Dr Lisa O’Brien is CEO of The Smith Family, www.thesmithfamily.com.au, a renowned children’s charity helping disadvantaged Australian children to get the most out of their education.  Lisa has recently been recognised for driving a 5 year plan to improve the effectiveness and reach of the organisation’s programs.  She was selected by the public and awarded one of Pro Bono Australia’s Impact 25 Awards in 2016.

Lisa has worked in leadership roles across the public, not-for-profit and commercial sectors over the last two decades. She is a non-executive director of the Community Council for Australia and BUPA Australia & New Zealand, member of Chief Executive Women and former CEO of the Skin and Cancer Foundation Australia. Lisa was also a founding member of Sydney’s Lou’s Place, a drop-in centre providing respite and support for women in need.

A Medical Practitioner registered in New South Wales and a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators, Lisa also holds a Masters of Business Administration and a Masters of Human Resource Management and Coaching.

Episode 1 Dr Lisa O’Brien

Suzanne Waldron is an experienced leadership coach and human behaviour specialist.  During her childhood, Suzanne’s state of mind was significantly adversely affected by her family circumstances.  She was fostered at a young age, and found herself homeless at the age of fifteen.  She speaks candidly of this and her subsequent life choices in her book A Flourishing Mind (which includes an endorsement from Rabia Siddique).  Cumulative negative life experiences for an extended period at a very early age led to a transformative interest in human behaviour and what drives people. 
 
As well as being an author, speaker and qualified coach to senior leaders, her professional experience includes organisational development and change management and large scale corporate customer service management.  She also volunteered for Lifeline WA for ten years and now works as an ambassador for R U OK? and is Chair for the working group in WA. 

Suzanne’s research through her own Masters Degree in Coaching, enabled her to find a model of excellence that shows how leaders really can lead beyond themselves, and uncovers psychological determinants to support this type of leadership.

Episode 2 Suzanne Waldron

Professor George Kailis juggles senior leadership roles in both academia and business. He is Professor of Management at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle as well as Executive Chair of MG Kailis Group.

Professor Kailis grew up in Dongara, Western Australia, where his mother worked as the local GP and he recalls giving up his room to be used as a treatment room for patients when need called. His sister, Dr Maria Kailis is a well-known Perth-based GP. His family founded MG Kailis Group, a leading Australian Marine Corporation in 1962 and began by catching and trading small rock lobsters in Dongara WA. It's since grown to become a prominent seafood, pearl jewellery and marine company, locally and internationally. 

His work at University of Notre Dame, where he was previously Dean of Business Fremantle and Inaugural Dean of Business in Sydney, includes a special interest in Strategic Management and Behavioural Economics.

Episode 3 – Professor George Kailis

Marlon Peterson is a criminal justice advocate (USA), writer, Soros Justice Fellow, TED Resident, Founder of the Precedential Group and creator of the Decarcerated Podcasts.  

Marlon’s story is a powerful one which he recounts in his TEDtalk: Am I not human?  A call for criminal justice reform. We recommend you take a look before listening to the podcast.

His advocacy work started from prison when he was incarcerated at the age of 19 for a period of 10 years, 2 months and 7 days. Since his release, he has engaged extensively in advocacy work through community campaigns and the Precedential Group, an organisation he founded to improve the way institutions service people in need thus creating (social) justice in underserved and undervalued communities. After his release from prison he also completed a degree in Organisational Behaviour at NYU.  As a writer, he kept an account of every day of his prison experience, wrote to students in his community from prison and is a contributor to Ebony, Gawker, the Crime Report, Black Press USA, and the Brooklyn Reader.  He was also featured in the internationally acclaimed blog, Humans of New York.

Episode 4 – Marlon Peterson

Christine Nixon was the first female police commissioner in Australia and held the position of Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police for a period of eight years, during which time she faced the Victorian Bushfires disaster and assembled a taskforce which brought an end to the gangland wars in Melbourne. Her style of leadership is compassionate and collaborative with a strong community focus, particularly for those who are vulnerable and at risk. 

Christine is a recently appointed RACGP Council member, prominent, experienced public speaker and advocate for women, disadvantaged youth and multifaith/multicultural communities. She is the Deputy Chancellor at Monash University and Chair of Monash College and the Good Shepherd Microfinance. 

Christine has extensive experience in policing, organisational reform, risk management, crisis management, corruption prevention, emergency management and human resource management. 

Christine has received numerous accolades for her services and achievements, including the Australia Police Medal in 1997 and Save the Children Foundation’s ‘The White Flame Award’ in 2009.

Episode 5 - Christine Nixon

Dr Zena Burgess is CEO of the RACGP, having been appointed in 2008. Zena is proud to be associated with the RACGP by contributing to its future and ongoing success. Her priorities are to ensure the responsiveness of the RACGP to members and to assist the RACGP to meet its business objectives.

Zena holds a PhD in psychology and completed her thesis in the area of women and corporate governance. She holds a MBA, a Master of Education, a Graduate Diploma in Educational Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts. Zena's first career was as an Organisational and Clinical Psychologist. She began her career over 20 years ago working in regional Victoria as one of two psychologists in a Community TAFE College providing services to a large geographical region. She has also worked in community agencies and crisis services. Zena has worked in State and Federal Government roles in The Family Court Counselling Service and more recently served as a tribunal member for Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals.

Through her strong community interest and expertise, Zena was appointed to the Board of the CFA in 2005 and served for 3 years on several subcommittees. She has substantial experience in the post-secondary education sector, having worked at La Trobe University, Swinburne University and at Australian Catholic University. She has also had a successful consulting career, working largely in areas related to personal and organisational change, primarily in public sector, health and allied health related organisations.

In 2008, Zena completed the Leadership Victoria program and contributes her expertise pro bono to projects related to community resilience. She maintains a modest publication and research profile in areas such as services benchmarking, women and corporate governance, work and most recently in work engagement.

Epidsode 6 - Dr Zena Burgess

This RACGP Leadership podcast series includes interviews with prominent individuals from a number of sectors within Australia and overseas.  They have been chosen because of the demonstrable impact they have had as a leader in their field.  Each podcast connects to a leadership topic for the month, including change management, influencing, strategic decision-making, advocacy and representation.

RACGP Future Leaders