Meet the IAP2A Board

Commenced 2018 – Expires 2026

I am a motivated and strategic leader in the engagement and governance areas. I have over 30 years of governance leadership experience across the government and NFP sectors. I have six years’ experience on the board of IAP2, five years as Chair and have played an important role in shaping the evolution of IAP2 Australasia as a leading member organisation, effecting major transformations in governance practice and uplift in services to members.

I am enthusiastic about uplifting the profession into the C-Suite and gaining recognition of the technical skills. I also bring the great value of lived experience of disability.

Commenced 2022 – Expires 2025

With over 20 years of experience in engagement, strategy and transformation across a number of sectors, Michele brings together a wealth of experience in Public Health, Emergency Management, Commercial and Executive leadership to the IAP2 Board.

Michele is currently working in a key role with the Victorian Government, leading Stakeholder and Community Engagement for the Office of Suburban Development.

Michele has an academic background in Health Promotion, Public Health and Business Administration and is passionate about engagement and reaching new segments to create and deliver better outcomes.

Commenced 2022 – Expires 2025

With over a decade’s experience practicing community engagement and community development across local and central government, Helen is a passionate about social innovation, local democracy and inclusive engagement that reflects the rich diversity of the communities we serve.  A Community Engagement and Partnerships Manager at Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, Helen leads a team of practitioners who, through a place-based approach, enable local engagement, participation and partnerships to support quality urban developments that connect homes with jobs, transport, open spaces and facilities that communities need.

Pasifika and Scottish roots, curious, collaborator, mum of two boys, neurodiverse.  Most at home in the water or in the garden, Helen is actively involved in the IAP2 Auckland network, sharing, collaborating, and learning across our sector to lift and evolve engagement practice both in Aotearoa and internationally.

Commenced 2024 – Expires 2027

Mel Hagedorn is an accomplished executive leader with close to two decades of experience in community engagement, communications, and service design across government, not-for-profit and private sectors. Mel excels in developing customer experience models and strategies that yield positive long-term outcomes for communities.

A passionate advocate for authentic engagement, digital transformation and truth-telling, Mel has made significant impacts within the digital- engagement industry. She was a finalist for the Women in Digital Indigenous Leadership Award and is seeking reappointment on the IAP2 Board. Mel’s notable achievements include implementing Qld’s first braille ballot paper for State elections and enhancing digital engagement across 300+ organisations in Australia and New Zealand.

Commenced 2023 – Expires 2026

Having worked within cultural, not-for-profit and public sectors in roles including marketing, communications, engagement and public education, Danielle is a strategic leader motivated to work with organisations which provide benefits to our communities.

Danielle currently works with Watercare which provides drinking water and wastewater services to the people of Auckland. Her team supports community and stakeholder engagement on the delivery of these services including major infrastructure projects as well as communications and outreach. Danielle also established and led Watercare’s flood recovery engagement team after the significant weather events in January and February 2023.

In addition to qualifications in both business and communications, Danielle has an MBA from the Auckland University of Technology with a major in marketing.

Commenced 2022 – Expires 2025

Tim has over 20 years’ experience in the UK and Australia delivering stakeholder management, community engagement and communications across a range of industry sectors including transport, infrastructure and government. His experience includes key leadership roles on many of the largest ever transport projects delivered in Australia. Tim has a particularly strong background in managing complex stakeholder relations around busy and challenging operating environments and in identifying and mitigating risks associated with impacts on communities.

Tim’s breadth of experience has seen him hold senior project roles in the public sector; with major top-tier construction companies; and in consulting. In 2017 Tim founded his own consultancy business to provide high-level strategic advice in consultation and engagement. Tim is currently Head of Communications & Stakeholders with Gamuda Australia.

In addition to his experience as a practitioner of community engagement, Tim has an MBA with First Class Honours from Melbourne Business School and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Foundations of Directorship course. As an IAP2 Board Director, Tim is keen to focus on shaping the organisation’s drive towards higher standards of professionalism and recognition.

Commenced 2020 – Expires 2026

Alistair is Executive General Manager at RPS, a leading global professional services firm. There he heads the data analytics, communications and engagement, creative services and social advisory teams which support city-shaping projects around Australia. Starting his 23-year career in television journalism and corporate communications, Alistair’s been an engagement practitioner since 2007. Since then he’s led engagement activities on major water, energy and transport infrastructure projects in New South Wales and Victoria.

During this time he’s seen the benefits of, and become a passionate advocate for, meaningful engagement during the planning, design and delivery phases of of the essential infrastructure projects and programs that support and enable our cities and communities. As a Director at IAP2A, Alistair looks forward to supporting the continued evolution, professionalisation and regard of engagement and its practitioners.

A resident of Regional Victoria, Alistair enjoys good food and wine, supports the Richmond Tigers and has a weakness for 80s and 90s pop music.

Commenced 2024 – Expires 2027

I am founder and Managing Director of Cultural Perspectives in 1994: sector leader in consulting to, researching and engaging with culturally and linguistically diverse communities in Australia.

I am distinguished in my pioneering work around multicultural and multilingual communications and engagement, applying communications and engagement theory and strategies to the fast growing and diversifying CALD segment in Australia, and keen to explore a more culturally inclusive IAP2.

I have significant governance experience across private and community structures spanning 40 years. I am a Fellow of the Communications and Public Relations Australia (CPRA), a Qualified Practicing Market Research (QPMR) and GAICD.

Commenced 2024 – Expires 2027

Based in Ōtaki with her multicultural, bilingual whānau, Sarah is a principal and owner at Aurecon, leading Engagement and Change Advisory for Aotearoa. Her team helps clients and communities solve some of NZ’s most complex infrastructure problems.

Sarah’s 30-year career began in the arts, analysing and communicating complex ideas for diverse people doing ambitious things on tiny budgets! A good foundation for her eminence in navigating complex infrastructure development and management, supporting government and communities through change to find their common ground.

Through promoting IAP2 training and principles, Sarah has delivered great outcomes and unlocked opportunities for communities, decision-makers, technical experts, and engagement practitioners alike.