SPEAKERS

Adam Zarth has led Business Illawarra – the region’s peak business organisation – since January 2018. In those five years, he has led successful advocacy for major regional economic development priorities, including the Picton Road Motorway, an Illawarra Rail Network Plan and the Illawarra Sport and Entertainment Precinct. Formerly the Illawarra Business Chamber, Business Illawarra has grown significantly over this time, with membership of ‘Illawarra First’, a CEO leadership dialogue, trebling to 50 members and becoming firmly established as the preeminent platform for visiting Ministers and business leaders. Previously Adam had an extensive career in government, politics and communications and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Alex is a Non-Executive Director of St George Community Housing and Place Management NSW. Alex is the Director and Founder of Sustainable Solutions Advisory Pty Ltd which provides advice in relation to strategy, policy, place-based approaches, community engagement and leadership with a particular focus on sustainability and ESG. Alex is also the Chief Advisor to the Urban Transformation Research Centre of Western Sydney University and Senior ESG and Sustainability Advisor to BDO.  Alex is is the Chair of the White Bay Power Station Adaptive Reuse Committee, a member of the Groundswell Foundation Loneliness Reference Group and the Expert Panel for ARC Grant with Macquarie University and Transport for NSW on the Power of Public Spaces to Connect Communities for Resilient Futures. Alex was previously a member of the Australian Building Codes Board and the Resilient Sydney Steering Committee.

Alex is an experienced Senior Executive, Board Director and advisor with over 20 years of experience leading strategy, policy, organisational transformation and program delivery across a range of sectors including property, infrastructure, energy, planning, culture, place and natural resource management .Prior to undertaking a portfolio career, Alex held roles in the NSW Government as the Group Deputy Secretary, Place Design and Public Space, Deputy Secretary Create NSW and as the Executive Director for Resources and Industry Policy. In her role as Group Deputy Secretary, Place, Design and Public Space her remit was to reorient the planning system around people, place and community and she led a portfolio of high-profile policy initiatives and state-wide delivery programs to deliver improved place outcomes, growth infrastructure and sustainability.

Alex speaks frequently on sustainability, place-making and leadership. In 2022, Alex presented at an APEC summit in Malaysia on Developing APEC Cities: Build Back Better post COVID and was the chair of the judging panel for the Place Leaders Asia Pacific Awards in 2022 and was a keynote speaker at the 30^th Women in Leadership summit in Sydney in 2023.  Alex is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She has a BA / LLB (Hons 1) and a Master of Administrative Law and Policy from the University of Sydney where she graduated second in law and has held a legal practicing certificate since 1999. Alex is a coach and mentor and undertakes leadership masterclasses for women in leadership. Alex is passionate about values-led leadership and diversity and inclusion. 

Alexander joined Landcom as CEO in May 2022.   

Before that he held leadership roles in the NSW Government and in investment banking.  

Working in government, he has been building new capabilities and working closely with stakeholders to leverage private sector expertise and innovation for public outcomes.  

As CEO, Alex is focused on leading Landcom to make a bigger difference in the supply of affordable and diverse housing in NSW.  

Andrew is a respected community housing figure, both nationally and internationally. He has delivered social, affordable and large scale urban renewal projects for more than 25 years across Australia and the United Kingdom. Andrew’s experience highlights the innovation and vision required to create cutting edge outcomes for projects which link Government, the private sector and the community housing sector – in order to actually deliver mixed tenure housing and place based urban renewal outcomes which create places for people to thrive. Andrew was elected to the CHIA NSW Board in December 2022.

Ashley Fell is a social researcher, author, TEDx speaker and Director of Advisory at the internationally recognised McCrindle. She is the author of two books on leadership and generational insights: Work Wellbeing and Generation Alpha.
In addition to delivering keynote presentations at conferences, Ashley is booked to conduct training days, facilitate panels, and deliver workshops across an array of industries. From generational change to the impact of technology, from key demographic transformations to social trends, Ashley delivers research-based presentations analysing global megatrends. With academic qualifications in communications, an ongoing role in deploying and analysing national research studies, and with her position leading the advisory team at McCrindle, Ashley brings robust, research-based content to her engaging presentations and consulting.

Bonnie is an enthusiastic and highly qualified training & education consultant. She has skills & knowledge acquired from 22 years in varied roles in Social Housing, NSW Government departments, SHS services and international program delivery for the prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. She has designed and delivered in subject areas including: Homelessness, sustaining tenancy, sociology,  trauma informed practice, client centred service delivery, complex needs in homelessness, emotional intelligence and effective communication.

Her work in Community Housing Learning and Development team has allowed to her refine and focus her skills to facilitate  practical and well received professional development workshops for frontline staff responding to clients with complex needs to break cycles of disadvantage. She loves her job.

Brett is an experienced leader with over 20 years of experience as a CIO and business owner across a range of industries. He was recognised in the top 50 CIO’s in Australia for the past four years for digital transformation and leadership. In 2021 Brett Joined the Australian Red Cross with his first role in the NFP sector as their CIO with a team of 60 and remit to drive change by migrating over 200 years of legacy systems and processes to an integrated technology stack to enable the Red Cross staff with the right data and tools on the ground to create more impact to those in need faster and more efficiently.

One of Brett’s passions is building high-performing teams through a transparent process taking the team not just on the journey for the organisation but developing their own career journey beyond working in their current role.

Cara MacDougall is passionate about housing and working towards a world where people have secure, safe, and affordable housing. During her career she has been a manager of a Community Tenancy Scheme in Ryde Hunters Hill, she has worked with people who are homeless in London and has been a community development worker on the Redfern Waterloo estate. She has also worked for neighbourhood services working with communities who live in social housing. She has also been an external supervisor to many people who work in SHS services and really enjoys the opportunity to reflect on how we work and how we can improve our practice.

Cara has been working as a trainer with CHIA NSW since 2020 and is the manager of the Cadetship Program.

Carolyn has a background in Child Protection and Community Housing, having spent eight years as the CEO of a large housing company in Queensland, prior to returning to NSW. Carolyn is very passionate about housing knowing that it is the foundation of people’s lives. Without long term stable housing, people can face overwhelming barriers to health, education, employment and most of all personal safety

Cate is the chief executive of Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust, the South Island’s largest community housing provider. Her move to set up OCHT in 2016 was based on her belief that housing, health and education are the foundations of well-being for communities. Previously Cate worked in the Mental Health and Addictions sectors.  She is the co-chair of Community Housing Aotearoa and its CEO Forum.

Catherine oversees the policy direction and advocacy initiatives at Governance Institute of Australia, a national membership association that advocates for a community of 40,000 governance and risk management professionals.

Catherine has a strong background in governance and policy gained at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the ASX Corporate Governance Council, ASX, the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Financial Services Council. Qualified as a lawyer, she has also held roles as a company secretary with The Cancer Council NSW, NPP Australia Limited and Father Chris Riley’s Youth off the Streets Limited.

Charles brings over 35 years’ of senior leadership; in Operational, Financial Divisions and Strategy. Exercising leadership and delivering outcomes in cross cultural jurisdictions in Asia, Europe, North and South America and ANZ; in business sectors covering Community Housing, Chemicals, Engineering, Mining Services, Agribusiness, Building & Construction, Distribution/Logistics and Merchant Banking highlights including growing two organisations into global companies with sales exceeding a billion dollars.
Under Charles’s leadership BlueCHP has delivered innovation to the building industry with the largest residential timber building in Australasia, and become the leading developer of Specialist Disability Accommodation under the NDIS. Charles brings significant capital markets experience and was part of the successful initial NHFIC $315m bond raising in the Australian capital markets. BlueCHP announced the first construction loan of $45.7m from the NHFIC. Under the Home4Life JV, BlueCHP has raised a further circa $170m from Lighthouse Infrastructure Trust.
In addition, recently a further $100m from NHFIC has been secured to invest in Queensland as part of the Queensland Government Partnering for Growth Initiative and $40m for the provision of disability housing.
Charles is the current Chairman of PowerHousing Disability Housing Community of Practice and Vice Chair Director of Community Housing Industry Association – NSW and Director on CHIA National
Charles won the Macarthur Regional Business Award for Outstanding Business Leader in 2018.
Charles is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Association of Corporate Treasurers UK, with a Bachelor of Commerce (NZ) and a MBA from Warwick University UK.

Cr Dr Elizabeth Adamczyk is a City of Newcastle Councillor and Chair of the City of Newcastle’s Affordable Housing Working Party, a Lecturer in Geography and Planning at Macquarie University with expertise in social, economic, and environmental justice, and sits on the Executive of Hunter Workers. 

Identifying a gap in the healthcare of vulnerable people in New South Wales, Dr Daniel Nour founded Street Side Medics in August 2020. It’s a not-for-profit, GP-led mobile medical service for people experiencing homelessness.
With 145 volunteers, and four clinics across New South Wales, Street Side Medics has changed the lives of more than 300 patients. It has treated many communicable and non-communicable illnesses, dealt with neglected medical needs, and detected conditions that would otherwise have gone unnoticed. This includes diabetes, thyroid disorders, hepatitis C, HIV, heart disease and cancer.
Despite working full time at Royal North Shore Hospital, Daniel has rarely missed a clinic across the four sites since Street Side Medics launched. He volunteers his afternoons to ensure the clinics are run smoothly and patients are receiving the care they deserve.
With his leadership and social consciousness, Daniel is committed to making a real difference to the lives of many Australians. He’s also making significant improvements to society

David heads the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation, which is being established to lead the long-term reconstruction of flood impacted areas across the Northern Rivers area.
Established on 1 July 2022, this new body is working with multiple government agencies to coordinate the planning, rebuilding and construction work of essential services, infrastructure and housing. 
David is also the Deputy Secretary of Department of Regional NSW’s Commercial Services where he leads the 600+ staff of Public Works and the Soil Conservation Service, delivering a broad range of projects throughout NSW. 
David commenced his career as a civil engineer and has undertaken roles across the mining, utility, transport, local government and NSW public sector areas. 
David enjoys leading workplace change and believes that if it is to be successful it is critical to engage people early and take them on the journey. 
David’s career has provided him with experience across a broad range of service delivery organisations where he has successfully introduced major change programs in the water industry, public transport, the Soil Conservation Service and Local Land Services. 
He is based in Newcastle and loves to mountain bike and spend time with his wife and 3 daughters in his spare time.  

Dusanka has worked in the homelessness sector for over 15 years. Dusanka is instrumental in delivering Hume’s Together Home Program.

Dusanka was inducted into the Zest Hall of Fame Award in 2021 in recognition of the impact she has made in developing and managing unique and vital homelessness housing support programs and services.

Dusanka is particularly focused on minimising the impact of trauma experienced by children and young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Eamon’s career has spanned the social, economic and urban needs of Sydney.

He started his career working side-by-side with people experiencing long-term homelessness in Penrith and Blacktown to understand their challenges, and undertook the first Homelessness Street Count in the Western Parkland City.

Prior to joining the Committee as CEO, Eamon was the Chief Strategy Officer of the Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade, sitting on the Executive of the Department and leading strategic projects across the Investment, Industry and Trade, Arts and Culture, Sport, Tourism and Hospitality and Racing sectors.

Before this, Eamon was Deputy CEO and Policy Director at the Committee for Sydney, Director of Policy for Youth Action NSW, the peak body for young people and the services that support them across NSW, and worked in social services including UnitingCare and Marist Youth Care.

As the Committee’s Policy Director, Eamon delivered more than 40 reports, including work on Density Done Well, Benchmarking Sydney’s Performance, the Sandstone Mega-Region and Safety After Dark.

Eamon is also engaged in broader Sydney society as a member of the Monkey Baa Theatre Company board, while previously serving as a Board Director of the NSW Council of Social Services (NCOSS), the Sydney Community Foundation, and Sydney Alliance.

Ellis leads Bridge Housing’s work in the advocacy and impact space, delivering strategic projects and initiatives that change lives for the better. She has worked in strategic social policy and advocacy roles across the community sector for seven years, with a focus on housing, homelessness and impact assessment. 

Emma Coakes is a highly strategic, customer-focused business and marketing professional with 24 years’ experience in the education, financial services, and infrastructure and development sectors.  Specialising in facilitating human-centred design projects, she has over 17 years’ practice successfully transforming experiences, operational processes, marketing activities and products delivering improved acquisition and retention. Accordingly, she has worked with CHIA NSW since 2021 to lead the research and design of a sector-wide capability development framework, uncovering how we best develop the skills and knowledge of community housing staff to successfully undertake their work in a changing and challenging environment.

Emma Nicholson is the acting Head of Policy and Innovation at the NSW Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) and is passionate about generating more and better homes and partnering to achieve this. The division drives policy innovation, business and portfolio development, funding attraction, community housing partnerships, and housing services for the crisis, transitional, social, teacher and police housing and community use and commercial portfolios.

Emma has worked across the Aboriginal and mainstream housing, disability, women, intergovernmental and industrial relations portfolios, and in her earlier career as a journalist and acrobat.

Esther is a land economist and valuer, and a director at Atlas Economics. She has more than 20 years national and international experience and provides advice on land use and development strategy, infrastructure funding and staging. She loves working on how to resolve land use tensions to enable decisions that shape how we live, work and do everything in between.

Esther and the team at Atlas work with CHIA NSW and its members to support the growing of community housing stock.

The team at Atlas works with private sector developers and industry peak bodies on the delivery of mixed tenure housing outcomes in new developments.

Atlas also work closely with Government to review the impacts of planning policy and infrastructure investment on patterns of development and land use. They test policy settings in state planning frameworks and prepares Affordable Housing contribution schemes for councils.

Eva Gerencer is Link Wentworth Housing’s Chief Communications Officer leading the brand and communications strategy and ESG reporting. Passionate about driving results for communities through collaboration, partnerships and relationships, Eva has worked for over 25 years in the community services industry covering a wide range of areas including communications, social research, advocacy, campaign and project management.

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. Famey is the Chief Executive of the Aboriginal Housing Office.

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.

Humair Ahmad is a social and affordable housing specialist. An architect and urban planner by education, he is currently the Director Community Housing at the NSW Department of Communities and Justice. Humair has played a direct role in the growth of the community housing sector in NSW by leading initiatives such as the Social Housing Management Transfers, Community Housing Innovation Fund and Together Home. Previously he has been involved with the asset vesting program. Humair also oversees the delivery of a range of crisis and transitional housing, private market head leasing and affordable housing programs. Over the last 15 years Humair has supported achievement of social and affordable housing outcomes through robust commissioning of services in a complex multi-provider housing system. Before moving to Australia Humair worked on various low cost housing and infrastructure projects for people living in urban informal settlements and disadvantaged rural areas.

Ian Lynch is the CEO of Pacific Link Housing, he oversees the management of over 1,100 social and affordable properties across the Central Coast, Lake Macquarie and Hunter regions, as well as adding to the supply of housing stock through development and construction. Ian holds a Degree in Business Management and is also CPA qualified.

Jesse Taylor leads community development and engagement for Mission Australia Housing across the Mid North Coast of NSW. Jesse is a community organiser with a community services background in comorbid mental health, AOD and homelessness prevention. Jesse enjoys writing compelling grants that foster the conditions that reduce inequalities and is thrilled to be a part of Australia’s newest MOU coopetition scheme across three major CHP’s, CHL, Home in Place and Mission Australia Housing. Jesse holds a Master of Public Health Degree from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor Degree in Philosophy.

Uncle Jim Allen has been the CEO, Murra Mia Aboriginal Corporation for 27 years. He has extensive knowledge of the rental housing system and Social Housing policy.

Uncle Jim works closely with the MMAC board to set strategic directions to develop pathways and partnerships with stakeholders across the Aboriginal Tenant Advice and Advocacy Services (ATAAS) areas. He also works in collaboration with the Aboriginal Resource Unit to formalise partnerships across government and non-government agencies to enhance the ATAAS program, such as the Strengthening Aboriginal Tenancies Program and also to coordinate the ATAAS program across the South Eastern ATAAS service area.

Dr Kay Saville-Smith MNZM, is a sociologist whose research focuses on optimising the interface between households, communities, industry, and local and central government. Dr Saville-Smith has directed Centre of Research, Evaluation and Social Assessment since 1995.

Her research into housing need, retirement villages, house condition, sustainability and accessibility, and downsizing, fuel poverty and leaky homes is solutions-building. The cross- disciplinary and organisational research teams she leads work with vulnerable people, private, public and community sectors to find ways to better build, allocate and adapt housing. She led ground-breaking public good research into older people’s house repair and maintenance needs; housing, community resilience and good aging; and downsizing and older people finding the best fit in their housing decisions. She is co-lead for two programmes for the Building Better Homes Towns and Cities National Science Challenge -Affordable Housing for Generations and FAAB Small Homes: Functional, Accessible, Affordable Buildable Small Homes. Kay currently splits her time between CRESA and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) where she is the Chief Science Advisor.

Kevin has worked in social housing in both the local government and housing association sectors in the UK for over 30 years, specialising in housing maintenance and stock investment issues.

Kevin is HQN’s lead asset management consultant. He developed the HQN repairs and maintenance accreditation certification system and is now the lead assessor for our accreditations. He is also our expert on value for money in asset management and procurement and has run numerous seminars and workshops on this. He provides regular bespoke training for organisations on procurement, value for money and contract management.

Kim is a strongly driven, highly personable individual with solid adaptive commercial skills. She has a proven track record in providing executive strategic and financial leadership to achieve business objectives, growth and sustainability.

With over 15 years’ experience in the Community Housing sector at an executive level, she has been directly involved in strategic planning and implementation of initiatives to transform CHP’s from a property management provider to a leading Tier 1 CHP owner provider and developer under the National Regulatory System for Community Housing Providers (NRSCH) as well as restructuring of a supported independent living provider’s business model to be sustainable under the requirements of the NDIS framework. 

Her current role provides an opportunity to contribute to the strengthening and development of the Aboriginal housing sector.  In her five years with SEARMS, she has implemented new financial reporting systems to identify profitability and sustainability of service offerings, increased Aboriginal employment and training opportunities and added related services such as residential development, and a Social Venture Enterprise Crew for property care.

SEARMS is a Tier 3 NRSCH registered provider and is currently undergoing preparation for Australian Service Excellence Standards (ASES) certification to become a Specialist Homelessness Service provider.

She often gives a provider perspective in local and national forums about CHP/ACHP business and financing models as well as contributing to various federal and local government advisory groups in the formation of: NRSCH; NRAS; the Charity Act 2013 and local Residential Tenancy Act and Affordable Housing planning.

With a mindset for innovation and growth, these roles have allowed her to adapt and develop business models that balance risk, financial sustainability and growth (NEW housing stock) imperatives to deliver quality options for both rent and sale to the organisations and communities she serves.

Leonie is the CEO of City West Housing. City West Housing is a Tier 1 Community Housing Provider operating primarily in inner Sydney. CWH owns and manages 900 apartments in medium density developments in the City of Sydney Local Government Area.

Leonie previously held the role of Vice Chair of the NSW Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA NSW). For the past six years Leonie has also been on the Board of CHIA National, initially as a Regional Director which is a position nominated by CHIA NSW and subsequently as a national director.

She has more than 25 years experience in social, affordable and disability housing, including a long career in senior executive roles working for the NSW Government.

Leonie has championed the delivery of social and affordable housing and has been involved in a number of significant reforms that have developed the capacity of the community housing industry both in NSW and nationally.

Liz is a transformative leader with over 25 years’ experience in senior management positions in local and state government,  including General Manager, Director, and management roles in local government in regional, rural and metropolitan NSW and regional Queensland.

Liz is Landcom’s Strategic Partnerships Manager, responsible for managing partnerships relating to affordable housing projects. She is responsible for identifying and fostering new relationships with local government, Community Housing Providers, Local Aboriginal Land Councils, and other key stakeholders within NSW government agencies with a strong focus on regional NSW. Liz lives in the Tweed in regional NSW and has called the regions her home after leaving Sydney almost 15 years ago.

Liz is passionate about achieving greater housing affordability and the urgent need to reimagine this complex landscape that has contributed to the current housing situation working collaboratively with a range of stakeholders in developing the new approaches required. 

Louise Crabtree-Hayes is an Associate Professor in the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University. Her work focuses on permanently affordable models of community-led housing, and on social and ecological regeneration. She is Australia’s leading academic on housing co-operatives and community land trusts, and has served on the Boards of the Association to Resource Co-operative Housing and Common Equity NSW.

Lyall Gorman is the President of Business NSW, having served as a Board Director for the past eight years and Deputy President for two years. He is also a Director of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and currently is CEO of Evolve Housing, who is one of Australia’s largest community housing providers.

He has over 35 years’ experience in senior management, project management and administration, in both the Public and Private sectors. He holds a Master’s Degree in Administration (UNSW) with majors in Finance, Organizational Culture and Change, Organisational Behaviour, Statistics and Marketing.   

Lyall was born in Griffith, NSW and has a passion for small business, mentoring emerging business leaders and aspirational youth while also figuring on the public speaking circuit in areas including Leadership, Building a Winning Culture, High Performance, Brand, Development, Consumer Engagement.

Lydia has worked for HQN since 2007. In her current role Lydia has responsibility for overseeing all of HQN’s work, with a particular focus on the specialist networks and consultancy-related work. She has designed and led numerous service reviews and service improvement projects, successfully assisting a wide variety of organisations to improve – from the best in class to the poorer performers. Residents have always played a central part in this work. Lydia has developed a number of innovative ways to engage with residents and involve them in setting standards and improving services. She also played a leading role in setting up our specialist Residents’ Network.

Lydia has carried out several projects in Australian so she has a good appreciation of how the housing system works and of the key issues and challenges facing the sector.

Lydia’s background is in housing management – both general needs and supported housing.  Before joining HQN, she gained over 20 years’ experience within both the local authority and housing association sectors. Her last post was as Director of Housing and Care of a black and minority ethnic housing association operating in London, where she set up a unique project which provides a 24-hour crisis, outreach and therapeutic service for members of the African/Caribbean community living in Hackney and experiencing mental health crisis. Lydia also worked as an adviser to the Independent Housing Ombudsman. 

Marcus is a founding partner at SGS Economics & Planning Pty Ltd. He has more than 40 years’ experience in public policy analysis as an urban economist.
Marcus’s expertise covers metropolitan planning and governance, housing policy, infrastructure funding and the productivity of cities and regions.
Throughout his career, Marcus has undertaken numerous secondments and part time appointments, which have allowed him to expand his understanding of policy making and implementation at all levels of government. Some of these assignments include lecturer in urban economics at Melbourne University, adviser to the Minister for Planning and Housing in Victoria and Senior Executive in the Queensland Department of Housing, Local Government and Planning. Marcus has also acted as a senior policy adviser in a range of international settings, including Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, China and Sri Lanka.
Marcus is a recognised leader within the Australian urban policy community. He is a past National President and Life Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia. His government appointments have included Board member at VicUrban (the Victoria State Government owned land development company now called Development Victoria) and member of the Housing Supply Expert Panel established by the Queensland Government. He is currently serving as a member of the Commonwealth Governments National Housing Supply and Affordability Council.
Marcus is an honorary Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne.

Maree McKenzie has been the CEO at Homes North Community Housing since 2007 and has overseen the transformation of the organisation from a small provider managing 150 properties to one now managing over 2,700 properties. Maree is also a Director of Community Housing Industry Associations (CHIA) NSW.

Margot Black is the General Manager, Corporate Sustainability at Investa, integrating environmental, social and governance strategies across the office and build to rent platforms.

With 30 years’ experience in sustainability and urban and regional planning across the property industry, Margot has worked in on sustainability strategies in property companies including Charter Hall, Lendlease and Stockland, and as an urban and regional planner in private consulting, as well as in state and local government.

Margot is the Deputy Chair of the Property Council of Australia’s Sustainability Roundtable, a former co-chair of their Modern Slavery Working Group and sits on the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Policy Committee.

Marie is a Senior housing advocate, community housing tenant and former community leader at the Ivanhoe Estate. She is actively involved in Housing for the Aged, the National Alliance of Seniors for Housing, and Ageing on the Edge, and has appeared in print and television media on behalf of these organisations.
A highlight of Marie’s advocacy career was her appearance at the 2022 Inquiry into Homelessness amongst older people aged over 55 years, where she felt visible for the first time. She is passionate about advocating for a seniors’ homelessness service, similar to Victoria’s Home at Last model, and ensuring that more seniors can access priority social housing.
Marie is very proactive in encouraging other Senior Women to have a voice and speak out. One of her favourite quotes is “speak, even if your voice shakes”. She hopes that her participation at Community Housing 2023 will encourage more Seniors to share their stories and concerns.

Michael Lyon has been the Byron Shire Mayor since May 2021. He also served as a Councillor between 2016 – 2021, including 2 years as Deputy Mayor. Cr Lyon lives in a small rainforest valley in the Byron Shire with his wife and three children. Cr Lyon is passionate about housing equity and security, environmental outcomes and ensuring the financial sustainability of the Council. Cr Lyon has been advocating fiercely for housing equity and has been leading the fight to regulate holiday letting in the Byron Shire. On the broader housing situation, he has overseen the planning of several affordable developments in the Shire and recently Byron Shire was the first regional Council to implement an affordable housing contribution scheme. Michael is also very interested in the health of waterways and how we can couple development outcomes with the regeneration of the natural environment with a focus on riparian zones.

Michelle is Community Participation Officer at Home in Place’s Taree branch on the Mid-North Coast of NSW.  She is excited to be presenting from a “grass-roots” community development perspective and how a shared vision led to an MOU between CHPs Home in Place, Mission Australia and Community Housing Limited to work together to build communities.  A career highlight was living in Port Moresby, PNG from 2010-2015 where Michelle worked in the international development space.  Michelle is passionate about capacity building and connecting people with services to help them live their best lives.

Michelle is an Associate with SGS Economics & Planning Pty Ltd. She is a policy professional and data consultant with a strong track record of developing insights and advisory to enhance community outcomes. She applies mixed-methods research to deliver projects at the intersection of social policy and data innovation.
Michelle previously advised NSW state government’s regional economic growth agenda and advocates a data-driven philosophy for informing, monitoring and evaluating policy objectives. Her project experience spans a range of sectors, including renewable energy, the creative industries, health service delivery and regional economic development more broadly.
Michelle was project manager for the development of the CHIA ESG standard
Michelle has a Master of City Analytics from the University of New South Wales and is a graduate of the Sydney Law School.

Miranda Serkinic is a certified HR Professional with the Australian HR Institute and has experience in leading HR functions within the Corporate, Social Services and Aged Care Sectors. Miranda leads the People, Culture, Safety and Compliance portfolios at Housing Trust.

Miranda is an active member in the sector and HR Profession. She is Chair of the PowerHousing, People and Culture Community of Practice, as well as a member of The Property Council, People and Culture Academy Committee.

Miranda is committed to shaping the future ways of working. Her work focusses on the strategic positioning and alignment of people and systems with business priorities to advance the organisational culture and its mission, vision and values.

Nick is CEO of Common Equity NSW, a CHP and peak body for rental housing co-operatives in NSW.  Nick has worked in the social and affordable housing sector both in government and not for profit organisations for over 25 years.

He is passionate about increasing people’s access to safe, affordable and secure housing and supporting tenants’ agency and voice in the way this housing is delivered and managed.

Pat works in SVA’s Social Impact Bond (SIB) and outcomes based contracting practice. He works with service delivery partners and Federal and State government agencies to develop and manage SIBs and outcomes-based contracting arrangements. SVA’s SIB portfolio currently includes the Aspire SIB, Foyer Central SIB, Resolve SBB, Side by Side SIB, and Newpin SA SIB.

Paul is an experienced, values-driven, professional with a successful domestic and international career in public and private sectors and with local governments. He brings expertise in business development, strategic planning and organisational change. Most recently he held senior management roles at Community Finance, Positive Capital and the New Zealand Housing Foundation.  With his long-standing experience in community housing, and its finance, he has worked alongside Māori, church, commercial and community groups.

Paul believes in the significant contribution, and distinctive value, delivered by the Community Housing sector. Paul is widely networked within the New Zealand housing system and brings a passion for collective impact and unlocking the power of working better together.

Paul is an Aboriginal man of Gomeroi and Darug heritage. Prior to joining CHIA NSW as Aboriginal Partnerships Specialist, Paul gained extensive industry and government experience working in the Commonwealth and state public sectors in NSW, Queensland and Victoria.

Having recently qualified as a solicitor, Paul is passionate about reducing negative impact-centric experiences for Aboriginal people that engage with services. His work at CHIA NSW has focused on increasing Aboriginal employment across the community housing industry, as well as a Memorandum of Understanding between community housing providers and Aboriginal Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services, which aims to improve tenancy sustainment outcomes for Aboriginal people.

Paul is one of Australia’s leading infrastructure advisers providing advice on the development, financing, procurement and operation of social infrastructure projects. He is a trusted adviser to Government, CHPs, financiers, investment funds and project developers. Paul provides advice on the development, structuring and funding of social and affordable housing projects.

Peter Lewis is executive director of the progressive strategic communications agency Essential Media, the founder of the collaborative engagement platform Civility and a fellow with the Australia Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology. For more than two decades he was worked with progressive organisations including unions, NGOs, not-for-profits and responsible businesses to affect progressive social change.  He is a regular columnist with Guardian Australian and Fairfax newspapers as well as the author of five books including Webtopia and The Public Square Project.

Bill Randolph is Professor at the City Futures Research Centre at University of New South Wales.  Bill was the Foundation Director of the Centre from 2005 to 2020 where he led research on housing policy and markets, urban policy, urban renewal and urban inequality. He continues to research on aspects of higher density development, planning, affordable housing and urban precarity. He has 40 years’ experience as a researcher in the academic, government, non-government and private sectors.

Dave Adamson is Group Chief Strategic Engagement Officer at Home in Place. He has extensive experience of research, evaluation and policy development in housing and community-led urban regeneration. He currently manages Home in Place advisory services and advocacy for social housing reform. He also steers Home in Place’s commitment to promoting and achieving the SDGs and aspects of its sustainability journey. He is co-author of Sustainable Places: Addressing Social Inequality and Environmental Crisis (Routledge 2022) and Chairs the AHI Sustainability Community of Practice. He is Emeritus Professor at the University of South Wales, UK and Honorary Professor at the University of Newcastle, NSW. He is a designated World Urban Campaign, City Changer. His current interests include housing policy, sustainable places, climate change impact and housing-led community renewal.

Renee has over 20 years’ experience managing the planning and delivery of social and affordable housing programs and projects. She has worked for local and state governments in NSW, local and central government in the UK and the not-for-profit community housing industry in NSW. Most recently Renee worked at St George Community Housing for over 8 years in roles spanning business development, project delivery, governance and operations. St George Community Housing provide integrated tenancy, property management and place based community development services for the Bonnyrigg Living Communities mixed tenure social housing renewal area in South Western Sydney.

Roger Jameson is a Director of Housing Information Solutions, an information systems consultancy based in Sydney and Auckland offering specialist advice and project management services to social housing organisations in the review, procurement and implementation of information systems. Roger is a fully qualified Housing Manager, holding a professional qualification in housing management from the UK Chartered Institute of Housing.     He has over 40 years’ experience working both as a housing practitioner and in providing software consultancy services and products to the social housing sector in Australia, New Zealand, UK, Hong Kong and the Netherlands. With his in-depth understanding of information systems used in the community housing sector and their implications on processes and strategy; his skills in developing digital transformation and technology strategies combined with his extensive housing management experience, he offers clients a unique blend of expertise.

Over the past 15 years, he has undertaken a wide range of systems consultancy and project management assignments for many of the largest community housing providers operating in Australia and New Zealand. 

He is a Member of the Australasian Housing Institute and has been certified as a Chartered Information Technology Professional by both the British and New Zealand Computer Societies.

Rowena is Chief Credit Officer, responsible for NHFIC’s credit risk management and execution, including transaction assessments and approvals, the management of exposure and diversification levels, and the overall portfolio risk appetite and profile. Rowena also manages the NHFIC Credit Assessment and Portfolio Management teams and is Chair of the NHFIC Credit Committee.

Rowena has over 20 years’ experience in banking and finance, primarily in property and infrastructure. Prior to joining NHFIC, Rowena worked with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, St.George Institutional Bank, Macquarie Bank and ANZ.

Rowena holds two degrees from the University of New South Wales in economics, finance and organisational behaviour and management, as well as qualifications in psychology from the University of New England.

With more than 27 years of industry experience, as Director of Real Estate Strategy, Ryan is responsible for sharpening and executing QIC Real Estate’s strategic vision for the next phase of investment growth.
Alongside this responsibility for advancing QIC Real Estate’s strategy, he leads work to analyse and devise individual Fund strategies, identify and lead new product development, assess and evaluate investor needs, analyse real estate asset classes, assess risk and contribute to the investment process from origination.
Prior to QIC, Ryan spent 17 years with Lendlease in various roles. For the past five years, as Head of New Business and Corporate Account, Ryan was responsible for identifying opportunities and formulating and executing strategies related to the expansion of Lendlease’s Investment Management business into new real estate sectors and markets in Australia.
Prior to that he was a key member of a lead team in Singapore and then China, with responsibility for advancing the Asia strategy for Lendlease Investment Management in each of those countries. He also spent a number of years with Colonial First State Property and the Property Council of Australia. Ryan has deep experience across real estate investment, strategy, business development, transactions, structuring, product development and capital raising.
Ryan completed a Bachelor of Economics (Econometrics) at the Australian National University.

Sally’s role at Hume is to oversee the Hume Housing’s suite of homelessness programs and housing for people with disabilities.  Sally has implemented Hume’s Outcomes Framework.  Sally is a Social Worker with twenty years’ experience working in a diverse range of settings across the community sector in NSW, Victoria and Ireland. 

Simon Newport is the Chief Executive of The Land and Housing Corporation with a career spanning over 30 years in the private and public sector in housing, property and manufacturing.
He holds qualifications in building and construction, asset and project management, including post graduate studies from both Harvard and Wharton Business Schools. He began his career with KPMG and remains a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand.
His previous role was at the Aboriginal Housing Office (AHO) where he held senior positions leading the construction, portfolio, maintenance and finance functions, including most recently as acting in the role of Chief Executive.
Prior to that, he held leadership positions with large project home builders, including time in their window, kitchen, and stone benchtop businesses. So he knows his way around the housing industry.

Simon is an architect and managing director of the not-for-profit research and design practice OFFICE. In 2022 OFFICE launched Retain, Repair, Reinvest; a replicable model to assess the refurbishment potential of existing public housing estates. They have recently completed two feasibility studies on estates scheduled to be demolished.

Simon has worked in the Community Housing Sector for over 15 years, working nationally and internationally in a suite of roles from operational management to policy development, systems and business improvement. Now working in a sector development capacity for the Aboriginal Community Housing Industry Association, Simon’s supporting the broader Aboriginal Housing Sector to participate alongside the Community Housing Sector.  

Stephen Neale is the NSW Community Development Manager for Community Housing Limited. He leads a team working with social housing tenants to develop and deliver projects that lead to improvements in their mental and physical health and overall wellbeing. He has implemented various initiatives focusing on specific community needs from Coffs Harbour, down the NSW east coast and into Sydney.

Before embarking on his journey in Community Development, Stephen worked for the Northern Territory Department of Education leading a team to develop various culturally appropriate resources and education programs aimed at Aboriginal students in remote NT communities. He has also enjoyed teaching youth at risk and people with disabilities at TAFE Western (NSW). After a successful career working within disadvantaged communities, Stephen now enjoys working at grass roots level to develop projects with social housing communities to improve the community.

Stephen enjoys spending his spare time with his family, coaching his son’s U8’s rugby league team and managing a small property on the mid north coast of NSW.

My name is Yvonne Jenkins, a member of BRANCH housing co-operative since 1997 and living in a BRANCH dwelling since the year 2000.

Prior to 2000, with a small group of Bellingen residents, BRANCH made several grant applications through the Office of Public Housing to the Commonwealth State Housing Authority for designated Co-operative funding to build and purchase 9 dwellings in the Bellingen Shire.
After many consultations with the Advisory body to Resource for Co-operative Housing (ARCH) and NSW State bodies of every variety the funding came through.

Over the years I have served on the ARCH and the CENSW boards and was involved in many initiatives towards establishing Community Housing NSW as it took shape to take over responsibilities from the Public Housing Authority during the 1990’s and early 2000’s

My role now in the BRANCH housing co-operative is Membership officer, that role oversees policies review and renewal, applications for housing and general wellbeing of cooperative processes that serve members and the co-operative.

More widely, my interest in the commonwealth and state housing sector is that it seeks and promotes and practices excellent environmental design, social inclusivity, and co-operative structure in housing management.