Jason Clarke – Facilitator (Melbourne)

Jason is one of the most sought after creative thinkers in the country, whose career reads more like a series of improbable adventures. Having managed to fail HSC (while at the same time topping the state in English with a perfect score of 100%), Jason pursued an interest in the performing arts. Within three years he had worked across every aspect of live theatre and performance and had become senior stage manager for the State Opera Company, working on major productions including La Scala and Covent Garden.

Over the next decade he explored the inner workings of the corporate world, producing films, exhibitions and live events to a decidedly commercial agenda. With his experience in large-scale theatre in great demand, Jason found himself conceiving and staging car launches, trade shows and AGMs for some of Australia’s largest corporations and institutions. But having won a raft of local and international awards for his work, he became increasingly dissatisfied with his path, and made the decision to follow a new one.

The next five years saw Jason grow as a creative and strategic consultant to a wide range of government and corporate institutions by day and as unorthodox media lecturer at the local TAFE college by night. It was during this time that he began developing a thinking curriculum specifically designed to identify and unlock creative thinking at an individual level.

In 1994, AAV Australia (the nation’s largest multi-media production network) offered Jason the role of Creative Director, and for the next six years he led the company to pioneer new directions in environmental interpretation and science education. During this time Jason provided the creative vision and direction for some of Australia’s largest public education projects including the Phillip Island Nature Reserve, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Science Centre in Hobart and more recently the Melbourne Aquarium. Other projects included exhibitions and interpretive displays for Scienceworks, the Melbourne Museum, The Christchurch Antarctic Centre, The EarthWorks Gallery and the Melbourne Planetarium as well as creative and strategic planning for the Zoological Parks and Gardens Board.

By the beginning of the new century, Jason’s unique insights into group innovation and the creative process, developed through over 20 years of practical experience across all sectors of industry and all levels of government, had made him one of Australia’s most consulted creative thinkers.

And then he decided to take a completely different direction once again.

In 2000, he founded Minds at Work, a commercial collective of talented thinkers and problem solvers dedicated to awakening the intellectually unemployed and firing up the minds of the world to tackle the embarrassing backlog of social, global and environmental problems currently clogging up humanity’s IN tray.

Melbourne 2009 Guest Speakers

• Dr Peter Ellyard Chairman Preferred Futures Institute
• Lauren Wapling Fellowship Program alumnus
• Larissa Brown Executive Director Centre for Sustainability Leadership
• Professor Frank Fisher Convenor of Graduate Programs National Centre for Sustainability
• Dr Peter Hayward Program Director – Master of Management (Strategic Foresight) Swinburne University
• Robyn White Principal Advisor – Innovation Economy Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development
• Dr Peter Christoff Vice-President Australian Conservation Foundation
• Edwin Mongan Global Practice Leader – Climate Change and Energy BHP Billiton
• Francis Grey Research Manager – SAM Australia and New Zealand Sustainable Asset Management
• Fraser Brindley Production and Consumption Campaigner Environment Victoria
• Jose Ramos Lecturer – Global Citizenship: Corporate and Community Sustainability National Centre for Sustainability
• Rachel Lowry General Manager, Community Conservation Zoos Victoria, Centre for Sustainability Leadership (Board Member)
• Kirsten Larsen Policy Research Manager Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab (VEIL), University of Melbourne
• Tiffany Crawford Corporate Solicitor City of Melbourne
• Nic Culnane Project Director – Docklands Infrastructure VicUrban
• Felicity Large Event and Staff Coordinator Clothing Exchange
• Mary Crooks Executive Director Victorian Women’s Trust
• Phillip Sutton Co-founder and Board Member Safe Climate Australia
• Mike Waller Chairman Sustainability Victoria
• Kate Nicolazzo General Manager – Centre for Innovation and Sustainability Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Michael Chew Fellowship Program alumni
• Lisa Smith Minds at Work
• Michaela Lang Co-founder and Director Just Change Australia
• Penny Mulvey Co-Director Positive Media
• Dr James Gifford Executive Director United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment
• Joel Leske Corporate Affairs and Environment Advisor Kmart
• Sean Willmore Founding Director Thin Green Line
• Marcus Godinho Chief Executive Officer FareShare
• Tim Sonnreich Senior Adviser Office of the Premier, Victorian Government
• Ian Porter Chief Executive Officer | Alternative Technology Association
• Dean Rizetti Campaign Officer Australian Labor Party
• Caitriona Fay Program Manager Ian Potter Foundation
• Leanne Bradley Philanthropy Executive Save the Children
• Luke Taylor Festival Director Sustainable Living Foundation
• Les Robinson Director Enabling Change
• Brett de Hoedt Mayor Hootville Communication
• Dr Graeme Pearman Director Pearman Consulting
• Danny Vadasz Director of Marketing Australian Conservation Foundation
• Tony Cutcliffe Director The Eureka Project
• Hon. Tom Roper Chair Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council / Climate Institute
• Associate Professor Don Garden University of Melbourne
• Tim Cotter Principal Awake
• Jon Ward Manager, Environmental Policy Toyota Australia
• Scott Delzoppo Group Sustainability Manager Foster’s Group
• Tanya Ha Author, television presenter, and campaigner
• Nic Frances Executive Chairman Cool NRG International
• Kelly O’Shannassy Chief Executive Officer Environment Victoria

Sydney 2009 Guest Speakers

• Larissa Brown Executive Director Centre for Sustainability Leadership
• Petrea Bradford Carbon Markets Manager Origin Energy
• Stephen Shepherd Chairman, Shirlaws Global Business Coaching Shirlaws
• Professor Stuart Hill Adjunct Professor Foundation Chair of Social Ecology School of Education University of Western Sydney
• Janine Cahill CEO & Innovation Designer Future Journeys
• Greg Bourne CEO WWF
• Simon Sheikh National Director GetUp!
• Murray Hogarth Director The 3rd degree
• Jenni Whitnall Associate Director, Sustainability, Climate Change & Water Advisory KPMG
• Victor Steffensen Project Manager Traditional Knowledge Revival Pathways (TKRP)
• Roz Hall Director Business and Community Programs Department of Environment, Climate Change & Water
• Siobhan Toohill General Manager, Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Stockland
• David Hodes Managing Director Ensemble Partners
• Rebecca Harcourt Indigenous Programs Santa Sabina College
• Professor Dexter Dunphy Emeritus Professor, School of Management University of Technology, Sydney
• Anna Rose Co-Director Australian Youth Climate Coalition
• Les Robinson Director Enabling Change
• Peter Cosier Executive Director Wentworth Group
• Mandy Holloway Leadership Trainer, Consultant & Speaker Holloway Consulting
• Winsome Matthews Indigenous social ecologist
• Dr Mark Diesendorf Deputy Director Institute of Environmental Studies, University of NSW
• Brian Moran Principal Managing Values
• Ben Kneppers Sustainability Consultant Edge environment
• Sue Lennox Co Founder / CEO OzGreen
• Penelope Howarth Former head of the World Food Program, Malawi
• Professor Stuart White Director Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney
• Jeff Angel Executive Director Total Environment Centre (TEC)
• Terri – Ann Johnson CEO Clean Up Australia
• Jon Dee Founder & Chairman Do Something
• Lyn Goldsworthy Director Campaign Essentials
• John Jutsen Executive Director, Business Development Energetics
• David Morrissey Director CSR Sydney
• Paul Gilding Independent writer and advisor

2008 Guest Speakers

The participants in the 2008 Centre for Sustainability Leadership Fellowship Program were fortunate to have access to some of Australia’s best thinkers as part of their eight-month course.

• Jason Clarke, founder, Minds At Work
• Dan Atkins, General Manager, Shaper Group
• Marcus Godinho, CEO, Fair Share
• Don Henry, Executive Director, Australian Conservation Foundation
• Lisa Smith, Minds At Work
• David Kelly, founder and Director, One Free Bike
• Mike Hill, board member, Sustainability Victoria
• Danielle Bendall, former Centre for Sustainability Leadership participant; inaugural CSR manager, PZ Cussons
• Daniel Epstein, former Centre for Sustainability Leadership participant and founder of Conservo
• Daniel Almagor, CEO, Engineers Without Borders
• Arron Wood, Managing Director , Firestarter; former Young Australian of the Year
• Brett de Hoedt, communications consultant
• Laura Mumaw, former CEO, Zoos Victoria
• Dan Adams, organiser , Make Poverty History concert ; Young Victorian of the Year 2008
• Veronica Allardice, Founding Director, The Theatre of Leadership and Business Voice Studio
• Nic Frances, MBE, Chairman and CEO, Cool nrg
• Andrew Baker, co-founder, Mobium Group
• Phillip Sutton, Governor, Greenleap Strategic Institute
• Graham Crist, founder, architecture firm Antarctica
• Peter Cock, sociologist and environmentalist
• Alex Fearnside, Team Leader Sustainability, Melbourne City Council
• Terry A’Hearn, Director, Sustainable Development, Victorian Environment Protection Authority
• Ian Porter, senior consultant, The Nous Group
• Brad Shone, Energy Policy Manager, Alternative Technology Association
• Kimberley Dripps, Executive Director, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Department of Sustainability and Environment
• Dr Paul Mees, Senior Lecturer in Planning and Environment, RMIT
• Stephen Ingrouille, Principal, Going Solar
• Serenity Hill, advisor on climate change adaptation; 2020 summit participant
• Kelly O’Shanassy, CEO, Environment Victoria
• Peter Ellyard, Chairman, Preferred Futures Institute and the Sustainable Prosperity Foundation
• Dr Peter Christoff, Coordinator of Environmental Studies, University of Melbourne; Vice-President, Australian Conservation Foundation
• Tim Sonnreich, advisor to Victorian Premier John Brumby.