Small towns, have big stories.

Hear from three Changemakers who are driving sustainable and innovative projects in regional centres. These inspiring speakers will reflect on how they got started, lessons they learnt along the way, the importance of collaboration and the unlimited potential of regional Australia.

From ideas, through implementation, and to impact, we explore regional futures in this honest and practical session.

Guest Speakers:

Leslie Lowe, Managing Director, TECKnology Indigenous Corporation
Tanya O’Shea, Chief Executive, IMPACT Community Services Bundaberg
Elise Parups, Executive Officer, Queensland Social Enterprise Council

Moderator:

Steve Williams
Social Innovation Program Manager
CQUniversity

Speaker Bios:

Leslie Lowe is Managing Director of Bundaberg's innovative TECKnology Indigenous Corporation, a not-for-profit sustainability management organisation. He is an active participant in social innovation initiatives at CQUni, including the Gladstone Social Innovation Studio in 2017 and Bundaberg Social Innovation Workshop in 2018, and the iChange social innovation orientation program, a first for Australian higher education.

In 2019 Leslie partnered with CQUni in developing a series of workshops on social innovation through an Indigenous lens. Funded through an Ashoka U Working across difference grant, the first of these workshops were delivered in Brisbane and Townsville in 2020 and gave participants the opportunity to explore how an Indigenous mindset could address wicked problems facing the modern world.

Tanya O'Shea is Managing Director of IMPACT Community Services, with over 18 years of executive leadership experience in the NFP sector. Tanya has achieved success in building formidable teams and creating business growth, diversification and financial viability by pairing her evidence-based understanding of human behaviour with a pragmatic business approach.

She has a flair for developing business and social enterprise models that drive social change, respond to service gaps and create opportunities for some of the most vulnerable in the community.

Committed to leadership development, building strong relationships, creating purpose, and embedding innovation into the DNA of an organisation, Tanya is genuinely committed to building future-ready leaders who can thrive in an ever-changing world.

Elise Parups is the inaugural Executive Officer for the Queensland Social Enterprise Council (QSEC) and has worked in the public, private and not-for-profit sector in senior management roles in a range of fields, including education, arts, communication and community development. She was the co-founder of a “for community benefit” and co-working space in Redland City called The Red Place, which served over 20 local start-up and social business initiatives and was the home for dozens of community building organisations in the six years it operated.

Elise has undergraduate qualifications in Arts and Education and has recently completed a Master of Business Administration. She is an active volunteer in her community and sits on the board of a small not-for-profit, South Passage.