Chloë Spackman
CEO
Before becoming Next25’s inaugural CEO, Chloë was Next25’s Director of Programs and Engagement for six years, managing the programs team and overseeing our “think” (research) and “do” (initiatives) work. During this period, she led the development of Leadership, Improving Democracy: Transforming Parliament for Women and 21st Century Service, a suite of training courses specialising in building culture and capability within the public service. She brings over a decade of experience in program design, delivery, communications, and evaluation, focusing on leadership and global citizenship, innovation, and social impact. She has extensive experience in the international and higher education and not-for-profit sectors and is the Board President of an Australia-based international charity. Chloë previously managed a tertiary leadership program that was awarded a prestigious international award for Innovation and Best Practice in Internationalising the Campus. She is an accredited Facilitator of Transformation through Values.
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Paula Steyer
Director of Finance
Paula manages the day-to-day financial, regulatory and all reporting requirements of the organisation. Paula is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand. Prior to moving into the not-for-profit sector, Paula worked in the public practice sector, and in senior taxation, finance and human resources positions at HSBC Bank. Paula brings almost a decade’s experience in finance and company secretarial roles in the not-for-profit sector.
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Don Perlgut, PhD
Philanthropy Manager
Prior to commencing with Next25, Dr Don Perlgut held several not-for-profit leadership roles, including CEO of Community Colleges Australia (CCA), a not-for-profit association representing adult and community education providers; CEO of the Rural Health Education Foundation (RHEF), where he worked closely with numerous foundations and trusts; and Executive Director of the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils. He has also been a Client Relationship Manager with the Australian Institute of Management, an Outreach Program Manager with ASIC, Head of Adult Education with ABC TV, and a Business Development Manager with a start-up digital communications company. He is a former lecturer in communications at UNSW and in urban planning at University of New England. He was the Executive Producer of several RHEF award-winning health training videos and received a Commonwealth Literacy Medal for his ABC TV work during International Literacy Year. He holds a PhD in communications from Macquarie University; a Master of City Planning from the University of California, Berkeley; and a B.A. (Government) from Cornell University.
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Stephanie Mason
Program Manager
Stephanie manages Next25’s Programs and joins us from the not-for-profit sector as an experienced manager, having worked with executive leadership and frontline professionals in strategy development and execution, governance, clinical practice, compliance, root cause analysis, outcomes measurement and continuous improvement.
With a Social Work background, she has a passion for converting theory to practice and investing in interventions that have demonstrable impact. Stephanie is currently studying a Master of Business Administration, majoring in Social Impact.
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Safia Rowland
Program Officer
Safia brings a diverse skillset to support Chloë in the delivery of Next25 Leadership (from intake to alumni) and the organisation more broadly with its operational systems. Safia hails from a varied professional background, ranging from school teacher to launching and running the Sydney Opera House membership program. She has over 10 years’ experience in marketing and community engagement and 10 years in teaching. Safia is passionate about actively nurturing constructive connections to create a better future and, outside of office hours, is also a yoga teacher and holistic mentor. Safia holds a Masters in Global Media from the University of East London.
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Ralph Ashton
Senior Facilitator and Coach
Ralph founded Next25 (then Australian Futures Project) in 2011 to maximise and share Australia’s success across current and future generations. He has a strong track record of conceiving and building non-partisan initiatives to create systems change. His experience spans corporate law, investment banking, consulting, academia, NGOs, and think tanks. He is a sought-after keynote speaker and facilitator, and a trusted strategic advisor — working with businesses, governments, State Cabinet, the public service, politicians, the media, universities, NGOs, and philanthropists. In previous roles, Ralph has partnered with the World Bank, United Nations, international aid agencies, and the World Economic Forum. He has held visiting positions at Columbia University, La Trobe University, and the Australian National University.
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Blogs from Ralph.
Angie Bradbury
Senior Advisor Communications
Angie has built Next25’s communications strategy and plan and continues to advise on their implementation. She is a highly respected and sought-after marketing strategist with two decades working with leading brands. Angie was the Founder and Managing Director of several leading marketing and communications agencies and is now an independent consultant and Chair of Wine Victoria. Angie was the 2019 Women of Inspiration for the Australian Women in Wine Awards, played a lead role in the development of the Diversity and Equality in Wine Charter and is a regular guest speaker, keynote presenter and agitator on issues across the sector. Angie consults on a broad range of business challenges, including the development of marketing, communications and brand strategies, issues management, crisis communications and stakeholder engagement.
Dr Renu Burr
Senior Facilitator and Coach
Dr Renu Burr is Senior Consultant at Corporate Evolution and Director of Burr Consulting, her own consulting practice. Inspiring unimagined possibilities through leadership development, organisational and personal transformation has been at the core of Renu’s 35 years of business, leadership and academic experience. Renu holds a doctorate in Human Resource Management and was a member of the faculty at the Business School at the University of Western Australia, at UWA’s Centre for Social Impact and its ELIAS Tri-sector leadership program, at the IDEAS Asia-Pacific Leadership Program offered in partnership by United in Diversity (Indonesia), MIT’s Sloan School of Management’s Global Executive Development Programs and the Presencing Institute.
Malcolm Doig
Senior Facilitator and Coach
Malcolm facilitates Next25 Leadership. As Founding Director of Corporate Evolution, he is dedicated to helping leaders transform their worlds through creation of high-performance team leadership and organisational transformation. He has 23 years’ experience managing high-performance teams. Malcolm has been coaching senior executives in leading organisations in Australia, Asia and Europe over the last 14 years and is part of a leading global management consultancy’s international network.
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Clare Reddan
Senior Research Analyst
With over a decade of research experience, Clare has worked across the private sector, the public service and academia to produce and coordinate high-quality, evidence-based research.In addition to recent research collaborations involving the global creative industries and workforce equity and diversity initiatives, Clare is also fascinated by the nexus of the future of work, performativity and human-centred inquiry.
With a background in academia and communications, Clare enjoys transdisciplinary thinking and cross-sectoral collaboration to unpack and interrogate the challenges that the world faces today. Clare’s PhD considered the political, economic and social factors that influence approaches to cultural value in Australia and the role of relationality and symbiosis to navigate alternative conceptions of the public good.
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