Master of Ceremonies
Michele Barry, Chair, Engagement Institute
With over 20 years’ experience in engagement, strategy and transformation across a number of sectors, Michele brings a wealth of experience in Public Health, Emergency, Human Services, Local and State Government, and Executive leadership.
Michele has an academic background in Health Promotion, Public Health and Business Administration and is passionate about engagement and reaching new segments to create and deliver better outcomes.
Speakers
Andrew Coulson, Head of Practice & Strategic Relationships, Open Point
Andrew is an experienced community engagement specialist with 18 years' experience on the front line of the practice in the UK and Australia and now has over 6 years' experience in digital community engagement. With senior experience in consultation, collaboration and communication across various public participation roles in local and state government, housing and charity, Andrew is also the instigator of an annual Global Community Engagement Day.
Andrew is now Head of Practice and Strategic Relationships at Open Point, working with both current and potential customers using Social Point and Open Point products. Personally, Andrew has adopted the Adelaide Crows as his local team and is a well-known chocoholic.
Andrew Ockenden, Director of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement, T2D Alliance
Andrew is the Director of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement for the T2D Alliance, leading external relations for the $15.4 billion River Torrens to Darlington (T2D) Project. Prior to joining the Alliance, he served as Executive Director, Public Affairs for the South Australian Department for Infrastructure and Transport, following executive leadership roles with Sydney Motorway Corporation during the delivery of WestConnex and as Chief of Staff to South Australia’s Minister for Trade and Investment.
Throughout his career, Andrew has led communications for multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects, major commercial transactions and nationally significant government reforms. He is recognised for building high-performing teams, navigating complex stakeholder environments and using communication to strengthen trust, improve project outcomes and support lasting organisational change.
Amanda Collins, Executive Director Public Affairs, DIT SA
Amanda Collins is the Executive Director of Public Affairs at the South Australian Department for Infrastructure and Transport. She has led engagement, communications and social sustainability for high-profile infrastructure, transport and city-shaping projects across Australia and internationally. Amanda is passionate about enhancing our cities and creating places where communities thrive.
Amy Hubbard, Co-Founder & Director, Capire
Amy Hubbard is one of Australia’s most recognised and creative stakeholder and community engagement specialists. Amy delivers community engagement training, undertakes formal evaluations, and is a highly regarded and skilled facilitator.
She has worked extensively with state and local governments on significant infrastructure, urban renewal, and public policy projects in Australia and overseas.
Amy developed the renowned Capire Engagement Triangle which has been used by thousands around the world. She runs regular webinars and Learning Labs and authored many of Capire’s popular publications including tool kits and guidelines.
Amy Anderson, Coordinator – Community Partnerships, Green Adelaide
Hello, I’m Amy Anderson, currently Green Adelaide’s Community Partnerships Coordinator. I’ve always been passionate about conservation, the environment and connecting people to nature. Volunteering was how I gained experience, skills and knowledge to become a professional park ranger. Over the past 15 years working in many different national parks across Australia, I’ve had the great pleasure working alongside passionate volunteers, community and landholders to look after Country, culture and protect our precious environment for future generations. This lead me to develop the South Australian National Parks Volunteer Ranger Program and into other roles engaging community to connect to nature and supporting environmental volunteers across the Adelaide region.
I love my job because I get to support amazing people working to create a better world and conserve our beautiful places. Nothing beats going out into the bush or seeing an urban green space flourishing because of the efforts made by our community.
Jennifer McDonnell, Senior Associate, Capire
Jen has experience in consultation, stakeholder engagement, and conflict resolution across sectors like renewable energy, water, transport, and disaster recovery. She has led complex projects, managing stakeholder relationships and community expectations.
Jen is skilled in designing and facilitating engagement processes, bringing a strategic and empathetic approach.
She has delivered facilitation and conflict resolution training across Australia and is passionate about working with communities, including trauma-impacted groups, to build capacity and support future planning.
Jessica Oxley, Managing Director, Oxley Communications
Jessica Oxley is a communications and stakeholder engagement leader who believes the best projects are built on trust. With extensive experience delivering some of South Australia's most significant infrastructure projects, Jess has led engagement teams across rail, water, energy, renewables and major civil infrastructure.
She specialises in helping complex projects build genuine relationships with the communities they impact. Known for her practical, people first approach, bringing clarity to challenging conversations and helping project teams navigate complex stakeholder environments with confidence.
A strong advocate for meaningful engagement, Jess is particularly passionate about Aboriginal engagement, early stakeholder involvement and creating better outcomes through collaboration. She is also on the CPRA SA committee helping support and strengthen the communications and stakeholder engagement profession across South Australia. Jess believes the best projects are those where people feel heard, respected and part of the journey, not simply informed along the way.
Kylie Cochrane, Principal, Engagement and Change Advisory, Aurecon
Kylie is a global engagement leader with more than 30 years’ experience in communications and stakeholder engagement, helping organisations build and maintain social licence by managing social risk and community engagement.
A Partner at Aurecon for almost 15 years, she has led engagement on many of Australia’s major transport, energy and water infrastructure projects and built Aurecon’s Engagement and Change practice into an award-winning team. Kylie is a recognised industry leader, serving as the inaugural Chair of the Australian National University’s Institute for Infrastructure in Society Advisory Board and former Global Chair of the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2). In 2022, she was named an inaugural Honorary IAP2 Fellow across Australia and New Zealand and is also the founder of Women in Transport.
Leanne Robb, Engagement Consultant, Open Point
Leanne Robb is a highly experienced and results-driven Community Engagement Consultant with a proven track record of delivering successful engagement initiatives for a diverse range of clients. With over 17 years of experience as a senior community engagement practitioner within the Government and Private Sectors, Leanne combines strategic thinking with a passion for community empowerment to drive meaningful connections between organisations and their stakeholders.
Leanne’s expertise spans traditional, contemporary, and digital engagement methodologies, allowing her to leverage a wide range of tools and techniques to reach diverse audiences. She is now the Engagement Consultant at Open Point and is passionate about supporting Organisations to meaningfully engage with their communities, giving people a voice in decisions that affect their everyday lives. Leanne is a qualified IAP2 trainer.
Melissa Martin, Corporate Communications Manager | Office of the Vice-Chancellor, Flinders University
Melissa is a communication and engagement leader with around 15 years of experience helping organisations build trust, shape reputation and communicate clearly. She currently heads up corporate communications at Flinders University, leading executive, internal and strategic communications across the university.
Before joining Flinders, she led high-profile communication and engagement work across the South Australian public sector, advising Ministers and executives, leading award-winning teams, and helping drive major environmental and community campaigns.
Outside work, she’s usually at the gym, chasing her toddler, attempting to meal prep, or quietly maintaining her status as a wrestling fan.
Mercedes Ramsey, Associate Director, Engagement and Change Advisory, Aurecon
Mercedes is a leading consultant in the transformation, change management and engagement profession. Bringing 17+ years experience as a public servant and consultant to local, state and federal government and their contractual partners, Mercedes specialises in engagement and change in government and regulatory environments.
Mercedes thrives in politically sensitive and high-stakes environments, applying her unique combination of legal and psychology qualifications to understand both risk and human behaviour. Mercedes is passionate about working with organisations to design and implement successful transformations and teams who lead them, particularly in relation to major projects or in response to complex reform. She has partnered with clients around Australia to establish new organisations, redesign existing departments and examine the culture and ways of working that optimise these structures.
Mercedes has led change management teams in the support of major projects and complex system implementations. Mercedes leads the South Australian Engagement & Change Advisory practice for Aurecon. This has her leading engagement, change management and organisational design projects that underpin some of the state’s critical infrastructure investments. Prior to Aurecon, Mercedes led engagement, transformation and policy advisory projects for KPMG and was a senior public servant for Commonwealth Government, including the National Disability Insurance Agency and Attorney-General’s Department.
Michelle Gilligan, Community and Stakeholder Advisor - McConnell Dowell SRG Global Joint Venture (MCDSRGJV), SA Water major framework partner
Michelle is a communications and stakeholder engagement specialist with 14 years of experience delivering engagement programs for major infrastructure projects across Australia.
After nine years as a Senior Consultant with WSP, she transitioned to leading roles with a sole focus of construction delivery.
Supporting SA Water, she now leads project level engagement for McConnell Dowell SRG Global Joint Venture major delivery works. Over the last 2 years, with SA Water, Michelle has planned and delivered all engagement on several projects including Main South Road Duplication Stage 2.
Michelle excels with a practical, people-focused approach, an eye for detail and building trusted relationships with key stakeholders and the community, to maximise project opportunities, and minimise social impacts throughout delivery.
Nellie Hirschausen, Aboriginal Engagement Lead, SA Water
Nellie Hirschausen is SA Water’s Aboriginal Engagement Lead, responsible for leading the development and implementation of culturally appropriate engagement with Aboriginal peoples and communities. She works to build meaningful, respectful and mutually beneficial relationships that strengthen understanding, connection and opportunities across SA Water’s services, while contributing to reconciliation outcomes.
A proud Kaurna, Mirning, Narungga and Kokotha woman, Nellie is deeply committed to working alongside and for her community. She brings more than 25 years of experience across human services and social justice sectors, including correctional services, child protection, youth justice and policing. Throughout her career, Nellie has intentionally worked in complex and challenging environments to better understand human behaviour and the unconscious biases that influence individuals, organisations and systems. These experiences have shaped her professional approach and strengthened her commitment to creating greater awareness and understanding of issues often not taught through traditional education.
Passionate about supporting Aboriginal people and communities to define and tell their own stories, Nellie focuses on creating opportunities for people to understand their experiences, identify their motivations and shape their own narratives. She applies these learnings in her engagement practice, working collaboratively with communities to achieve outcomes that empower self-determination, build capability and create lasting positive change.
Natasha Wojcik, Stakeholder Engagement Lead, SA Water
Natasha is a seasoned communications and engagement all-rounder whose career spans more than 20 years and some of South Australia's most politically sensitive, high profile infrastructure projects including the Darlington Upgrade, Torrens to Darlington, the Port Wakefield Overpass, Joy Baluch Bridge Duplication and Kangaroo Island Desalination Plant.
A versatile professional, Natasha is known for managing sensitive stakeholder environments, identifying and mitigating risk, and fostering inclusive engagement, particularly through First Nations collaboration.
She has worked extensively across government and alliance settings, building trusted relationships and balancing stakeholder needs with successful project outcomes.
Natasha’s strengths include leading end-to-end strategy and delivery, and translating complex information into clear, meaningful communication.
Ruby Stevens, Stakeholder Engagement Adviser, SA Water
Ruby Stevens is a Stakeholder Engagement Adviser for SA Water. Ruby works on a wide variety of projects across SA Water, with a particular focus on rural and regional projects. Prior to her time at SA Water, her work in consulting allowed her to gain experience in Stakeholder Engagement across many different industries, including disaster recovery, renewable energy, planning and land use, gas and transport.
Ruby brings a strong strategic mindset to her work, understanding the broader social, cultural and operational context of water infrastructure, and translating that into meaningful and inclusive engagement approaches. A natural collaborator, who works well across multidisciplinary teams, she proactively aligns project delivery, communications and stakeholder outcomes. Ruby is passionate about inclusive and proactive stakeholder engagement, with an aim to bring communities along the journey of a project to ensure that they feel ownership of the final product.
Sarah Hill, Associate, TSA Riley
Sarah’s spark is connecting community. She wears two hats, one as a stakeholder engagement professional, and one as an active member of her local grassroots group, Imagine Uraidla Inc. bringing lived experience into her thinking, conversations and strategy.
Sarah brings a thoughtful, practical approach to engagement, shaped by her background in town planning, social science and public health. She has worked across state government, local government and consultancy, including roles with SA Health, the Department for Infrastructure and Transport, Adelaide Hills Council and in the UK. Her work spans infrastructure and transport, planning, environment and community services. She is particularly skilled at engaging culturally and linguistically diverse communities, drawing on both her professional experience and her own lived background, having emigrated from Switzerland, to ensure conversations are inclusive and meaningful. Now based on a small farm in the Adelaide Hills, Sarah grows grapes for wine and olives for oil.
Outside of work, you’ll find her inviting neighbours to a picnic, bundling flowers together to recognise gratitude, spending time with her husband and two young boys or occasionally in her pottery studio.
Steve Dangerfield, Business Lead Strategy and Engagement,TSA Riley
Steve Dangerfield is a highly experienced stakeholder engagement specialist with over 30 years in community relations, risk communication, and mediation across government and consultancy. He has led engagement on complex, politically sensitive and high risk land development and critical infrastructure projects, helping build community trust and support in challenging environments. He brings deep expertise in the water sector and regional infrastructure projects, supported by a practical, relationship driven approach that consistently delivers strong outcomes. A proud South Australian, Steve is passionate about Adelaide, enjoys gardening (don’t get him talking about lawns), staying active, travelling, and spending time with his wife Annie and three girls.
Tim Saul, National Lead for Communications and Stakeholder Engagement,TSA Riley
Tim Saul is the TSA Riley National Lead for Communications and Stakeholder Engagement. He joined TSA Riley after eight years at NBN Co, where he held senior roles across corporate affairs and strategy. During this time, he was a regular media spokesperson, worked closely with remote communities across the APY Lands, Alice Springs and Arnhem Land to deliver connectivity, and led communications through the 2019–20 bushfires. Earlier in his career, he spent 10 years in engagement roles with the Environment Protection Authority, SA Water and DIT, supporting major projects including rail upgrades and the Seaford line electrification. Outside of work, he has three active kids and spends most weekends on the sidelines, coaching sport or being a “taxi driver”. You may recognise his voice from his hobby as a SANFL football commentator.