2019 CONFERENCE SPEAKERS
Keynote Speakers include
Greg McNamara
Greg has spent his entire life working in the agricultural sector, firstly as a dairy share farmer, then moving to farm ownership in his mid-twenties. Greg currently runs a 300-strong dairy herd in partnership with his wife Sue and son Todd at Goolmangar, near Lismore. Greg has been a Director of Norco Co-operative Limited since 1996 and, in addition, has held the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors since 1999.
2018/19 has been a very demanding but rewarding year for the Board of Directors. As Chairman, and Interim CEO, Greg has been focused on the delivering of strategic plans to grow the Norco business beyond its traditional footprint, and also communicating with Norco’s Members and major stakeholders about those arrangements. Norco’s success with emerging export opportunities reinforces how the Norco provenance story resonates with customers beyond the Australian market. Within the Board room environment, Greg encourages open and frank discussions as well as holding the view that working collectively together brings about a better outcome for all stakeholders.
Greg joined the NSW Business Chamber as a councillor in 2013 before being elected to the Board in 2014. In addition, he is a Member of the Northern Rivers Cooperatives Alliance, Chairperson of Industry Advisory Group which oversees the Farming Together Programme, and Chair of the Australian Organic Industry Working Group. He is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (‘AICD’) and has previously completed their Company Directors’ Course.
Andrew Ferguson
Andrew is Managing Director of Coverforce Insurance Broking, and has been on the Boards of many industry government and non-government bodies during his working life.
Andrew is a Councillor with the City of Canada Bay in Sydney and also the President of the China-NSW Australia Business Council and Patron of the Asbestos Disease Foundation of Australia. Andrew has a passionate commitment to community and philosophically deeply committed to Cooperatives.
Richard O’Leary
Richard is the CEO of the Macleay Regional Co-operative. Coming originally from an accounting background, he has had extensive involvement in local community organisations.
He currently sits on several local and regional committees including Regional Development Australia Mid North Coast, where he has a commitment to provide an independent voice and good governance.
Master of Ceremonies
Sam Byrne
Sam has been the Secretary for Co-ops NSW since 2016. He has been a member of Alfalfa House Community Food Co-operative in the inner west of Sydney for 20 years and was a director from 2008 to 2012. He is also a former Mayor of Marrickville and director of Local Government Super. Sam holds a Master of Management from the University of Technology, Sydney and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Sam is passionate about the co-operative enterprise model that delivers benefits to members and their community rather than absentee shareholders.
Sam can be contacted at sec@nsw.coop, in the office on 02 9057 5155 or on 0408 231 509.
Conference Panel Speakers
Professor Emmanuel Josserand
His research interests focus on inter- and intra- organisational networks, social capital and new organisational forms. Emmanuel has managed many projects of applied and fundamental research about innovation and innovative networks. He has a strong international publication track record with more than 100 academic publications, including books and peer reviewed journals. He also has extensive experience in consulting as an independent adviser or in partnership with several consulting firms in Paris and Geneva.
Dr Sarah Keane
Associate Professor Sarah Kaine lectures in HRM and ER in the UTS Business School and is a member of the CBSI management committee. Her research focuses on several broad themes: the transformation of employee relations in the digital economy, the development and exercise of employee voice, the formal and informal regulation of employment relations and HRM and CSR. Specifically, Sarah is interested in innovation in employment relations and regulation– beyond the bounds of traditional labour law, Corporate Social Responsibility and its link to industrial relations and the role of leadership in promoting ethical innovation in the management of work. Prior to becoming an academic Sarah worked as an industrial relations practitioner and a consultant to not-for-profit organisations.
Prof Greg Patmore
His current research projects include an Australian Research Council funded history of Australian co-operatives, with Nikola Balnave and Olivera Marjanovic, and writing a history of the Berkeley Consumer Co-operative in the USA to be published by Routledge. His recent publications include A Global History of Co-operative Business (2018, with Nikola Balnave). He is also serves on the Steering Committee of the New Global 300 Initiative of the International Co-operative Alliance, which measures co-operatives’ international impact.
The Co-operatives Research Group at the University of Sydney Business School provides a forum for research into and teaching about all forms of mutual organisations, including consumer, worker, finance and producer co-operatives. Its current major project, with colleagues from Macquarie University and UTS, examines the growth, decline and revival of co-operatives in Australia before 2012, the UN International Year of Co-operatives, and is funded by the Australian Research Council. It will construct a Visual Atlas of Australian Co-operatives that charts the clustering and development of Australian co-operatives and be of major benefit to the co-operative sector, public policy and educators.
Rose Webb
Rose has a wealth of Australian and international experience in the regulatory space, including a recent three-year period working as Senior Executive Director and then Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong’s Competition Commission from 2014 to 2017.
While working in Hong Kong, Rose was responsible for administering the Competition Ordinance, which was established to promote competition and to restrict anti-competitive conduct in Hong Kong. Rose led complaint handling, competition investigations and the provision of competition policy advice to government.
Between 2001 and 2008, and again between 2011 and 2014, Rose worked for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), most recently serving as Executive General Manager, Mergers and Acquisitions. As the ACCC’s NSW Regional Director from 2001 to 2005, Rose worked closely with NSW Fair Trading.
Registry Services is the unit responsible for the regulation of co-operatives registered under the Co-operatives National Law in NSW. Registry Services is one of the units within the Regulatory Services group which is part of Department of Finance, Services and Innovation’s Better Regulation Division (BRD), which is led by Rose Webb as Deputy Secretary BRD and Commissioner for Fair Trading.
Registry Services’ core responsibility is the regulation of incorporated associations, co‑operatives, funeral funds, and co‑operative housing & Starr-Bowkett societies in NSW. The Registry also administers registers for solicitor corporations, limited partnerships, and incorporated limited partnerships. In this role the Registry undertakes primary level compliance and enforcement action and delivers a comprehensive suite of information and education services that guide and provides compliance with the laws it administers. Registry Services also uses its specialist knowledge to support Fair Trading’s MyPlace community information programs.
Peter Calabria
Peter Calabria was born, grew-up and was educated in regional NSW. Peter holds a degree in accounting and is a CPA. In 1994, Peter was employed as company secretary of the Yenda Producers Co-operative, later taking over as General Manager in 2003 and Managing Director in 2005.
Peter believes the value cooperatives like Yenda lies in the contribution they can make to their local community and to agriculture in general. Yenda aims to return annual dividends and rebates back to its members – This has averages out at around $1.2M pa for the past 10 years. As a Co-operative, Yenda supports over 100 different organisations in its community re-investing around $100,000 in community initiatives each year. Projects range from niche community projects, sport sponsorships, primary school support, high school breakfast programs, and supporting tertiary students from the local area
Dr Morris Altman
Dr Morris Altman earned his PhD in economics from McGill University in 1984 and is former visiting scholar at Cambridge (Elected Visiting Fellow), Canterbury (Erkine Professor), Cornell, Duke, Hebrew, Stirling, and Stanford University. Morris has published over 100 refereed papers and given over 200 international academic and has published 10 books in economic theory, co-operatives, and public policy including, Behavioral Economics for Dummies, Economic Growth and the High Wage Economy, and Smart Decision-Making: Rational Decision-Making within the Bounds of Reason. Morris is also on a number of academic organisation boards and editorial board.
Kerry Grace
Regional Development practitioner Kerry Grace is currently the Director of Regional Development for Regional Development Australia Mid North Coast and Director of Evolve Group Network. Kerry is known for her abilities in facilitating collaborative partnerships and for finding creative solutions to community issues.
Conference Curator & Manager
Peter Tregilgas
Peter is the Principal of Social Enterprise Services, Chair of Mercury Co-operative and a Director for Co-ops NSW
Peter Tregilgas has skills and experience in creative and social innovation encompassing regional development, arts management, festival coordination, capital projects and social enterprise. Peter is a Master of Business Arts and Cultural Management University of SA.
Peter’s specialist focus is Cooperatives and Social Enterprises and has produced the definitive publications “Social Enterprise in Australia” and “Cooperatives in Australia”. He is a champion for communication and creative events, producing Co-operatives Get Mutual for Vivid Idea 2016 & 2017. Peter portfolio has included Executive Officer Regional Development Australia, Mid North Coast, Festival Consultant for the Victorian Tourism Commission and Director for the Adelaide Festival Fringe.