Liz is a global strategist with local community always at the forefront of her mind and work; a change agent who loves bringing people along on big ideas, one facilitated conversation at a time. She grew up in regional Queensland, where her mum, a single parent, instilled in her the power of what we now call social capital - the relationships that people draw on when the going gets tough.
Over the past 30 years Liz has worked in more than 80 countries in international, indigenous and community development, living out her purpose that people and communities are empowered to live the lives they value. Prior to leading Australian Business Volunteers she was the CEO of Australian Doctors International, and before that spent six years heading up global strategy for World Vision. In that role Liz built hundreds of regional and national community development strategies in the world's most socially, economically and politically complex places.
Liz brings specialist experience in gender equity and indigenous affairs, having advised the International Red Cross Society on gender equity in Asia, and heading up Indigenous Development for World Vision. Over the past five years Liz has been able to bring the full force of her experience to life with ABV by designing and implementing innovative new approaches to community-led recovery following the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires in NSW and Victoria and corporate community business partnerships across the Pacific. Under Liz’s leadership ABV is forging new pathways and facilitating radical collaboration between government, nonprofit, corporate, academia, emergency services, the private sector, and an army of volunteers to ensure our communities are prepared for a more resilient future.
