Building an Inclusive Board: Recruiting Board Directors with Disability – Interactive Masterclass and Q&A (Masterclass 2 in the Inclusive Governance Education Series)

Social Impact Hub is excited to introduce our new initiative the Inclusive Governance Education Series – a set of three FREE online masterclasses tailored for board members and CEOs of Disability Service Providers, as well as other not-for-profits keen to expand board inclusion. 

Masterclass 2: Building an Inclusive Board: Recruiting Board Directors with Disability – Interactive Masterclass and Q&A 

This session is designed specifically for organisations that are new to inclusive governance. If your board hasn't yet embraced inclusivity, join us to learn how to start the journey toward building a diverse and effective board.

When: Wednesday, 21 May, 4:00pm – 5:30pm 

Where: Online

What to Expect:
• Step-by-Step Guidance: Discover proven methods to identify and recruit board directors with lived experience of disability.
• Interactive Panel Discussion: Engage with experienced not-for-profit board directors who will share firsthand insights on establishing inclusive practices.
• Tailored Q&A: Bring your unique challenges to the table and get expert advice to help you take your first and/or next steps toward inclusivity.

Moderator: 

Cain Beckett | Impact Measurement Expert, Social Impact Hub

Cain is a professional non-executive director, former Deloitte Partner and senior public servant. He has been a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors for more than 15 years. He is currently a non-executive director of Aruma Disability Services and board strategy advisor for Attain HealthTech (the parent company of Mable) and of Ability Made. He formerly led the strategic policy office within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and on the recommendation of the Prime Minister’s Office, helped establish the Royal Commission into Violence Abuse Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability as Special Advisor and head of Strategy for the Commission. As the inaugural head of Markets and Pricing for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), Cain established the NDIS approaches for market regulation, safeguards and pricing.

Panelists: 

• Mat Franklin: Mat Franklin is an executive leader, governance advisor, and Harvard Business School alumnus with over 15 years of board experience across the corporate, public, and social sectors. He currently leads Digital Acceleration for Fujitsu Asia Pacific, and serves as a Director of Northcott, one of Australia’s largest disability service providers along with two corporate and one government board. Mat previously founded and led MF & Associates, a company that won national awards for diversity, best place to work, and was recognised as one of Australia's fastest growing companies for three years before its acquisition by Fujitsu in 2023. He is a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
  
  Drawing on lived experience of disability and work with the NDIA, Mat brings a practical, solutions-focused approach to building genuinely inclusive governance. He was named 2023 Male Champion of Change by Women in ICT, and he is passionate about helping boards move beyond good intentions to deliver meaningful results through diversity and inclusion.
  
  
• Emma Bennison: An experienced CEO, Chair and Non-Executive Director, writer, speaker and advocate, Emma excels at applying curiosity, creativity and innovation to transforming organisations and to solving the most challenging of strategic problems across the not-for-profit, corporate and Government sectors. Driven by a commitment to developing tomorrow’s leaders, she thrives on coaching, mentoring and nurturing people so they can reach their full potential without losing themselves in the process. A committed lifelong learner, Emma is a calm and confident communicator and influencer who leads with authenticity to embed truly diverse and collegial organisational cultures which bring out the best in people and organisations so they can do great work and achieve even better results.
  
  
• Emma Olivier: Emma is the founder and CEO of Twenty Percent, a Disability Inclusion Advisory working with organisations that want to move the dial on disability inclusion. With over 30 years of consulting experience and having been born without a left hand, she understands from her own lived experience the challenges and opportunities of having a disability in corporate Australia.
  Her extensive experience includes working in varied industries in Australia and overseas. As a managing director at Accenture, she was the executive sponsor for disability inclusion in ANZ Accenture for three years. Emma is a non-executive director for Wannon Water, Housing Hub and Go TAFE and is an independent committee member at Scope, Wellways Australia and the Victorian Auditor General's Office. She is also commencing her postgraduate studies in Disability and Inclusion part-time in 2024.
  
  Emma's vision as founder of Twenty Percent is to work with organisations to help unlock the power of disability in their workforces, customer bases and how they engage in their communities. 
  
  
  

We encourage you to join all three Masterclasses in the Inclusive Governance series:
Masterclass 1: Disability Inclusion At The Board Table – What Every Organisation Needs To Know in 2025
Masterclass 2: Building an Inclusive Board: Recruiting Board Directors with Disability – Interactive Masterclass and Q&A 
Masterclass 3:Hacks and Tips: The Inclusivity Tools That Make Meetings, Interviews and Communications Better for Everyone

_____

As a purpose-driven intermediary and B Corp, Social Impact Hub offers a suite of capacity and capability building business services for organisations and individuals. Through expert advice, education, mobilising capital and ecosystem building, we help changemakers design, demonstrate and scale impact. If you would like to find out more about our work, please get in touch