running.

Isabella GiaVulva

Community Engagement Drag Queen Participation Consultant Extraordinaire

Isabella GiaVulva is a Community Engagement Drag Queen Participation Consultant Extraordinaire, known around the world for her innovative communications and engagement strategies that bring joy, laughter, and learning together.

With too many years of experience to count, Isabella brings her unique brand of creativity to unlock fabulous training and participation opportunities for all members of the community. From the corporate halls of international conferences to grassroots community organisations Isabella uses performance to shine a rhinestone spotlight on the tumultuous world of community engagement, market research and communications.

Isabella has performed her hilarious Highway 12 Upgrade at international conferences across the globe. She has delivered the show as Keynote Presentations at IAP2 Conferences in Canada and the USA and sold out the Darlinghurst Theatre Company during Sydney Mardi Gras in 2024.

Speakers

Abbey Mag

Consultant, Capire

Abbey Mag is a proud Dinka Bor woman of Junub Sudan, formally known as South Sudan. A dynamic engagement professional driven by a deep curiosity about human identity and meaning, her interests focus on storytelling and transforming narratives.

With experience spanning communications, public relations, and community engagement, Abbey approaches challenges with a multifaceted perspective, crafting innovative solutions that achieve impactful results.

She is passionate about designing inclusive experiences that empower individuals, build communities, and forge meaningful connections.

Amanda Newbery

Founder and Managing Director, Articulous

For over 20 years, Amanda has been a trusted advisor for some of Australia’s leading global companies and government departments providing them with applied insight that influences behavioural change and transcends borders.

Amanda is a communications and engagement professional who has made a career out of solving tough projects. Whether it's controversial, or there's a lot at stake, Amanda thrives on challenging projects. Articulous won the International community engagement project of the year in 2019.

She loves data and digital. And has chaired the nation’s first Centre for Civic Innovation for the Smart Cities Council for Aus New Zealand. Amanda has judged the inaugural national Smart Cities Awards and worked in industry-first data and digital engagement tools.

Amanda leads a senior team who have created many Australian firsts including the first avatar-generation program to map community values, the first augmented reality app for a planning scheme, software development for organisational innovation, and now a world-first in evaluation.

A former journalist, Amanda is a weekly panellist on ABC Radio's Hidden Persuaders program that critiques advertising, PR and marketing.

Amanda Stephinson

State Lead NSW/ACT – Communications and Engagement, RPS

Amanda is a driven communications and engagement leader with close to 20 years’ experience delivering and executing complex communications strategies in dynamic, fast-paced environments.

Amanda has led communications teams in the NSW Government, Commonwealth Government, private and non-profit organisations including in the health, sport, WHS, aviation, water, and higher education sectors. She has significant experience in developing and executing communications and engagement strategies and leading teams through high-profile state and national policy and change programs.

Amanda is currently working across a number of clients on renewable energy projects, developing and managing effective communication and stakeholder engagement strategies for large-scale projects.

Prior to joining RPS, Amanda was the Director COVID-19 Communications for NSW Health. In this high-profile role she provided communications advice to the executive on strategies, risks, issues and trends, and led a team on the development of strategies, campaigns and content across all channels, and advise other government departments on COVID-19.

Amy Hubbard

Practice Lead, Capire Consulting Group

Amy is one of Australia’s most recognised stakeholder and community engagement specialists. With over 25 years of experience in engagement, Amy has expertise in the design of place-based engagement and integrating engagement outcomes with the delivery of technical solutions. She has worked extensively with state and local governments on significant urban renewal and public policy projects in Australia and overseas.

Amy delivers community engagement training, undertakes formal evaluations and is a highly regarded and skilled facilitator. Amy is passionate about the between engagement and community development. The meeting point where people are empowered, and they have clarity about the future.

Anne Pattillo

Director, Pattillo

Anne is the founder and director of Pattillo. With over 30 years’ experience in facilitation and consulting, she’s a strategic thinker, an international leader in stakeholder engagement and a generous sponsor of artists.

Anne has become best known for her transformational work with leadership teams. There is nothing she loves more than working with leaders to reignite their energy, realign to purpose and galvanise them into action.

Anne is recognised for her work as a leader in community engagement and the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2), including taking a central role in the design of the current IAP2 engagement frameworks and training.

Ayllie White

Principal Consultant, Whitelight Communications

Ayllie is an award-winning communications and stakeholder relations professional with more than 20 years experience across road, rail, renewable energy, utilities and aviation.

She is founder of Whitelight Communications, a boutique advisory business for the Australian transport, utilities and major infrastructure sectors.

She works to simplify the complex and use strategic relationships to propel projects in the right direction.

Caitlin Brookes

Senior Engagement Specialist, Rhelm

Caitlin is a community and stakeholder engagement manager and planner residing in Newcastle with a strong social conscience. She has 15 years of experience working within Local and State Government and the private sector, in Sydney and regional NSW. Throughout her career, she has designed and delivered complex comprehensive community and stakeholder engagement programs for natural disaster resilience projects (encompassing flood, drought, and coastal risk and management plans) and large-scale transport and social infrastructure programs.

Carla Pignatelli

Service Line Leader for Engagement and Communication, Asia-Pacific, GHD

Carla Pignatelli is the Service Line Leader for Engagement and Communication in the Asia-Pacific Region at GHD. With a decade of experience in community engagement across infrastructure projects, Carla is dedicated to amplifying community voices through inclusive, equitable, and authentic engagement practices.

In collaboration with Lavinia Schivella, Carla has been at the forefront of exploring and developing innovative engagement strategies. These strategies aim to reach a wider range of community members, foster understanding, and provide accessible avenues for participation that cater to diverse needs and preferences.

Carol Tu

Community and Stakeholder Engagement Professional

Having accidentally stumbled into a community engagement career many years ago, Carol brings 30 years of frontline Victorian public sector - and more recently private sector - experience to this conversation. From pop-ups to drop-ins to deliberative panels, she’s done it all in some shape or form!

Over the years she has collected a truckload of success stories she’s proud of, but she's more interested in sharing & learning from the f&#! ups, as it’s from the not-so-great experiences that we learn how to flex and grow as engagement professionals.

A bit of an engagement ‘nerd’, Carol’s general philosophy is that engagement is always good, but good engagement is not always the result. Issues are often complex, stakeholder interests diverse and decision-makers’ roles unclear – not exactly a recipe for success, but that’s ok - being comfortable with failure gives us greater courage to make the most of those ‘pear-shaped opportunities’ that also present themselves.

Donna Groves

Managing Director, Comacon

Donna is a community engagement specialist with 30 years’ experience delivering the stakeholder and community engagement for over 200 infrastructure and natural resources projects. She has owned and operated Comacon for 15 years and throughout her career has worked in senior stakeholder and community engagement roles for both Government and the private sector, including and 18 month secondment as Head of Communications and Engagement for Infrastructure Australia.

Donna has a passion for supporting people and communities to own and share their stories, including how they are engaged with. The wellbeing of communities and people is at the core of her work and the focus of Comacon’s delivery of stakeholder and community engagement.

Donna is a passionate sportsperson and supporter. She is a current football (soccer) player, a retired netballer, a current netball coach and sits on the board of numerous sporting bodies. Wellbeing, community empowerment and supporting women in sport are what drives Donna.

Dr Edilene Lopes McInnes

Research Fellow, University of Adelaide

I am a public health/social researcher with a background in journalism, public relations and management based at the University of Adelaide (Australia). Currently, I am working on an NHRMC project to improve community trust, acceptance, and adoption of stem cell-based therapies in Australia.

My research relates to innovative ways to engage diverse stakeholder institutional decisions (projects, policies, and other types of initiatives) in various sectors (academic, governmental or private). I am interested in the research, implementation and evaluation of engagement strategies that incorporate the values and perspectives of all stakeholders to improve decision-making processes.

Addressing inequality through increasing participation and listening to diverse perspectives is what I hope to achieve with my work.

When I am not working, I love to walk my dog, go trekking and rock climbing, and travel and explore new places with family and friends.

Dr Jane Bringolf

Chair, Centre for Universal Design Australia

Jane Bringolf is Chair of Centre for Universal Design Australia, a registered charity seeking a more inclusive world. She wants to see a world where designers and policy makers automatically consider the diversity of the population and create inclusive built environments, products, services and communications. She writes regularly on universal design and inclusive practice and contributes to various advisory panels. Jane’s academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Social Science, MBA and PhD and she is also a Churchill Fellow.

Eman Mourad

Senior Engagement Consultant, Cultural Perspectives

Eman is an engagement professional who is committed to developing and advocating for inclusive and trauma-informed engagement practices. Eman has extensive experience engaging with new arrival groups, humanitarian entrants, and asylum seekers across a myriad of policy areas including, health, family safety, and cyber security.

Most recently, Eman has been involved in Settlement Council of Australia’s Road to Belonging Working Group supporting in the development of a community engagement framework for partnering with local migrant and refugee communities.

Emanuela Savini

Practice Lead - Democracy and Citizen Engagement, University Of Canberra

Emanuela is a researcher and participatory democracy professional. She is committed to supporting citizen-led action and exploring how citizens can have more influence over public policy decision-making.  She is currently researching deliberative engagement practices with a focus on how to build capacity in government organisations for more participatory processes.

Emanuela is also the Director of The Public Value Studio, an organisation committed to increasing civic participation. Her practice is based on the deep belief that recognising the tacit knowledge and expertise of communities is fundamental to bringing about the change we want to see in our cities, and society more broadly.

She facilitates programs such as the Democracy Lab and is currently the Chair of the IAP2A Research Working Group.  

Harry Browell

Senior Consultant, RPS

Harry Browell is a passionate communications professional working from Eora land in Sydney. Interested in communications planning and design, Harry gets the most satisfaction out of his work when he can see stakeholder feedback come to life in his projects.

Harry has experience in project management, engagement planning and design, and workshop facilitation. Working in both public and private sectors, Harry has seen firsthand the challenges project teams face when it comes to youth engagement as well as the amazing outcomes when these challenges are met.

Harry wants to explore why it’s so important that we listen to the voice of youth and what the benefits are to his projects that would come from engaging with hard-to-reach groups like youth.

Dr Helen Haines MP

Independent Federal Member for Indi

My path to politics is different to the usual. I grew up with four brothers on a dairy farm near Colac in Victoria’s south west. I trained as a nurse and midwife and then moved to North East Victoria where I have lived for 35 years. My nursing and midwifery work led me to further studies and research in rural health care. With my husband, Phil, an agricultural scientist, we raised three children and live on a small farm near Wangaratta.

In 2019, I decided to stand for election, because I believe our communities need real representation on what matters to us: healthcare, better phone and internet coverage, getting rid of corruption in politics, harnessing clean energy for Australia’s future, and building our jobs and prosperity.

In 2022, I was re-elected by the people of Indi to continue my work bringing integrity to politics, improving healthcare in our region and action on climate change.

Helen Leayr

Managing Director, Communication Link

Helen has over 25 years’ industry experience across community, government and business sectors through her successful Canberra - based business, Communication Link.

Communication Link specialises in key stakeholder engagement through the delivery of communication, engagement, change management and training.

Helen is passionate about delivering meaningful, effective engagement and Communication Link delivers its work within the principles of Ask. Listen. Understand. Achieve.

Jacinta Cubis

Facilitator

Jacinta Cubis is a (fl)awesome facilitator who lights up the room as a speaker and MC. Audiences love her energy, creativity and humour. Nobody sits still, everybody engages.

Specialising in visual thinking, Jacinta creates captivating cartoons that simplify complexity. With 25+ years of facilitation experience, Jacinta has earned a reputation as a go-to facilitator, trainer and mentor for clients in diverse sectors including government, universities and community organisations, as well as consultants, technical experts and fellow facilitators.

For Jacinta, facilitation is a crucial skill for life and work. She loves creating content to shows its amazing impact and how to get better at it.

Jacinta lives in Melbourne and works anywhere, online and onsite. When she’s not lighting up audiences, you might find Jacinta on her yoga mat, in her art studio, on the tennis court or the tango dance floor.

Julian Moore

Director, SMS Strategic Membership Solutions

Julian Moore is a skilled and entertaining speaker who provides practical and useful ideas through real-world examples and case studies. Julian is an unabashed technology geek who is thoroughly enjoying the process of adapting to an AI world. With extensive experience in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, Julian is committed to helping organisations achieve their goals.

Kate Kernaghan

Managing Director, Factotum Communications

Kate Kernaghan is the Managing Director of Factotum Communications, currently working with clients across transport, mining, renewables and water infrastructure.

From State Significant Infrastructure planning and delivery to stakeholder relationship rehabilitation (and a great many tangents in between), Kate has 2 decades of government, interagency and private sector experience under her belt. She is well equipped to navigate the approvals, social and political licence, and stakeholder management aspects of any project

Having recently completed an Executive MBA at UoW, outside of work, Kate is happy to have traded reading lists and highlighters for taxi-ing around her three “spirited” daughters and mediating spotify or front seat disputes.

Kirsty Hogarth

Manager, Stakeholder And Community Relations, CPB Contractors

Kirsty Hogarth is highly regarded for her ability to develop collaborative relationships with stakeholders, including community members, industry, and government, to achieve successful project engagement outcomes in infrastructure projects. With over 15 years of experience, Kirsty has worked across various industry sectors and states, such as mining, civil infrastructure, energy, water, agriculture, education, and FMCG in NSW, QLD, SA, NT, and VIC. She has extensive expertise in infrastructure projects in creating and implementing community and social engagement, Indigenous engagement, and community development programs. Kirsty focuses on building capacity in regional areas and excels at integrating this approach into regional infrastructure projects. She emphasises the importance of her team's focus and approach to community engagement, ensuring that they actively listen and respond with empathy and compassion in a timely manner. Kirsty was recently honoured with the Women in Civil Award by the Civil Contractors Federation - South Australia.

Kirsty O'Connell

Co-Founder and Director, I2S (Institute for Infrastructure in Society) and Director, The Engagement People

With more than 25 years’ experience on more than $20billion in projects, Kirsty is one of the nation’s leading infrastructure engagement, communications and strategy professionals.

Kylie Cochrane

Principal, Communication and Stakeholder Engagement, Aurecon

IAP2 Honorary Fellow and global engagement leader, Kylie has 30 years’ experience in communication and stakeholder engagement. She specialises in helping clients to maintain and regain their social licence through mitigating social risk and managing community outrage.

Kylie was the Global IAP2 Chair from 2017-2022 and was on the Australian IAP2 Board from 2011-2021.

She currently chairs the Australian National University’s Advisory Board for the Institute for Infrastructure in Society (which oversees the NextGen research into community engagement trends).

Over the last decade Kylie has built Aurecon’s Communications and Stakeholder Engagement business to one of the leading communications and engagement businesses in ANZ.

Lavinia Schivella

Technical Director – Engagement, Communication and Communities, Marine Sector, GHD

My skills in understanding how government operates are deep and nuanced, with first-hand experience in the public sector, strategic government roles and in representing interest groups as well as tertiary studies in bureaucracy and public administration. This experience gives me a bird's-eye view of how the government operates as a whole, an understanding of the government's internal processes and procedures, and a keen understanding of the different perspectives that stakeholders bring to the table, as well as the complex dynamics of government decision-making.

20+ years of experience in strategic leadership and community and stakeholder engagement, IAP2 certified, with a focus on maritime, roads, energy, and environmental projects, helping clients achieve their goals. Track record in community engagement and complex project delivery. Skillful and resourceful negotiator and team member with a proven ability to drive results in complex and challenging environments. Strong background managing teams and in delivering strategic policies and working papers.

Leigh Moran

Director, Counsel House

Leigh is a leading government relations practitioner, who has worked in and around Canberra and Parliament House for more than a decade.

Throughout Leigh’s lengthy career in political advocacy, Leigh has delivered government relations strategies for Australian and multinational companies, not-for-profits, national peak bodies, and leading think tanks. He has held senior roles in business and has first-hand experience of the business impacts of government decision making.

Leigh sits on the board of Garran Primary School ACT, one of the roles he holds to give back to the community.

Lynne Welch

Community Engagement Manager, Homes NSW

Lynne is a dedicated cheerleader of stakeholder consultation with over 15 years’ experience driving innovative, collaborative and meaningful interaction within diverse communities.

Lynne cites her lived experience (which includes 8 years living in a tribal community in the Indian Himalayas), as a catalyst for her passion and expertise in thinking outside the box and finding creative ways to involve people in decision-making processes.

With a background in community development and a deep commitment to social justice, Lynne brings a unique blend of empathy and expertise to her work - inspiring people to have a say in the decisions that have the potential to impact them... even if their voice shakes.

In her free time, Lynne dabbles in creative social media pursuits to stay relevant and impress her 8-year-old son who constantly reminds her that young people are the future.

Maddison Gilholme

Engagement Officer, Cultural Perspectives

Maddison has coupled over five years’ experience within the corporate sector and a passion for arts, culture, and youth participation to her engagement practice at Cultural Perspectives. Maddison focuses on weaving innovative multi-sensory engagement practices to engage with diverse CALD audiences via art, music, and sports.

Maddison excels in harnessing stakeholder engagement to extend the reach of government campaigns to diverse audiences at a national level.

Margot Hammond

Transmission Social Performance Manager, Western Power

Margot Hammond is the Transmission Social Performance Manager at Western Power and has the exciting role of managing the development and implementation of social performance framework and strategy to support transmission expansion projects across the network.

With more than 15 years of experience in communications and engagement, and a proven track record of managing extensive stakeholder relationships, business governance, and sustainability and community investment across the sectors of arts, commercial, government, and large infrastructure among others, Margot is well placed in integrating social considerations into Western Power’s transition to a cleaner and more resilient energy system for Western Australia.

Her success in building strong and diverse professional teams that deliver social impact assessments, strategic engagement, environmental performance, land management, and statutory approvals is well known across industry and her contribution to social investment performance and innovation has been recognised by an Australian Institute of Energy “Women in Energy” Award.

Marion Short

Chief Executive Officer, IAP2 Australasia

A transformational leader with 15 years’ experience as a CEO in the not-for-profit sector, coupled with extensive senior management experience in the private sector and 20 years’ experience working within collaborative models.

Under her leadership, IAP2 Australasia focused on delivering a suite of valued initiatives to members which has resulted in tremendous growth, membership has more than tripled to over 14,000 and revenues have likewise increased.

Marion has an MBA from Henley Management College, UK. She has been married to Kevin for over 30 years and is enormously proud of her two adult sons.

A resourceful optimist, she grew up in the Northern Territory, and much of her life has been shaped by her dad’s words “well it can’t be that hard”.

Max Hardy

Community Engagement Expert and IAP2 Fellow, Max Hardy Consulting

Max Hardy is a leading expert in community engagement and co-founded the IAP2 Australasian Chapter in 1997. He is internationally recognised for his expertise in co-design and deliberative processes, having designed and facilitated 70 deliberative panels since 1998. Max has developed award-winning models for collaboration and community engagement across various sectors, including urban planning, energy, and healthcare.

As a Master Trainer for IAP2, Max co-designed training academies in Canada and the UK and co-facilitated Australia’s first Citizens’ Parliament. In 2020, he co-founded Authentic Co-design, offering a self-paced training program and a comprehensive guide on co-design.

Max has co-authored two books and contributed to the Handbook of Public Participation in Impact Assessment (2024). He regularly collaborates with the Tamarack Institute and delivered a TEDx talk titled ‘Questions Change Everything’ in 2018.

Melissa Creber

Director and NSW/ACT Lead, Engagement and Change Advisory, Aurecon and IAP2 Australasia Board Director

Melissa Creber is a Director with Aurecon, where she currently leads the NSW/ACT Engagement and Change Advisory team. In addition to leading people and projects, Melissa drives her team’s capability in mitigating social risk and employing best practice engagement.

As a young Director with an active career in the industry, Melissa brings a fresh perspective to the IAP2 Australasia Board, with a commitment to advancing the professionalism of the practice with diverse thinking, creativity and innovation. Melissa strives to build more effective links to younger members.

Mel Hagedorn

Client Executive, Capire Consulting and IAP2 Australasia Board Director

Mel Hagedorn is an Executive Leader with over 15 years of experience in community engagement, communications and service design, spanning all tiers of government, not-for-profit, and corporate sectors. Renowned for delivering exceptional client experiences and best practices in digital engagement, Mel's core competencies include developing and implementing customer experience models, strategies, and services that result in positive long-term outcomes for both organisations and the communities they operate in.

Passionate about engaging and empowering communities through authentic engagement, digital transformation, and social licensing, Mel has made significant contributions to the industry. She was a finalist for the Women in Digital Indigenous Leadership Award, recognising her impact on the community and business leadership. Mel also serves as a current IAP2A Board member as her way of giving back to the Community Engagement sector.

Merryn Spencer

Engagement Lead, Jemena

Merryn is an accomplished practitioner with extensive experience managing complex stakeholders. Appreciating the importance of relationships and how they reflect the level of trust and respect between parties, she is passionate about the complimentary practices of research and engagement.Merryn is also an experienced social and market researcher, soliciting opinions and reporting with extensive qualitative and quantitative experience across the planning, energy and infrastructure disciplines.

Michael Johnson

Director of Stakeholder Relations for Major Projects, Transgrid

Michael is the Director of Stakeholder Relations for Major Projects at Transgrid. With over 8 years of experience in engagement with major infrastructure projects across NSW, he has worked at Sydney Water, Western Sydney Airport, and WestConnex.

Michael enjoys the complexity of engagement that comes along with Major Projects through the project lifecycle of concept, planning, construction, and delivery. It is an exciting time for the energy industry and he is passionate about the transition to renewable energy and is grateful to be part of this movement. Michael champions the voice of the community, valuing the intrinsic information provided to reduce project impacts and maximise the opportunities that these legacy projects can offer in regional NSW.

Michelle Howard

Founder and Managing Director, Collaborations Pty Ltd

Michelle is an internationally accredited facilitator and strategic planner with over 30 years’ experience working with agencies in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. In that time, she has developed a reputation for facilitating complex processes of change in contexts as diverse as disability reform, health, Indigenous governance, community planning and major infrastructure/design projects.

Her experience across all levels of government includes working on major urban renewal projects, legislative reform, stakeholder management and numerous ministerial advisory positions. Michelle is known for building effective, collaborative relationships with clients and constituents to inform sustainable project outcomes.

Michelle is a Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia, a professional mentor and facilitator of training and development programs in Australia and internationally.

Mike Butler

First Nations Engagement Coordinator and Mediator, Urboriginal and Brooks Community Engagement

Mike has been connecting with First Nations communities for nearly 25 years in places including PNG, Australia, Vanuatu and NZ. He is a trained mediator and completed a Juris Doctor (Law) degree in 2018. His strengths lie in his enthusiasm and dedication to communities. He most recently received the City West Housing 2021/2022 leadership award for his involvement in Community Housing.

A Murri man originating from Wangan and Jagalingou country, Mike is an Aboriginal representative in his Sydney home (Pyrmont & Ultimo). Mike grew up in highly cross-cultural environments, and his engagement with the community is long and varied. Originally trained as a professional engineer, Mike followed on to a career in journalism, where he learned communication on a number of levels. His recent engagement has been with traditional custodians and land councils in NSW, QLD and the Northern Territory around mining, infrastructure projects, health, child removals and incarceration.

His recent engagement has been working with traditional custodians and land councils in Papua New Guinea, NSW, QLD and the Northern Territory around mining, infrastructure projects, health, child removals and incarceration. He recently won the City West Housing 2022 leadership award for his involvement in Community Housing.

Pino Migliorino AM

Managing Director, Cultural Perspectives

Pino founded Cultural Perspectives Group in 1994. He was motivated by a passion for and a unique experience of Australia’s cultural and linguistic diversity. Pino has over 30 years of experience as an engagement professional and has worked in ethnic and multicultural affairs across a range of jurisdictions and organisations in both the government and non-government sector for 30 years. Alongside this, Pino is a Fellow of Communications and Public Relations Australia (FCPRA) and Qualified Practicing Market Researcher (QPMR). Pino is acknowledged as one of the pre-eminent voices in Australian’s multicultural society.

Under his leadership and guidance, Cultural Perspectives Group has acted to bridge between structures interested in diversity and those community representatives making up this diversity, establishing its place as an expert provider of inclusive research, communications, and engagement.

Rea Singh

Director – Engagement, Cultural Perspectives

Rea is an experienced engagement professional and expert in matters relating to culturally and linguistically diverse communities. In her role as Director of Engagement at Cultural Perspectives, Rea is responsible for leading government, corporate, not-for-profit and institutional projects across a national landscape.

Rea has strong experience in managing and leading national campaigns on safety, health and disability areas.

Rea is also a member of the national provider of support for people impacted by sexual, domestic and family violence, Full Stop Australia and the Federation of Ethnic Communities Council’s of Australia – CALD Women’s Advisory Group. Rea has also recently joined the University of Sydney's - The Settlement as a Board Member.

Rebecca Roebuck

Social Impact Advisor, Social Impax

Rebecca Roebuck is a social impact advisor & Linkedin “Top Voice” with a focus on the infrastructure, energy, and development sectors.

Some of Rebecca’s recent consulting work includes advising various energy proponents around community benefit strategies, helping a multinational company measure their global social value, and developing an evaluation framework for a local government’s community wellbeing strategy.

Rebecca speaks to the infrastructure & energy sectors entering a “wellbeing era”, and that for community engagement professionals this means changing expectations and an evolution needed in skills and knowledge.

Rebecca Spencer

Managing Director, Becscomm

Rebecca Spencer is the founder and Managing Director of Becscomm, a highly specialised boutique communications and engagement consultancy. With 25 years' experience as a strategic communications and engagement specialist, she has led several large community engagement teams on major projects and is considered one of the go-to engagement professionals in the country. Rebecca has a depth of engagement experience across a range of sectors including transport, health, disaster planning, energy and utilities. Her highly sought-after facilitation and leadership skills has seen her appointed by the NSW government for several community and stakeholder working groups including the Chair of the Rozelle Parklands Working Group, and as Secretary for Berrys Bay Working Group.

Rikki Butler

Director, RPS

Rikki is a strategic communications and engagement expert who has spent the last 20 years supporting many of the UK and Australia’s most influential projects and organisations.

She has recently returned to Australia after 15 years living and working in the UK. In recent years, her focus has been on supporting organisations involved in the UK and Australia’s energy transition. This has seen her work with National Grid, supporting multiple nationally significant transmission infrastructure projects and deliver for The Crown Estate, who own and manage the much of the UK’s seabed putting them at the heart of shaping the UK’s world-leading offshore wind sector. She now jointly leads RPS’ renewable energy sector work for communications and engagement.

During her time in the UK, she had the opportunity to work across a range of sectors – including half a decade delivering community relations for the London 2012 Olympics, gearing up for Transport for London’s biggest ever consultation and supporting the National Health Service (NHS) in its mammoth undertaking to engage on transforming the way care is provided.

Dr Robyn Cochrane

CEO/Lead Researcher, Cochrane Research Solutions

Dr. Robyn Cochrane is CEO/Lead Researcher of Cochrane Research Solutions, a home-based research consultancy business. Robyn is highly qualified and has extensive experience in research, policy, planning and training roles across education, local government and community settings. Robyn provides a variety of research and consulting services to inform evidence based decision-making. She has worked collaboratively to produce Community Visions, a range of Council plans, masterplans and strategies and has successfully evaluated services and programs. Areas of expertise include benchmarking, literature reviews, engagement design, survey design, data collation, data analysis and reporting. Empowering communities is at the heart of Robyn’s work and volunteer pursuits. In 2022 she was awarded Outstanding Citizen of the Year by the City of Kingston in recognition of her contribution to the community. Robyn is committed to advancing the practice of community and stakeholder engagement.

Professor Sara Bice

Co-Founder and Director, I2S (Institute for Infrastructure in Society)

The Australian National University. She is Past President IAIA. In 2020, she received the IAIA Outstanding Service Award for service to the impact assessment profession.

Sarah Chang

Senior Executive Officer, CASS

Sarah Chang is the Senior Executive Officer of the Multicultural Community Services Development Unit at CASS CARE, with over 15 years of experience addressing service gaps for multicultural communities. Specializing in community service development, Sarah applies her expertise to enhance and promote services and events for Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Indonesian communities. Fluent in English, Chinese, and Korean, she is dedicated to advancing inclusive and effective multicultural support.

Sarah Wilcox

Pakana | Director, Cooee Tunapri Pty Ltd

I am a proud pakana/Tasmanian Aboriginal woman from lutruwita/Tasmania and run my own business Cooee Tunapri.

My purpose is clear: to build cultural safety in our communication and engagement with First Nations people. This is a goal we are all working towards, using a cultural framework I developed in collaboration with Mina Nina in Lutruwita. Our shared understanding of our history, people and culture is the foundation of this important work.

As an IAP2-trained Engagement practitioner and trainer, I have enjoyed demonstrating the power of the IAP2 ethos “meaningful engagement every day" in a variety of government and community projects and programs. The IAP2 Approach complements our cultural framework, leading to stronger relationships and outcomes for our people.

Sharon Sebastian

Global Technical Services Leader, GHD

Sharon has more than 17 years’ experience in stakeholder engagement and program communication. She has worked on largescale renewable, infrastructure, transport, and Commonwealth projects, and is currently the Global Technical Services Leader for GHD Advisory.

Sharon has designed engagement and communication frameworks for different levels of industry, community and government. Her approach enables teams achieve key objectives, while bringing an authentic engagement style to projects she works on, building relationships and trust to enable on-point communication.

Sharon also serves as a Specialist Reserve Public Affairs Officer with the Royal Australian Air Force.

Sirius Kenna

Community Youth Representative

Sirius is a year 10 student who lives in Canberra. They have multiple interests with their current loves being 70s prog rock, 2008 Emo music and fashion, textile, theatre, dogs and anime.

Sirius is also passionate about their community. They are co-president of their schools rainbow club which aims to provide a safe space for queer and gender diverse students and allies. They volunteer weekly at the local youth centre and is a Pee Wees mentor at their soccer club.

Stu Reeve

Managing Director, Micromex Research

I have 30 years’ qualitative and quantitative research experience across a broad range of industries and topics

I am the co-owner of Micromex Research, and since 2010 I have been involved in community consultation and research for circa 100+ government organisations. In that time I have developed research products and formed close industry contacts with both government and partner organisation. In 2017 I was one of the key note speakers at LGNSW’s annual conference.

At Micromex I use qualitative and quantitative community engagement and research to inform and assist the development of better community outcomes As a category consultant I am more interested in the meaning of the outcomes, rather than the process of research. I have been a member of the IAP2 research working group since its inception, and keenly interested in advocating the values and benefits research and engagement bring.

I live on the Sydney’s northern beaches and enjoy trail and distance running, speculative fiction, and a strong coffee and a beer to bookend a day.

Tania Reis

Customer Success Manager, Social Pinpoint

Tania is a digital native and client experience enthusiast with a passion for people and working with communities. She currently works alongside local and state government organisations across NSW to support their digital engagement efforts and create meaningful outcomes.

She offers over a decade of experience in client facing roles in both public and private sectors. As a millennial, Tania is particularly interested in generational dynamics of youth, and how socio-cultural transitions between generations can inform and improve the way we communicate for real meaningful outcomes.

Led by her passion for psychology, Tania is also a staunch advocate for mental health and education. She is currently involved in an ongoing research project with the University of Melbourne and volunteers her time for the Black Dog Institute and initiatives targeting mental illness.

Tanya Jackson

Head of Sustainability, Communications and Engagement, RES

Tanya Jackson is the Head of Sustainability, Communications and Engagement at RES, overseeing these three specialist portfolios for the business in Australia to address their ESG goals. Tanya has as background in environmental science, stakeholder engagement, community consultation and communications management along with expertise in investor relations, risk management and regulatory compliance.

Over the past decade Tanya has held multiple positions within RES including in the Construction and Asset Management team to deliver five large scale wind and solar farms.

Prior to joining RES, Tanya was engaged by IAP2 to co-Author the Quality Assurance Standard of Community and Stakeholder Engagement

Taryn Woods

Associate Director, Engagement and Change Advisory, Aurecon

Taryn leads a team of communication and stakeholder engagement professionals in Aurecon’s Engagement and Change Advisory Team. Passionate about genuine community and stakeholder engagement in realising positive outcomes for projects and communities.

Taryn’s has experience across the energy, transport, water and built environment sectors, building a reputation working on contentious projects to mitigate social risk and manage community outrage.

Taryn has also recently returned from the Paris Olympic Games where she was in the coaching team for the Aussie Stingers Water Polo team winning a silver medal.

Tim Holmes

Head of Communications & Stakeholders, Gamuda Australia and IAP2 Australasia Board Director

Tim has over 20 years’ experience in the UK and Australia delivering stakeholder management, community engagement and communications across a range of industry sectors including transport, infrastructure and government. His experience includes key leadership roles on many of the largest ever transport projects delivered in Australia. Tim has a particularly strong background in managing complex stakeholder relations around busy and challenging operating environments and in identifying and mitigating risks associated with impacts on communities.

Tim’s breadth of experience has seen him hold senior project roles in the public sector; with major top-tier construction companies; and in consulting. In 2017 Tim founded his own consultancy business to provide high-level strategic advice in consultation and engagement. Tim is currently Communications & Stakeholder Manager with Gamuda Australia.

In addition to his experience as a practitioner of community engagement, Tim has an MBA with First Class Honours from Melbourne Business School and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Foundations of Directorship course. As an IAP2 Board Director, Tim is keen to focus on shaping the organisation’s drive towards higher standards of professionalism and recognition.

Tony Clark

Chair, IAP2 Australasia Board

Inaugural Kimberley Kitching Award for Human Rights recipient (August 2023).

Tony brings extensive communication and engagement expertise having led major transformational and infrastructure projects in the disability, health, and housing sectors. Tony is Chair of International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) Australasia and a non-Executive Director on the State Trustees of Victoria. He brings the benefit and value of lived experience of disability to all that he does.

Yvette Andrews

Strategy and Engagement Manager, Resilient Sydney

Yvette Andrews is an experienced engagement professional working in local, state and federal government on strategy development and transformation projects. She is currently leading the development of the Resilient Sydney Strategy in collaboration with 33 Greater Sydney councils.

Yvette led engagement at the City of Sydney for 12 years establishing the City’s reputation as setting the benchmark for organisation-wide engagement practice, including winning the IAP2 Project of the Year in 2020. She has a Masters in Teaching and a Masters in Media Arts and Production.

Yvette is a passionate contributor to the community as a life member of Reverse Garbage, a founder of the Sydney Women’s AFL and Member of the NSW AFL Hall of Fame, a junior footy coach, a foster carer, and co-host of the Ernie Awards.

Zinab Al Hilaly

Engagement Officer, Cultural Perspectives

Zinab is an experienced community engagement practitioner. She has worked across government, industry sectors and not-for-profits to provide strategic advice, prepare and deliver communication strategies to CALD communities.

In her previous roles she engaged with CALD communities in WA, Christmas Island and Cocos Keeling Islands to enhance their social, economic, cultural and civic participation. Zinab’s previous roles focused on empowering multicultural young people in advocacy, policy, and youth leadership.