Jim was appointed as Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport Regional Development, Communications and the Arts in July 2022.

Jim Betts has spent over 30 years working in government agencies in the UK, Victoria and (for the last 8 years) New South Wales.

Prior to becoming Secretary, Jim was a partner at strategy consultancy EY Port Jackson Partners, having previously led the New South Wales Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) as Secretary for 2.5 years. During that period, the department undertook transformational reform in areas like land use planning, water, urban design, sustainability, climate change, biodiversity conservation and energy. From 2013 to 2019, Jim was Chief Executive Officer of Infrastructure NSW where he led the development of 2 State Infrastructure Strategies, oversaw the state’s infrastructure program, delivered major state infrastructure projects and developed a state plan for the construction sector.

Before moving to New South Wales, Jim spent 5 years in Victoria as Secretary for the Victorian Transport Department and 4 years as Victoria’s Director of Public Transport. Jim strives to be a champion for inclusivity and social justice, not least for First Nations people.

He is a supporter of St Kilda football club, but privately admits they are rubbish.

Dr. Belle Lim is a diversity and inclusion consultant, advocate, and speaker. She is an Associate Director at MindTribes, a DEI consulting firm specialising in intersectionality, particularly on race, culture and gender. Belle is a member of the Victorian Gender Equality Strategy ‘Our Equal State’ Reference group, Welcoming Universities Advisory Committee, Scanlon Foundation Grants Committee, and Museum Victoria Inclusion Working Group.

In 2018, Belle founded Future Forte, an initiative and network for international students and multicultural women, where she now serves as the Executive Director. Future Forte has welcomed more than 3,000 women from around the globe, promoting diverse women and youth leadership particularly in the Asia Pacific region.

Belle also served as the National President ‘20/21 at the Council of International Students Australia after serving two years as the National Women’s Officer. In the role she represented over 550,000 international students in committees, conferences, board meetings, advisory groups and in the media.

Belle obtained a PhD degree at Monash University and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre on the topic of breast cancer genetics in 2022, following receiving a University Medal in 2017. She was a 2023 Fellow with the Schmidt Futures’ International Strategy Forum representing Asia Pacific. She has been recognised as Global Citizen Youth Leader 2024, IEAA Tony Adams Rising Star Award 2024, Asia Society’s Asia Game Changer Finalist 2023, and Victorian International Student of the Year in 2019. Belle was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2024.

Mohamed Al Abri (he/him) is a Senior Advisor at the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade). He has led Austrade’s Cultural Capability Sprint and action plan. He was previously with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and the Department of Agriculture where he was involved with their CALD committees and held the deputy-chair role.

Mel Ochocki was the Program Lead Multicultural Organisation – Staff Awareness, Innovation and Capability (MOSAIC) Project, at the Australian Public Service Commission from 2023-24.
MOSAIC was the first multicultural capability building program in the APS, having been funded through the 2023 budget. In her role, Mel provided strategic advisory and planning support to APS agencies: senior executives, HR teams, and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) networks, to design and roll out of CALD action planning activities. She did this by embedding a multicultural sprint methodology in agencies, that allowed them to examine CALD maturity and action plan to address any gaps or opportunities.
In this role, Mel built on her previous experience in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C), where she worked on the inaugural CALD Sprint Project, leading on all strategic communications delivery and implementation design. The project delivered the first CALD target in a central APS agency, of 20% CALD representation in EL2 and SES levels by 2029

Christina Li is currently Head of Governance at Museums of History NSW. She is an award-winning public servant with over 13 years of experience across NSW public service. Awarded 2024 Governance Top 100, she has extensive experience in governance, risk management, regulatory compliance, strategic planning, program implementation, and diversity and inclusion.

She has been playing an active role in leading inclusion and diversity in the NSW public service and is an awardee of the 2024 Asian-Australian Leadership Awards, previously known as the ’40 under 40 Most Influential Asian-Australian Awards’.

Christina is a current member of the NSW Public Service Commission’s Inclusion Council, and the former Co-Chair of the Transport Multicultural Network. Christina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, Bachelor of Laws, and Graduate Certificate in Legal Practice from UTS. She is a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society, an alumni scholar of ANU’s 2023 inaugural William Ah Ket Leadership Program run by the Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership, and a fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia.

Sharon Deano is a proud Filipina Australian. She has occupied various leadership positions at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and is currently acting as General Manager of the Data and Intelligence Branch. Sharon founded the ACCC & AER CALD Employee Network in 2018. Her work has led to closer examination of the CALD pay gap, the adoption of a CALD leadership target, a push to improve data collection on cultural diversity, adoption of a reverse mentoring program and improved cultural diversity on recruitment panels. This ground breaking work has inspired other government agencies to run similar programs. As a passionate advocate for diverse leadership, Sharon also provides career mentoring to many CALD and Indigenous investigators and lawyers. 

Florine is passionate about contributing to a safe, inclusive and diverse workforce and society. She is the Co-Chair of the Victorian Public Service (VPS) Women of Colour Network, a collective of over 900 members and allies across the VPS.

Florine is also the Co-Founder of the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA)’s Women of Colour Network, which she chaired from its inception in 2020 until stepping back in mid-2023 to focus on the VPS Women of Colour Network. In her function as Co-Chair of the DEECA Women of Colour Network, she wrote the first strategic plan and co-lead the development and delivery of the first VPS departmental Women of Colour mentoring program. Florine is also a member of the City of Monash Gender Equity Advisory Committee where she contributes her experience and knowledge on a local community level.

Dr. Belle Lim is a diversity and inclusion consultant, advocate, and speaker. She is an Associate Director at MindTribes, a DEI consulting firm specialising in intersectionality, particularly on race, culture and gender. Belle is a member of the Victorian Gender Equality Strategy ‘Our Equal State’ Reference group, Welcoming Universities Advisory Committee, Scanlon Foundation Grants Committee, and Museum Victoria Inclusion Working Group.

In 2018, Belle founded Future Forte, an initiative and network for international students and multicultural women, where she now serves as the Executive Director. Future Forte has welcomed more than 3,000 women from around the globe, promoting diverse women and youth leadership particularly in the Asia Pacific region.

Belle also served as the National President ‘20/21 at the Council of International Students Australia after serving two years as the National Women’s Officer. In the role she represented over 550,000 international students in committees, conferences, board meetings, advisory groups and in the media.

Belle obtained a PhD degree at Monash University and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre on the topic of breast cancer genetics in 2022, following receiving a University Medal in 2017. She was a 2023 Fellow with the Schmidt Futures’ International Strategy Forum representing Asia Pacific. She has been recognised as Global Citizen Youth Leader 2024, IEAA Tony Adams Rising Star Award 2024, Asia Society’s Asia Game Changer Finalist 2023, and Victorian International Student of the Year in 2019. Belle was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2024.

Bec Yan is a proud second-generation Asian Australian, living and working on Ngunnawal and Ngambri lands. With an academic background in Marketing and Law, she brings over eight years of experience in internal and strategic communications, and business strategy across public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. She is passionate about creating meaningful social change in the communities she serves. 

Bec is currently a Senior Adviser at Empact Group, a purpose-led consulting firm, where she leads projects focused on business improvement and change in the public sector. Her highlights so far include supporting a business improvement program of work for a large department with a focus on strengthening internal communications, and delivering sustainable change and capability uplift.

Prior to Empact Group, Bec was at KPMG supporting large-scale transformational change, communication and people and culture projects. Bec also served in the Australian Federal Police, where she worked on similar projects, and most proudly, contributed to the establishment of the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation. 

Outside of work, Bec is deeply involved in community initiatives. Bec is the Head of Marketing and Community at Careers in Colour, an organisation focused on supporting people of colour to thrive in their careers through a variety of community initiatives. She is also the Events Lead for the United Nations Women Canberra Chapter, where she leads the development of accessible and impactful community events, including their flagship International Women’s Day event. 

My career in the Australian Public Service has spanned several agencies over 20 years. It has evolved from strategic communications and change management roles supporting the delivery of organisational reform and enterprise transformation, to most recently leading teams that design and implement the Bureau’s workforce strategies programs for diversity & inclusion, organisational culture, leadership, enterprise capability, talent management and employee engagement.

Mantej Singh is Manager, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at the Department of Planning Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI). 

He has 20 years experience across community and stakeholder engagement, community and social outcomes, partnerships and strategy and has worked across and local and state government sector. He is part of DPHI Harmony Council, NSW PSC Inclusion Council and the steering committee of DPHI Multicultural Network – Culture Connect and has helped establish and been part of many community networks.   He has led the development of the CALD Senior leaders training at DPHI focussing on anti-racism and unconscious bias.  He is also chair of the NSW Cross Sector Multicultural Leads and ERG Network. Mantej is passionate about empowering employees and communities to deliver meaningful outcomes for them supported by genuine co-design and engagement.