COMMITTEE 2012

Paula Drayton, Conference Chair, Director, Resource Advisory Pty Ltd

Paula is the Director of Resource Advisory, a boutique communications and advisory firm created to enhance environmental, social and commercial outcomes for organisations, particularly those with sustainability challenges.

She is also the founder of Sustainability Coach, a business that incorporates coaching and team facilitation techniques to achieve sustainability outcomes. Paula has worked with some of Australia's leading organisations and small to medium size enterprises. She manages a team of consultants that work along the East Coast of Australia, primarily Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Prior to commencing her own businesses, Paula held senior management positions within the waste management industry, specialising in marketing, communications and sustainability education. She worked as the National Marketing Manager for Cleanaway, a Brambles company, and developed Cleanaway's first National Education Program. Prior to her time in the waste management industry, Paula worked for professional services firms Ernst & Young and Andersen as a Manager within the Corporate Finance division.

Paula is involved in a range of community and environmental initiatives, and has been working with organisations in the sustainability domain since 2003. In 2010, Paula transitioned to Queensland, where she focuses on integrating her skills in coaching, mentoring, capacity building and communications into the Resource Advisory service and Sustainability Coach suite. Paula is accredited in a range of communications domains, including Crucial Conversations. She is a trained Passion Coach, Certified Master Coach and holds a BA Tourism Management and Master of Education in Adult Education from UTS in Sydney.

Stuart Gibb, Community Development Manager, UrbanGrowth NSW

Stuart has a , BA Social Work and MA in International Urban Planning. Stuart spent fifteen years in local government as a youth worker, social planner and community development manager prior to working with Landcom.

Stuart builds community capacity in Landcom developments. He encourages the development of community relationships and initiatives.

 

Bhishna Bajracharya, Associate Professor of Urban Planning Institute of Sustainable Development and Architecture and Director Centre for Sustainable Healthy Communities, Bond University

Dr Bhishna Bajracharya is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning in the Institute of Sustainable Development and Architecture (ISDA), Bond University at Gold Coast. He is currently the Director of Bond University's Centre for Sustainable Healthy Communities which conducts collaborative interdisciplinary research on sustainable and healthy living. He has previously taught in the urban planning program at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) for more than ten years. He also worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University from 1994 to 1996. He completed his PhD and Masters in Urban Planning degrees from the University of Hawaii and Bachelor of Architecture degree from the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi.

Dr Bajracharya has carried out research in sustainable urban development on topics such as active and healthy living, master planned communities, transit oriented development, knowledge-based regional economy, sustainable campuses and disaster management. Dr Bajracharya together with academics from QUT's Creative Industry faculty has received an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage grant on the use of community narratives and new media in urban planning. He has also worked on a collaborative research grant from Emergency Queensland on the role of local government in disaster management.

Dr Bajracharya is an alumni of the East West Center, a Hawaii based research organisation with strong focus on policy research in Asia Pacific region. He is also a member of the University Sustainability Committee at Bond University.

Suzette Jackson, Director, Innate Ecology,  Vic

Suzette Jackson provides design and strategic solutions for sustainable living and urban places. With over 20 years experience in private practice in Australia and Asia, her projects include the creation of sustainable interiors, buildings and communities with expertise in sustainability, health and community wellbeing.

Published in numerous magazines and conferences, Suzette regularly participates in design workshops on sustainable communities and has held committee positions in the development of the GBCA Green Star Communities. She has taught Regenerative Design and Urban Ecologies to master of architecture students at the University of Melbourne and Deakin University, sits on the Future Proofing Geelong SME committee, is an Accredited Professional for LEED and Green Star, Green Building Councils and a founding committee member of the Australian Living Future Institute.

A/Prof Susan Thompson, City Futures Research Centre, University of NSW

Susan Thompson has over 30 years of experience as an urban planning practitioner, teacher and researcher.  She is Associate Professor of planning and Co-Director of the Healthy Built Environments Program, City Futures Research Centre, Faculty of the Built Environment, University of NSW.  Further details of Susan’s teaching, research and publications can be found at:

http://www.fbe.unsw.edu.au/staff/susan.thompson/

Ms Kirsten Potoczky,  Urban Renewal Authority SA

Peter Sugg, CEO,  Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Association