My role involves discussing, developing and delivering the workshops, programs and leadership development material provided by the ARLF. Our goal is to always provide the richest material we can find, in the most experiential way can, in order to help the people and leaders in rural, regional and remote communities thrive.

When not working, I love spending time with my wife and son and our wonderful friends. I have also been a keen Crossfitter for the last decade – I am highly energetic and so I love a good workout. I also sometimes go hiking with friends in South Australia and love a good movie or TV series. Aside from this, I love coffee (I am somewhat of a snob) and adventures, so it is not unusual to find me visiting a familiar coffee spot on the Coast, or exploring the coffee and food scene of a new town or city.

Where does your passion for rural, regional and remote Australia come from?

I grew up in Gayndah – a small country town in QLD. I am a country guy at heart and have experienced the many advantages of being surrounded by the hospitality, authenticity and generosity of people in rural and regional places. I have also always had a keen interest in connecting with people, understanding how we impact each other and how leadership can have a profound impact on many people; in good and not good ways. So, I would say there hasn’t been one single story or moment that explains my passion for leadership development, but lots of small observations, experiences, mistakes (of self or others) and time working with people and leaders that has fuelled my passion for living and helping others to develop healthy leadership.

What’s your favourite memory or most memorable moment in rural, regional and remote Australia?

As a teenager, from about 14 years old, almost every school holidays I would go camping with my best mate and his family. We camped on a 500 acre property in Kilcoy – a regional town 100km northwest of Brisbane. It is a beautiful place. Green, open cattle property with a creek running through it that is surrounded by trees. We would camp down on a large, grassed area that was somehow surrounded entirely by the shallow creek, which made it a little island of sorts.

Every time we went, we upgraded and improved the gear until eventually we had all the creature comforts, including a hot shower set up, pumping water from the creek, heated over the fire into the shower stall. It’s on these trips that I learned to drive, to ride a motorbike, which eventually led to getting my own bike. The property also backed onto state forestry that had many kilometres of fire access 4WD tracks running through it. This would soon become our motorbike-riding playground, with many hill climbs, back road rides and plenty of motorbike stacks along the way.

We used to walk up the creek bed – it was often only running very shallowly – and we would often find snake tracks along the side. In fact, this is what we were looking for. We found many red-bellied black snacks and a couple of tiger snakes.

I remember one summer day I heard a rustle in a nearby lantana bush. I remember it sounded distinctively like a snake moving through the shrub and upon inspection, sure enough we spotted a red-bellied black snake. After 10 minutes of investigation and “encouragement,” out came a very grumpy snake, half a metre of it off the ground, head flattened. Fortunately, no one got bitten or hurt, and the snake soon darted off to hide. In hindsight, I am very aware of my obvious lack of intelligence in this moment, but I can’t say that I regret the adventure of it all, nonetheless.

There were many games of cards on these trips, many laughs, endless fresh, clear country air and many memories made with friends and family. You don’t realise at the time the profound joy these kinds of experiences in country Australia contribute to your life, but as I think back now, I am incredibly grateful that this was such an integral part of my teenage years and beyond.

What’s your professional background?

I have a long history in people helping, people shaping and people growing. My Masters degree is in counselling and I specialise in Couples and Relationship Therapy, which is part of what I was doing in private practice before working full-time for ARLF. Since 2020, I have also been an assistant lecturer for a small university in Adelaide, and for the past several years I have been a contract facilitator with and for the ARLF. I have facilitated their Community Leadership Program, Emerging Leaders Program, 2-day Changemaker workshops and have also contracted in to provide specialist training in how leaders can understand and improve their functioning in complex systems.

The three things I enjoy most about working for the foundation:

The team – they are forward thinking, innovative and have a genuine care for the people of rural Australia
Being able to visit rural and regional Australia and meet so many interesting and genuine people
The innovative approach to developing leaders and people for the sake of thriving communities