The guest speaker for February’s Head & Heart was Belinda Morrissey. Belinda is the CEO of the English Family Foundation, a private foundation whose vision is to support transformational change in our world through the growth and development of social entrepreneurs and social businesses. Belinda works closely with social enterprises to develop and support their sustainable business models for delivering social outcomes, and she has a particular focus on progressing the role of philanthropy in developing the sector towards obtaining the “right capital at the right time.

She has spent the past decade in the philanthropic and for purpose sectors including roles within Australia Philanthropic Services and leading Sydney Community Foundation. Prior to this Belinda had an extensive career in investment management, she holds a BA in economics along with post graduates in philanthropy, applied investment and in financial accounting.  Belinda holds several not for profit board positions – she is on the Board of ActionAid Australia and on the Advisory Boards of the Social Impact Hub and White Box Enterprises Ltd.

The guest speaker for September’s Head & Heart was Geoff Stalley. Geoff’s expertise spans 25 years of corporate innovation and growth, business strategy and execution, merger integration and major transformational change. Geoff is also the Chair of Uplifting Australia, an organisation committed to strengthening the emotional wellbeing and resilience of children and families.

We enjoyed Geoff’s insights on why he contributes to the for purpose sector and his experiences in balancing this contribution with his corporate commitments.

We were excited to welcome Megan Flynn to Head and Heart in June.  Megan is a corporate strategy and development executive, experienced with the management of business risks and stakeholder relations with respect to environmental markets and policy. Megan was most recently Group Manager, Environment & Carbon Strategy for Qantas Group, responsible for the development of long term environmental and sustainability leadership at Qantas. She is currently Interim Chair with the Carbon Market Institute, Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Earthwatch Institute, and a member of the Sustainability Victoria Board, and the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute Advisory Board.

David Thomas’ career began at KPMG and then Deloitte, where he spent over ten years before moving into the advertising and media sector, then retail banking as a CFO and CEO. Along the way, David added to his skillset and qualifications by attaining an Executive Master of Business Administration with a marketing specialty. He has also been actively involved with Lifeline Northern Beaches, firstly as a Board member and now as CEO.

Through his diverse and extensive experience, David has gained a unique perspective on finance – in particular, how it compounds overall business performance. He firmly believes that all professional people can benefit from understanding the fundamentals of finance, even (or especially) if they aren’t in a finance role. With this in mind, David established Figure Eight Finance, a niche accounting practice, as a platform from which to deliver strategic solutions, including short courses, coaching and CFO-on-call services.

With his passion for communication, education, motivation and mentoring, David takes a very personal approach to his work with both Lifeline and Figure Eight. For him, it’s all about helping business people become more capable and confident in their abilities – and in turn, achieving better outcomes in business and life.

In May we welcomed Shamal Dass, Head of Philanthropic Services at JBWere, as our guest speaker. Shamal provides specialist strategic advice to both for-purpose organisations and private clients in areas such as structuring, governance, capacity building, sustainability and organisational strategy.

Prior to joining JBWere, Shamal worked within the financial services and trustee industries gaining significant experience in advising high net worth individuals on their philanthropic structures, managing trusts and foundations (including PAFs), and constructing charitable foundation investment portfolios. Shamal serves on a volunteer basis as:

• a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Earthwatch Australia and Two Good Foundation;
• Chair of the Governance Group of The Constellation Project (a cross-sector collaboration aimed at eradicating homelessness);
• A member of many committees including the Advisory Committee of the Centre for Social Impact and Investment Committee of the JBWere Charitable Endowment Fund.

Shamal’s research and writing focuses on the development of frameworks that enable all participants in the social outcomes ecosystem (for-purpose organisations, philanthropists and corporates) to deliver greater impact.

David Ritter is the CEO at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, campaigning for a green and peaceful future for all.

He returned to Australia to take up the role as CEO in 2012 after five years working in a senior campaigns position with Greenpeace in London where he worked on the global issues of destructive fishing, deforestation and climate change.

Prior to joining Greenpeace, he worked as an academic and a lawyer in both commercial and native title practices.

He is a published commentator on politics, law, history and current affairs and an honorary fellow of the Faculty of Law at the University of Western Australia, a research affiliate of the Sydney Environment Institute and an Adjunct Professor in the Sydney Democracy Network, both at Sydney University.