Eleanor Groat (she/her) | Founder and Developer of Leaders and Teams | Your Best Asset (Summit MC)

Eleanor is the founder of Your Best Asset and is a committed developer of leaders and teams. She is an engaging and experienced facilitator who has held a lifelong fascination with what makes people ‘tick’ and brings a unique perspective on human behaviour with a 20-year career in this field across the corporate, law enforcement, mental health, education, and not-for-profit sectors. She is passionate about working with people to find their ‘fit’ and to create psychologically safe environments and cultures which enable individuals to flourish and the business to thrive.

Eleanor holds an MSc in Forensic Psychology and a BSc (Hons) in Psychology, is an ICF accredited coach, and combines her background with other qualifications in training and design to create and deliver customised programs. These programs have a focus on engagement and implementation through which she works with individuals, teams, and leaders at all levels and then supports them to apply their learnings in the workplace.

Outside of her work, Eleanor is an ardent supporter and advocate of causes relating to child protection, human trafficking, and refugees and helps to run her local branch of the Disabled Surfers Association.

Shannon Fentiman is Queensland’s Minister for Health and Ambulance Services, Minister for Mental Health and Minister for Women.

Shannon holds a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Hons) from QUT and a Master of Laws from Melbourne University. She was admitted as a Legal Practitioner in 2007.

Shannon is committed to social justice and throughout her career has worked to improve the lives of working people. She is passionate about fighting discrimination and unfairness at work and in the community.

Prior to her election to the Queensland Parliament as the Member for Waterford, Shannon worked as a solicitor for Hall Payne Lawyers. She has considerable experience in employment law having previously worked as an industrial advocate and as a Judge’s Associate in the Supreme Court of Queensland to her Honour Justice Atkinson.

Shannon has also been a board member of the Logan Women’s Health and Wellbeing Centre, Secretary of the Centre Against Sexual Violence in Logan and the Duty Solicitor at the Beenleigh Neighbourhood Centre.

Anjuna is the General Manager of Passenger Transport Strategy & Technology branch,

Translink Division at the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR). A dynamic and strategic leader of people, partnerships, and projects, Anjuna has had a diverse career, working in industrial relations law and retail property management before joining Translink and TMR. In her role as General Manager, she spearheads the delivery of the Smart Ticketing project, leads Translinks Digital Future Program and oversees Customer Solutions with the mission of designing, delivering and promoting a great public transport experience for Queenslanders every day, as part of a single integrated network accessible to everyone.

Anjuna is an exceptional negotiator and influencer, delivering performance and value for money commercial outcomes through strategic contract management and genuine partnership focused relationships. She is a passionate advocate for Translink’s customers and committed to the movability of Queensland’s cities and regions.

Anjuna’s leadership style is marked by empowerment and inclusivity, emphasizing open communication, inspiration, and a commitment to bring out the best in her teams. With a genuine authenticity, she focuses on leveraging the strengths of individuals to drive both personal and collective excellence.

Kate has 25 years experience working in policy, strategy and law reform for the NSW, Commonwealth and Queensland governments.

Kate has been the Deputy Director-General, Justice Policy and Reform at the Department of Justice and Attorney-General since March 2024. Prior to that, Kate held the role of Deputy Director-General, Strategy at the Department of Child Safety, Disability Services and Seniors.

Kate was part of the team who established the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and led the policy and research branch to deliver the Commission’s interim report. She held senior positions at the NSW Department of Justice, including Chief of Staff to the Secretary and A/Deputy Secretary of the Strategy and Policy Division. Kate has led work across a number of different sectors in areas such as child protection, youth justice, housing, domestic and family violence and Closing the Gap.

Eleanor Groat (she/her) | Founder and Developer of Leaders and Teams | Your Best Asset (Summit MC)

Eleanor is the founder of Your Best Asset and is a committed developer of leaders and teams. She is an engaging and experienced facilitator who has held a lifelong fascination with what makes people ‘tick’ and brings a unique perspective on human behaviour with a 20-year career in this field across the corporate, law enforcement, mental health, education, and not-for-profit sectors. She is passionate about working with people to find their ‘fit’ and to create psychologically safe environments and cultures which enable individuals to flourish and the business to thrive.

Eleanor holds an MSc in Forensic Psychology and a BSc (Hons) in Psychology, is an ICF accredited coach, and combines her background with other qualifications in training and design to create and deliver customised programs. These programs have a focus on engagement and implementation through which she works with individuals, teams, and leaders at all levels and then supports them to apply their learnings in the workplace.

Outside of her work, Eleanor is an ardent supporter and advocate of causes relating to child protection, human trafficking, and refugees and helps to run her local branch of the Disabled Surfers Association.

Leigh Sales AM is a multi award-winning author and journalist at the ABC and anchors the much-loved Australian Story program. Before that, she presented the network’s prime time current affairs program 7.30 for 12 years.

She has been the face of the ABC’s major events coverage, including federal election and budget nights. Leigh has interviewed every living Australian Prime Minister and innumerable world leaders and celebrities from Hillary Clinton and Tony Blair to Paul McCartney and Elton John.

She’s the author of four books, including the national bestseller Any Ordinary Day and her latest co-written with Annabel Crabb, Well Hello. Their wildly popular podcast Chat 10 Looks 3 has hundreds of thousands of listeners.

Nicky Davies is the Chief Executive Officer of Legal Aid Queensland (LAQ). Admitted as a solicitor in 1986, Nicky has worked in England and Australia including as a partner in private practice in the UK. Her career has been focused on improving access to justice for disadvantaged people, particularly for women and children. During her 25+ year career at LAQ, Nicky has held a range of senior roles including Senior Director Legal Practice and Director of Family Law and Civil Justice Services. Nicky has a proven track record as a leader, both as a lawyer and as a legal
administrator. She is committed to ensuring LAQ’s services meet the legal needs of financially disadvantaged people and to leading an organisation that is committed to excellence and genuinely cares about the wellbeing of its employees. Nicky was a member of the Family Law Council (2004 – 2012) and convened the Council’s Violence Committee. She was a board member of the Family Law Practitioners’ Association of Queensland (2001 – 2009) including as President. Nicky was a foundation member of both Queensland Law Society’s Children’s Committee and Domestic and Family Violence Committee, and also served on the Society’s Family Law Committee. She was awarded the 2024 Queensland Law Society’s President’s Medal.

Sarah Zeljko joined the Board as Chair in October 2022. As Chair of Energy Queensland, Sarah is at the helm of Australia’s biggest government-owned energy company.

She also currently holds Non-Executive Director roles within the utilities, manufacturing, agriculture and sporting sectors.

Recognised for her commercial acumen, Sarah has a record of delivering revenue growth in large corporations through developing and executing corporate strategy, negotiating commercial agreements, and project management across complex multi-million-dollar transactions.

Sarah has previously served as a Director on the Board of Powerlink, and has held professional non-executive director and governance Board roles over the past 15 years. 

In addition, Sarah is an admitted legal practitioner in the QLD and NSW Supreme Courts, and has held previous roles as General Counsel and Company Secretary for G8 Education, the Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal and Cement Australia.

Debbie was appointed to lead Economic Development Queensland (EDQ) in mid-2021, the Queensland Government’s land use planning and property development agency. EDQ embraces partnerships across government, industry and the community to lead and deliver infrastructure and property projects for Queensland’s economic benefit. It delivers across a range of initiatives including large-scale urban renewal, regional residential, enterprise and infrastructure projects.

This role enables her to achieve the principal aim that underlies her career of making a meaningful contribution to the well-being and economic prosperity of her community.

Debbie is a specialist executive leader within the fields of property and infrastructure, delivering large-scale mixed-use developments across the public and private sectors in both Australia and the UK. 

With over 25 years’ experience, Debbie has held a range of executive leadership roles across large scale urban regeneration, social infrastructure and economic development activities; underpinned by a fundamental commitment to achieve exceptional outcomes; a values-based approach to leadership and life-long professional development. 

An Adjunct Professor with The University of Queensland, Debbie recently completed an intensive leadership program at the Harvard Kennedy School for Senior Executives in State and Local Government. 

Prior to her return to Australian in 2016, Debbie held Chief Executive and non-Executive Director roles in public private organisations in Scotland. She brings international experience in building lasting partnerships across government, investors, industry and community organisations.

Dr Snezana Bajic is Deputy Chief Inspector Explosives within Resources Safety and Health Queensland (RSHQ). She is the first female Deputy Chief in Queensland. Dr Snezana Bajic has over 20 years of mining and mineral processing experience, operational and research. Snezana provides operational leadership and strategic management of the Explosives Inspectorate, ensuring its regulatory functions are delivered effectively and with high professional integrity and independence. She provides expert, operational oversight to all Explosives Inspectorate team, and provides strategic advice to the Chief Inspector Explosives, Government stakeholders, industry stakeholders and the community in relation to safety and health and its regulation. 

Snezana’s goal is to encourage and motivate people she leads, through being supportive and practicing empathy, compassion, and gratitude. She is operating with a strong results orientation, and she is open to different perspectives to solve challenges effectively. Snezana did her genuine self-discovery journey while leading her current team, and previous team responsible for providing mine technical support services including emergency response, when she reflected on her leadership, interpersonal and negotiation skills in the high hazard industry. Snezana strongly believes in people, their collective journey to execute strategic plans, and to continually renew the industry. 

Snezana holds a Bachelor of Science (H)(Mining Engineer of Mineral Processing, Dipl. Ing. Rudarstva za PMS) degree, PhD Mineral Processing (UQ) and Graduate Certificate in Business.

Stephanie Winson is an experienced executive public sector leader and lawyer with a significant interest and focus in constitutional, regulatory and administrative law matters.

She has advised on information access matters in New Zealand for many years and served as the Assistant Ombudsman Systemic and Monitoring, which included independently investigating agency compliance with information access laws.

Her senior public sector leadership roles abroad include the Director of Legal Services of the Namibian Parliament and the Secretary of the National Assembly of Namibia. In New Zealand she also led various teams performing legal and regulatory policy functions.

She holds a Master of Laws (LLM) with distinction, Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and was admitted to practise as a lawyer in Namibia and New Zealand in 1991 and 2002 respectively.

Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer Shelley Nowlan provides overall professional and industry advice for nursing and midwifery matters across Queensland. This includes leading, advocating and supporting nurses and midwives to provide quality, safe care for Queensland communities through policy, direction and regulation. Shelley has over 30 years’ experience in healthcare, including 17 years’ experience in a range of metropolitan, regional and rural public sector executive clinical and health administrative leadership roles at a strategic and operational level.

She is a people-orientated executive leader with experience in contemporary healthcare systems including clinical innovation, leadership development, strategic planning, change management, policy development at state level, research, clinical practice and workforce development.

Shelley’s leadership has helped achieve practical outcomes within the nursing profession and as well as clinical care re-design programs and has led to success in developing and leading statewide and district clinical leadership programs.

Shelley has had significant experience in both capital works programs and commissioning of health services along with the development and implementation of patient models of care and care innovations. Her experience within the nursing profession extends nationally and internationally.

Former Prime Minister Theresa May served as leader of the United Kingdom from 2016 to 2019. She is the second female in British history to hold the position.

Theresa May served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019, during an extraordinary time in global affairs. She is currently the Member of Parliament for Maidenhead — a position she’s held for over two decades.

Mrs. May has been involved in politics at all levels for many years, starting out stuffing envelopes at her local Conservative Association before going on to be a councillor in the London Borough of Merton from 1986 to 1994. In May 1997, she was elected as the Member of Parliament for Maidenhead, the constituency in which she lives. She has held various positions in Parliament since. In 2005, Mrs. May co-founded Women2Win, an organization dedicated to increasing the number of Conservative women in Parliament and in public life.

Appointed Home Secretary in May 2010, Mrs. May made history by becoming the longest-serving Conservative Home Secretary in the past 100 years. During this time, she oversaw reductions in crime, reform of the police, and the introduction of the landmark Modern Slavery Act.

Following her election as Leader of the Conservative Party, Mrs. May was appointed Prime Minister in July 2016, where she became the first woman in British history to hold the position since Margaret Thatcher.

As Prime Minister, Mrs. May led negotiations with the European Union after the country’s historic Brexit referendum. She also oversaw the largest ever cash boost to the UK’s National Health Service and the largest expansion of mental health services in a generation. She launched a 25-year Environment Plan and introduced legislation to end the UK’s contribution to global warming entirely. She also established the first ever Race Disparity Audit to shine a light on injustices, and published a Modern Industrial Strategy to ensure that the jobs of the future are created across the whole country — not just in London.

During her time in Downing Street, the UK’s national debt fell, there were more people in work than ever before, and taxes were cut for 32 million people.