CRICKET VICTORIA
LITTLE TED TALK STAFF CONFERENCE 1 /
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NARELLE FRAS ER – Narelle was a member of Victoria Police for 27 years, 15 of those as a Detective ‘doing time’ at the Rape and Homicide Squads and Missing Persons Unit but dedicating much of her career to investigating child abuse and sex offences. She worked on high profile investigations including Anna & Gracie Sharpe (by ‘Mornington Monster’ John Sharpe), Margaret & Paul WalesKing (the Society Murders), Maria Korp (the body in the boot case), the 2002 Bali Bombing, horrific infanticide investigations, Geoff Clarke (the then ATSIC Commissioner), The Ascot Vale Rapist and many more. She has stared death and trauma in the face throughout her career. Narelle gives a fascinating and often humorous insight into the daily life of a Police Officer from a female perspective and takes you inside a world you will find hard to believe at times. Narelle recants stories which will make you laugh, cry and just shake your head in disbelief and amazement.
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C A R O LY N CRESWELL –
Carolyn Creswell is an inspirational leader whose success proves that you can run a multinational business, love what you do and have a genuine work-life balance. Carman’s was founded in 1992 by Carolyn. The then 18 year old firstyear university student bought the small muesli business where she worked part-time for $1,000. At the time, they supplied a few cafes and delis around Melbourne. Fast-forward to present and Carman’s gourmet range is now available in all major supermarkets across Australia, as well as being exported to many countries around the world. Carolyn is an Ambassador for the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre and Patron of the St Kilda Gatehouse. Carolyn’s business acumen has led to several accolades including being named the 2012 Telstra Australian Businesswoman of the Year and the winner of 2007 Ernst & Young’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. She is also a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. As a proud mother of four young children with her husband Peter, Carolyn has a strong commitment to healthy work-life balance which is also reflected in the supportive culture of the Carman’s office.
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HAMISH MCLACH LAN –
Beginning his broadcasting career within horse sports and polo, Hamish McLachlan has since had experience as both a player and administrator. Hamish has previously spent three summers in Europe hosting sporting events, calling matches and gaining enough knowledge and skills needed to succeed in Australia as a broadcaster. In 2008, Hamish returned to Australian and joined Channel Seven’s presenting team. Hamish has since worked as the host of AFL Game Day, hosted the Spring Racing broadcast and called tennis matches for the World Feed Broadcast of the Australian Open. In 2008, Hamish was approached by Triple M to host their Spring Racing coverage. His coverage earned him an award, making him highly sought-after within the industry.
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EMMA MCKEON –
Born and raised in Wollongong in New South Wales, Emma grew up one of three children with brother David and sister Kaitlin. Emma comes from a family with rich swimming pedigree, representing Australia and winning medals across numerous Olympic and Commonwealth Games. With swimming in her veins, Emma took to the pool from an early age. 2010 saw Emma’s international breakthrough at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships, Youth Olympics and World Short Course Championships, collecting one gold, and multiple silver and bronze medals across several events. After narrowly missing out on Australian selection to the 2012 London Olympics, Emma cemented her spot in the team at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Emma won four golds and two bronze medals, throwing herself into the Australian
sporting spotlight as one of Australia’s best swimmers. Qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympics, Emma shared her experience with brother David who also swam at a national level. It was in Rio Emma was part of Australia’s all-conquering 4x100m Freestyle relay team that won gold and set a new world record. Emma finished as Australia’s most successful Olympian at the Rio Games with 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze. Emma performed exceptionally well at her home Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018, with three individual medals and three relay golds. Emma added a further seven medals in Tokyo 2020 to cement her name in history as Australia’s most decorated Olympian ever.
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DEAN BARTO N-S M ITH – The cause of Dean Barton-Smith’s profound deafness will forever remain a mystery. He remembers how the vibrations from the starter’s pistol felt as they ran across the ground and up through his body. He remembers the pain of the rocks and bottles that clattered into the back of his head in the playground. And he remembers the immeasurable pride that spilled forth when a simple slogan on his t-shirt helped to change the game quite literally for a minority. Dean is the Founding Chairperson of the Melbourne 2005 Deaflympic Games Limited and holds over 30 years’ experience in various management and marketing roles
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including health, disability, sport and government. Dean’s involvement in sports is extensive having represented Australia at 1990 and 1994 Commonwealth Games, the 1992 Olympic Games in his chosen event, Decathlon. He also represented Australia at four Deaflympic Games and today being the head coach of Victoria’s men’s deaf cricket team as well a mentor for the Australian men’s deaf cricket team. The COVID-19 pandemic meanwhile has brought mixed fortunes for the deaf and impaired community with the use of facemasks has been problematic for those reliant on lip-reading.
M WA I K UMW E N DA –
Mwai was raised in Mtwalo, a village in the Mzimba District. She is the youngest of eight siblings and began playing netball in primary school. “For balls, we used plastic bags and put them under the fire to melt, then moulded them with our hands and tied them with string. For the goal posts, we cut down trees, like the ones outside. The goal rings were made from old tyres, like the ones on cars”. Mwai continued playing netball in secondary school and came to the attention of Griffin Sayenda, the Malawi national netball team coach. When Mwai was just fifteen, she moved to Blantyre to pursue a netball career.
Mwai was originally noticed at the 2009 Netball World Youth Cup, where she was one of Malawi’s most prolific shooters. She drew the attention of Peninsula Waves coach Maxine Wauchope and was invited to play club netball in Victoria, Australia. She also attracted the attention of Canterbury Tactix coach Leigh Gibbs in New Zealand. In September 2013, Mwai became the first African netball player to sign for an ANZ Championship franchise signing with the Tactix for the 2014 season. The now star of the Malawi national team, and Melbourne Vixens, Mwai’s international career spans over 65 tests, including the 2015 Netball World Cup, in which she was named Player of the Tournament, and a thirdplace in the 2016 Fast5 World Series.
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AHMED K E L LY –
Before Ahmed Kelly was a two-time Paralympian, he was living in an orphanage in Baghdad, Iraq, with his brother Emmanuel. Both had been born with severely underdeveloped arms and legs. When they met humanitarian worker Moira Kelly in 1998, Moira adopted them and brought them home with her to Australia. Ahmed had surgery to remove both his legs below the knees, and it was then that he was introduced to his first love – Aussie Rules. He soon earned the nickname ‘Nails’ for his tough-as-nails style of play, and it was Nails-turned-Liquid Nails when Ahmed discovered Para-swimming.
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Ahmed made his Paralympic debut at the London 2012 Paralympic Games – cheering him on were his sisters, Trishna and Krishna, the Bangladeshi conjoined twins who were famously separated in 2009. Competing in his third Games at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Ahmed began his campaign to finish seventh in the 50m breaststroke S13 with a time of 54.89. He secured the silver medal in the men’s 150m individual medley SM3 to finish with a time of 3:02.23, behind Mexico’s Jesus Hernandez Hernandez. He was able to share the dais with fellow Australian teammate, Grant Patterson, who finished the race in third.
JAM ES TO M K I N S –
One of Australia’s greatest sportsmen and heroes, James Tomkins is the only rower in history to win world championship titles in every sweep oar event. With six Olympic Games under his belt, James Tomkins is truly an inspiration. James together with Mike McKay, Nick Green and Andrew Cooper, took the rowing world by storm in the early 1990’s earning the ‘Oarsome’ name and reputation with convincing victories in the 1990 and 1991 World Championships, and the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. Competing in Beijing at his sixth Olympics, a legendary feat, James was awarded the honour of carrying the Australian Flag at the opening ceremony of the games. James is one of Australia’s sporting greats, who draws upon his experiences, trials and challenges, in inspiring audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
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ANDREW GAZE –
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Known as the greatest Basketballer Australia has ever produced, Andrew Gaze has played in a record five Olympic Games, is the highest point scorer in Olympic history, has played in four World Championships and is the second highest point scorer in world championship history.
Andrew has played with the Washington Bullets (1994) and the San Antonio Spurs (1999) in the US NBA. He also played in Seton Hall NCAA Championships 1988-1989. However, it was playing for the Melbourne Tigers and the Australian Boomers where he really shone.
Andrew has been named as the NBL’s greatest player for the past 25 years and was the winner of the NBL Most Valuable Player Award a record seven times. In January 2004 he broke Leroy Loggins’ record for the most games played in the NBL and selected as a member of the All-NBL Team for 14 consecutive years.
At the Sydney Olympics, he was rewarded for his contribution to Basketball and the Olympics by being named as the captain of the Australian Olympic Team and flag bearer for Australian Team at the opening ceremony. He has also been named the International Player of the Year five times. After a career spanning over 20 years in the National league, Andrew announced his retirement from the Melbourne Tigers in June 2005.
SIMON GOODWI N –
A hard running and creative wingman, who played in two premiership sides for Adelaide and a couple more sides that should have. Three best and fairests and five All-Australian selections help complete what was a marvellous career.
But the Crows came calling during the Pre-Season Draft and Goodwin recalls the blunt advice from Adelaide football manager and close family friend John Reid: “Give footy a crack because your cricket career is pretty much done, son.”
Yet what drove Goodwin throughout his 14 seasons at AFL level was this nagging self-doubt. Was he good enough to play at the level?
Goodwin then embarked on a coaching career, one which saw him as an assistant to James Hird at Essendon, and then to Paul Roos at Melbourne. He took over the reins from Roos at the beginning of 2017, at a time when the Demons were building towards a finals appearance for the first time in a decade.
Cricket’s loss was football’s gain with Goodwin. He co-captained the South Australian under-19 cricket team in the summer of 1995-96 and was preparing to make the summer game his sport of choice after being overlooked at the 1995 National Draft.
In 2017, during his first season as a senior coach, Goodwin’s decorated playing career was acknowledged when he was inducted into the Australian Hall of Fame.
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JOEL FEREN – The Nutrition Guy, aka Joel Feren, is a media dietitian, recipe developer and nutrition consultant. His specialty is in nutrition communications and he regularly consults to the food industry to help brands implement nutrition into their marketing strategies. Joel delivers insight-led and evidence-based nutrition communications as well as marketing advice to help achieve increased engagement and impact for food businesses. He has led major projects for a variety of FMCG companies including Sanitarium, Abbott Nutrition, Cobram Estate and San Remo. He is the Weet-Bix Better Brekkie Ambassador and has previously featured in Sanitarium’s TV commercial campaign. He is a foodie in every sense and believes that dietitians working in the food industry can shape the future of food. Joel also considers nutrition to be too important to be an afterthought for food brands and businesses.
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BEAU VERNON – “Things Happen for a reason” In 2012, 23 year-old Beau Vernon, had a sporting accident that left him a quadriplegic. Since his rehabilitation, Beau has been on a mission to normalise disability and prove that being in a wheelchair doesn’t stop you from being able to achieve life goals. Since his accident he has coached local AFL teams to three premierships, completed a business degree, had 3 children and completed a 100km handcycle to raise funds for the Rob Rose Foundation. Beaus presentation will give you an insight into his journey whilst passing on key messages around having a positive mindset, dealing with adversity and challenges, removing limitations, and being the best people, we can be.
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BRONTE CAMPBELL –
Bronte Campbell is best known for her success in the 50m and 100m freestyle events. She has competed in 3 Olympics, 2 Commonwealth Games, 4 World Championships and 1 Pan Pacific Games with a total of 28 international medals and part of Swimming Australia’s Dolphins leadership group. Swimming alongside her sister and fellow Olympian, the Campbells became the first sisters to compete in the same Olympic event in 2012. In 2014, Bronte represented Australia in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow collecting 2 gold medals, 1 silver, and 1 bronze. Not only did she prove herself as one of the fastest females in the pool, she also swam in the world record-breaking 4x100m freestyle team relay.
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Bronte continued her dominance in 2015 during the World Championships, winning both 50m and 100m freestyle events, becoming only the third female in history to be crowned both titles at one championship. In 2016, Bronte represented Australia at the Rio Olympics defending the 4x100m freestyle team rely with a gold medal as well as placing 4th in the 100m freestyle final, missing a medal by .05 seconds and 7th in the 50m freestyle. The 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games saw Bronte overcome injury to take Gold in the 100m Freestyle, 4x 100m Freestyle Relay, 4x 100m Medley relay and Silver in the 50m Freestyle. In 2021 she helped the 4x100 Freestyle Relay to its third title defence at the Tokyo Olympics.
ROB H U LLS –
Rob Hulls completed his law degree at RMIT and began his career as a Solicitor for the Legal Aid Commission of Victoria from 1984–86. Rob served one term in Federal Parliament from 1990–93 as the member for Kennedy, Queensland and in 1994 on return to Melbourne was appointed Chief of Staff to the Victorian Leader of the Opposition.
system which saw the establishment of the state’s first Charter of Human Rights and reform to Victoria’s Upper House. He established specialist courts in Victoria including for Victoria’s indigenous community, for people with mental health issues, and for victims of family violence and introduced an open tender process for applicants to Victoria’s judiciary.
In his state political career Rob held the offices of Attorney-General; Minister for Manufacturing Industry and Minister for Racing, Minister for WorkCover, Minister for Planning and Minister for Industrial Relations. As Attorney-General, Rob instigated significant changes to Victoria’s legal
In October 2012 Rob was appointed Adjunct Professor at RMIT and was invited to establish the new Centre for Innovative Justice as its inaugural Director. The Centre’s objective is to develop, drive, and expand the capacity of the justice system to meet and adapt to the needs of its diverse users.
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KYLIE W AT S O N - W H E E L E R – Kylie Watson-Wheeler is the Senior Vice President & Managing Director, for The Walt Disney Company Australia and New Zealand and the President of The Western Bulldogs (AFL Club). Kylie is responsible for The Walt Disney Company in Australia and New Zealand across Film, TV, Digital, Home Entertainment distribution and streaming services. The most successful storyteller of all time! She manages a portfolio of content and products across Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, ESPN, ABC Studios (US), 20th Century Fox and National Geographic. Before joining Disney, Kylie was the Director of Advertising and Brand management for Hallmark Cards Inc., based in Kansas City, USA, where she oversaw and managed the marketing function for Hallmark’s US$4 billion business. Prior to moving to the US, Kylie spent four years as Hallmark Australia’s Marketing Manager. Kylie also has held various marketing positions at Coca-Cola Amatil and Penguin Books.
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W AY N E PEARCE – Wayne’s reputation as a professional rugby league player and coach precedes him. His rise from humble beginnings growing up in the inner Sydney suburbs to become an International rugby league player is one of those great inspirational stories that never fails to stir the Australian spirit. Wayne knows a lot about what it takes to succeed in high-pressure environments. He has plenty of real-world anecdotes and insights to share around themes like “personal best”, “overcoming adversity”, “teamwork”, “everyone’s a leader”, “creating a high performing culture” and “leading through a crisis”. With his unique combination of wisdom, fervour and humility, Wayne will share with you the tools and insights that will enable your business to achieve the outcomes you’ve been striving for. Wayne’s pivotal leadership role of the NRL’s Project Apollo team, during the COVID-19 global pandemic will provide an inspiring leadership keynote presentation that your audience won’t forget.
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