2019 Future Shapers Forum energises IPAA’s up-and-coming leaders
Some of IPAA’s Future Shapers (left to right): Ms Samantha Gray, Ms Chelsea Brand, Mr Jack Dow, Ms Jennifer Green, Ms Kara McKee, Ms Lauri Fettel, Ms Lola Brancati, Mr Matt Greiss and Ms Rebecca Gill.
Twelve young leaders nominated by the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) have had their perceptions and thinking challenged at the 2019 Future Shapers Forum held recently at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra.
The Future Shapers Forum is hosted by the Sir Roland Wilson Foundation and brings together emerging leaders from different sectors and backgrounds — and with different career goals — to participate in a program of activities that is unique and tailored to each participant.
Forum activities include one-on-one meetings with an array of senior leaders, small group discussions and engaging with the next, even younger generation on topics they had identified as being important.
More than fifty people from across the government, business, academia and the not-for-profit sectors attended the two-and-a-half-day forum held at the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy on 25–27 June 2019.
A number of IPAA Divisions nominated leaders from across state and territory governments to attend this year’s Future Shapers Forum including: Ms Bronwyn Blagoev (IPAA Queensland); Ms Chelsea Brand and Mr Jack Dow (IPAA Victoria); Ms Jennifer Green, Ms Kara McKee, Ms Mikaela Jade and Ms Justine Spina (IPAA ACT); and Ms Samantha Gray, Ms Rebecca Gill, Ms Lola Brancati, Mr Matt Greiss and Ms Lauri Fettel (IPAA New South Wales).
Ms Samantha Gray, Manager Policy and Practice from the NSW Department of Education, spoke for many when she said that she “liked being out of my sphere… the experience jolted me out of my professional life”.
Participants said the number of people attending was ‘spot on’, giving them plenty of opportunities to meet everyone, and to build networks and relationships with their peers from across different sectors.