Leading in a Changing Climate: green imperatives for community service governance, advocacy and client work

Most experts agree that valuable time has been lost to reverse the impacts of climate change. Strategies that address both prevention and adaptation are now crucial for organizations and governments.

Over the coming years human service organizations will increasingly act as the interface between the impacts of climate change, policy responses and vulnerable communities. As part of the global village, these organizations must also assess their own environmental footprint as they go about their business.

Change management within this context, will test the capacity of many Managers and Leaders. What new tools, knowledge frameworks and programs are available to assist community sector leaders to run environmentally sustainable organizations, with a clearer understanding of the social impacts that will require their response.

The ACWA 2008 Management and Leadership Institute offers a one day colloquium that will bring together nationally and internationally renowned speakers and human service leaders to examine the issues, strategies and solutions to support effective leadership in a changing climate.

Speakers have been selected using a trans-disciplinary approach bearing in mind that new challenges need new solutions and new ways of thinking. The colloquium will be interactive, informative and practical.

All keynote speakers will facilitate round table discussions to engage leaders in topics that include:  key knowledge frameworks, adverse social impacts, change management tools and available resources, and new models of partnership.

The colloquium will be chaired by Dr Jennifer Lehmann, Senior Lecturer in Social Work from La Trobe University.

Key note addresses / discussions will be delivered by:

Nick Rowley
Director, Kinesis and Strategic Director of the Copenhagen Climate Council
Nick has worked at the centre of government on sustainability, climate change and broader policy and political strategy in Australia and the UK. From 2004 - 2006, Nick was a Senior Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair on climate change prior to the G8 Summit at Gleneagles in July 2005 working closely with Sir Nicholas Stern.  Nick was recently appointed Strategic Director to the Copenhagen Climate Council - a global initiative to help achieve a new global climate treaty at the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen 2009.

Don Henry
Executive Director, Australian Conservation Foundation
Don Henry has served as a Commissioner with the Australian Heritage Commission, President of the Australian Committee for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and the Moreton Island Protection Committee. In 1991 he was awarded a Global 500 Environment Award from the United Nations Environment Program. In 1998 he returned to Australia to take up the position of Executive Director of ACF.

Sue Salmon
Project Director, Warren Centre Low Energy High Rise Project, University of Sydney; Program Manager, Next Energy’s Fridge Buyback Program; Chair, Total Environment Centre
Sue Salmon has twenty years experience as an advocate, program manager and consultant on a wide range of environmental and sustainability issues with a strong emphasis on reducing climate change impacts through energy efficiency policies and programs.  Sue is currently Project Director for Sydney University's Warren Centre Low Energy High Rise Project, and the Program Manager for Next Energy’s Fridge Buyback Program.  Sue has worked as a climate change advisor to a former Federal Environment Minister. She is currently the non-executive Chair of the Total Environment Centre, a NSW non-government organisation.

Caitlin McGee
Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney
Caitlin's research focuses on the sustainable built environment, learning and culture change. One of her key research interests is examining what it takes to make sustainable practices mainstream. Caitlin has assisted a range of Local Governments to develop sustainability controls and guidelines, and has been involved in a range of community engagement and learning initiatives related to sustainability.

Patrick Crittenden
GHD Consulting
Patrick Crittenden has a professional background in business improvement, organisational change and adult learning which he has applied over the past 15 years to the issues of energy efficiency, climate change and corporate sustainability. He has facilitated business planning processes and designed environmental training and organisational change interventions for a wide range of government and business organisations.

James Reade
Project Manager, Lead On
18 year old James Reade from Bendigo completed a school based apprenticeship at Lead On, a youth leadership organisation and is now working as a Project Manager. James holds many roles on boards and committees throughout Bendigo and is often asked to speak on a range of community issues. In 2006, he won the Bendigo Young Citizen of the Year Award and in 2007 he won the Victorian School Based Apprentice of the year.

Paul Gilding
Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Ecos Corporation
Paul has spent over 30 years working on sustainability issues as an activist, a business leader and a commentator. He is one of only four external members of the Global Core Faculty of the Prince of Wales’s Business and the Environment Program run by Cambridge University. He regularly publishes in the area and has written several thought pieces that have been credited with substantially shifting the global sustainability debate.