Meet the Chairman

Bernie Kelly

Bernie Kelly

Chairman

We are living in transformative times.

We want to see our Association and each Member thrive through our positioning in the market, and the enabling community and platforms.  The opportunities to unlearn and learn in a diverse and talented community will allow our Members to continue to be the leaders they want to be and our society needs.

During 2021 we have started the process of building a national leadership team, expanding our platforms, and reviewing our Membership value proposition for the new decade.  I am keen to contribute to the follow through work to enable transformative impact to shape a better world.

Board members

Elected in November 2020.

Veronica Haslam

Deputy Chairperson

My passion is helping teams uncover untapped potential by giving voice to the unspoken. My ‘why,’ is that finding my authentic voice has held my greatest challenges and expansion. I have led various executive projects and change initiatives – always drawn to the multi-sensory experiences our shared humanness holds in our connected systems.

The AusTTA has been an unexpected blessing in my life. Exploring with, learning from and growing through the connection with our members who are extraordinary in their expertise and generous with their wisdom. A gift for which I am most grateful.

It’s been a privilege to contribute to the AusTTA Board in 2021. I look forward to continuing to be part of co-creating our AusTTA culture enabling our collective contribution. For me, this includes being heartful, authentic leaders. Where we are curious, compassionate, and courageous in sharing our unique talents with each other so we can achieve more together for a better world.

Nigel Mckinnon

Treasurer

Various roles as CFO or CEO in Australia and Asia.

Currently CEO of Norris Group, a large Geelong based Civil Contractor and C&D Waste business.

FCPA and GAICD Member.

Praema Ranga

Company Secretary

Praema has a background in leading remote national teams through change and transformation, as well as project and program management.  Praema has had experience volunteering for NFP organisations including fundraising for Engineers Without Borders in the past, and more recently assisting the governance committee at AusTTA. Praema is passionate about a sustainable future and believes that transformational leadership is key in meeting the challenges ahead in the industry.

Praema has interest and experience in governance and plans to further build on the foundations in governance built by the AusTTA leadership team in the past and work closely with the new governance committee to provide guidance to the AusTTA national leadership team as AusTTA grows in membership numbers, events and industry outreach in the coming years. Praema is keen to support a transformative national leadership team with an evolving fit-for-purpose governance framework which combines NFP board best practice with the pioneering outlook AusTTa is known for.

Eleanor Brooker

Governance

Elle has 20+ years’ experience in association management in the arts, charitable, public and community sectors, and a track record of success tackling governance, risk and compliance in complex environments including health, education, media and politics.

She’s led policy and constitutional reviews at AusTTA, the Melbourne Stencil Art Festival, WASEMA and Monash Radio, and is an active member of the Digital Law Association ethics and policy committee and AusTTA.

Elle is a governance specialist who oversaw the passage of the Privacy, Health Records and Electronic Transactions Acts into law and once completed a review of over 300 workforce policies for the Victorian State Government Department of Justice, reducing them to fewer than 80 higher-level documents, (in turn reducing the burden of complying with them). She also designed a customised policy governance framework that’s still in use today at Justice, and delivered a training course on how to write, research and cost good policy.

Elle is keen to build out AusTTA’s policy, performance and compliance frameworks, using best practice, design thinking and applied experience to make is easy for members and AusTTA to meet strategic outcomes, and for the business to ‘walk-the-talk’ on how to do this well.

Shari Read

Education & Strategic Alliances

I have been engaged in teaching and research in the area of transformational leadership for the past 8 or so years. From 2017-2021 I was the program developer and director at ANU and then at QUT for the AusTTA partnered professional development program. In working with leaders of transformational change I have noticed a pattern with regard to their integrity, willingness to be of service and willingness to learn from experience.

In nominating for this position I would like to be of service by sharing what I have learnt, not just with the board but in helping to create a true community of practice around our shared vision of transformational change. Collectively we are capable of radical, system-wide change that will allow us to reconnect and reimagine ourselves, not just in the workplace, but on this planet.

I will use my time on the AusTTA board to contribute to building the foundations and scaffolding for the community of practice through developing educational resources and opportunities for members to exchange ideas and participate in co-creation across sectors and areas of expertise. Having recently left higher education I am able to dedicate time to a role such as this.

Robin Vessey

Marketing & Systems

I have a 25 year history, with my company Redgum, of building and launching over 100 software products and platforms across 40+ industries. In the last 5 years my focus has been on helping companies discover, test and develop solutions that either transform their company or transform their industry.

This has led me to create a new profit for good venture called Transformation Collective that aims to transition old world companies into new companies, using “profit for good” as our guiding light. This group of specialist transformation providers will invest the profits back into new startups addressing the world economic forums sustainability goals.

My aims for the AusTTA marketing role will be to finish off the member value proposition work started this year, using this to create a complete member journey. Not just the sales pipeline through to sign up, but the members 3 years of personal development within AusTTA once they have signed up.

I believe this work will have several key benefits.
1. It will uncover a range of new initiatives AusTTA can adopt to provide more relevant member value.
2. Create a framework for greater clarity for good ideas. Where does an idea sit in the journey? who benefits? Is it public facing? membership only? or core interest group specific ideas.
3. It will likely uncover new revenue streams giving AusTTA greater capacity to reach more people.

Once this is complete I will be working to align the other aspects of AusTTA, including the technology and education to provide a complete member experience.

Stephen Kowal

Membership

I am passionate about the role of transformation in our society, and the need to have a strong member and professional organisation, one that recognises the importance of this capability. My view is probably best summed up by one of my favourite quotes: “Only dead fish go with the flow”. I love how there are such a raft of complex takeaways from such a simple quote. Not just conforming with the crowd and ensuring you speak up, but that it actually takes energy to just stay still and sustained effort to progress forward. To progress and grow our transformation capabilities as a nation we must push to actively learn and collaborate more, and that is what AusTTA is about. 

I have had over 20 years’ experience actively participating in and leading many transformational activities and projects. I have been fortunate to have worked in several countries including North America, South America, South Africa, the UK and the Netherlands. My passion in AusTTA is to build its member base so as to create strong and influential community transformation professionals.

Phillip Vafiadis

Committee Member

Cofounder of AusTTA and an experienced Chairman and Director of both private and listed companies crossing Technology, Manufacturing, Science, Business and Societal Impact.

My Board & Advisory roles have included:

  • Founder & Chairman of the Board –  New Stealth Corporation.
  • Chairman, Strategic Advisor & cofounder – Titomic (ASX TTT) – the world’s largest & fastest metal additive manufacturing process, ushering into the world industrial scale Additive Manufacturing.
  • Advisory Board Member – SDGs Centre for Governance & Law, jointly developed by Cambridge University Institute for Sustainability Leadership and the European Public Law Organisation.
  • Chairman & Cofounder of Cognilitics – Creating infrastructure to deploy large scale environmental sensor arrays, worldwide.
  • Chairman & Cofounder – Innovyz Institute, Innovyz Investments, Innovyz Investments No. 2, Innovyz Medica, Innovyz Waste & Recycling and Innovyz Advanced Materials & Manufacturing.
  • Cofounder, Head of strategy & Director – ZEN Energy, accelerating the transformation of Australian electric energy. 

With an entrepreneurial mindset I lead businesses through growth and transformation. I specialise in technology, commercialisation, manufacturing, economics, environmental and societal impact. I have provided and continue to provide guidance to large scale technology corporations globally.

Samson Mazara

Events Director

I am currently serving as a National Board Member for AusTTA, a seasoned Mining Operations Manager and Editor in Chief for The Mining Executive, a premier executive-focused magazine that advocates for transformation in the natural resources sector ( Mining, Oil and Gas).

The Mining Executive reviews key decisions made at executive level. My role involves marketing, partnerships and new business development. I have been instrumental in ensuring sustainable organic growth and expansion of The Mining Executive partnerships where we have partnered the biggest mining, oil and gas conferences in the world which include Mining Indaba 2020, 2021, 2022; Mining Investment North America, Mining Investment London, IMARC 2021, 2020; Mines and Money Asia 2020, Mines and Money London 2020, Mines and Money New York 2020. Reuters 202 and 2022, PDAC Canada 2021, African Mining Conference 2021, Sipex 2021, Gipex 2021, 121 Events 2021, Arab Mining Convention 2021, Commodities People 2021 and Digital Mines Perth 2020.

I am a natural resources sector transformation professional having worked across global mining operations in performance and strategy optimization. If nominated, I will be able to bring along my rich mining operations perspective, experience in marketing, and member engagement globally to ensure the global growth of AusTTA.