KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Stan Grant
Professor Stan Grant is Vice Chancellor's Chair of Australian/Indigenous Belonging and Director of The Yindyamarra Institute for Democracy at Charles Sturt University.
He was formerly ABC's Global Affairs and Indigenous Affairs Analyst and host of Q&A.
A Wiradjuri man, Stan is an enormously accomplished journalist, author, filmmaker and presenter, who has won three Walkley awards, a Peabody in the US, and an AACTA Award for the Adam Goodes documentary The Australian Dream, which grew out of an oration he gave in early 2016.
He is one of Australia's most respected and awarded journalists, with more than 30 years experience in radio and television news and current affairs. Stan has a strong reputation for independence and integrity and has interviewed international political and business leaders, including our own prime ministers and senior ministers.
In previous roles, Stan served for a decade as a Senior International Correspondent for CNN in Asia and the Middle East, broadcasting to an audience of millions around the world.
He has interviewed numerous world leaders including Nelson Mandela, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Condoleezza Rice, Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, Shimon Peres, Bill Clinton, and Australian Prime Ministers Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott, and Malcolm Turnbull.
Stan has published six critically acclaimed and best selling books. He has also written a Quarterly Essay and has contributed opinion articles to Australia’s major news publications.
Stan has won numerous international and Australian awards including a Peabody Award, Columbia University Alfred I. duPont award, four times winner of the prestigious Asia TV awards including best news story and reporter of the year, three times winner of the coveted Australian Walkley Award, as well as a TV Logie award, GQ Magazine agenda setter of the year and an Australian Academy of Arts Cinema and Television Award (Australia's Oscars) as male TV presenter of the year.Chelsea Pottenger
Chelsea Pottenger is an international speaker and a leading authority on productivity, mindfulness and well-being.
For 12-years Chelsea was known for her extraordinary work ethic and as a high performer she delivered results for a variety of big name organisations. Then a life-challenge happened. In 2015, Chelsea experienced debilitating Post-Natal Depression, which sent her spiraling to the lower depths of mental health. With determination, help and resilience Chelsea bounced back with a new purpose, passion and education.
Current Work
Chelsea is the dynamic, brilliant and inspirational Director of EQ Minds who is on a mission to empower high performance through greater mindfulness. She is regularly featured in Marie Claire, Sunrise, UK Daily Mail, Channel 9, ABC News and 2DayFM to name a few.
Anyone that attends her events will laugh, learn, grow and walk away with some lifechanging tools to help them become more successful, more energised and most importantly more able to tackle any challenge life throws at you! She has worked with many global brands such as eBay, Uber, Telstra and Mercedes- Benz, helping professionals recalibrate their brains and create more success in their work and lives.
Known for great audience connection, warm energy and passion, Chelsea has built
a tribe of followers including more than 100,000 on Instagram. Using her
platform for good, she is a proud ambassador for mental health charities
including RUOK? and The Gidget Foundation.
Gus Balbontin
As an eight year old boy growing up in Argentina, he told his parents he wasn't going to study, he was just going to travel.
By the time he was 17, after what became a very successful small cake enterprise, he won a scholarship and landed in Byron Bay, Australia.
That year long trip to Australia was going to change his life forever.Not only did he meet his now wife and mother of three beautiful kids, he also had a significant epiphany: travelling is a state of mind before anything else.
Armed with the quintessential Aussie 'give-it-a-go' spirit and encouragement from his family, he applied to work at a travel agency. The odds were against him, but on the back of his enthusiasm and travel experience he managed to secure a designer role at none other than Lonely Planet, the most influential travel company in the world.
It didn't take long to start looking through the information and trying to fix and correct processes and systems in order to improve Lonely Planet's products.Fast forward to 2014, eight roles within Lonely Planet, an MBA and hundreds of hours on planes, he is now running Lonely Planet. Gus became one of three executive directors of Lonely Planet and the CTO for 18 months before hanging up the boots and calling it a day.
He has also launched e-books, apps, improved membership in the oldest travel forum on earth by 50% and brought the company from millions of dollars in losses back to its feet.
He has worked closely with some of the biggest companies in the world developing cutting edge technology and products including Google X, Nokia, Apple, Amazon and more.
Gus will blow you away with incredible energy and insights into the transformation, struggles and successes of one of the most loved brands in Australia and the world.
Samantha Gash
An accomplished lawyer working for the largest international law firm in the world, Samantha traded in her heels for running shoes and went out to change the world through highly collaborative social impact campaigns. With true grit, unrelenting focus and the willingness to create the next best plan in the face of chaos and change, she has created lasting impact. She has raised $1.5 million dollars for charities such as World Vision, Save the Children and the Australian Red Cross.
A trailblazer in the endurance world, Samantha was the first woman and the youngest person at the time, to complete the Four Deserts Grand Slam - one of the world’s toughest endurance competitions that spans 1000kms across the hottest, coldest, driest and windiest deserts on earth.
With over 25,000kms under her feet and years of pushing her mental and physical boundaries - she now uses running as a vehicle for social change through advocacy; peer to peer fundraising and integrated digital campaigns (see social impact campaigns below). In March 2020, she launched the Sam Gash Podcast - a peak performing podcast that hosts adventurers, innovators, entrepreneurs, athletes & artists.
As a highly regarded international speaker - Samantha uses authentic storytelling and dramatic documentary footage to share her journey. She is an inspiring change leader and will guide your team through managing industry disruption and learning to become comfortable in the discomfort in an engaging and memorable way.