Speakers

An amazing line up of speakers has been assembled, and we continue to add to the line-up.

Check back here for updates as more and more incredible women come on board!

Keynote Speaker

Melinda Tankard-Reist

Author, speaker, media commentator, blogger and advocate for young people. She is best known for her work addressing sexualisation, objectification, harms of pornography, sexual exploitation, trafficking and violence against women. Melinda is author/editor of six books including Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls (Spinifex Press, 2009), and her new release Broken Bonds: surrogate mothers speak out (Spinifex Press, 2019, co-edited with Dr Jennifer Lahl and Dr Renate Klein. An opinion writer, Melinda has appeared on ABC’s Q&A and The Gruen Sessions as well as many other TV and radio programs. Melinda is co-founder of the grassroots campaigning movement, Collective Shout: for a world free of sexploitation, exposing corporations, advertisers and marketers who objectify women and sexualise girls to sell products and services. An Ambassador for World Vision Australia, Compassion Australia, HagarNZ and the youth mentoring body the Raise Foundation, Melinda is also Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Culture and Ethics, Notre Dame University, Sydney. Melinda is named in the Who’s Who of Australian Women and the World Who’s Who of Women

Keynote Speech: Sunday @ 10:00am

Nadene Alhadeff

Nadene has been running the Mum for Mum program for the past 5 years, increasing the program’s reach from 14 trained volunteers in 2008 to 50 active volunteers in the eastern suburbs, and was instrumental in setting up the north shore program last year.

Having owned and run her own 29 place preschool for 25 years after immigrating to Australia,  she developed her own training courses, running workshops in the corporate, welfare and educational areas.

She worked with indigenous students at UNSW’s Shalom College and served as a volunteer counsellor and training facilitator with Lifeline for many years.

She has a Bachelor’s degree in Social Science, a postgraduate counselling qualification from the Australian College of Applied Psychology, a Cert 1V in training and is a qualified yoga teacher and “circle of security” facilitator and serves on the newly formed steering committee for suicide prevention within the Jewish community.

 

Panellist, Women in Leadership: Monday @ 9:30am

Jordana Borensztajn

Jordana Borensztajn is a keynote speaker, social media strategist, author, humourist and presentation skills coach who inspires, educates and entertains audiences with action-packed and high-energy presentations and workshops.

Jordana’s experience includes being a News Corp Australia journalist, working as online music editor, content producer and social media manager at Nova Entertainment, writing a business-marketing book called Capture My Attention: How to Stand Out Online with Creative Content, performing two sold-out shows in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, speaking at corporate conferences around the world, and running a schools program that explores online safety for students.

 

Social Media: Monday @ 2:15pm

Rebecca Burrows

Rebecca Burrows is General Manager Segment Development and Marketing for Business and Government at Australia Post.

In this role Rebecca is driving a customer-led focus on connecting people, business and government through our unique retail, delivery, identity and payments network capabilities.

This builds on her previous leadership for a strong enterprise focus on the needs of Australian small businesses to create solutions for success in an eCommerce marketplace.

Rebecca drives excellence by harnessing the talents of diverse, highly engaged teams and is well respected as an innovative, authentic leader with strong commercial and operational acumen. She has inspired entrepreneurial women nationwide through speaking engagements, including rural and regional, and active media and social engagement.

Rebecca is a mum to 2 boys, Noah and Jacob, and is on the council at Bialik college.

Panellist, Women in Business Panel: Sunday @ 1.15pm

Lahra Carey

Lahra is an entrepreneurial business builder and experienced non-executive Board Director who specialises in PR, crisis management and media training.

She is the President of The King David School, and in her spare time is writing a book and parenting her three teenaged children.

Moderator, Girls Unlimited Panel: Sunday @ 11.15am

Gabi Crafti

Gabi is a barrister practising predominantly in commercial law. She is a member of the Bar Council of the Victorian Bar Association and Chair of the Bar’s Diversity & Inclusion Working Group. She is also a member of the Executive of the Commercial Bar Association. 

 

Gabi is the President of the Jewish Professional Women’s Network and the President of the United Jewish Education Board.

Moderator, Women in Business Panel: Sunday @ 1.15pm

Ayala Domani

As Innovation & Incubation Executive at Telstra, Ayala leads a diverse team who manage and drive Telstra’s innovation and incubation pipeline, Labs and start-up ecosystem engagement.

Throughout her career at Telstra Ayala has embraced a range of leadership roles; including product management, strategic partnerships and product marketing, specialising in taking emerging technologies to market.

Prior to joining Telstra, Ayala worked with tech startups, across technical and customer success roles in international markets.

Panellist, Women in Leadership: Monday @ 9.30am

Moran Dvir

Moran Dvir is a proud member of the NCJWA Vic Board and brings marketing, events and social media experience in the not–for–profit space. She combines her passion for gender equality and female empowerment with a strong determination for effecting change. Moran is enjoying working on the communications side of various NCJWA campaigns as well as being part of the Next Gen team that is engaging the next generation of women with the work of the Council.

Moran is also the founder and Co-Chair of Twelve Batmi and Thirteen Barmi, a giving program for bar and batmitzvah families that has seen over 400 families participate in monthly volunteering experiences with NFPs in the last five years. 

Panellist, Women in Leadership: Monday @ 9.30am

Chelsea Fisher

I immigrated to Australia in January 2009 at age 13 and attended Mount Scopus Memorial College.  In 2010, I was introduced to the game of AFL Footy. My affinity for this game was instantaneous. In 2013 I graduated VCE and continued to play Maccabi Soccer for my 5th year. At the start of 2014 I  contacted the AJAX president with a proposal of a 2015 AJAX Senior Women’s Team, and ultimately the inaugural AJAX Senior Women’s Team was established. I captained the team in our first year to a Grand Final. I was privileged enough to be announced the Division 3 Best and Fairest Winner for 2017. In 2018, I helped launch and coach the Junior AJAX girls Football team who saw themselves become Premiers in their first season. Further, I have been a dedicated volunteer of the Community Security Group for 7 years in several leadership positions. 

Panellist, Girls Unlimited Panel: Sunday @ 11.15am

Dr Susan Feldman

Dr. Susan Feldman was the founding Director of The Alma Unit for Women and Ageing established in 1994 at the University of Melbourne. The Unit was Australia’s first multi-disciplinary research and teaching unit dedicated to promoting an understanding of the health and wellbeing of older women.  She continued to direct the unit for more than 20 years. Susan has held the position of Associate Professor Monash University’s Healthy Ageing Unit Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and health Sciences and until most recently the position of Adjunct Associate Professor in that Faculty. Susan has been a member of NCJW Vic for over 30 years and has volunteered, and has served as a board and committee member during this time.

Speaker, “Caught in the middle”: Monday @ 3:30pm

Professor Emerita Helen Forgasz

Before moving into academia, Helen worked as a computer programmer, followed by ten years as a high school teacher of mathematics, physics, and computing. She left teaching and completed her PhD in 1995. A prestigious Australian Research Council post-doctoral fellowship preceded her first appointment at Deakin University. In 2003 Helen was offered a position at her alma mater, Monash University, in the Faculty of Education.

Helen’s research and teaching have focussed on gender issues in mathematics education, science education, and in computing. She has investigated students’ and teachers’ attitudes and beliefs, mathematics learning settings (e.g., single-sex/co-ed), and classroom grouping practices (e.g., ‘ability’ grouping). Helen has disseminated her research findings in books, scholarly and professional journals, as well as in the popular media.

Panellist, Girls Unlimited Panel: Sunday @ 11.15am

Sara Kowal

Sara has practiced exclusively in criminal law since 2004 and has extensive experience in the defence of complex prosecutions including major drug matters, large frauds, homicides, violence and sexual assaults. Sara has worked at Galbally Rolfe Barristers and Solicitors since 2006, recently transitioning to the role of Special Counsel to the firm.

Sara is the Vice-President of the Capital Punishment Justice Project (CPJP – formerly Reprieve Australia). 

In 2018, Sara was appointed as the Clinical Supervisor of the Anti-Death Penalty Clinic at Monash University, the first stage of the Anti-Death Penalty Institute, a regional research hub committed to policy, research, advocacy and casework focussed on ending the death penalty. 

Sara’s interest in social justice was solidified in her teens, through her involvement in Hashomer Hatzair. Sara is on the Board of Shira Hadasha, a vibrant orthodox community where women’s leadership and religious participation is integral. 

Panellist, Women in Business Panel: Sunday @ 1.15pm

Rachael Neumann

Rachael Neumann plays across many parts of the startup ecosystem, chiefly as Head of Startups in Australia & New Zealand for Amazon Web Services – Amazon’s technology and services business that serves millions of customers around the world.  In this role, Rachael is charged with growing the market, driving quantity and quality of startups in the region.

Additionally, Rachael is a strategic advisor and investor to a number of founders and their early stage companies and is a Partner in Startmate, Australia’s most ambitious accelerator. She’s passionate about helping companies scale and increase their impact impact through differentiated customer experiences and new product development.

Panellist, Women in Business Panel: Sunday @ 1.15pm

Dr Harriet Radermacher

Dr Harriet Radermacher is a research and evaluation consultant. Her work over the last 15 years has focused on the experiences of people from diverse backgrounds in a range of areas including ageing, gambling, disability and palliative care. Harriet is an adjunct lecturer at Monash University and also works as a policy officer at the Australian Psychological Society. True to her doctorate in Community Psychology in 2006, underpinning Harriet’s research interests is her desire to give voice to the lived experiences of those people who are often excluded and marginalised in current society; and to contribute to knowledge about how to better access and include these voices in research. 

Speaker, “Caught in the Middle”  Monday @ 3.30pm

Anna Serry

Anna Serry has a background in commercial law as well as in public interest law and currently sits on the Board of NCJWA (Vic) while raising her young family.  Anna recently completed the Institute of Community Director’s Diploma in Business Governance. She chairs the NextGen and Advocacy Committees and has recently launched the #makespaceforher campaign, aimed at increasing the participation of women in the leadership of our jewish community and elevating womens voices in our community forums. 

Moderator, Women in Leadership Panel: Monday @ 10.15am

Mikki Silverman

Mikki is on the Executive Team at Bellamy’s Organic in the role of Director of Food. Mikki is responsible for growing the Bellamy’s food business across Australia, SEA and China. After graduating from Monash University with an Engineering / Commerce degree, Mikki spent the first six years of her career as a management consultant at Bain & Company. Mikki has also held senior roles at Coles, Goodstart Early learning and was the CEO of a tech start-up for a number of years. In a communal capacity, Mikki served on the board of Maccabi Australia for five years from 2013 to 2018, responsible for sending the Australian delegation to the Maccabiah in Israel. Mikki is still involved in Maccabi Australia in an advisory capacity.

Panellist, Women in Business Panel: Sunday @ 1.15pm

Enza Sgroi

Enza Sgroi commenced her teaching career in 1986 as an English and History teacher. In 1988-1990, she coordinated the Technical Skills for Girls (TSFG) program at Berwick Secondary College. TSFG was a Victorian Government initiative to encourage more females to pursue careers in technical and scientific areas. The TSFG program was delivered through the Women’s Employment Branch of the Department of Labour and the Ministry of Education. Enza also held the position of Equal Opportunity Coordinator at the College and initiated a number of gender inclusive events and reviewed Maths and Science curriculum with the aim of eliminating inherent gender bias in teaching materials and curriculum delivery. She was selected as the College’s Careers Counsellor in 2003. In 2006 she was selected as the Later Years Leader of Pathways and Transitions at Wantirna College, a role she held until 2014. In 2015, Enza was appointed as the Careers Counsellor at Mount Scopus Memorial College where she currently works.

Panellist, Girls Unlimited Panel: Sunday @ 11.15am

Negba Weiss-Dolev 

Negba Weiss-Dolev FAICD, commenced her involvement with NCJWA with long term membership of the Tarbut Group, NCJW-Vic and on the special Women Assisting Refugees and Migrants (WARM) project.  More recently she was elected to the NCJWA National Board and is pleased to be part of its change agenda.

In championing women’s rights, Negba has created and progressed a number of major initiatives in the sphere of Women’s Leadership. These initiatives helped many organisations to change their approach to encouraging and supporting women’s career aspirations and to achieve senior leadership roles in organisations including NAB, ANZ, AXA, TAC, Telstra, Medibank Private, Vic Government departments, local councils and more.

As President of the Jewish Museum of Australia, Negba led and oversaw the selection of the new CEO and the strategic rethinking / rebranding of this award-winning community museum and adult education leader.

A keen supporter of education; Negba has served as a member of Swinburne University of Technology’s Council and various Council sub-committees.

Negba has a proven track record as a Senior Executive and Board Director.  She has worked in leading-edge senior executive roles for Telstra, Adacel Technologies and co-founded and led the innovative Leadership and Change Management company; Resurgence P/L. 

MC and Speaker

Dr Susan Wise

Dr Susan Wise is a specialist periodontist in McKinnon. Susan graduated as a dentist from the University of Melbourne in 1994 and as a periodontist from the University of Queensland in 2002. Susan is a Past President of the Australian Dental Association Victorian Branch (ADAVB), was a Councillor on the ADAVB from 2010 to 2019, a Past Chair of the ADAVB Oral Health Committee and Past President of the Australian Society of Periodontology Victorian Branch. Susan is a Councilor on the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons and the President of the Korean Adoption Families Victoria.

Girls Unlimited Panel Member: Sunday @ 11.15am

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