B Corp Panel Event - 23 July. Reshaping business through purpose and community #BuildBackBetter

Rebuilding after a crisis is difficult and takes time. What pieces do you have in place to ensure you #BuildBackBetter? Join B Local Sydney and gain practical advice on how to leverage your purpose and community to build back your business after COVID-19.  

B Corporations are leading the purpose trend. Constantly engaging their values and communities to assist in business decision making. 

This panel will bring together leaders from successful B Corps in Sydney, from B2B services, banking and financial services, health professionals and purposeful journalism – learn how these businesses have disrupted traditional industries, managed remote teams and overcome challenges. 

We will be exploring the business landscape; which companies have thrived and which haven't, why and how; what’s likely waiting for the business community on the other side of crisis and what pieces need to be in place to build back better. 

Agenda: 

• 6-6:30pm. Networking (1.5m apart) & light refreshments 
• 6.30 - 6.40pm - Presentation from our event partner Sunshine Coast Council 
• 6:40-7:30pm. Facilitated panel discussion 
• 7:30-7:45pm. Q & A 
• 7:45-8pm. Networking & light refreshments. 

Facilitated by Susie Bayes, Head of Partnerships and Philanthropy at The Guardian. Susie is driven by a passion for better communication of purposeful business. Working with corporates, government and Not-for-Profits, Susie works with philanthropists and partners’ business models, landscape and challenges then leads a team to develop solutions that will effect change. Susie creates content and event partnerships driving clients’ and partners’ objectives by connecting with the Guardian's audience through their shared values. Susie is a Non-Executive Director for the Banksia Foundation, which promotes sustainability in business, joined the Centre for Sustainability Leadership’s Alumni Committee after completing their Fellowship in 2017 and acts as a mentor for The Trenches and social enterprises including Replated, a reusable takeaway solution. She loves seeing the possibilities for positive action that can be created by connecting contacts and sharing knowledge. 

Our Panelist’s: 

Liam Ridgeway from NGNY 

Liam is a descendant of the Gumbaynggirr people of the North Coast of NSW, the Wakka Wakka people of Southern QLD, and grew up on Gadigal country, Sydney. He is a co-founder of Ngakkan Nyaagu (NGNY), an Indigenous owned digital agency, and Indigitek, a charity that provides learning and career pathways in STEAM for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. He has a passion to increase Indigenous participation in the digital economy and support the growth of a collaborative and sustainable Indigenous STEM community. He aims to use his knowledge and networks in the technology industry to identify pathways for the Indigenous community to thrive individually and collectively. 

Kevin Cheng from Osana 

Kevin has a background in business and healthcare, and currently runs social enterprise, Osana. In business, he was an adviser at McKinsey & Company, and Boston Consulting Group, helping Governments and corporations develop strategies, improve operations and transform their organisations. In healthcare, he worked as a surgical doctor and GP, and advised health systems around the world on new models of healthcare. At Osana, he is working with clinicians to build a medical service that keeps people healthy, happy, and out of the hospital system. 

Gavin Cook from Beyond Bank

Gavin Cook is the State Manager, NSW, for Beyond Bank. Gavin is responsible for the retail network of Beyond Bank in Sydney and the Hunter regions. Gavin leads the customer experience team to deliver the Banks total customer solution strategy.

Gavin has been a part of the Customer Owned Banking network for 23 years, having a passion for an industry sector where ‘people come before profit’. He joined Beyond Bank through a merger several years ago and found his personal values aligned with those of the Bank. The Banks purpose to ‘create and return value for our customers and communities, and through this change lives’ resonated.

Gavin has a Degree of Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from Canberra University, has worked in several different industries prior to the banking roles. His most exciting role was that of CEO of My Credit Union, leading the customers and team through the merger process with Beyond Bank.

Leigh Dunlop from Future Super

A lover of empathy and structure, Leigh leads the operations of Future Super as COO. In her role, she guides the environment of internal decision making and helps build Future Super’s culture as it scales. 

Previously she was the Head of People & Culture, helping restructure the team and support leadership through significant personnel changes. She has led office moves, reorganisations and is committed to making Future Super one of the best places to work in Australia.

Prior to joining Future Super, Leigh spent 8 years at Herbert Smith Freehills in generalist and specialist HR roles. She's a candid communicator, always pushing for more purpose-driven people decisions. She spends her weekends playing hockey, volunteering for the Rural Fire Service and hanging out with her two cats.

Saakshi Muralidhar from Mentally Friendly

Saakshi is a Lead Organisational Designer at Mentally Friendly, where she helps translate positive intent into realised potential for the organisations she works with. Her superpower is coaching leaders to create the environment and momentum to foster positive change for their teams. 

Saakshi has a diverse skill set, drawing on experience as a Product Manager, leading a global product team in tackling some of the HR platform’s biggest challenges. She’s passionate about advocating for the well-being of the teams on the ground and is a master designer of new tools that can be used to solve complex team problems. Recently, she played a strong role in helping shape remote work for Mentally Friendly by running a fortnightly company retrospective and incorporating those learnings into the ongoing working model. 

She has extensive experience leading organisation design and innovation initiatives for SBS, Atlassian, and the ACT Government. More recently, she worked with the Department of Premier and Cabinet and Service Australia with a focus on coaching leaders and mentoring teams.

In Partnership With

Reshaping businesses through purpose and community is a topic close to Sunshine Coast people's hearts. The region is an ideal business location for B-Corps and similarly minded organisations.

Our event partner Sunshine Coast Council is driving economic prosperity with a 20 year strategy, designed to balance growth with social, community and environmental priorities. 

The Sunshine Coast is a healthy, smart and creative region with global connectivity, a highly skilled workforce, an enviable work-life harmony and a commitment to growing with integrity.

You may be photographed or videoed while attending this event: please approach the organiser if you have questions, concerns, or do not wish this to happen. 

We may add you to our B Local Sydney mailing list so we can follow up, and you can receive updates about our activities: this mailing list will have an easy-to-find unsubscribe button. You may also be contacted by event hosts with relevant news and future events.