Stephen Yarwood is an internationally recognised urbanist, futurist, and leadership thinker whose work focuses on how organisations and communities function under pressure, change, and growing expectations.
As former Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Stephen led a major capital city through a period of economic uncertainty, infrastructure transition, and heightened public scrutiny. That experience continues to inform his perspective on governance, accountability, and the decisions that shape trust and long-term outcomes in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
Through his consultancy, city2050, Stephen now advises corporate leaders, boards, and governments on strategic foresight, leadership culture, and the practical implications of technological and social change. His work explores how emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, intersect with human behaviour, service delivery, and community expectations, particularly in environments where decisions are shared and authority is distributed.
Stephen brings a systems-level lens to leadership, drawing on disciplines including urban planning, technology, philosophy, and design. His thinking around the “citizen of the future” challenges organisations to reconsider how expectations of transparency, responsiveness, and professionalism are evolving, and what that means for those tasked with leading on behalf of others.
An engaging and perceptive communicator, Stephen is known for his ability to synthesise complex ideas and surface the patterns that connect leadership, business performance, and community outcomes. His style balances clarity with warmth and humour, creating momentum while encouraging reflection.
Across the conference, Stephen provides a steady through-line, helping to connect conversations about leadership, resilience, and reinvention into a cohesive narrative. His presence reinforces the importance of thoughtful leadership in building strong organisations that serve, and are shaped by, the communities around them.
Stephen Yarwood
Australian Futurist
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Rachael Robertson brings a deeply practical perspective on leadership under pressure, drawn from environments where expectations are high, resources are finite, and decisions have immediate consequences for people and performance.
As a former Antarctic expedition leader and Chief Ranger, Rachael led diverse teams through prolonged isolation, constant visibility, and conditions where there was no option to step away from leadership. Once the last ship left Antarctica for winter, leaders and teams were committed for months at a time. Every decision, interaction, and response mattered, not just in crisis moments, but in the daily management of people, workload, morale, and trust.
Rachael was responsible for the safety and wellbeing of expeditioners, operational continuity, and the delivery of a $20 million government science program. Leading in a male-dominated environment added further complexity, reinforcing the importance of professionalism, clarity, and consistency when authority is tested or questioned.
Before Antarctica, Rachael spent 16 years in senior operational leadership roles, including becoming Victoria’s youngest Chief Ranger and leading media coordination during the Black Saturday bushfires. These experiences reinforced a critical insight: leadership is not defined by grand strategy alone, but by how leaders show up in small moments, especially when pressure, fatigue, and competing demands collide.
For strata professionals, Rachael’s insights translate directly to environments where leaders are constantly visible, accountable to multiple stakeholders, and required to maintain calm, credibility, and momentum over the long term. Her work highlights how culture is shaped in everyday decisions, how professionalism is revealed under stress, and how leaders can sustain performance when conditions are tough.
Now a highly regarded keynote speaker, Rachael combines realism, warmth, and humour with practical leadership frameworks. Her sessions leave audiences with a renewed understanding of what effective leadership looks like when conditions are harsh and expectations are high, and how steady, values-based leadership builds resilience across teams, organisations, and the communities they serve.
Rachael Robertson
Australian Author
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Sponsored By
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Dr Neryl East is a communication and credibility expert whose work focuses on what happens when conversations become difficult, emotions run high, and trust is on the line.
With more than 30 years’ experience as a professional communicator, Neryl understands the dynamics at play when expectations clash and dissatisfaction surfaces. As a television journalist, she interviewed Prime Ministers, senior leaders, and people facing crisis, developing a deep understanding of how language, tone, and timing can either calm a situation or quietly inflame it. Her experience as an Olympic announcer, addressing crowds of over 20,000, further sharpened her ability to communicate with clarity and confidence under pressure.
Beyond the media, Neryl has spent decades advising leaders in government, defence, and business on how to manage high-stakes issues, reputational risk, and emotionally charged interactions. She is trusted by executives who must respond publicly and professionally when the margin for error is small and scrutiny is intense. In 2020, she worked closely with the Chief of the Defence Force, General Angus Campbell, preparing him for the release of the Afghanistan Report, one of Australia’s most sensitive public disclosures.
Neryl holds a PhD in Journalism, is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), and is the author of five books, including an Amazon best-seller on media and reputation. Her work bridges theory and practice, focusing on practical behaviours leaders can use when service expectations are not met and relationships are strained.
Known for her engaging and highly practical style, Neryl equips professionals with tools to navigate complaints, rebuild confidence, and protect credibility. Her insights resonate strongly in strata environments, where service recovery, emotional intelligence, and professional judgement shape not only individual outcomes, but long-term trust across entire communities.
Dr Neryl East
Communication Expert and Executive Coach
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Simon Banks is a creativity, innovation, and design thinker who helps organisations break out of autopilot and rethink how small actions shape culture, accountability, and long-term outcomes.
An international keynote speaker, author of A Thousand Little Lightbulbs, and co-host of the globally ranked podcast The Occupational Philosophers, Simon has spent his career exploring how curiosity and creativity influence behaviour, decision-making, and performance. His work is grounded in a simple insight: meaningful change rarely comes from grand gestures. It comes from everyday choices, habits, and how people show up when no one is watching.
With more than 1,400 events delivered across Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia, Simon has worked with organisations including Google, Transport for NSW, the Federal Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, Laing O’Rourke, Volkswagen, and the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation. His sessions are often used to spark strategic conversations, challenge entrenched thinking, and help teams reconnect with purpose and responsibility in practical ways.
For strata professionals, Simon’s perspective resonates strongly with environments where outcomes depend on consistency, professionalism, and collective responsibility rather than policy statements alone. He explores how accountability is reinforced through small behaviours, how culture is shaped in day-to-day decisions, and how leaders influence standards through what they tolerate, encourage, and model.
Known for his razor-sharp humour and highly engaging delivery, Simon blends behavioural insight, real-world examples, and visual storytelling to make complex ideas accessible and memorable. A former professional artist, Simon brings a creative lens that encourages participants to see familiar challenges differently and to recognise the power of incremental change.
Simon’s work reminds leaders that lasting impact is not built through pressure or perfection, but through curiosity, intention, and the accumulation of small actions taken consistently over time, the very foundation of strong organisations and trusted professional practice.
Simon Banks
Author and Consultant
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Dan Gregory works at the intersection of human behaviour, performance, and reinvention, helping leaders understand how people actually think, decide, and respond to change, especially in complex, high-expectation environments.
An author, speaker, trainer, and former stand-up comedian, Dan brings a rare mix of commercial insight and human awareness. His early years on the US and UK comedy circuits sharpened his ability to read rooms, challenge assumptions, and communicate with precision, skills later seen by millions through regular appearances on ABC TV’s Gruen Planet and Channel 7’s Masters of Spin.
Dan is co-author of SHIFT, Selfish, Scared & Stupid, and Forever Skills, books that explore how organisations adapt when expectations change, pressure increases, and old models no longer deliver. His work consistently highlights that transformation is rarely about systems alone. It is about behaviour, trust, credibility, and the everyday choices leaders make when balancing competing priorities.
Across his career, Dan has designed leadership and performance strategies for organisations operating in regulated, people-driven sectors where influence often matters more than authority. His experience spans global brands, public institutions, and service-based organisations navigating heightened scrutiny, changing customer expectations, and the challenge of remaining relevant while protecting reputation and relationships.
For strata leaders, Dan’s perspective resonates with the realities of managing growth, client trust, staff engagement, and professional identity in an environment where pressure is constant and visibility is high. His insights speak directly to the need for businesses to evolve how they create value, communicate purpose, and build capability without losing the human core that underpins strong communities.
Known for his sharp wit and engaging style, Dan combines provocation with practicality. He invites leaders to question what must be rethought, what must be strengthened, and what behaviours will matter most as the sector continues to reinvent itself.
Dan Gregory
Behavioural Strategist/Author
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Gary Edwards specialises in the psychology of influence and decision-making in environments where authority is limited, expectations are high, and relationships are critical to outcomes.
A former courtroom lawyer, negotiator, business consultant, and professional corporate magician, Gary brings a distinctive perspective on how people form trust, resist persuasion, and ultimately commit to decisions. His diverse background gives him deep insight into the subtle dynamics at play in meetings and discussions where success depends less on formal power and more on credibility, clarity, and composure.
Through his consultancy, Leading Conversations, Gary works with professionals who must guide outcomes without control, often balancing competing interests, strong personalities, and shared accountability. His work focuses on the everyday conversations that shape professional credibility, whether that is steering groups toward consensus, responding to challenge, or influencing decisions when authority sits with others.
Gary’s legal and negotiation experience was forged in high-stakes environments where language, framing, and timing have real consequences. Combined with behavioural science and the discipline of professional magic, he brings a practical understanding of attention, perception, and influence, highlighting how small shifts in approach can significantly change outcomes.
For strata professionals, these insights align closely with the realities of leading committees, managing diverse stakeholder expectations, and navigating emotionally charged discussions. Gary understands the pressure of advising without directing, influencing without overstepping, and maintaining professionalism while working through disagreement and uncertainty. His frameworks support confident leadership that strengthens trust rather than erodes it.
Gary’s sessions are highly interactive and grounded in real-world scenarios. Participants leave with practical tools they can apply immediately in meetings, negotiations, and everyday interactions. Engaging, insightful, and refreshingly practical, Gary challenges audiences to rethink how influence is built and how better conversations lead to better decisions for organisations and the communities they serve.
Gary Edwards
Human Behaviour Specialist
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Kimberley Jonsson is CEO of CHU Underwriting Agencies, one of Australia’s leading strata insurance specialists. Kimberley joined the insurance industry in South Australia in 2005. She has worked across multiple jurisdictions and held various underwriting sales and management roles.
Kimberley has a wealth of experience and knowledge of the strata insurance industry and the strata community. In 2017 Kimberley was named Young Insurance Professional of the Year at the Australian Insurance Industry Awards. In addition to being a Fellow of ANZIIF, she is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds an MBA from AIM Business School.
Kimberley Jonsson
CEO, CHU Underwriting Agencies
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Andrew has over 40 years experience in leadership roles from General Manager to COO and CEO, including Board, Non-Executive and advisory opportunities across Strategy, Sales, Operations & Technology and Marketing.
Andrew has a unique ability to combine solution design & delivery, relationship management and process management to achieve outstanding results for customers.
Andrew’s role is focussed on the sale, design and delivery of large-scale private utility solutions, managing the process end to end. His last 10 years have been in Local Utility Networks where he has been able to bring to bear the skills and experience developed across a range of industries.
Andrew McMeekin
EGM Revenue & Growth, Active Utilities
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