newday

Peter Baines OAM, developed his unique leadership style by leading international identification teams into Indonesia and Thailand following acts of terrorism and the 2004 South East Asian Tsunami. He would go on to work in the counter terrorism area of Interpol, spent time with the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime and also worked in Saudi Arabia and Japan after natural disasters hit those countries. But it was his work in Thailand that brought the biggest change. After meeting the children left orphaned by the Tsunami, Peter felt compelled to act and founded an Australian charity called Hands Across the Water which has gone on to create opportunities for hundreds of children across Thailand.

Today, Peter has a successful consulting business building engagement through corporate social responsibility and presents across the globe to major corporations and governments on Leadership. He is the author of two books, Hands Across the Water, and Doing Good by Doing Good which provides a blueprint for building experience led engagement programs with a focus on shared value.

In January 2014, Peter Baines was recognised in the Australia Day honours with the awarding of the Order of Australia Medal for his International Humanitarian work. In 2016 he received the Most Admirable Order of Direkgunabhorn awarded by the King of Thailand for his devotional services to the Kingdom of Thailand.

Adirupa has been working in the leadership development space for over 20 years. She has a passion for developing talent and connecting people from different backgrounds. She has extensive knowledge and experience of working across different countries, cities and cultures to help leaders learn to cross boundaries in order to tackle complex problems.

As the Group Chief Executive of Common Purpose Charitable Trust, she works with major organizations and institutions around the world. Adirupa grew up in India and read for an MPhil in International Relations at St. John’s College, Cambridge. She is also an alumnus of the Harvard Business School’s High Potential Leadership Programme.

Dr James Muecke AM graduated with Honours from the University of Adelaide Medical School in 1987. Following his internship, James lived and worked as a doctor in Africa and subsequently as an eye surgeon in the Middle East, battling malaria, wild animals, and rebel soldiers. He founded Sight For All in 2008, turning his boundless energy into a fight against blindness in the Aboriginal communities of Australia and some of the poorest countries of Asia and Africa. His commitment to social impact and humanitarian endeavors has earnt him a string of awards including an Order of Australia in 2012, the Australian Medical Association’s President’s Leadership Award in 2013, and Ernst & Young’s Social Entrepreneur for Australia in 2015.

James is a researcher, a teacher, an author, a musician, a photographer, and a film producer, and uses his many skills to deliver passionate, fascinating, and at times confronting presentations about his life, his work, philanthropy, resilience and social entrepreneurship. A neurological condition impacting on his dexterity has forced James into a premature retirement from surgery. Not letting his disability slow him down, James has redirected his vigor to crafting films, and has a number of powerful documentaries under his belt and several compelling projects in production.

Katrina Webb is recognised and acknowledged for her unique athleticism and outstanding success as a Paralympic athlete. She has won Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in athletics at three Paralympic Games. She was the first torch bearer to enter the Olympic Stadium for the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games and in 2006 Katrina was selected to present on behalf of the International Paralympic Committee to the United Nations in New York. To add to this she has walked the Kokoda track and has trekked to Basecamp Everest. In 2012 & 2016, Katrina was selected as one of two Paralympians Ambassadors for the International Paralympic Committee at the London, Rio & Tokyo Paralympic Games. Due to her own experience in dealing with a disability and a desire to help others, Katrina is a passionate humanitarian. She currently organises leadership treks to Nepal including Everest Basecamp, raising funds for the health, education and protection of children in Nepal.

Katrina is an international speaker, leadership and personal mastery consultant, trainer in wellbeing and resilience, a physiotherapist and also the founder and director of Newday.

Like many who grew up in the Khumbu (Everest region), Tashi comes from a long line of mountaineers. His grandfather died tragically in an avalanche and despite the risks Tashi’s father followed into the family business working on ascents of Everest and many other peaks.

Tashi however started out on a different path before succumbing to the call of the mountains. He was a buddhist monk for 19 years where he specialised in being a medic at Kopan monastery in Kathmandu and received a degree in community health work.

Life in the mountains was a natural fit for Tashi. He started guiding treks in 2007 and three years later he moved on to the big mountains. Since then he has summited and guided Mt. Everest seven times, Ama Dabalm, and Baruntse, and led trekking peak climbs of Island, Mera, Pachermo and others. Tashi is a certified professional International Mountain guide with a Diploma in Mountain and an Instructor of Nepal Mountaineering Instructor Association. At Newday, Tashi will discuss leadership lessons from a buddhist monk to leading people to the top of the world.

(Please note: Tashi's confirmation is based on his visa being granted to Australia)

Matthew Wright-Simon is delighted to be working with Katrina and the Newday Leadership team on bringing this event together and hosting our inspiring leaders on stage as our Emcee. As he did in 2018, Matthew will link the intimacy of what's shared with the big picture and the events that shape our lives as leaders.

Matthew engages changemakers to confront tough personal, social and economic challenges — while having as much fun as possible in the process. His diverse commercial work is informed his roles in thought leadership, philanthropy and conservation with TEDxAdelaide, the Awesome Foundation and Landscape Partnerships, an environmental NGO he co-founded several years ago.