Speaker Profiles

For the past 20 years, Damian has worked in areas that required the engagement of communities. He has been in roles which sought to bring communities into the heart of policy development and service delivery. Damian has managed the whole of government interventions in public housing estates in Western and South Western Sydney. He has directed the implementation of major community and urban renewal programs in New South Wales and Victoria.

In 2002 Damian was appointed as the first Director Neighbourhood Renewal for the Victorian Office of Housing. Currently, he is the Executive Director Community Programs with the Department of Planning and Community Development. He has responsibility for the state wide delivery of a range of interventions designed to focus on places of need and change as well as encouraging broad participation of communities in planning for their future.

Desley Hargreaves PSM is the National Manager, Social Work Services at Centrelink. Desley is a graduate of the University of Queensland ( Bachelor of Social Work). Her recent employment history has been in Centrelink in both Social Work and Service Delivery Leadership positions. Prior to that Desley worked in a range of Commonwealth and State government agencies and non-government organisations. Her Branch has responsibility for the development and implementation of a number of social inclusion strategies within Centrelink including homelessness, domestic and family violence and youth at risk. Desley also has extensive experience in working at different levels in responding to disaster situations including the Victorian bushfires this year. Her involvement has also included the establishment of an onshore Commonwealth case management service in response to the first Bali bombings in 2002 and subsequent establishment of an offshore response in 2003 as part of the Commonwealth's emergency response team. Desley was awarded the Public Service Medal in the Bali Honours in 2003 in recognition of the pioneering work in offshore service delivery undertaken by her and her team.

Kristine Peters is Principal Consultant at KPPM Organisational Strategists, a consulting firm she started in 1994, that focuses on social and policy research, strategic planning and organisational development. Her particular interest is policy implementation that generates good outcomes for both government and beneficiaries of the policy, and her social research experience provides useful perspectives on developing and implementing policy change. Kristine's work includes the management of the South Australian Government's Community Builders programme, providing rural facilitators with training to support ongoing local capacity-building.

Kristine is Chair of the North West Business Development Centre, and is undertaking a PhD to examine the role of knowledge transfer in behaviour change within organisations.

Kate Gumley is the Branch Manager for Homelessness in the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. She has a broad range of experience implementing Commonwealth government services. She has a Masters of Public Administration from the Australian National University.

Lin Hatfield Dodds is the National Director of UnitingCare Australia. UnitingCare is the community service network of the Uniting Church. It is Australia's largest non-government provider of community services, with 400 community service agencies located across every State and Territory, providing services to more than 2 million Australians each year. UnitingCare employs 35,000 staff whose work is supported by 24,000 volunteers nationally and provides services to children, young people and families, people with disabilities, and older Australians, in urban, rural and remote communities.

UnitingCare Australia is committed to advocacy, speaking with and on behalf of those who are the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, for the common good.

Lin serves on the Boards of the Australia Institute and the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture. She is immediate past President of the Australian Council of Social Service and chaired the ACT Community Inclusion Board for four years. Lin has given expert testimony to Federal Parliamentary inquiries into poverty and disadvantage, welfare reform, community service delivery, taxation and income support, refugee policy, mental health and other issues.

Lin's background includes working as a counselling psychologist and policy advisor. She has worked in government and community settings, including in drug rehabilitation and with young people at risk, with a particular interest in trauma and abuse. She has worked as a public policy advisor on health, health ethics, and community services within federal and state governments.

Her contribution to the community was recognised by an International Women's Day Award in 2002, and in 2003 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study anti-poverty strategies and issues associated with the delivery of welfare services in North America and Europe.

Lin was the 2008 ACT Australian of the Year.

Creating a more caring and cohesive Australia has been a key driver across the many and varied positions held by Elaine Henry. During her tenure as Executive Director of the NSW Cancer Council, a post she held for more than 12 years, Elaine was awarded a Medal in the General Division of the Order of Australia in recognition of her community work in cancer control. She also initiated a number of entrepreneurial activities including Daffodil Day, Australia's Largest Morning Tea, opening a range of merchandise shops and overseeing the establishment of the National Breast Cancer Centre, Breastscreen NSW and the Cervical Screening Registries. As CEO of The Smith Family, she has been the architect of a major transformation of this 87 year old organisation, moving it from a welfare orientation to an evidence-based, innovative social enterprise delivering education and learning programs to disadvantaged children across Australia, to help them break free of the cycle of disadvantage.

More broadly, Elaine has sought to effect change in the sector and influence public policy development through her service on numerous boards and committees. These include being a founding member of Social Ventures Australia and the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth and as the inaugural Chair of Nonprofit Australia Limited. She has also served on numerous government committees over a number of years and is currently a member of the Australian Government Financial Literacy Board and the Australian Statistics Advisory Council.

In 2006 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Letters from the University of NSW for her eminent service to the community and community health, and in 2001, 2004 and again in 2007 she was named one of the Australian Financial Review's BOSS True Leaders. She was honoured by Research Australia in 2009 with their Lifetime Achievement Award.

Since its inception in 2004, Phillipa (Pip) has managed South Australia's Innovative Community Action Network (ICAN) program and associated policy development , as a key initiative of the South Australian Social Inclusion Board's focus on school retention .ICANs are Department of Education & Children's Services (DECS) led, but a whole of community school and community partnership response to addressing significant and complex social issues that prevent some young people from successfully remaining engaged and attaining in learning.

Pip has a deep passion for and wide experience in working with disadvantaged students, through her leadership positions in a range of student engagement, behaviour and retention programs and initiatives in DECS corporate , regionally focussed and school and residential secure care learning contexts. In addition to secondary and tertiary teaching experience, she has been a key player in other DECS key initiatives linked to the work of the Social Inclusion Board, including the development and implementation of a whole of school and systems approach to drug strategies in South Australian schools. Pip has a Bachelor of Arts; Diploma of Teaching; Post Graduate Diploma in Educational Counselling; and a Post Graduate Certificate in Public Sector Management.

Irene Verins manages the area of Social Connections, New media and the Arts as part of VicHealth's Participation and Equity for Health Unit. Irene has a long history in program design and management of community based initiatives, in a variety of settings including the arts, education and local government. Irene is also responsible for the workforce development program at Vichealth which provides courses in promoting health and wellbeing through addressing violence against women, race based discrimination and social participation issues.

In 2008 Stephen Webb was appointed from the University of Sussex, UK to the University of Newcastle. He is Professor of Human Sciences and Director of the newly established The Australian Institute for Social Inclusion and Wellbeing (TAISIW). Professor Webb is one of the world's leading international researchers in the field of human services, Social Policy and is a pioneer of evidence-based practice research. His influential international research and publications since the late 1980s have significantly enriched the field of human services research by bringing innovative theoretical and methodological perspectives to the evaluation of social interventions and professional practice. His 2006 book Social Work in a Risk Society is widely acclaimed by international reviewers as demonstrating advanced scholarship and integrating sociological analysis to construct new conceptual and methodological frameworks in social work. It set a new standard in theoretical rigour, described by reviewers as "a rare depth of scholarship and sophistication, this book represents a timely and overdue analysis"; as "an elegant work which draws on an impressive range of classical and contemporary ideas" and "a brilliant book that relentlessly exposes the 'managerialism' into which social work has descended. "His 2001 'Considerations on the validity of evidence-based practice in social work', published in the leading international British Journal of Social Work, is one of the world's most cited articles on evidence-based practice (EBP). This publication initiated debate with some of the world's leading exponents of EBP notably in the British Journal of Social Work and at key international conferences. In 2002 this path breaking publication was followed by 'Evidence-based Practice and Decision Analysis in Social Work: An Implementation Model' published in the premier Journal of Social Work. This was the first research article published that develops a systematic framework for the implementation of EBP in the human services. Professor Webb has been commissioned, by Routledge to co-author Evidence-based Social Work: A Critical Stance.

Peter Kent has over 18 years experience working with the Department of Justice & Attorney-General. In May 2006 he was appointed Director of a new Courts Innovation Program Unit, which draws together a number of court diversion initiatives that have been established to address social problems such as drug and alcohol dependency, indigenous disadvantage and homelessness that manifest in offending criminal behaviour provide, often at a relatively superficial level.

Earlier in his career Peter worked in Human Resource Management, and as Acting Cabinet Legislation Liaison Officer, Executive Services Branch before moving to head up a Courts Strategy and Research Branch. In 2002 DJAG appointed Peter Kent, Director, Justice Strategic Research Unit (JSRU) where he was required to establish this unit, by transforming the Courts Strategy & Research Branch into JSRU, the body that drove the justice system and social research as an underpinning to the Department's Strategic Policy direction and legislative program.

His main achievements are his ability to quote Monty Python movies and poetry.

Peter has a Degree in Organisational Psychology and a Masters in Human Resource Management.

Professor Stehlik is Foundation Chair in Stronger Communities and Director of the Research Centre for Stronger Communities (RCSC) at Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Western Australia, where she leads a team of social scientists working in sustainability and conservation; land use change; strengths-based practice models and place and community vulnerability.

The Centre was established in 2003 and has become a component of the recently established Australian Sustainable Development Institute. Daniela joined Curtin in 2003 after nine years at Central Queensland University.

In 2008, she completed an appointment to the Expert Panel on the Social Impacts of Drought for the Federal Minister of Agriculture's Review of National Drought Policy. She was an invited participant in the Australia 2020 Summit and the National Rural Women's Summit in 2008.

Professor Stehlik's involvement in community development activities, and the impact of change on communities has led to a number of publications focusing on issues associated with social sustainability, community capacity building and evidence based policy. She has given visiting lectures in the US, Canada, the UK, and the Czech Republic.

She is actively involved in policy development and public commentary on community issues in Australia, and undertakes many public contributions on these issues each year. - including acting as a consultant to the National Rural Women's Coalition and the Country Women's Association. She is particularly interested in the generative capacity of women's energy and enthusiasm as an important component of community flourishing.

As Director of Neighbourhood Renewal in Victoria, Harald is responsible for the strategic development and implementation of the Victorian Government's place-based approach to reducing locational disadvantage and social exclusion.

Neighbourhood Renewal is narrowing the gap between Victoria's most disadvantaged communities and the rest of the State. The initiative brings together residents, local businesses, social enterprises, community sector organisations and government portfolios responsible for employment, education, housing, environment, infrastructure, transport, justice and health.

Harald has a Ph.D and taught politics and social theory at Monash University. He has worked and published in the field of primary health reform, housing sector development and is a fellow at the Department of Population Health, Melbourne University.

Kerry joined Inspire Foundation in April 2007. She brought with her 15 years experience working with children and young people. A lawyer by training, Kerry spent seven years working for Aboriginal Legal Services as a children’s specialist. She was the founding lawyer of the NSW Youth Drug and Alcohol Court for which she received the National Children's and Youth Law Centre award for "outstanding representation of children and young people in NSW".

After leaving the law, Kerry committed herself to service delivery and systems reform. She worked for a number of leading nonprofit youth services before undertaking leadership roles for the National Aboriginal Sports Corporation Australia (NASCA) and Good Beginnings Australia.

Kerry has a passion for young people which is infectious and she combines with it a great sense of calm, professionalism and quiet confidence.

Kerry holds undergraduate degrees in administration and law (University of Canberra), a Masters of Social Work (Monash University) and a Master of Management in Community Management (University of Technology, Sydney).

Kerry is a member of the National Body Image advisory Group and the Suicide Prevention Australia Taskforce.

In her spare time Kerry likes to cook, camp, swim and play guitar (preferably all on one idyllic weekend!).