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national summit 2025 — learn more

Thank you to everyone who joined us in Noosa, Kabi Kabi Country, for the Equity CoLab National Summit 2025, proudly presented by Country to Coast Queensland (CCQ). The Summit brought together changemakers from across Australia to reimagine systems, share bold ideas, and move equity from intention to action. 

Following the success of this year’s event, the Equity CoLab continues to grow as a national platform for collaboration, learning and leadership. We’re building momentum toward future gatherings and digital initiatives that bring people together to create fairer systems — locally, nationally and globally. 

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Keira Lowther Headshot

Keira Lowther

Senior Program Manager, Centre for Public Impact

Keira has a background in nursing, public health and palliative care, with a BSc Nursing Science from the University of Hull, a Master’s in Public Health Nutrition from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and a PhD in Palliative Care from King’s College London. She has worked across acute and public health, academia, social research and service improvement. Today, Keira focuses on helping organisations adopt evaluation approaches that serve learning and impact. She brings a power-literacy and equity lens to her facilitation and, as a certified coach, supports groups in grappling with the deeper challenges of service and systems transformation.

Thea Snow Headshot

Thea Snow

Director, Centre for Public Impact, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand

Thea is Director at the Centre for Public Impact, with experience across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. She has worked as a commercial lawyer, public servant, and at Nesta, the UK’s innovation foundation. Recognised as a thought leader, Thea was named one of Apolitical’s most influential public sector innovators. She holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the London School of Economics, where she received the Peter Self Prize for best dissertation.

Andrew Cohen Headshot

Andrew Cohen

CEO, ForHealth Group

Andrew is CEO and part-owner of ForHealth, Australia’s largest bulk-billing general practice and urgent care provider, delivering over 8 million patient visits annually. Over the past 5 years, Andrew and his team have transformed the business with a mission of accessible healthcare for low socioeconomic, outer metropolitan and regional Australians. He has also served as CEO of Bellamy’s Organic, where he led a 4-year turnaround and $1.5b sale, and was previously a Partner at Bain & Co. Andrew holds an MBA from Cambridge (Dux) and a Commerce & Arts degree from the University of Melbourne.

Cathy Boorman Headshot

Cathy Boorman

Co-Director, The Good Shift

Cathy is Co-Director at The Good Shift, with a career spanning teaching and research, social policy, service system design, delivery and reform, citizen engagement, government–industry collaboration, and community-based crime prevention. She has held practice and leadership roles across community organisations, universities, and local and state government.

Passionate about helping diverse partners work, learn and innovate together, she specialises in place-based approaches that improve wellbeing and deliver measurable results.

On stage in Noosa, Cathy will unpack a practical framework for place-based systems leadership, grounded in international examples and Queensland practice. Expect guidance on how communities, services and governments work together for equity, and what to do when collaboration stalls.

Julie Sturgess Headshot

Julie Sturgess

Chief Executive, Country to Coast Queensland (PHN)

Julie is CEO of Country to Coast Queensland, a Primary Health Network (PHN) working to improve health equity across regional and rural communities.

She brings more than 30 years of experience across clinical care, health service design, digital health and executive leadership, including as CEO of Healthy North Coast (North Coast PHN) and Principal Health Specialist at Telstra Health.

Julie is a passionate advocate for system reform that centres community voice and strengthens rural and remote care. She has led primary health responses to climate-related disasters, from regional droughts to flooding, including during and after the devastating 2022 Lismore flood events. Her work focuses on digital innovation, equity focused reform and the partnerships needed to address the social and environmental drivers of health.

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Matt Donoghue

Professional Economist and Executive at Treasury and Finance

Matt is Director of the Early Intervention and Reform Team at the Department of Treasury and Finance. In this role, he has overseen the establishment and embedding of wellbeing impact analysis in budgets through the Victorian Government’s Early Intervention and Investment Framework. He has extensive experience working on government budgets and previously served as the Director in the Office of the Secretary. Matt also has a Master of Economics from the University of Melbourne.

Nathan Baunach Headshot

Nathan Baunach

General Manager of Community and Social Impact
Brisbane Broncos

Nathan Baunach is the Broncos’ General Manager of Community and Social Impact, appointed in October 2024. He brings more than 15 years’ experience across secondary education, community services and charitable work in urban, remote and very remote Northern Territory, including with First Nations communities. 

Nathan leads programs that strengthen wellbeing and opportunity through partnerships, evidence and practical support. He is focused on building on the club’s established Social Impact work, future-proofing programs and expanding their reach so more people benefit from the Broncos platform.

Kate Cullen Headshot

Kate Cullen

Chief of Staff and Strategy
Brisbane Broncos

Kate Cullen is Chief of Staff and Strategy at the Brisbane Broncos, a role she has held since 2023. With a background spanning corporate strategy, stakeholder engagement, and executive advisory, Kate plays a pivotal role in shaping the club’s long-term direction and ensuring alignment across its commercial, football, and community operations. 

Prior to joining the Broncos, Kate held senior roles in the private sector, where she developed expertise in organisational transformation, governance, and people-focused leadership. She is particularly passionate about leveraging sport as a platform for positive social change, drawing on her experience working with diverse communities and driving initiatives that create sustainable impact. 

At the Broncos, Kate works closely with the executive team and Board to translate strategic vision into actionable priorities, ensuring that the club remains both high-performing on the field and deeply connected off it. She is motivated by the opportunity to contribute to a legacy organisation with an unparalleled platform to inspire and excite. 

Meaghan Burkett headshot

Meaghan Burkett

Ethical Fields Executive Director and Place Based Capital Lead

Meaghan Burkett is a passionate advocate for community-led and inclusive economic development. Meaghan is the founder of the Place Based Capital Initiative and an Executive Director with both Ethical Fields and the Centre for Community Capital. She specialises in unlocking capital systems that put economic power back in the hands of communities, building local ownership, control, inclusion, resilience and prosperity.

With two decades of experience in strategy, policy and place-based initiatives across government, non-government and private sectors, Meaghan has designed and delivered transformative programs including the Place Based Capital Program and the Natural Capital and Environmental Markets Leadership Program. Her work is informed by a recent year-long National Community Wealth Building Tour, visiting more than 30 communities across Australia to share and learn about local capital solutions.

Stan Grant headshot

Stan Grant

Journalist, author, moral philosopher, Director of Constructive Institute (AP)

Stan Grant is a renowned journalist, author, moral philosopher, thinker, film maker and communicator.

A Wiradjuri, Kamilaroi and Dharrawal man, Stan has forged a groundbreaking four-decade career as one of Australia’s most awarded journalists — the first Indigenous Political Correspondent, the first Indigenous Foreign Correspondent, and the first Indigenous person to present a prime-time commercial television news and current affairs program.

From reporting on the end of apartheid in South Africa, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the rise of China, to producing the internationally acclaimed documentary The Australian Dream, Stan’s work spans more than 70 countries and some of the most defining stories of our time. His impact is recognised through multiple Walkley Awards, Logies, Asia TV Awards, Peabody Awards, and more.

Today, as Monash University Professor of Journalism and Director of the Asia Pacific arm of the Constructive Institute, Stan is dedicated to improving the quality of public discourse and finding new ways to meet each other beyond our differences.

On joining the Summit, Stan says:

“Equity means being seen and heard, but more than that, believing something and having courage.”

Dr Michael McAfee Headshot

Dr Michael McAfee

CEO, PolicyLink (USA) 

Dr Michael McAfee is a public policy strategist and one of the United States’ most influential voices on equity. As President and CEO of PolicyLink, a national research and action institute advancing racial and economic equity, he leads transformative efforts to redesign systems so that all people can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.

Michael’s work spans grassroots organising, federal policy reform, and private sector engagement. He is a powerful advocate for embedding equity into the structures that shape daily life, from education and housing to workforce systems and corporate strategy.

Under his leadership, PolicyLink played a pivotal role in making the Promise Neighborhoods initiative a permanent federal program, driving billions of dollars into historically underinvested communities and improving outcomes for over 300,000 children. He also catalysed the development of the Corporate Racial Equity Advantage, the first comprehensive tool to help businesses assess and advance equity across their value chains.

Michael holds a Doctorate in Human and Organisational Learning from The George Washington University and completed the Executive Program in Public Management at Harvard University. He is a former military service member, an experienced changemaker, and a passionate believer in the power of evidence, humanity and love to drive social transformation.

His work challenges institutions to move beyond performative gestures and build real accountability for a just and equitable future.

Cormac Russell Headshot

Cormac Russell

Managing Director of Nurture Development, social explorer, author and speaker

Cormac is a social explorer, author and internationally renowned speaker. As the Founding Director of Nurture Development and member of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCD) at DePaul University he has spent over 25 years working in 35 countries to empower communities through citizen-led change.

Cormac’s work has shaped community development in Africa, Asia, Australia/Oceania, Europe and North America. His books, including The Connected Community – Discovering the Health, Wealth, and Power of Neighbourhoods and Rekindling Democracy – A Professional’s Guide to Working in Citizen Space, champion local wisdom and power of connected neighbourhoods.

In his inspiring TEDxExeter talk “From What’s Wrong to What’s Strong”, Cormac challenges traditional approaches to community support, urging us to recognise the strengths and gifts that already exist within communities, and what becomes possible when we centre people and place in systems change.

Cormac will be joining us via live video stream, and we’re delighted to have his insights featured as part of the Summit program.

Dr Niki Vincent Headshot

Dr Niki Vincent

Commissioner for gender equality in the public sector (Victoria)

Dr Niki is an award-winning change maker and leader in gender equality and inclusive systems reform. As Victoria’s inaugural Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner at the Commission for Gender Equality in the Public Sector (Vic) she is driving one of Australia’s most ambitious public sector reforms – implementing the nation’s first Gender Equality Act, impacting over 300 organisations, 450,000 employees and the broader community.

With a PhD in Psychology and a career spanning statutory offices, academia and community sectors, Niki brings a deep understanding of how to turn policy into meaningful change. Her leadership roles have included Commissioner for Equal Opportunity SA, CEO of the Leaders Institute of South Australia, and advisory positions with Jobs and Skills Australia and the University of South Australia.

Known for her clarity of purpose and evidence-informed approach, Niki will bring a sharp and strategic perspective to conversations on equity, inclusive leadership and systems change to the Summit.

Professor Sharon Friel

ARC Laureate Fellow and Professor of Health Equity, ANU

Professor Sharon Friel is an ARC Laureate Fellow and Professor of Health Equity. She is Director of the Planetary Health Equity Hothouse and the Australian Research Centre for Health Equity (ARCHE) at the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet), The Australian National University.

She is a Fellow of both the Academy of Social Sciences Australia and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

From 2014 to 2019, Sharon served as Director of RegNet, and earlier led the Scientific Secretariat of the World Health Organization Commission on the Social Determinants of Health at University College London from 2005 to 2008. In 2014, she was recognised by her international peers as one of the world’s most influential female leaders in global health.

Her research interests include the political economy of health equity, and the governance of the social, commercial and planetary determinants of health inequities — with a particular focus on climate change, food systems, trade and investment. Her 2019 book, Climate Change and the People’s Health, explores the global consumptogenic system and its impacts on health.

Photo of Katherine Trebeck

Professor Katherine Trebeck

Professor Health Equity & NHMRC Investigator Fellow, Stretton Inst., UoA​

Dr Katherine Trebeck is a political economist and global advocate for building equitable and sustainable economic systems. Her work sits at the intersection of policy, practice and public dialogue — shifting how economies are designed, not just to grow, but to serve people and the planet.

She holds key roles including:
• Economic Change Lead at The Next Economy
• Strategic Advisor to the Centre for Policy Development
• Writer-at-Large at the University of Edinburgh

Katherine co-founded the Wellbeing Economy Alliance – WEAll and WEAll Scotland, and was instrumental in establishing the Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo) initiative — a collaboration between governments such as Scotland, New Zealand and Finland to centre wellbeing in national economic priorities.

Her work advances equity by embedding human and ecological wellbeing into economic decision-making. She’s thinker-in-residence at the Australian Health Promotion Association, a fellow at the ZOE Institute and the Post Growth Institute, and serves on the boards of Hands Across Canberra and the Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity. She is also a member of the Club of Rome.

Katherine is co-author of The Economics of Arrival and is a frequent speaker on how to reimagine prosperity through justice and care.

Photo of Andrew Scott

Professor Andrew Scott

Emeritus Professor of Politics and Policy Deakin University and author

Professor Andrew Scott will be joining us on the Equity CoLab National Summit stage this October!

Andrew is Emeritus Professor of Politics and Policy at Deakin University and the author of five books, including Northern Lights: The Positive Policy Example of Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway, which has recently been translated into Japanese. He is also lead editor and contributor to three chapters of The Nordic Edge: Policy Possibilities for Australia.

Northern Lights was endorsed by Nobel Laureate Professor Peter Doherty, while The Nordic Edge received praise from Professor Fiona Stanley, former Australian of the Year. Both books have sold thousands of copies and helped bring international policy inspiration into Australian debate.

Andrew’s recent research has helped the national government extend paid parental leave and move toward universal early childhood education and care. He continues to advocate for further actions to improve equity in Australia.

Photo of Fran Baum

Professor Fran Baum AO

Professor Health Equity & NHMRC Investigator Fellow, Stretton Inst., UoA​

Professor Fran Baum is a public health social scientist with a deep commitment to creating and advocating for healthy, equitable and sustainable societies. Her career spans research, advocacy and global movement-building — and she is widely recognised as one of Australia’s most influential voices on health equity.

She is Director of Stretton Health Equity, Stretton Institute at the University of Adelaide and an NHMRC Investigator Leadership Fellow. Fran was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for her distinguished service to public health and is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and the Australian Health Promotion Association.

Fran is a past National President and Life Member of the Public Health Association of Australia, and the immediate past Co-Chair of the Global Steering Council of the People’s Health Movement — a global network of health activists working to advance the right to health and challenge structural injustice.

She is also a member of the BMJ International Advisory Board and author of over 400 publications, including:
• The New Public Health
• Governing for Health
• Co-editor of the Oxford Textbook of Global Public Health

Fran brings a rare combination of deep academic insight and long-standing advocacy for systems transformation.