Conference
Speakers

Get a front-row seat to the minds of inspirational leaders in our district who continue to create hope in the world.

Wayne Bennett is recognised in Rugby League circles as one of the most influential and innovative of modern day coaches. He is the longest serving coach of a single club, has one of the best winning percentages, and ranks second in the number of premierships won as a coach at an elite level. Wayne has the most premierships won as a coach at an elite level since World War Two.

In 2008 he released his autobiography, Wayne Bennett, The Man in the Mirror.

Not only is Wayne Bennett a super coach, he’s super speaker with audiences – sporting and non-sporting -hanging on his every word.

Evan Burrell of the Rotary Club of Greenhills Maitland in Newcastle, (just north of Sydney), has been an active part of the Rotary family for 25 years. He is past president of the Rotary E-Club of Greater Sydney and the Rotary Club of the Ponds, and a now District Governor Nominee for D9660.

Evan is also a past member of the RI Communications Committee, as well as a past Assistant Rotary Public Image Coordinator for the whole of Australia in Zone 8. Evan’s message is “Let’s have fun in Rotary” as he passionately promotes Rotary’s digital story via social media. Evan also worked as a Digital Media Consultant for the regional Rotary Down Under magazine, he manages his own digital marketing and branding consultancy business, drives buses, is an actor and is a big Superman fan.

Mike has been involved with ShelterBox since 2006, when he was deployed to Papua New Guinea as a volunteer Response Team member. Since then, he has been deployed 22 times as Response Team member and team leader, attending major disasters such as the Haiti earthquake and the Mentawai Tsunami, along with less-known disasters in Italy and Bolivia and humanitarian emergencies in Somaliland, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and Lebanon.

Mike became CEO of ShelterBox Australia in 2016 after serving as General Manager since 2013. He leads a small, hardworking team of staff and volunteers, responsible for raising more than $13 million for disaster relief.

Dale brought “Speaker Bank to Australia from the UK when she moved here with her husband and family.

She is the founder of ChatterCamp and brings over 20 years’ experience to her training and speaking engagements.She has competed international in many speaking competitions including being a semi-finalist in the Toast Master World Championship in 2017.

She is the author of the book ‘The Speaking Formula’.

Andrew founded Stone Creative Leadership Group to create a proactive environment for leaders to converge their passion and clarity, personally and professionally.

He has been in leadership roles within the community since his early teens and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business with a Double Major in Communications and Marketing and is a member of the Institute of Managers and Leaders.

His current role is as a leadership development and communications consultant for the education sector, faith-based communities, universities, leadership colleges and not-for-profit organisations in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and USA.

He is a sought-after speaker, with a unique communicative style, Andrew travels the world from boardrooms to auditoriums with one purpose, to lead leaders into clarity.

Sisia was raised on a wool sheep property in Armidale, Australia. She was the only daughter of eight children. Her parents were Sue and Basil Rice. As a child, she competed in show jumping.

Gemma attended St Vincent’s College, Potts Point. Growing up, her family heavily emphasised education. Sisia studied biochemistry, genetics, and education at Melbourne University

At age 22, she moved to Uganda to work in a convent school. A few months later, she met Richard Sisia, a Tanzanian safari driver, in Tanzania. They later married and had four children.

In January 2002, Sisia established the School of St Jude in Tanzania. The school has expanded to about 1,800 students, who “receive a free, high-quality education at the primary and secondary levels.

Since 2015 the school has also established a graduate program, Beyond St Jude’s, that supports Form 6 graduates through tertiary education.

Prior to accessing tertiary education, Beyond St Jude’s participants undertake a year of community service, usually in the form of volunteer teaching in local government schools.

In 2007, Gemma’s achievements were honoured by a Member of the Order of Australia (AM). Her story has been featured twice in the ABC TV documentary program Australian Story, first in 2005 and then a follow-up in 2009.

In 2012, Gemma was named one of The Australian Financial Review and Westpac’s 100 Women of Influence, nominated in the Global category, and was also a finalist for New South Wales Australian of the Year.

In 2000 and 2019, Gemma was awarded a Sapphire Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International.

Natalia is a woman committed to crime prevention and peacebuilding in Colombia since 2011. She studied Government and International Relations at the Universidad Externado de Colombia. She completed her last semester at the Institut d’Études Politiques, Sciences Po, Bordeaux, France.

She worked for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Colombia for seven years supporting the Terrorism Prevention Branch and the Global Programme against Money Laundering. In 2017, she contributed to the design of the Illicit Finance Strategy as an anti-money laundering specialist in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs at the US Embassy in Bogotá.

Since 2016, she has been contributing to implementing the FARC Peace Agreement as a volunteer with Embrace Dialogue. She worked for two years supporting the reincorporation process of former FARC combatants (2019). Her recent work includes research for the Global Mine Action Programme ‘Exploring the potential of Mine Action in stabilisation and peacebuilding contexts, Colombia case study’, facilitating dialogues for the United States Institute of Peace in areas affected by the armed conflict, supporting the Truth Commission’s ‘Community of Pedagogical Practices for Truth, Memory and Non-Repetition’, doing peace pedagogy in schools and promoting partnerships and initiatives related to peace education.