Our Team

Behind the Women’s Climate Congress is a dynamic group of visionary women who dedicate their expertise, time, and passion to making our mission a reality. From policy advocates and community organisers to environmental leaders and creative thinkers, these women work tirelessly to drive meaningful change. Together, they embody the spirit of collaboration, resilience, and innovation, creating a foundation for transformative action. Their commitment to fostering inclusion, supporting communities, and championing climate security is the heart of everything we do.

Steering Circle

  • Dr Janet Salisbury

    WCC Founder, Director, Program Lead

    Janet was the founder of the respected science information company Biotext Pty Ltd. Through her work over 25 years, she developed a strong interest in dialogue around contentious public policy issues. Since 2006, she has extended that interest through her membership of Canberra-based group A Chorus of Women, who give artistii expression to citizen concerns. Janet was the initiator and facilitator of a series of 14 Canberra Conversations hosted from 2009-201 and bringing together citizens from across different professional and political perspectives for conversations about environmental and development issues, the arts, peace and human rights. Many were hosted in collaboration with the ANU Climate Institute. A grandmother of 5, in January 2020, concerned by the ongong political climate wars and horrified by the Black Summer bushfires, Janet brought together Canberra women to promote women-led collaborative climate action. This led to the formation of the WCC.

    LinkedIn

  • Dr Mary Picard

    Director, Policy and Research Lead

    Dr Mary Picard works from Australia as an international consultant in disaster and climate risk law, policy and practice, and is a recognised specialist on women’s resilience to disasters and climate change. In 2017 she co-founded Humanitarian and Development Consulting, a feminist consulting company. She has recently worked with UN Women, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the Asian Development Bank and the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

    Mary’s work evolved during 16 years overseas from 2000 to 2017 in Switzerland, Guatemala and Zimbabwe, after being a trade union official and then an anti-discrimination and labour lawyer in Melbourne in the 1980s/90s. Mary completed a Master’s and PhD in international law in Geneva and began working in international disaster response law with the Red Cross, which evolved into national disaster and climate risk governance over the last decade.

    LinkedIn

  • Shelley Anderson

    Director, Governance and Systems Coordinator

    Shelley is a Certified Environmental Practitioner (EIANZ and IEMA) with consulting expertise in the assessment of pollution on ecosystem and human health. Currently, she helps organisations to collate and analyse their activity data and GHG emissions, and report on sustainability outcomes. Shelley has researched and written articles about sustainable business systems, carbon footprinting and net zero emissions and led research on the pain points of ESG disclosures and reporting. She was the Environment Director and Company Secretary of the Cotswold Canals Trust (UK), where she led the Natural Environment Team through a two-year bid phase, resulting in funding from 2020 – 2025.

    LinkedIn

  • Head shot photo of Liz Courtney

    Liz Courtney

    Director, Rural and Regional Program Lead

    Liz Courtney is an award-winning social entrepreneur and visionary communications leader, driving a global multimedia platform that educates, mobilizes, and inspires communities toward social and environmental change. With over two decades in corporate communications, including her role as MD at Ogilvy PR Australia, Liz brings her strategic prowess to the climate sector, crafting high-impact narratives that resonate across sectors. In 2024, Liz was awarded "Women Changing the World in Media," presented by the Duchess of York in London, for her pioneering work in climate awareness and education. She has also been honoured as one of the 100 Women of Influence for uniting youth in climate action through the "Youth4Planet" initiative, and she is an inductee of the Australian Businesswomen’s Hall of Fame.

    Liz's personal journey into climate advocacy began in 2010 with "Cool School Antarctica," an expedition with 40 teenagers for the Global Youth Climate Summit, alongside Prof. Robert Swan OBE. This project included the first Indigenous youth on the continent, offering a powerful cultural perspective on climate issues. Since then, she’s led many other groundbreaking initiatives. During her tenure as Artist in Residence at The Earth Observatory of Singapore (2019-2024), Liz expanded her reach with projects like Changing Ocean Asia, narrated by Dr. Sylvia Earle, and Future Cities, which delves into nature-based solutions.and, more recently, Antarctica: The Giant Awakens, a documentary exploring the impact of melting glaciers on global sea levels.

    LinkedIn

  • Genevieve Hutcheson

    Director, Financial Lead

    Genevieve is a Chartered Accountant and purpose-driven finance executive with expertise in financial management, transformation, and governance across ASX-listed companies, government, and philanthropic organisations. Her career spans real estate, health care, housing, and the not-for-profit space, where she has consistently championed sustainable and values-led outcomes.

    At the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet, she gained valuable insight into the intersection of government policy and politics, while at Landcom she led the implementation of a $10 million system that modernised the organisation’s operations and enabled the delivery of more social and affordable housing across NSW.

    Genevieve has also contributed to grassroots community initiatives, volunteering at her children’s school and serving as age manager coordinator and committee member at her local Little Athletics centre. Most recently, as CFO and Company Secretary for a philanthropic family office, Genevieve learnt how community-led organisations and women’s leadership can enable long-term change.

    Passionate about climate action and social equity, Genevieve brings a unique blend of expertise and values-driven leadership to her role. She is committed to empowering women and communities to implement change that delivers positive social and environmental outcomes. She enjoys gardening, mountain biking, and hiking with her family—activities that keep her grounded in the natural world she strives to protect.

    LinkedIn

  • Dr Leila Alem

    Director 

    Dr Leila Alem is an Adjunct Professor at UTS with over 25 years’ experience as a scientist in artificial intelligence and human-computer Interaction, including 23 years as a lead scientist at CSIRO.

    Early on in her career she learned that complex challenges are rarely just technical – they are deeply human and systemic. This insight shaped her approach: engaging stakeholders to co-create pathways for change rather than imposing solutions.

    Over time, her focus has expanded to the grand challenges of our era  – climate change, inequality, and biodiversity loss – and to understanding how these are profoundly interconnected. She became fascinated by how systems evolve and the role humans play within them: how shifting our mindsets and behaviours is essential if we wish to shift the systems themselves.

    This has led her to dedicate her work to responsible innovation and systems change – helping individuals and organisations see the bigger picture, question assumptions, and design catalytic interventions that move us toward a more sustainable and equitable future.  

    Leila is part of the organising committees for Climate Action Week Sydney and AlterCOP30 Sydney, where she co-designs and delivers sessions and programs that connect thought leaders and changemakers driving climate action and systems transformation.

    LinkedIn

  • Rachael Stewart

    Director 

    Rachael Stewart is a national leader in climate change and net zero. She works with technical experts across the engineering and professional services space to incorporate net zero and low-carbon initiatives into infrastructure projects across all sectors, and advises teams on how to help clients meet emissions reduction goals following the principles of PAS2080. 

    Rachael has also had a 20-year career in digital innovation and strategic communication after obtaining a Masters in Enterprise Management and degree in digital media production from the University of the Arts London. She has worked in London, New York and Abu Dhabi, and ran her own company for a few years, making Australia her home in 2009. 

    Rachael changed her career focus in 2023 to climate and decarbonisation after finding out that infrastructure impacts 70% of emissions in Australia. She co-chairs the Materials and Embodied Carbon Leaders Alliance (MECLA) working group on emissions evaluation. 

    A passionate supporter of women’s leadership, Rachael is an alum of Women's Environmental Leadership Australia's (WELA) National Leadership Program. She lives with her husband, two children and two dogs in beautiful Darkinjung land, Central Coast NSW.

    LinkedIn

  • Chandra Parihar

    WCC Secretary, Steering Circle

    Chandra Parihar is a human resources professional with experience working in various public sector departments. Her expertise includes Business Partnering, Talent Management, Organisational Development and Workforce Analytics.

    An advocate for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), Chandra served as the President of the Young Professionals Network at the United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA), where she engaged and informed young professionals to champion sustainability and create meaningful societal change.

    An alum of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Chandra brings a blend of global perspective and local insight to drive initiatives that foster inclusivity, social impact, and empowerment. She is deeply committed to helping women find their voices and thrive in any field they choose.

    Outside of work, Chandra enjoys growing her own vegetables and has a love for dance.

    LinkedIn

Hub Circle

  • Supriya Perera

    Membership and Communications team

    Supriya is a UX design expert. Her passion is uncovering human (and non-human) pain-points, co-designing process efficiencies and enhancing user experience through the effective implementation of technology or simple redesign.

    She has applied UX design methods in many different areas and industries: Health, Supply Chain, Pharmaceuticals, Data, Insurance, Toys & Games, Conservation & Sustainability.

    Supriya believes in the power of stories and play. Play builds trust in teams and communities and the right story told in the right way can inspire unimaginable change.

  • Mardi Chapman

    Zoom Bookclub convenor

    Mardi has a background in medical science but swapped a lab coat for a laptop many years ago to work as a medical writer - writing news for medical specialists around the country from my home office on the Gold Coast.

    She is Mum to three creative young adults and says ‘the beach, books and chocolate are good for my soul’.

  • Lyn Stephens

    Membership team

    Lyn has a background in mental health, public sector management, and organisational development consulting. She has had a long interest in dialogue practice and for some years was the director of the ANU Centre for Dialogue. In this role, in 2008 she started the ANU Dialogue Group, a community of practice for dialogue practitioners, which is still active today. She has also been very active in the Art of Hosting Conversations community in Australia and coordinates a support group for AoH practitioners to share ideas and deepen their practice.escription goes here

  • Alex Marsden

    Multiparty Parliamentary Women’s Groups

    Alex Marsden is a strategic designer, arts and cultural policy expert, and cultural advocate and adviser. She has a diverse background in public policy, strategic thinking and cultural heritage management, linked by a primary focus on people, culture and values. Trained as an historian, she has worked in museums, the non-government sector, heritage agencies and key national public policy departments, including 8 years at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C).

  • Laurann Yen

    Multiparty Parliamentary Women’s Groups

    Laurann Yen has worked in the health sector through most of her career as a clinical psychologist, manager, policy maker and researcher in the UK and Australia. More recently she has been working as a volunteer in her local community supporting the recovery efforts following bushfires of 2019/20, which has led to an increasing activism in the climate space. With Alex Marsden she is promoting a Women’s Caucus in the Parliament, aiming to take the vital issue of climate change above the fray of political partisanship to find solutions that work for all our communities.

  • Amelia Meaney

    Volunteer website manager

    Amelia is a Sydney-based communications and marketing professional with a passion for sustainability, climate action and the arts.

    She has worked in local and federal government and at various arts and culture organisations, from City of Sydney Council and National Archives of Australia to Documentary Australia Foundation and the University of Sydney’s performing arts centre. Throughout these roles, she has enjoyed using storytelling to drive engagement and change.

    She also enjoys volunteering for causes she cares about and spending time in nature on hikes, bushwalks and strolls with her family dogs.

    Amelai says:

    I volunteer for Women’s Climate Congress because I believe in the power of collective, women-driven action for a sustainable future. The Congress’s work is inspiring, aligning with my values and my hopes for the planet, and I’m glad I can contribute in some way.

  • Margaret de Kam

    Victorian Congress 2025 hosting team

    Margaret has recently retired from a long career as a social worker.

    She continues to use her social work skills supervising social work students doing long placements with an emphasis on how to engage vulnerable people in being able to access natural places.

    When Margaret is not engaged in these actvities, she paints in the botancial art style, precious drawings showing intense detail of plants, nuts seeds, leaves, etc.

  • Jenny Cameron

    Victorian Congress 2025 hosting team

    Jennifer Cameron is a historian, writer and social activist, particularly for women’s rights and the rights of Nature. She has a lifelong interest in understanding the experience of women through the ages and, particularly in prehistory and through that, Goddess Spirituality. She has worked as a teacher, trainer, policy writer for government and management consultant to the not-for-profit sector. She is author of the book Ancient Ways for Current Days - Women, Goddess and Communities of Peace; author of the play ‘Out of Chaos’ performed in Australia and England, and Co-Convenor of the Gaia Temple Inc in Melbourne.

  • Kirsten Anker

    Kirsten trained in law, both in Australia and the US. After working for some time with Legal Aid, she has mainly focused on family as they lived in different places around the world. She has developed an interest in conflict resolution and mediation, especially in the community context, and believes that communication amongst decision-makers that is honest, open and empathetic would improve the quality of government and put us in a place from which we could move forward on the important challenges that will shape our future.cription goes here

  • Bec Blurton

    First Nations relationships

    A Noongar Traditional Owner, experienced working with communities across Australia, Bec is a driven and experienced executive with 15+ years in project delivery, program design and people leadership in human rights and social justice. She is the Managing Director of First Nations Affairs, an advisory firm that partners with industry, government and Aboriginal corporations towards a just transition, we: elevate First Nations voices and lived experience in policy and programs that impact them; understand and embed the principles of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; understand and promote First Nations self-determination; promote and work towards Nation Building; and drive meaningful and sustainable reconciliation.

  • Barbara Baikie OAM

    Barbara has been an advocate for women's issues for many years, Barbara is concerned about domestic violence, gender equality in positions of leadership, and the growing problem of homelessness of older women.

    With an amazing ability to connect with young people, Barbara sought to inspire a new generation of Australian women. In 2017, she founded the National Council of Young Women of Australia. As president of the National Council of Women of Australia, in 2018 Barbara was invited to speak at the 70th meeting of the United Nations Committee for ending all forms of Discrimination Against Women.

    Barbara has also served as a member and past president of Hall Rotary Club, and is a past president of the Canberra Chamber of Women in Business. In 2023, she received an OAM for her services to women’s affairs and the community.

  • Toni Hassan

    Intergrating the arts convenor

    Toni is an author and Walkley Award-winning journalist. She has held senior positions in communications and advocacy in the not-for-profit sector including Indigenous community development and public health.

    Toni is passionate about understanding how change happens. She has worked as an advisor for two federal parliamentarians and is an emerging artist combining her climate change and social justice concerns with visual practice.

    Toni is an adjunct scholar at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Charles Sturt University, an ecumenical body which progresses wisdom for the common good. She is an associate fellow with the The Australia Institute's Centre for Responsible Technology and a board director with the charity, Be Slavery Free . She has three school-age children at home with husband, Peter.

Ambassadors

  • Wendy Harper

    Ambassador at Large

    Wendy Harper is a transformation leadership consultant with a core focus on inner development powering personal agency and resilience for mastering the art of complex transitions. She is a co-founder of the Inner Development Goals (IDGs) national hub, Chair of the Business Women Australia Advisory Board, Chair of Gaia Imperative Co and a working group member for Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index. She curates immersive, transformative learning journeys that enable individuals and organisations to develop the essential mindsets for achieving the global goals. 

    As the founder of the Agency of Women, Wendy is passionate about leveraging change-leadership into real-world projects that enable women leaders, like elder Mary Jack in Vanuatu, build the social leadership capacities of underserved women amid the escalating impacts of climate change.

Our inaugural members
Many thanks to the following members who joined the Congress in 2020 and generously contributed to the working funds, which are allowing us to develop the Congress and work towards our vision:

Karin Ahrling, Kirsten Anker, Debbie Argue, Reverend Sarah Bachelard, Barbara Baikie, Sally Blake, Di Bresciani OAM, Dr Hilary Cadman, Debbie Cameron, Jan Carey, Calista Castles, Caroline le Couteur, Shanna Choudhary, Glenda Cloughley, Deborah Crossing, Annie Didcott, Leonie Ebert, Joanne Ede, Mel Edwards, Louise Fitzgerald, Mel Geltch, Jane Geltch, Sheena Gillman, Beryl Gowty, Jenny Hargreaves, Judith Healy, Dr Arnagretta Hunter, Lesley Irvine, Rae Jacobson, Susan Kirby, Gill King, Lynette Lane, Christine Larkin, Alison Leigh, Johanna McBride, Fiona MacDonald, Ruth McGowan, Savannah McGuirk, Lorraine McLoughlin, Anne Napier, Dr Honey Nelson, Barbara Nettlebeck, Barbara O’Dwyer, Irene Pellegrino, Janet Perry, Helen Pilkinton, Sally Richards OAM, Monica Richter, Meg Rigby, Jenny Robinson, Janet Salisbury, Lannah Sawers-Diggins, Lyn Stephens, Sarah Stitt.