Penny Carnaby
CEO, National Library of New Zealand

Penny was appointed Chief Executive of the National Library of New Zealand and National Librarian in January 2003. She is currently one of the three Chief Executives on the Minister for Information Technology and Minister of Communication’s Digital Strategy Advisory Group, representing the ‘Content’ and ‘Confidence’ component of the strategy.

Penny is also Deputy Chair of the Minister for Education’s ICT Steering Committee for Education, a member of the Public Sector Training Organisation Board (PSTO), the Library and Information Advisory Commission (LIAC), Council of Australian State Libraries (CASL), Vice Chair of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL) and Adjunct Professor at Victoria University of Wellington.

Prior to returning to New Zealand in 2003, she was University Librarian and Deputy Librarian at Macquarie University in Sydney. Previous to this she enjoyed a long career in the tertiary sector in several roles at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT), including leading integrated educational delivery services in library and learning services, e-learning and staff development. In 1999-2000 she served as National President of the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA), and was awarded a Fellowship of the Association in 2001.

She has a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Diploma of Education from the University of New South Wales. Penny’s professional interest is in creating national frameworks and strategies to enhance the flow of information to all parts of society. She believes that New Zealand Aotearoa has the potential to become a leading information democracy.

Her personal interests include the environment and wildlife of Australia and New Zealand, and the management of a small farm on Banks Peninsula, growing native trees.

Dr Dawn Casey
Chief Executive Officer, Western Australian Museum

Dr Dawn Casey is widely known nationally and internationally for her work as the Director of the National Museum of Australia. She was responsible for the construction and development of the museum that opened as a Centenary of Federation project in 2001.

In a world first for the building construction industry Dr Casey used Alliancing, a new form of project delivery developed by BP for North Sea oil and gas projects. The Alliance contract promoted a ‘no dispute’ culture prohibiting litigation and avoided the traditional adversarial approaches. The museum was completed on time and on budget – a rare achievement for a major public sector building project.

In addition Dr Casey managed the transition of the museum from an organisation of some forty staff with an annual budget of $4million to a fully operational museum with 210 paid staff, 200 volunteers, an annual budget of $43million and approximately 2 million visitors within the first two and a half years of opening.

Dr Casey’s other experience includes her major contribution to Indigenous policies and programs and Australia’s Cultural Heritage nationally. Her career includes the establishment of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and she initiated the joint Commonwealth/State response to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody as a senior executive in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

As Assistant Director General, AusAID, Dr Casey’s responsibilities included: Multilateral Development Banks, United Nations, World Health Organisation and other international programs.

Dr Casey has represented Australia internationally including being on the Development Board for Commonwealth Countries and the Global Environment Facility and on various United Nations Delegations.

Dr Casey is currently an Adjunct Professor to the University of Queensland, Griffith University and the University of the Sunshine Coast and serves on a number of boards and committees. These include the University of Canberra Council, the Indigenous Education Advisory Committee at Charles Sturt University, three advisory bodies at the Australian National University and chairing the Advisory Board for the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation at the University of Melbourne and the ACT Cultural Council.

Dr Casey’s awards for achievement include:

• Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (FAHA)
• Honorary Doctorate of Arts, Charles Sturt University
• Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy, University of Queensland
• Australia Day Public Service Medal (PSM)
• Centenary of Federation Medal
• Centenary of the Australian Public Service Medal
• 3 Commonwealth Public Service Australia Day Medals (1985, 1988 and 1996)
• The Clem Cummings Award for the Royal Australian Institute of Architects

Celebrated author, documentary maker and popular TV chef, Jason Clarke is none of these things. At least not yet.

However, he has staged operas from Covent Garden and La Scala, conceived and designed multi-million dollar tourist attractions, like the Melbourne Aquarium and the revamped Penguin Reserve at Phillip Island.

He's won international awards for his work in the commercial film industry and has been the Creative Director of Australia's largest multi-media company. Today he is one of the most sought after creative thinkers in the country and the founding father of Minds at Work, a commercial collective of professional thinkers hell bent on changing the world.

He is currently teaching courses both in logic and creativity as part of the MBA degree at Mt Eliza Business School.  He doesn't know what he'll be doing by 2010 but is open to suggestions.

Minds At Work is a dynamic collective of working thinkers. We are deeply and actively involved with our clients and their developments. Through ongoing programs, workshops and presentations, we address cultural and creativity issues within organizations.
Minds At Work has worked with oil industry executives, teachers, lawyers, children, CEOs and secretaries, police and stock analysts. Brainstorming sessions, planning sessions, and creative discussions are standard fare. Behind everything Minds At Work does is the desire to unlock people's innate creativity; to slake the thirst for new solutions and to empower people to think creatively for themselves.

Neil McClelland OBE
Director, National Literacy Trust (UK) (Independent charity dedicated to building a literate nation)

Neil McClelland started his career as a teacher before moving into educational administration.  He has worked as the deputy director of schools for the Inner London Education Authority, the director of education for the London Borough of Greenwich and is currently the director of the National Literacy Trust (UK). 

In 1988 Neil was a member of the UK delegation to the United States that reported on issues of inner city education.  He was a co editor and contributor to Teaching and learning in cities (Whitbread 1993) and Building a literate nation (Trentham Books 1997).  Neil has served on various advisory groups to the UK government, including the stakeholders' group for the review of the strategic framework of the public library service.  In 2002 he was awarded an OBE for services to education.