KEYNOTE SPEAKER
MITCHELL J. SILVER

FAICP, Hon. ASLA

Mitchell is a principal with McAdams, a land planning and design company. He is responsible for providing advisory services in urban planning, parks and public space planning. He is an award-winning planner with more than 35 years of experience and is internationally recognized for his leadership and contributions to contemporary planning issues. He specializes in comprehensive planning, placemaking and implementation strategies.

Prior to joining McAdams, Mitchell served as the commissioner for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation; Chief Planning Officer in Raleigh, NC and served as president of the American Planning Association. He is currently president of the American Institute of Certified Planning.

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KEYNOTE SPEAKER
TASNEEM CHOPRA OAM

Cross-Cultural Consultant

Tasneem Chopra OAM grew up experiencing life as the proverbial brown pea in a white pod having been born in Kenya, as the fifth generation of East African birthright with Indian origins, but raised in country Victoria.

Fascinated with the world and its people from her early years, this country schoolgirl followed her calling and today is a seasoned Cross-Cultural Consultant. Current Work: In her work, Tasneem addresses issues of diversity, equity and inclusion across organisational leadership, including intersectionality within government, corporate, arts and community sectors.

For her efforts, she was recently appointed the inaugural Ambassador for Women of Colour, Australia - and in 2020, awarded an OAM Tasneem has been named an ‘Anti-Racism Champion’ by the Australian Human Rights Commission and holds a Distinguished Alumni Award from La Trobe University in recognition of her impact in the diversity sector.

A TEDxMelbourne presenter and writer, Tasneem has featured in SBS Life, The Guardian, The SMH and appeared on BBC’s IQ2 Debates, Q&A is a regular panellist on The Drum and host of the podcast series, ‘Strengths Untold’.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER
KURT FEARNLEY OAM

Australian Wheelchair Racer

Kurt Fearnley is a three time Paralympic gold medalist and two time Commonwealth Games gold medalist. He has won over 40 marathons, including New York, Chicago and London in a career spanning more than 20 years.

In 2009 Kurt crawled the Kokoda track, in Papua New Guinea, to raise awareness of men’s health. Kurt was also a member of the winning Sydney to Hobart yacht crew, Investec Loyal, in 2012.

He was New South Wales Australian of the Year for 2019.

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KEYNOTE SPEAKER
BISHOP NGOBELI

Conservation Manager

Bishop Ngobeli works for Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo as a Conservation Manager responsible for managing biodiversity and conservation in the City of Johannesburg in South Africa. He is the current President: Institute of Environment and Recreation Management South Africa (IERM).

KEYNOTE SPEAKER
LUCINDA HARTLEY

Urbanist, entrepreneur

Lucinda Hartley is an award-winning urban designer, a cofounder of world-leading social analytics company Neighbourlytics, and a globally recognised expert in smart cities and social change.

Named as one of Australia’s 100 Most Influential Women by the Australian Financial Review, Lucinda is a technology leader who offers inspiration and practical advice on the future of living, the future of work and how technology can be a force for good in turbulent times.

Lucinda is an ‘urban futurist’ who has spent the past decade pioneering innovative solutions for improving cities and neighbourhoods, now adopted globally. She helped create the UN Sustainable Development Goals for cities (Goal 11), has delivered more than 100 neighbourhood improvement projects across Australia through her social enterprise CoDesign Studio and is now spearheading world leading technology for measuring neighbourhood lifestyle and wellbeing using digital data, as Founding Director of Neighbourlytics.

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