Zita Cobb President & Co-Founder Shorefast Foundation. Zita Cobb grew up on Fogo Island and went on to a career as a senior finance professional in the high technology industry. She was the chief financial officer of JDS Fitel, and senior vice president of strategy for fiber optics manufacturer JDS Uniphase. In 2001, Cobb left the industry to pursue her personal goals and to dedicate her energies to philanthropic work. She founded the Shorefast Foundation, moved home to Fogo Island (while maintaining a residence in Ottawa) and is now actively involved in projects to contribute to a resilient and vibrant future for Fogo Island and Change Islands.

Anne Prince Director of APC environmental management, Anne Prince is an independent waste management consultant with over 30 years experience in waste management gained at local, regional, state and international levels gained in Australia, Europe and Asia whilst employed in local government, community, commercial and industry sectors before establishing her own consultancy in 1997. Anne is widely recognised for pioneering and implementing innovative world best practice waste minimisation and management programs throughout Australia with a passion and focus on remote, regional and rural communities. In 2010 Anne was voted by her peers and colleagues as the industry leader in the Waste and Resources category of the Waste Management and Environment Leaders List. Anne was a appointed to the Board of Zero Waste (South Australia) from 2009 - 2011 and from 2002 to 2009 was the inaugural part-time CEO of the Australian Council of Recyclers (ACOR) while managing her expanding consultancy.

Peter Kenyon Director of Bank of I.D.E.A.S, is a social capitalist and community enthusiast. Over the last two decades he has worked with over 1200 communities throughout Australia, New Zealand and overseas seeking to facilitate fresh and creative ways that stimulate community and economic renewal. He is motivated by the desire to create healthy, caring, inclusive, sustainable and enterprising communities and local economies. Peter has a special interest in both remote island economics and youth development having worked with the communities of Lord Howe Island, Chatham’s, Magnetic Island and Groote Eylandt, and recently prepared the Pacific Islands Youth Employment Strategy for ILO.

Elaine Stratford Associate Professor, Head in the School of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Tasmania. Based in Hobart for the last 15 years, Elaine works in the borderlands between cultural geography and political ecology, fields that inform her passionate interest in islands and people’s sense of place. She has published and supervised research projects on island studies; sustainability, community and globalization; geopolitics and governance; environmental history; and the geographies of children, youth and women. She is also the Deputy Editor of the international Island Studies Journal. Elaine is a Fellow of the Institute of Australian Geographers, on the Boards of Directors of the Global Islands Network, the International Small Islands Studies Association, and the International Geographical Union’s Commission on Small Islands. She is a Corporate Member of the Planning Institute of Australia and a Cabinet appointee to the Tasmanian Resource Management and Planning Appeals Tribunal. Between November 2011 and August 2013, Elaine will also serve as Chair of the Southern Regional Reference Group, one of three such groups in Tasmania advising Ministers Simon Crean and David O’Byrne on economic development aspirations for the island State.

Mal Bryce Professor, Curtin University, For most of his working life Mal Bryce has been engaged in developing public policy for Economic Development. In the last 25 years he has worked as a cabinet minister, company director, corporate manager and senior consultant. Many of the projects he has been responsible for were designed to enable communities and companies to harness the competitive advantage associated with new technology.
He was one of the principal architects of the Bunbury 2000 initiative in Western Australia and he was responsible for the economic turnaround strategy which transformed the city of Ipswich in Queensland. As the project director of the Global Info Links project in Ipswich he created Australia’s first online community and he led the team that implemented Australia’s first community driven e-commerce project. He has worked in varying capacities on local economic development projects in five different Australian states. In 2010 he published “Swiched On” ……a case study in Innovation and Regional Economic Development.

Jayne Bates Mayor, Kangroo Island, South Australia. While not born an Islander, Jayne has lived on Kangaroo Island for most of her life, marrying a 5th generation farmer and has been Mayor of the Island for 6 years at a time of great challenges and rewards for the Island. Jayne has a driving passion for sustainable communities, which is all the more difficult in an island environment with limited resources and people, failing infrastructure, cost of access but high visitation and expectations from tourists worldwide. Managing growth and development and ensuring economic stability in a pristine environment, while not loosing the appeal or the environmental integrity of the Island are paramount to Jayne’s philosophy. Jayne has been a member of many boards both local and State, and has recently been appointed to the newly announced Kangaroo Island Futures Authority, who have been tasked with delivering a plan for social and economic development that builds on the Islands established and inherent strengths, while finding resolution to complex and chronic development challenges.

Dr. Ray Nias is the Southwest Pacific Regional Program Director with Island Conservation - the international conservation organisation that specialises in the conservation of island species. Ray has been involved in many island conservation projects in Australia, the Southwest Pacific and the Sub-Antarctic region. His work has included strategic planning for invasive species programs in Australia and working on Australian government advisory committees dealing with threatened island species and threat abatement plans. Prior to joining Island Conservation, Ray was a consultant and Director with TierraMar Consulting and the Director of Conservation for WWF Australia from 1988 – 2009 where he led the development of WWF Australia’s large conservation program including the management of research, policy development, advocacy, and community outreach programs.

Philip Hayward is a research professor at Southern Cross University, international network convenor of SICRI (The Small Island Cultures Research Initiative) and editor of Shima: The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures. He has written four books and a series of journal articles on island cultures and has produced seven CDs of island music.

Toni Gregory- Hunt Business Operations Manager, Chatham Islands, is the Business Operations Manager for the Chatham Islands Enterprise Trust which is a charitable trust set up in 1991 by the New Zealand Government to manage the infrastructural assets on behalf of its stakeholders (the community). This is a diverse role and living in such a small community many hats are worn at the same time. Toni’s main responsibilities are the two ports at Waitangi and Pitt, airport, forestry and tourism. Before coming to work for the Chatham Islands Enterprise Trust Toni managed the Community Office for 7 years, a role that made her very involved in the community by being the person to organise public events, after school and parenting programmes, providing budgeting advice, visitor and general information. As a 7th generation Chatham Islander and living most of her life on the Chatham Islands she has extensive knowledge about “the pros and cons of living on a small island”. Toni attended boarding school and has also sampled living and working in New Zealand. Like many of the community Toni has served on numerous committees over the years, including 9 years as a local councillor and 7 years as a Conservation Board Member and has a very keen interest in both conservation and tourism.