4th Financial Inclusion Conference – Roads to Resilience

As Co-Founder and Director of UNSW Tax Clinic, her research is motivated by the principle of tax justice for all. Her research explores avenues by which tax policy can be utilised as a mechanism to achieve social justice.

Anna has worked in both the government and non-government sectors on many contentious social policy issues including; heroin overdose, psychostimulant use, HIV/AIDS, sex work, child protection, young people and social inequality. She has experience working on key reforms such as the NSW Drug Summit, Families First and the NSW Government response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Anna’s qualifications include Masters of Policy and Applied Social Research and Masters of Counselling.

Since commencing at NCOSS Anna has focussed on enhancing the policy capacity of the NCOSS team and the completion of key research projects. These include research with disability advocacy, representative and information organisations, Mapping Economic Disadvantage in NSW and the 2019 NCOSS Cost of Living in NSW survey.

Her team of 10 solicitors assists some of the most vulnerable people in NSW to access their consumer protection rights in credit and insurance matters. Dana currently represents Legal Aid NSW on several forums, including the newly formed AFCA Consumer Advisory Panel and the ASIC Consumer Advisory Panel.

Dana has provided a consumer advocate perspective in a number of public inquiries, including the Financial Services Royal Commission and the Senate Inquiry into Resolution of Disputes with Financial Service Providers within the Justice System.

Dana is also a director of Ecstra, not for profit organisation committed to building the financial capability of all Australians within a fair financial system.

She has extensive experience in the mental health sector including in service design and innovation and in developing peer led models. She has also led projects integrating technology and mental health assessment tools to improve consumer outcomes.

He has extensive expertise in the measurement of social outcomes and has taken the lead on multiple evaluation projects as well as providing advice to both industry and social policy makers on measurement and evaluation activity.

Programs she has led include the Service NSW Drought Support Awareness Initiative and It’s Me ID for Homeless customers. Lisa joined Service NSW following a long career in media, mostly at the ABC where she led news programs and managed radio stations. She was awarded the Order of Australia Medal earlier this year for services to broadcasting.

Michael’s PhD was on taxation of goodwill and he has undertaken several research projects on taxation of intangible property. He also teaches tax administration, tax anti-avoidance, and ethics in tax practice.

Rebecca has developed partnerships with a large range of stakeholders, and has contributed to the redevelopment of the Stepping Stones program model and training materials. Rebecca is passionate about women’s economic empowerment, and believes that increased economic and social participation is the critical foundation for successful settlement for people from refugee and migrant backgrounds.

She was Executive Director of Community Legal Centres NSW for eight years, and has also worked at Community Legal Centres Australia, NSW Department of Communities and Justice, Matrix on Board, Tenants’ Union of NSW, Redfern Legal Centre, and Darwin Community Legal Service. She is passionate about supporting organisations to understand and report on the outcomes and impact of their work, particularly in relation to vulnerable and disadvantaged communities.

After working at the OECD in Paris, Heather spent close to a decade working with one of the largest microfinance organisations globally, Opportunity International.

She had the opportunity to work with start-up NGOs to large scale microfinance banks- all of who aimed to transform the lives of poor women through business.

Heather had the privilege of working on the establishment of one of the first microfinance programs in Australia, now called Many Rivers Microfinance.

Her time at Sydney Community Foundation shaped her understanding of collective impact and place based philanthropy, as well as a gaining a deeper insight into gender based poverty and disadvantage in urban Australia.

Heather joined the Founder of Global Sisters, Mandy Richards, to establish the organisation and launch operations in early 2016. They have gone from a 2 woman operation to leading a team of almost 20 in five urban and regional areas around Australia. After 3.5 years of piloting, Global Sisters is now poised to start scaling impact across Australia.

Heather holds a Masters in Development Administration from ANU and has studied social entrepreneurship at INSEAD Singapore. She is a Trustee of the McLean Foundation, a philanthropic foundation dedicated to conservation, education and gender equality. She is the mum of 3 young kiddos, married to a complete superstar and lives on the Northern Beaches of Sydney.

May has extensive experience in the housing support sector, holds a Diploma of Community Services and is currently studying Certificate IV in Social Housing. May is a proud descendent of the Widjabul/Wyabul people of the Bundjalung nation and has a passion for helping, advocating and supporting indigenous clients.

Leela’s professional career in the community sector has spanned project management, research, engagement and policy in a variety of contexts, including her work with Consumers of Mental Health WA, the Western Australian mental health consumer peak.

Leela is committed to working in partnership across sectors, including elevating the voice of and partnership opportunities for people with lived experience to ensure a more just, fair and equitable society.

In addition to a Masters degree in Human Rights Practice, Leela holds Certificates in project management, training and education and IAP2 engagement.

Louise leads SVA Consulting’s work on financial wellbeing and recently authored “Shifting battlegrounds for financial wellbeing” for the SVA Quarterly (see here).

Prior to joining SVA, Louise worked in consulting, government, technology and banking in Australia, UK and Africa. She also led an international team at a large NGO reporting to the Board on operational risk.

Louise holds Masters degrees from both UNSW and Deakin University in Economics & International Development.

Kristen has a passion for building peoples’ knowledge of day to day money management issues through running education programs.

Financial literacy is an essential life skill in our commercial world. Kristen aims to help people build their financial resilience and their ability to make informed decisions.

She is passionate about the benefits that financial capability can bring to peoples’ lives.

Andrew has worked in the field of financial education for 15 years in the private and public sectors with a background across communications and finance.

Nicola is continuing this work and is currently leading projects within the Home Energy Action Program to install energy efficiency technologies in partnership with small community and Aboriginal housing providers.

In delivering these projects, Nicola identifies third party funding sources and aims to reduce tenant energy bill stress, increase financial control and to help improve the comfort, health and wellbeing of vulnerable households across NSW.

Prior to her sustainability work, Nicola was a primary school teacher and worked in disadvantaged schools across London.

Josh and the team started the business with a social purpose to support millions of Australian’s in achieving greater financial freedom.

Caroline is a Board Member of Philanthropy Australia and is on the Audit & Risk Management Committee. Other current board commitments include WAGEC (Women and Girls Emergency Centre, Redfern) and Lenity Australia. She previously led the UBS Australia Foundation. She has worked with multiple stakeholders across the community, corporate, government and charity sectors. Caroline holds a BA (Syd Uni), is admitted as a Solicitor in NSW and the ACT and completed the AICD Company Directors Course in 2015.

Amanda is passionate about big change which shifts the dial towards indigenous prosperity and she means to do just that.

The FIAP program was recently awarded the prize for Outstanding Collaboration at the Social Impact Measurement Network Australia Awards, and second prize in MetLife Foundation’s Inclusion Plus Australia competition.

Michael has specialised in financial inclusion since 2008, both in Australia and abroad. He led the risk and operations functions of WING Cambodia, one of the first mobile money providers to reach scale globally, and has consulted for mobile money startups and programs that together reach over 40 million previously unbanked people.

He has worked in collaboration with the Government of Indonesia on national social assistance programs, and for the UN-based “Better Than Cash Alliance” in New York. He has conducted research and written publications for CGAP, the World Bank, and the GSMA Mobile Money for the Poor program.

Since joining Good Shepherd as a Program Consultant for the FIAP program in March 2017, Karnali has been engaging with and supporting organisations from multiple sectors to take practical actions to enhance financial inclusion, resilience and wellbeing within their own sphere of influence. In addition to this, she is leading Australia’s first place-based FIAP project in Geelong, Victoria which focuses on addressing regional challenges in a specific place of disadvantage by working with local stakeholders and leveraging the learnings from the national program.

Having worked in the microfinance and banking sector in India since 2008, she has a proven ability to undertake a holistic approach to project planning and development strategy in the financial inclusion domain. As part of the Government of India’s Financial Inclusion Initiative, she has been instrumental in designing and successfully delivering affordable financial products such as remittance, credit, low cost insurance, unorganised workforce pension etc. for the unbanked and underbanked population in rural as well as urban areas.

Karnali holds a Master of Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), India and is a Certified Expert in Microfinance from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Germany.

I have a passion to provide financial literacy and consumer rights to my people and community members as a whole. Knowledge is a powerful tool so educating our communities so they can utilise their voices on their rights as consumers and educating our young people at an early age on financial literacy in our homes and I also feel it should be mandatory within our schools structure starting at an early age in primary and through to secondary schooling.

I sit on the ATSI National Financial Counselling Steering Committee for the past 2 years and also sit on YP Space Mid North Coast Committee Board for the past 6 years.

Ellis joined Bridge Housing in 2019 and leads service improvement initiatives to support the organisation’s tenant-centred approach to delivering housing. She is a strategic thinker with a commitment to evidence-based policy and program development.

With an honours degree from the University of Sydney, Ellis has previously worked for the Community Housing Industry Association NSW and Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association NSW.

Tom was previously the founder of Australian youth non-profit Vibewire, the first Digital Communications Director at Ashoka, a global NGO fostering social entrepreneurship based in Washington DC, and the founding Director of the Australian Changemakers Festival.

Tom has supported numerous non-profits, governments and businesses to better engage their community using technology and been recognised with awards and Fellowships from the World Summit Youth Awards, International Youth Foundation, Nexus Summit, The Future Summit and the Australian and New Zealand Internet Awards.

Joanna’s experience spans across both the public and not-for-profit sectors public service experience spans across human rights, social policy, economic analysis and transport and infrastructure initiatives.

Having joined the NGO sector in 2013, Joanna has held various leadership and change management roles including Deputy CEO of NCOSS, leading the roll-out of the NDIS for mental health organisation Flourish Australia and, as Director of Operations at Relationships Australia NSW, driving rigour and results in service delivery for survivors of institutional abuse and families impacted by domestic violence.

Joanna is passionate and enthusiastic in her desire to work in collaboration with communities to bring an end to poverty and disadvantage across NSW.

Prior to joining Milk Crate Theatre, Jodie worked in a development role with Holdsworth Community on innovative programs such as the HomeShare program which is currently being piloted in Sydney and it’s Eastern Suburbs.

Jodie also worked through the change to consumer-directed funding, with the introduction of both the NDIS and Home Care Packages and understands the challenges and possibilities these reforms provide.

Milk Crate Theatre is an arts organisation that uses performing arts practice to change the story of homelessness. It provides creative opportunities for participants to build confidence, skills and social connections to help make positive life changes.

Programs are run for, with and by members of the community that have a lived experience of homelessness or any of the complex issues associated with homelessness. These commonly include mental health issues, financial instability, emotional and physical support needs, trauma, domestic violence and people that have recently arrived.

Ankit is a highly experienced banking and dispute resolution professional, having spent over 12 years’ in the financial services sector, specialising in commercial and consumer credit management. Prior to joining AFCA, Ankit worked at Toyota Financial Services where he led dispute resolution and financial difficulty teams.

Ankit also spent seven years at Commonwealth Bank of Australia across a variety of positions. In his last role as External Dispute Resolution Manager he was responsible for responding to ASIC and the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Ankit holds a Bachelor of Business from the La Trobe University and is currently completing a MBA in strategic management and leadership.

Prior to joining ASIC’s Financial Capability Team as Monitoring and Evaluation Policy Lead, Brianna was Research & Evaluation Manager at Mission Australia.

Brianna has a background in commerce and social science and holds a Master of Policy and Applied Social Research degree. She is passionate about assisting organisations to embed a culture of evaluation and to utilise findings to enhance program/service design.

Through these various roles, Conrad has seen the impact of financial inclusion and has grown a passion, particularly in the context of rural and remote indigenous Australians, in challenging the financial barriers people face on a daily basis.

Recently, Conrad has been the program co-ordinator for the Palm Island Class Action Settlement Committee which focused on bringing industry, government and non-for-profit services to the people of Palm Island to assist in the rollout of payments, empower financial literacy, advocate for community-identified needs and prevent claimants becoming victims to scams, dodgy-traders and fringe-financial abuse.

Focussing on protecting the interests of consumers, Teresa develops industry guidelines, policy and advocacy positions in response to issues identified through engagement with community stakeholders.

Teresa initially joined the ABA to focus on improving banking outcomes for customers experiencing Family Domestic Violence and has recently moved to this role. Before joining the ABA Teresa held various global financial services risk and compliance roles over 26 years at the Macquarie Group, and prior to that, 5 years at KPMG.

Teresa holds a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney, a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from (FINSIA- the Australian professional body for the financial services industry) and is a Chartered Accountant.

Yatungka has had the privilege of visiting over 50 Aboriginal communities throughout NSW where she has delivered workshops about domestic violence, sexual assault and developing culturally safe practices with non-Aboriginal workers. Yatungka is also a member of DVNSW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory committee.

With 13.3% of Australians living below the internationally accepted poverty line, Cassandra’s passion is to ensure that she assists, educates and empowers customers, removing any shame or distrust they might feel when calling and asking for support from Linkt Assist.

The reality that millions of Australians are only a relationship breakdown, a medical emergency or a job loss away from being unable to meet their financial commitments is what keeps Cassandra advocating internally and externally to increase awareness, accessibility of tolling information and support available to financially vulnerable Australians. She believes it’s her role to be their voice and to shine a light on the not-so-glamorous truths that make vulnerability a reality for many Australians today.

Effie was previously Bauer Media’s Finance Editor and editor of Money magazine, having helped establish it in 1999. She is a regular on Channel 9’s Today show and radio stations across Australia as a money expert.

Effie is also author of a children’s financial literacy book, The Great $20 Adventure and A Real Girl’s Guide to Money: From Converse to Louboutins.

Prior to this, Elliot worked for local and state governments in strategy, project management and planning roles to improve the environments where people live and work. Elliot holds a Master of Public Health and Bachelor of Science, and is a member of the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) and Australian Evaluation Society (AES).

The Centre employs both financial counsellors and lawyers, and runs a number of free advice lines for the public and other caseworkers in the community. The Centre also conducts casework, provides education and resources, and advocates for systemic reform to improve financial well-being through a fairer financial services market.

Karen is trained as a lawyer and has been with the service for 20 years.

Fran has recently taken up a vacant position on the board of Local Community Services Association, and additionally has taken on their role of Regional Representative. She has a strong commitment to social justice and fights for equality daily. Her favourite motto is ‘we don’t do “No” we just find a way’.

Communities are like jig saws, all pieces are needed and all pieces need to belong for the picture to be complete.

With a passion for supporting those most disadvantaged people in our community, she has spent the last 17 years working in the not-for-profit sector primarily in the child and family space, managing programs supporting children with disabilities, migrant and refugee families and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Programs.

As State Director for the Australian Red Cross she has been heavily involved in the response to the recent unprecedented bushfire crisis in NSW and is working to support impacted communities in their long road to recovery.