Confirmed Presenters

The presenters are split into six alphabetical groups. Click on the below letter range options to view information in that section.

Presenters S-T Click on the presenter's name to jump to their bio
	Catherine Scarth Adult Multicultural Education Services (AMES), Australia		Jess Steele Development Trusts Association, UK
	Professor Jim Schorr Vanderbilt Centre for Business & Society, USA		Senator Ursula Stephens New South Wales Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector, Australia
	Carol Schwartz AM Our Community, Australia		Dr Susan Steinman University of Johannesburg, South Africa
	Rebecca Scott STREAT, Australia		Dr. H. Sudarshan Karuna Trust, India
	Laura Sexton Scottish Government, UK		Carol Tappenden CSR Systems, South Africa
	Alex Shead Fair Business, Australia		David Francis Thompson AM Jobs Australia
	Professor Peter Shergold AC Centre for Social Impact, Australia		Christopher Thorn Philanthropic Services, Goldman Sachs
	Jodie Sizer Ingenuity Business Consulting, Australia		Evan Thornley Better Place, Australia
	Leslie P. Smart EACH Housing, Australia		Meena Thuraisingham Talentinvest, Australia
	Adam Smith Foundation for Young Australians, Australia		Professor John Thwaites Monash Sustainability Institute, Australia
	Lisa Smith Mindworker, Australia		Michael Traill SVA, Australia
	Mikael Smith Black Olives Production, Australia		Maria Tsopanis AMES Social Enterprise Unit, Australia
	Marie Tze Kwan So Ventures in Development, China		Dr Nir Tsuk Askoka, Israel
	Marc Spencer Juma Ventures, USA
Catherine Scarth Adult Multicultural Education Services (AMES), Australia Catherine Scarth has over 20 years experience in designing, implementing and evaluating a wide range of innovative community services and programs both in Australia and England. Catherine was responsible for a number of community services and has developed a range of award winning partnerships with Business and Government (Brotherhood of St Laurence). More recently as the General Manager for Community and Policy at AMES, Cath continues to seek innovative ways to partner with employers to achieve positive employment and settlement outcomes for newly arrived migrants and refugees.  She is also developing innovative solutions to intractable social issues including being a founding board member of Social Traders a new organisation aimed at fostering businesses which trade with a social purpose.
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Professor Jim Schorr Vanderbilt Centre for Business & Society, USA Jim Schorr joined Vanderbilt University in 2008, to teach and develop a new centre of excellence focused on advancing the idea and practice of business as a vehicle for social change. From 2000-07, Professor Schorr was CEO of Juma Ventures, a San Francisco-based organisation that is widely regarded as one of the leading social enterprise models in the US. In 2007-08, he received a teaching appointment from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, where he developed and taught the Social Enterprise & Entrepreneurship course. As a student at Northwestern University in 1993, he was a co-founder of Net Impact, which has since empowered 25,000+ students at 175 business schools on 5 continents (including Melbourne Business School) to integrate social & environmental priorities into their education and careers. Professor Schorr currently serves as Board Chairman at Net Impact and on the Boards of the Social Enterprise Alliance and Global Social Venture Competition.
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Carol Schwartz AM Our Community, Australia Carol Schwartz has extensive experience in business, property, community organisations and has been a director on public company and government boards. Carol is currently the Chairman of Our Community and President of Melbourne International Arts Festival. Some of Carol’s other directorships include Director of Qualitas Property Partners, Yarra Capital Partners and the Austem Group. Carol is the Executive in Residence at Melbourne Business School and a council member of the Australian Innovation Research Centre, University of Tasmania. Carol was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours list in 2006 for her achievements in business and commerce and her contribution to community and the arts; Carol also received the Centenary Medal in 2001 in recognition of her outstanding service as a leading business executive and board participant. Together with her husband Alan and four children, Carol has established a PPF, the Trawalla Foundation. The Trawalla Foundation invests in social enterprises and opportunities that focus on arts, ideas, innovation and scholarship.
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Rebecca Scott STREAT, Australia Rebecca is the founder and CEO of STREAT, a new homeless and disadvantaged youth social enterprise due to start its foodservice operations at Federation Square this December. STREAT provides homeless and disadvantaged youth with a pathway from the street to long-term employment in the hospitality industry. Before starting STREAT Rebecca was the Vice-President of KOTO, a social enterprise café  for homeless youth in Hanoi. Prior to this she worked for a decade in management positions at CSIRO, Australia’s premier science research organisation. Rebecca is passionate about the role that governments, non-profits, businesses and community groups can play together in poverty reduction and sustainable development and has worked hard to ensure STREAT takes a collaborative approach to addressing these issues.
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Laura Sexton Scottish Government, UK Laura has worked in the Scottish government for 23 years.  In her current role, as a senior policy manager in third sector division, Laura has specific responsibility for developing strategic partnerships with third sector intermediary organisations such as the Scottish social enterprise coalition also the development of a skills framework aimed at increasing and better utilising the skills of the third sector workforce in Scotland.  Scottish government is firmly committed to supporting and creating the right conditions for an enterprising third sector in Scotland.
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Alex Shead Fair Business, Australia Alex is the founding CEO of Fair Business. Keen to make a positive difference to people’s lives, Alex saw an opportunity to apply his skills for a social purpose – buying businesses to create real jobs for real pay for people facing barriers to employment. Alex has an established record in managing and building businesses and has an in depth knowledge of company acquisitions and integrations. Prior to relocating to Australia, Alex was the co-founder and CEO of Stuart Alexander, a financial services company in the UK. The company rapidly became one of the most significant financial services organisations in the country and was ultimately acquired by AXA UK.
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Professor Peter Shergold AC Centre for Social Impact, Australia Peter Shergold is the Macquarie Group Foundation Professor at the Centre for Social Impact (CSI). Professor Shergold joined the Board of AMP Limited in May 2008. He is the chair of QuintessenceLabs and the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation; Director of the National Indigenous Development Centre and Chair of the Ethics Committee of the Fundraising Institute of Australia. He has taught at the University of Illinois, Southampton University, London School of Economics and Pennsylvania State University and has twice been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship. Peter Shergold was a CEO in the Australian Public Service for two decades. In 1987 he established the Office of Multicultural Affairs. From 1991 he headed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC). For five years from February 2003 Dr Shergold was Australia’s most senior public administrator, serving as Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. In all he served four Prime Ministers and eight Ministers in both Coalition and Labor governments. In 2007 he was elevated to Australia’s highest award, the Companion in the Order of Australia (AC).
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Jodie Sizer Ingenuity Business Consulting, Australia Jodie Sizer is a Gunditjmara woman and commenced her professional career in Accounting and Auditing with Ernst and Young. Now as Director of National Business Consulting Group, ‘SED - Ingenuity’, Jodie and the Ingenuity team continue their work in Aboriginal Affairs promoting Aboriginal Intelligence and creating  improved outcomes for Aboriginal people and communities across all sectors. Jodie was awarded the Prime Ministers Centenary Medal, was inducted into the Victorian Women's Hall of Fame, was noted in the Australia Women’s Who's Who' publication and was a finalist for the Telstra Small Business Woman of the Year award, recently Jodie was awarded the Victorian Indigenous Business Leadership Award.
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Leslie P. Smart EACH Housing, Australia Leslie Smart has 54 years work experience. He spent 25 years as a practicing public accountant, 4 years in management consulting specialising in businesses in trouble and then 25 years as owner/director -now chairman - of the Austral Comnia Group of companies. This company manufactures laminated insulated panel throughout Australasia and also in central China (with a joint venture partner.) Les Smart is also Chairman of EACH LIMITED formerly Eastern Access Community Health and EACH Housing Ltd (both not for profit organisations) and are  significant providers of primary health care services  and accommodation in the outer east of Melbourne (including the bush fire areas). EACH cares for about 6000 people and has more than 400 staff. Les is also a director of SVA Nominees LTD and has a keen interest in social enterprises.
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Adam Smith Foundation for Young Australians, Australia As one of Australia's youngest CEO's of The Foundation for Young Australians, Adam continues to create impact across the education, youth development and philanthropic sectors, both in Australia and internationally.  Adam is a founding board member of ChangeMakers Australia and was until recently, a Director of the US-based International Youth Foundation. In 2008, Adam was selected by the Australian Financial Reviews BOSS Magazine as one of Australia's six Young Executives of the Year - winners are chosen for their potential as leaders, their commitment to their careers and organisations, and their ability to operate successfully under pressure. Adam was also included in The Age Top 100 list of 'movers and shakers' for 2008 - recognising Melbourne's highest achievers, the people who have made a significant contribution to public life.
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Lisa Smith Mindworker, Australia Lisa is a professional thinker dedicated to helping people unlock their innate creativity; to slake the thirst for new solutions and to empower people to think differently for themselves. After many years working in a corporate environment encouraging other people to follow their dreams, Lisa decided to take her own advice and is now following her dreams as a cross between creative midwife, problem solver and social irritant with Minds at Work, a collective of thinkers helping to change the world one mind at a time.  She's lucky enough to share the Minds at Work thinking strategies with educators, community groups, government and socially responsible corporate, helping them to make the change that they themselves dream of. Lisa and the Minds At Work team can be heard weekly, espousing various topics on ABC Radio National and other stations.
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Mikael Smith Black Olives Production, Australia Mikael Smith a Kamilaroi man from Sydney has lived and worked in Melbourne for the last 13 years. Mikael is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Black Olive Productions. Mikael has worked as the Director of the Centre for Indigenous Workplace Learning with the Replay Group and held Senior Management Positions in Local Government and community based organisations. Mikael is the former Co-chairperson with Reconciliation Victorian, Director Melbourne Aboriginal Youth Sport and Recreation, Trustee with Opening the Doors Foundation, Interim Board - Kinaway  (Victorian Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce), Member City of Darebin’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Council, Member with the City of Melbourne’s Indigenous Economic Development Committee and Member of the Parliament of the World’s Religions International Indigenous Committee.
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Marie Tze Kwan So Ventures in Development, China Marie So is the co-founder of Ventures in Development, a non-profit that catalyses creation of social enterprises in the Greater China region. Marie graduated from Harvard Kennedy School’s Masters in Public Administration/International Development program (MPA/ID), Master in International and Public Affairs from Hong Kong University and Bachelor in Economics, Engineering and Management Science from Northwestern University. She worked for the United Nations Development Program; Dubai Development and Investment Authority; Procter and Gamble, Merrill Lynch. Marie is a Board member of the Chen Yet Sen Family Foundation, Bright China Group Social Enterprise Steering Committee. She is an award recipient of Echoing Green Fellow 2008, Asia 21 Young Leader 2008, Outstanding Chinese Entrepreneur Award 2008, Business in Development (BID) 2006 and recently, selected as World Economic Forum Global Young Leaders 2009.
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Marc Spencer Juma Ventures, USA Marc Spencer, Ed.D, has 20 years of experience in the nonprofit management sector specializing in fund and program development; contracts and compliance; quality management; evaluation; and legislative affairs. His penchant for non-profit innovation, social justice, and public policy provide a foundation to further explore and develop solutions addressing the underlying structural causes of poverty, social injustice, and health and human rights violations. He is CEO of Juma Ventures, a nonprofit that works to empower youth to make successful transitions to independence in adulthood, through an innovative program that integrates employment in social enterprises and essential support services.
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Jess Steele Development Trusts Association, UK Jess Steele leads the DTA’s consultancy service which draws on the practitioner expertise of the UK’s development trust movement to provide consultancy on community enterprise and community assets. In a recent secondment to central Government she took the policy lead for assets and developed new policy and programs to promote ‘meanwhile uses’ of empty town centre premises. As a community activist and entrepreneur Jess led the award-winning ‘Get Set for Citizenship’ regeneration program. Her local social enterprises included a publishing company, an environmental consultancy, a children’s nursery, and a community finance company. She founded the creative outreach charity Magpie and has published extensively on local history. Jess developed the Community Allowance proposals to enable people on benefits to take up community regeneration work opportunities and worked for the British Urban Regeneration Association.
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Senator Ursula Stephens New South Wales Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector, Australia Dr Ursula Stephens was first elected to the Australian Senate for NSW in 2001. She was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector in the Rudd Labor government. In opposition, Dr Stephens held responsibilities as Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition (2006-2007), for Science and Water (2005-2006) and Regional Development (2004). She established the Parliamentary Friends of Schizophrenia in 2004 to help promote better understanding of mental illness. Dr Stephens has been actively involved in education and regional development prior to entering Parliament. Her vision is for a strong Australian democracy where everyone has the chance to be engaged in their communities.
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Dr Susan Steinman University of Johannesburg, South Africa Dr Susan Steinman is head of the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Johannesburg, an Ashoka fellow, serves on the World Bank’s academic group on social entrepreneurship in South Africa and she is also the founder of the social enterprise, the Workplace Dignity Institute. She was awarded the Nedbank Business Women’s Association Business Achiever of the Year Award in the category Social Entrepreneurship in 2008. She published, authored and co-authored several books and articles and address audiences worldwide on her areas of expertise. Susan is a published international researcher and did research for several UN agencies. She holds two doctorates – one of them dealing with social entrepreneurship.
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Dr. H. Sudarshan Karuna Trust, India In 1986, Dr. Hanumappa Sudarshan founded Karuna Trust for integrated rural development through health, education and livelihood security. He and his health team has brought incidence of leprosy down from 17 per 1000 people to less that 0.3, hot water epilepsy has been controlled. The trust now focuses on strengthening primary health care through Public-private Partnerships in four states, where it runs public primary health centers, addressing gaps in these remote centers through its own innovations - telemedicine, health insurance and integration of mental health to name a few.  He has shared his wide experience by volunteering with the Government through his Chairmanship of the Karnataka Governments’ Task Force on Health & Family welfare as well as leading a ‘battle’ against the ‘epidemic of corruption’ as the Director of the Lokayukta in that state.
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Carol Tappenden CSR Systems, South Africa Managing Director of CSR Systems since January 2009 and previously Managing Director of GreaterGood South Africa and the South African Social Investment Exchange (SASIX), Carol is an experienced development practitioner with more than a decade of experience in fundraising, social investment opportunity identification, research, evaluation and monitoring. Strong corporate experience in designing, implementing and managing CSI and SRI programmes with both non profits and grassroots initiatives as well as multi-national corporations and international development agencies has given Carol a far-reaching international network in the sector. Carol actively participated in founding GGSA (www.GreaterGoodSA.co.za ) in 2004 and SASIX (www.SASIX.co.za ) in 2006. SASIX provides a platform for investment in evaluated, high impact social initiatives with varying levels of financial return. A member of the GRI Social Sector Supplement working group and a participant in the Skoll Foundation’s Global Social Benefit Incubator in 2007, Carol is now actively engaged in the replication of SASIX through the establishment of a Global Social Investment Exchange framework and platform.
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David Francis Thompson AM Jobs Australia David Thompson is CEO of Jobs Australia Limited, the national peak organisation for more than 270 non-profit providers of employment and related services for unemployed people.  David has a keen interest in social justice and equity issues. David is also Chair of the National Roundtable of Nonprofit Organisations Limited, President and Executive member of the Australian Council of Social Service, Chair, Jobs Australia Foundation, Chair, COMMACT International and Director of its Australian Chapter, Chair of Community 21 Limited, Director of Community Sector Enterprises Pty Ltd and Director, Beyond Empathy Limited.  David is also a member of the Board of the Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of the Social Solidarity Economy.   He is also a member of the federal government’s Community Response Task Force.
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Christopher Thorn Philanthropic Services, Goldman Sachs JBWere, Australia Christopher is the Executive Director of Goldman Sachs JBWere’s Philanthropic Services team, where his primary responsibilities include raising awareness of philanthropic issues; providing advice on investment and capital management to individuals and organisations wishing to implement a philanthropic strategy; and fostering relationships between interested parties in order to facilitate the giving process. Christopher is a partner of Goldman Sachs JBWere. He joined the firm in 1984 and worked in Melbourne as a Retail and Institutional Adviser. In 1993 Christopher moved to New York as Vice President Institutional Sales. Upon returning to Australia in 1996 he was appointed Manager of JBWere’s Queensland business, until returning to Melbourne in 2001. Christopher has held a variety of senior management roles within Goldman Sachs JBWere’s Private Wealth Management business, including business integration and strategy. In 2002, Christopher established the firm’s Philanthropic Services division. Christopher is a member of the Philanthropy Australia Council; Chairman of StreetSmart Australia - a campaign established to provide financial support to the homeless sector, Chairman of ShareGift Australia and also Vice-President of the Camberwell Grammar School Foundation.
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Evan Thornley Better Place, Australia Evan Thornley is CEO of Better Place, Australia. Better Place is a global electric vehicle services provider, with a mission to end the world’s addiction to oil by providing the recharging infrastructure that makes it possible for all car companies to switch their production from petrol to electric vehicles. Mr Thornley was one of Australia’s most successful young business people and co-founded and led LookSmart Ltd from inception through a successful NASDAQ. Mr Thornley was personally recruited by then Premier Steve Bracks to join the Victorian Government in 2006 and was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier – a position he held until appointment to Better Place. Prior to LookSmart, Mr Thornley was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in their Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur and New York offices. He is Chair of the Board of the Per Capita Think Tank, a Board Member of the Brotherhood of St Laurence and was a founding director of www.getup.org.au – an online network that now has 380,000 members.
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Meena Thuraisingham Talentinvest, Australia Meena Thuraisingham, Director and Principal of Talentinvest, has lived and worked in Asia, the UK and Australia, and advises global companies in succession planning, leadership development and talent management. Her career in organisational behaviour and culture change has spanned 26 years and has included working for Intel, Hay Group, Esso and ANZ Bank. Meena is an adjunct with the US based Centre for Creative Leadership. She holds an Honours degree in Psychology from Manchester University, UK, and has presented at numerous international conferences on talent management and leader led culture change.
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Professor John Thwaites Monash Sustainability Institute, Australia John Thwaites is a Professorial Fellow, Monash University, Chair of ClimateWorks Australia and the Monash Sustainability Institute. He is a consultant at Maddocks Solicitors providing advice to the firm and its clients on climate change, water, sustainability and corporate social responsibility. He also chairs the Climate Group Ltd in Australia, the Peter Cullen Water and Environment Trust, and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. He is also a director of the Australian Green Building Council. John is currently working with the Brotherhood of St Laurence to develop policies to assist low-income Australians cope with the impact of climate change and is chairing a joint Brotherhood of St Laurence/KPMG Report on a national energy efficiency program for low income households. John is a special adviser to the Timor-Leste Minister for Infrastructure and is working on an AusAid program to develop an Infrastructure plan for Timor-Leste. John Thwaites was Deputy Premier of Victoria from 1999 until his retirement in 2007. During this period he was Minister for Health, Minister for Planning, Minister for Environment, Minister for Water, Minister for Victorian Communities and Victoria’s first Minister for Climate Change.
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Michael Traill SVA, Australia Michael joined SVA as founding CEO in 2002 after 15 years as a co-founder and Executive Director of Macquarie Group’s venture capital arm, Macquarie Direct Investment. Michael is a Director of the Opera Australia Capital Fund, Documentaries Australia Foundation and the advisory board of MLC Private Equity. He holds a BA (Hons) from Melbourne University and an MBA from Harvard University.
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Maria Tsopanis AMES Social Enterprise Unit, Australia Maria works at AMES as the Business Operations Manager in the Social Enterprise Unit.  Since 2005, she has been instrumental in setting up a number of food based enterprises with focus on CALD communities, which include the Sorghum Sisters, Canteen +, Organic Mushrooms and Seven Stars. Her extensive experience and management expertise in training and employment, cross cultural communication, community based project management, stakeholder management and business operations have greatly contributed in the development of the AMES social enterprise program. Currently, Maria looks at exploring new markets to establish social enterprises, matching market demands and the needs and aspirations of refugees and migrants, the AMES client communities.
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Dr. Nir Tsuk Askoka, Israel After serving as a Director of Ashoka’s Global Fellowship program, connecting more than 2000 social entrepreneurs in 72 countries, Nir is now launching Ashoka in Israel, his homeland. Nir holds a PhD from Cambridge University in social and political sciences – where he wrote his dissertation on social networks, social capital and intentional communities (such as the Israeli Kibbutz and the English Garden City). He continues to explore those areas as he builds Ashoka’s global community today. Previously, Nir led policy research initiatives at the Community Development Foundation in London and at the Committee for Social Affairs in the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem. He has been, among other things, a curriculum developer at the Rabin Centre and the Israeli national authority for Holocaust remembrance, the editor of Israel’s bestselling computer magazine, a restaurant manager, and a street cleaner. Nir advises and lectures citizen organisations, academia, government bodies, and companies. He is also a compulsive tea drinker and a fan of animated movies.
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