Nicole Stafford and Linda Manaena are the Co-CEO’s of LeaderLab Global. They are on a mission to amplify humanity in leadership. With more than 40 years of combined leadership experience, Nicole and Linda work with leaders to help them create an inclusive environment to get the best out of their teams.

With more than a decade studying the codes and patterns of human behaviour they know that the road to leadership success is in understanding self and others – how we communicate, connect, and collaborate with character.

One of their favourite quotes is “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou

Claire is a proud Yorta Yorta woman and is a prominent senior NSW Public Servant with over 21 years of experience in government across agencies such as Transport, Department of Communities and Justice, Treasury and Education. Claire was also the Head of the School of Leadership and Management at Charles Sturt University for the NSW Police Force. She believes in being the change and making a difference in everything she does. Claire is committed to serving the people of NSW and is a patron of young people and embodies the spirit of inclusivity and diversity.

Claire knows that diversity is more than a bumper sticker and has been a game changer in proving that diversity results in efficiency whilst leading in traditionally male dominated roles. She was the first female Manager in Traffic Operations in NSW history and delivered the first operated, maintained and delivered tunnel in NSW (St Helena Tunnel $858m), was the first female A/CEO of School Infrastructure NSW leading a historical investment in NSW Public Schools over $10b and the first female First Nations Deputy Secretary in the Department of Communities and Justice. Claire has led geographically dispersed teams throughout her career with interesting projects and crisis management such as being one of the operational leaders in the response to the Sydney Siege from the Traffic Operations Room.

Claire is an advocate for young people and the community. Claire tirelessly works for the people of NSW and has stood up programs such as the first ever cross government, cross industry Infrastructure Traineeship which supports investment in the future of over 400 young people.

Claire is on many non-for-profit boards as a Director including: the Women and Girl’s Emergency Centre in Redfern, Macquarie Universities’ Fire to Flourish and member of the Cultural Diversity Committee with Women on Boards. She was recently appointed to the National Indigenous Disaster Resilience Board.

Claire holds qualifications in Education, Law, Psychology, Project Management, Disability Services, Social Work, Leadership and Management, Workplace Training and Assessment, Executive Coaching and Traffic Engineering.

Claire has been the recipient of high-profile commendations including winning and being a finalist in the Premier’s Awards multiple times, a Finalist in the Australian of the Year and Young Australian of the Year Awards and Finalist in the Women’s Agenda Awards.

Famey is a proud Githabul woman (Mother’s country); with connections to Gomeroi country (Father’s country), has more than 18 years’ experience working with Aboriginal communities across NSW in senior government and non-for-profit organisations. Her roles at the AHO include Acting Chief Executive and Deputy Secretary, Director of Housing and Client Services among other roles.

Raised on Gumbaynggirr Country of the mid-North Coast of NSW, Famey’s childhood and family have influenced her career and she takes those lessons into all her professional interactions with a broad range of stakeholders.

Famey currently volunteers as a Board Director and Secretary for the BlaQ Aboriginal Corporation who work to empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQ+ community through advocacy, inclusion and understanding.

Leeanne is a curious, energetic and self-motivated thought leader. With a proven track record of delivering on large scale digital transformation programs, Leeanne has a passion for bridging the gap between the data experience and unlocking value.

Her career spans numerous data and technology leadership roles encompassing major transformation programs including intelligence digitisation and innovation.

Leeanne is currently leading the Visual Analytics and Transformation branch which is focussed on enabling simpler access to data insights through visualisation and self-service tools to the right people, at the right time to drive value realisation from data, and improvements to the staff and client experience.

Donna Purcell is a Disability Advocate and a specialist in developing and leading change for the greater inclusion of people with disability in Australia.

Donna joined the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) as The Participant Advocate and as Branch Manager Participant Advocacy in March 2021.  Donna is also the NDIA Agency Disability Champion, representing the NDIA on the Australian Public Service (APS) Disability Champion Network.

Donna’s previous role was within Customer and Community Advocacy at Commonwealth Bank, where she specialised in accessibility and inclusion for customers and employees with disability and where she led the Enable Disability Employee Network. In 2020, Donna was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to undertake overseas study, researching successful international disability employment programs and initiatives to introduce into Australia.

She has recently completed the fellowship and had her Report published, now available on the Churchill Memorial Trust website. Donna is a certified Access Consultant through the Institute of Access Training Australia. Donna is a current Director on the Australian Network on Disability Board and a former Board Director with the Northcott Society, Sydney-based community radio station 2RPH and the NSW Centre for Volunteering.

Donna is passionate about creating accessible and inclusive communities where people are supported to be their best.

Professor Keefe is the CEO of Cancer Australia, and an honorary Clinical Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Adelaide. She has had a long career as a Medical Oncologist, and Professor of Cancer Medicine.Her areas of expertise include gastrointestinal toxicity of cancer treatment, Supportive Care in Cancer more broadly, Medical Leadership and Health Reform, and she has published extensively in the Supportive Care literature. She has a long-standing commitment to the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC), and is a past-president. All her work is focused on improving outcomes for patients.

Chancellor Australian National University
38th Foreign Minister of Australia

The Hon Julie Bishop is Chancellor of the Australian National University, appointed in 2020.

On 5 April 2024 the Secretary General of the United Nations announced that he had appointed Julie as his Special Envoy on Myanmar, effective from 26 May 2024.

Ms Bishop served as Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 until 2018. She was the first female to hold the role as well as the first female Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, serving for 11 years. She was the longest serving Member for Curtin in the House of Representatives, elected in 1998 until 2019.

As Foreign Minister, Ms Bishop was responsible for strengthening Australia’s key strategic and economic relationships and enhancing engagement with Pacific Island countries, including normalising relations with Fiji, leading international recovery and reconstruction efforts in Vanuatu and establishing a school of government in Papua New Guinea. With Ministerial responsibility for more than 5,000 departmental staff, 110 overseas missions, and several government agencies, including the Australian Secret Intelligence Service and the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research.

She led the single largest expansion of Australia’s overseas diplomatic presence in 40 years, increasing to 110 diplomatic missions. Ms Bishop developed the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper, providing a comprehensive policy framework for the next decade; and established the New Colombo Plan, enabling Australian undergraduates to live, study and work in the Indo-Pacific region. Within five years, more than 40,000 students have participated in the Plan.

Bringing her experience from the private sector, Ms Bishop established the innovationXchange within DFAT to develop bold and creative solutions to longstanding overseas development assistance challenges and overhaul Australia’s foreign aid focus.

Ms Bishop promoted Australia’s interests at the United Nations Security Council. In 2014, she led the international response to the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine and was awarded the Commander of the Order of Merit of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

For her contribution to the US-Australia alliance, in 2018, Ms Bishop received the inaugural Eleanor Roosevelt US Mission Award for Leadership Excellence.

She previously served as a Cabinet Minister in the Howard Government as Minister for Education, Science and Training and as the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women’s Issues. Prior to this, Minister Bishop was Minister for Ageing.

Before entering Parliament, Ms Bishop was a commercial litigation lawyer at Perth firm Clayton Utz, becoming a partner in 1985 and managing partner in 1994. Ms Bishop graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Adelaide in 1978 and attended Harvard Business School in Boston in 1996, completing the Advanced Management Program for Senior Managers.

In 2017, the University of Adelaide awarded Ms Bishop the Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University for her contribution to Australian parliamentary service, and in 2020 she was also awarded an honorary doctorate from ECU.

In 2020 Julie was awarded a Fisher Family Fellowship for the Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs. In 2021 Julie was awarded the Kissinger Fellowship at the McCain Institute of International Leadership at Arizona State University.

In 2021, the UK Government appointed Julie to the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council (GEAC). She is also a member of the Trilateral Commission Capitalism Task Force.

Julie was chosen by Mattel Australia as the 2021 Aus Shero Official Role Model as part of the Barbie Dream Gap Project for her inspiring career and iconic contribution as Australia’s first female Foreign Minister.

In 2022 Ms Bishop was awarded the Sir Edward “Weary” Dunlop AsiaLink Medal for her contribution to Australian diplomacy, women’s empowerment and Australia’s integration with the Indo-Pacific. In 2023 Julie has joined David Jones as an official Friend of the brand.

Julie is Chair of the Board of The King’s Trust Australia, Trustee of King’s Trust Group Company and Member of the International Advisory Board of Council on Foreign Relations.

She is also the Patron of Shooting Stars (an education programme for young aboriginal girls) and was an ambassador for Football Australia’s Legacy ’23 program in the lead up to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.

She has also established a boutique consultancy, Julie Bishop and Partners, offering strategic advisory services.

Ms Bishop has previously served as Chair of the WA Town Planning Appeal Tribunal, Director of SBS Media, Director of the West Coast Eagles AFL Club and on the Murdoch University Senate

With a 20+ year career in the public sector driving better outcomes for people – our communities, stakeholders and teams, I have a passion for carving out clear paths to do things better, connecting policy with execution and people with purpose. Leveraging diverse experience than spans high-profile policy development and ministerial advisory to complex service delivery and transformation, I move government organisations to more innovative, customer-focused ways of working by viewing everything through the dynamics of front-line implementation. By understanding the obstacles and opportunities, I deliver results in line with ambitious mandates for change.

My key strength is my ability to work with anyone. I love to engage with people. I facilitate conversations and dive deep into problems to bring people together, towards the solution. In working to understand underlying motivations of different groups, I replace siloed, short-term emotions with a shared vision, uniting stakeholders in pursuit of a common goal and empowering the rapid delivery of organisational objectives.

Calissa leads the Markets Group, which manages the end-to-end process for regulating markets. This includes supervision, investigation and enforcement for market infrastructure, market intermediaries, corporate finance activities and trading on exchange and over-the-counter markets.

Since 2009, Calissa has had senior leadership roles at ASIC in Market Supervision and Market Infrastructure. Before joining ASIC, she held roles at the Royal Bank of Scotland in London, the UK Financial Services Authority (now the Financial Conduct Authority), Markit, and the Australian Treasury. She has more than 20 years of specialist markets experience and holds a Bachelor of Psychology (Economics) and a PostGradDip in applied finance.

Vanessa has spent over 25 years in public and private healthcare settings with a deep commitment to serving the community and the strategic pursuit of better outcomes for the people we care for. She is known for bringing people together and getting things done. She is passionate about developing future leaders, particularly championing women in leadership positions.

As Chief Executive of NSW Health Pathology she leads Australia’s largest public pathology and forensic and analytical science service. Before returning to NSW Health Pathology, Vanessa held leadership positions at Calvary Healthcare, including National Director, Strategy and Service Development. She was formerly NSW Health Pathology’s Executive Director of Strategy and Clinical Services Transformation helping to establish and lead the organisation in its formative years and before that held multiple strategic and operational roles at Hunter New England Local Health District.

Vanessa leads with authenticity, integrity and a deep sense of empathy. She believes in creating inclusive and supportive environments where individuals can thrive and reach their full potential. This dedication to empowering leaders and to enhancing health care for our communities is strengthening the critical role NSW Health Pathology plays in the public health system.

Nancy is an experienced executive in the NSW Government. She was Executive Director of Early Childhood Education at the Department of Education and oversaw the NSW Regulatory Authority for Early Childhood Education and Care Services in NSW.

She is recognised for her contributions to the establishment of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, funding for 600 hours of early childhood education in the year before school, and major child protection reforms.

Nancy holds a Bachelor of Economics (Economics and Econometrics) and a Bachelor of Laws.

Anne Pearson is the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer of Essential Energy, one of Australia’s largest electricity distribution network responsible for delivering electricity to over 890,000 customers across 95% of New South Wales (NSW) and parts of southern Queensland.

Anne joined Essential Energy’s Executive Leadership Team in 2022, bringing with her a wealth of industry regulatory knowledge and customer-focussed expertise.

Anne is an experienced executive with a career that has centred around regulatory and policy frameworks in the Australian energy sector at both state and national levels. Anne’s commitment to working in the interests of consumers has led to a range of regulatory
and policy reforms throughout her career.

Anne is a former lawyer, has a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD). Anne held senior positions in the Australian Energy Market Commission including Chief Executive and immediately prior to joining Essential Energy, was Head of Reputation for EnergyAustralia.

Since beginning her paramedic career in 2003, Clare has worked in rural and remote locations across Victoria prior to joining NSW Ambulance in 2007. In Sydney, Clare qualified in Intensive Care and Extended Care paramedicine.

At NSW Ambulance, Clare has performed a range of clinical, operational and executive roles. As Director of Clinical Operations (Sectors), Clare was responsible for the delivery of all land-based ambulance operations and providing senior clinical and cultural leadership to the 4,000-strong operational workforce.

Clare is the Executive Director of Clinical Capability, safety and Quality at NSW Ambulance and leads a diverse portfolio including Clinical Governance, Education, Virtual Care, Clinical Practice and Programs, Service Planning and Aboriginal Health. Most recently Clare has overseen the implementation of the NSW Ambulance Virtual Clinical Care Centre designed to connect health consumers with the most appropriate care. This new model represents the most significant reform and innovation project to be delivered over the life of the NSW Ambulance Strategic Plan – Redefining our Future and directly addresses the priorities NSW Health has sent in delivering high value, patient centred care.

Clare is a strong and well-respected leader. She encourages ownership, participation and innovation from her teams, always returning the focus of actions and decisions to the needs of the patient and their experience in the out-of-hospital clinical setting. Clare has post graduate qualifications in leadership, public administration, corporate governance and EMS operations management and is a practitioner member on the Paramedicine Board of Australia.

Professor Vicki Chen is UTS’s Provost and Senior Vice-President.

Professor Chen graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. She has over twenty five years research experience in the areas of membrane separation, gas separation, bio catalytic systems, nanomaterials, and water treatment.

Prior to joining UTS in 2022, Professor Chen was the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and IT at the University of Queensland (UQ). The Faculty comprises over 400 academic and 200 professional and technical staff with over 8000 students enrolled within its programs.

During her time at UQ, Professor Chen led an impressive array of initiatives to uplift UQ’s standing, including major curriculum changes as well as organisational change to address significant teaching and research trajectory issues.

Previously, she was a professor in the School of Chemical Engineering at the UNSW Sydney before taking on the substantive Head of School position. The School is renowned for its research intensive focus on chemical engineering, food science and technology and industrial chemistry.

She was Director of the UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science and Technology at UNSW, one of only four centres globally. Professor Chen is currently on the editorial board for the Journal of Membrane Science and was formerly on the editorial board for the Desalination Journal. She currently holds ARC Discovery grants and has held funding from diverse sources such as CO2CRC, Coal Innovation NSW, ARC Linkage programs, and CRC-P (Printed Energy).

Professor Chen is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) and formerly a board member of Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy.