Speaker Profiles

As the Coordinator General for Remote Indigenous Services, Mr Brian Gleeson oversees all Government activity relating to the delivery of services to the 29 Indigenous communities under the Remote Service Delivery National Partnership. This National Partnership was born out of Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd's, Closing the Gap initiative in 2007 to reduce the gap between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians.

Prior to his current position, Mr Gleeson held a twelve year term at the United Nations in three senior positions including; Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative for the United Nations Development Program in Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Senior Advisor in the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery in New York and Director of the Office of Human Resources, also in New York.

Matthew James is Branch Manager, Performance and Evaluation Branch in the Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination Group in FaHCSIA. Prior to joining FaHCSIA in March 2008, Matthew worked in the Department of, Education Employment and Training (DEEWR). At DEEWR, Matthew worked on employment policy and implementation as well as workplace relations policy and analysis. From 2002 to 2004 he was Counsellor, Employment, Education, Science and Training in the Australian Delegation to the OECD in Paris.

Michael Berto is the Chief Executive Officer of the Roper Gulf Shire Council. Michael has also been the CEO of the Nyirranggulung Mardrulk Ngadberre Regional Council and served two years as the Regional Council Chairman for ATSIC.

Michael is a member of the Regional Development of Australia (Northern Territory), Inter-Agency Task Coordination Group and the Alcohol Reference Group committees. In 2000, Michael received the Secretaries Award from the federal Department of Employment, Workplace Relations for his Service to the Broader Community. Michael is married and has four children.

Until recently, Bernie had oversight of whole-of-government Indigenous policy development, the network of Indigenous Coordination Centres across Australia and FaHCSIA's program funding arrangements. This included a key role with the COAG Closing the Gap strategy and national partnership agreements aimed at reaching targets in early childhood, education and employment.

Bernie has worked across a wide range of Government agencies with policy and service delivery responsibilities including treasury, employment and industrial relations, ATSIC and FaHCSIA. He has been involved in reforming how Government agencies do business with Indigenous organisations, aimed at reducing red-tape and providing more certain and simplified funding arrangements. He was involved in steps to support the establishment of a new representative body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians; and represented the Australian Government at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Bernie is now consulting with Indigenous organisations and Government agencies to help improve how they work together.

Ivan's mother, her family and extended family belong to the Yuin Tribe on the Far South Coast of NSW. His Father belongs to the Worimi clan on the North Coast of NSW and was born and raised on the Aboriginal Village at Foster.

In 1980, he commenced work with Aboriginal Hostels Limited (AHL) as a Trainee Asset Officer employed under the old NEAT/NESA Training for Aborigines Scheme. He was employed with that organisation for over 10 years, having aspired to the most senior position in NSW as the Regional Manager.

He left AHL in late 1990 and returned to the NSW Public Service and have worked in various agencies, such as the Department of Community Services, the Office of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Housing, the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and is now back employed with the NSW Aboriginal Housing Office as Deputy Chief Executive.

Eddie is of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent and has lived most of his life in remote Aboriginal communities and townships. He has biological connections to the people of East Arnhem (Miwatj Region) where he is now CEO of Miwatj Health. He has worked in Aboriginal affairs for the past 18 years, in Local Government, Indigenous Housing, Legal Aid, Fisheries Development and Health.

Eddie has undergraduate qualifications in politics and public policy and post graduate qualifications in public health and management.

Eddie has worked in the private and community sector up until 1995. He then joined the public service in 1995 and worked for 11 years. Eddie joined Miwatj Health as the CEO in October 2006, returning to the community sector, when the organization was in difficulties, having been defined as an organization of serious concern by the funding body, OATSIH.

Today 4 years later Miwatj Health is considered, by OATSIH, as one of the Northern Territories leading AMS. Miwatj Health has, in this time, consolidated its position and considerably expanded its service delivery, income and regional profile.

Ken Moore is the Senior Research Manager, National Rural Issues with the Rural Industries and Research Corporation in Canberra. He manages a large portfolio of research programs: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Rural Development; Dynamic Rural Communities; Farming and Fishing Health and Safety; and the National Weeds and Productivity Program.

The Dynamic Rural Communities program covers a suit of activities including, the Australian RIRDC Rural Women's Award, Investing in Youth, sponsorship of ABC Heywire, sponsorship of a participant in the Australian Rural Leadership Program, Adding Value to Internet and Communications Technology, Natural Resource Management, and Trees for Climate Change.

Ken is an Adjunct Fellow of the ANU's National Institute of Rural and Regional Australia.

Community Enterprises Australia CEA is a not for profit company managing Community Development and Employment Programs (CDEP) in NT, WA, Qld and TI and Horn Islands and are one of the largest providers of CDEP in Australia.

Suzanah is a panel member of the CDEP Consultative Committee and Studied Community Development and Policy and Planning at Monash University and RMIT. She is completing a Masters in Social Science at RMIT.

She has worked in Local Government as Aged and Disability Services Manager, the Spastic Society as Regional Manager Accommodation, CEO of Riding for the Disabled Victoria as well as CEO of Licola Wilderness Village working with disadvantaged and abused children. Suzanah moved to NT and was appointed CEO Ramingining and Marngarr and left the territory to work in PNG with a Women's village in the Tari Highlands, helping them to establish micro businesses and managing an eco-tourism lodge before returning to Australia to work for Community Enterprises Australia.

Jake Quinlivan has a long history with the Shire. Currently he is the Regional Manager for Youth Services for Roper Gulf Shire Council. Prior to his current role, Jake has been a Shire Service Manager in each of the communities of Barunga, Beswick and Ngukurr. In Minyerri, Jake held a Sport and Rec position.

During his time as a Shire Service Manager in Barunga, Jake was a part of the team that contributed to Barunga winning the Tidy Towns awards for the Northern Territory in 2009.

She began her career in the education field, firstly as a teacher then school principal, before moving into administration and management roles.

Noelene gained a Masters in Public Administration in 2004 and has undertaken short courses in board governance and audit. Noelene is currently employed by the Department of Education and Training in the Northern Territory as the Director Audit and Ethical Standards. She is committed to equity and social justice issues and sees knowledge as a tool to empower and combat marginalisation. Noelene gives her time freely to assist individuals, groups and organisations understand and streamline governance processes.

A Bidjara and Kara/Kara descendent born in Iningai country in central western Queensland, Leann Wilson is continuing her father's fight for equal opportunity for Indigenous people through her reconciliation work in the federal and state arenas.

A proud Aboriginal woman with South Sea Islander heritage, she strongly advocates for shared and distributed leadership to turn around the intergenerational legacies of past policies and practices, and bring Indigenous Australians' outcomes into line with the mainstream.

As DEEWR's new Strategic Relationships Manager in Queensland, Leann is focusing on developing staff's cultural intelligence and advising the department on how it can draw on its network of Indigenous staff's cultural expertise and community knowledge to reconfigure the way it works with Indigenous communities.

Leann has strong connections to her traditional land, and is based in Rockhampton so she can look after her country's women's and sacred site business, including a 4,000 year old rock art site that includes 10,000 stencils.

Leann's achievements include chairing the National Rural Women's Coalition, where she was the Australia's first Aboriginal women to be elected to chair a non-Indigenous group.

She is a member of Woolworth's corporate responsibility panel and a board member of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, the first Aboriginal Australian elected to sit on its board. She is a former finalist in the Telstra Business Woman of the Year and recipient of a Queensland Centenary Medal. She has recently been appointed to the Australian Government Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation (RIRDC) Research and Development Advisory Committee for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Rural Development.