Our Team
Unleashing ideas and leaders for sustainable social impact.
Our People
Libby Ward-Christie - Director
Dr Libby Ward-Christie is a recognised leader in Australia's social purpose ecosystem. Her skills and knowledge make her an expert in education, research and practice to advance social purpose organisations.
Libby brings a wealth of experience in applied social purpose research, education and engagement. Her specialist knowledge spans social entrepreneurship, social finance and philanthropy, impact measurement and evaluation and for-purpose strategy and governance.
Prior to joining Melbourne Business School, Libby was Director of the Centre for Social Impact at Swinburne University of Technology and a member of the Centre for Social Impact National Executive where she leveraged her expertise in industry to lead research and education initiatives focused on translation into practical knowledge outputs for the social purpose organisations.
Libby’s doctoral research focused on entrepreneurial processes and decision making in social enterprise startups and resulted in many previously undocumented contributions to our knowledge of how new social enterprises are developed. She also has an MBA from Melbourne Business School with Dean’s Honours, a BA (Dean’s Honours) majoring in geography, a first-class BSc (Hons) degree majoring in ecology, and a MLArch with Dean’s Honours, all from the University of Melbourne.
Libby is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a recipient of an Melbourne Business School Alumni Award for her work with social-purpose organisations. Libby's extensive cross-sectoral networks and her achievements demonstrate an ability to innovatively and sustainably engage people from all sectors toward collective social-purpose goals. She has extensive networks across Australia’s for-purpose ecosystem and is often called upon to advise on and facilitate further ecosystem development informed by rigorous research and evidence.
Research tells us that not-for-profit and other social purpose organisations exist in hugely complex systems, which has both strategic and operational implications, which differ from those faced by organisations working outside the social economy. Our Centre understands this and responds through business education and research that embraces these differences and acknowledges the interdependencies of social impact strategy and sustainable financial management.
Dr Libby Ward-Christie
Director, Centre for Social Purpose Organisations
Kate Taborska - Centre Manager
Kate has extensive experience in talent acquisition, human resources management and organisational development in various industries. She has a proven record of success in delivering results and fostering strong partnerships within organisations such as Deakin University, City of Monash and Deloitte & Touche.
With her administrative and operational background, Kate is well-versed in optimising processes, delivering tangible results and elevating efficiency that resonate with an organisation’s goals and vision. Her experience is complemented by a diverse skill set encompassing stakeholder management, system management, project coordination and strategic implementation.
Kate brings a proactive, highly motivated and customer-focused approach to her work, ensuring the overall success of the Centre’s initiatives.
Julie Tucker - Research Fellow
Dr Julie Tucker is a research fellow and brings a legal background - specialising in employment, discrimination, and disability law – together with over 10 years’ social research experience, most recently with Swinburne University’s Centre for Social Impact.
Driven by a passion for research with social impact Julie’s work has focussed on social enterprise and the “for purpose” sector more broadly, using data for social good, particularly within the not-for-profit sector, inclusive employment and digital inclusion.
Her recent research includes an evaluation of Grameen Australia’s Grameen Today Program, a program providing low interest, capacity-building loans to low income, women entrepreneurs.
Beyond her research roles Julie managed CSI Swinburne’s Social Startup Studio - a practice and research-informed initiative supporting early-stage social enterprises to become impactful and sustainable – for four years and is currently teaching into the University of Melbourne’s Executive Master of Arts as seminar lead for the Social Enterprise Incubator, an experiential subject in which students design and develop a business that creates both economic and social value.
Josephine McKenzie - Centre Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Dr Josephine McKenzie is a Centre Postdoctoral Research Fellow, focusing on the Not-for-Profit Strategy Benchmarking Study.
Josie’s doctoral research investigated the dynamics of environmental sustainability and gender equality within the Australian fashion industry. Josie also holds Master of Poverty, Inequality and Development and a Bachelor of International Relations (Honours), both from University of Birmingham.
Her previous role as a research officer at the One Basin Cooperative Research Centre examined the role of extension services and private investment in supporting Australia’s transition to sustainable and regenerative agriculture.
Alongside her research, she has taught responsible business practices and management strategy. She has a passion for supporting organisations to effectively and sustainably create positive social impact.
Lillian Starling - Research Assistant
Lillian Starling is a Research Assistant working across all of the Centre’s commissioned and strategic research projects.
Lilli is a Registered Psychologist (Master of Organisational Psychology), passionate about partnering with social purpose organisations to strengthen their impact. She holds a Bachelor of International Relations and a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) from the Australian National University.
Alongside her research, Lilli has built broad experience across Federal and State Government, not-for-profit, and consulting environments.
Her work has spanned organisational design, workforce planning, leadership development, and change management. She also serves on the Research Committee for The 100% Project, a not-for-profit organisation focused on accelerating gender-balanced leadership.
Centre Fellows (Academic)
Alex Newman is an Associate Dean (Faculty) and Professor of Management. He is one of Australia’s leading researchers in the field of management. In the past two years Alex has been recognised by the Australian Research Magazine as Australia’s leading researcher across two sub-disciplines: human resources and organisations, and ethics. In 2022 he was also recognised by Clarivate as a highly cited researcher and in the same year was awarded the Mid-Career Award from the Careers Division of the Academy of Management.
Carol Gill is an Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Melbourne Business School. Carol has specialized in the fields of executive learning and development, human resource management and organization development, as both an academic and practitioner, for more than 25 years. She is a registered organizational psychologist, accredited coach, and certified fellow of the Australian Institute of Human Resource Management.
Kannan Sethuraman joined Melbourne Business School in 2001 as an Associate Professor of Operations Management. Upon completing his PhD at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Kannan held associate and assistant professorial roles at the Indian Institute of Management and Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Kannan’s research has been published in renowned journals, including in the Management Science, INFORMS Journal of Manufacturing and Service Operations Management.
Will Harvey is a Professor of Leadership at Melbourne Business School. He is an International Research Fellow at the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation Will researches on reputation, talent management and leadership within organisations. He has recently published the book, Reputations at Stake, with Oxford University Press.
Daisung Jang is an Assistant Professor of Management at Melbourne Business School. He is an award-winning researcher who studies negotiation. He has a particular interest in studying how people plan to bargain and implement negotiated deals. He is also interested in how individual characteristics influence this process, by exploring how personality shapes how people plan, bargain, and deliver on an agreement.
David Keith is an Associate Professor of Strategy, and Associate Director – Innovation in the MBS Centre for Sustainability and Business. After completing his PhD in Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, David joined the faculty at the MIT Sloan School of Management in the System Dynamics group. David’s specializes in the use of simulation for strategy development in complex and dynamic settings, with a particular focus on the future of the automotive industry.
Dr Michael Moran is a Senior Lecturer (Academic Specialist) in Social Enterprise in the Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences. Prior to joining the University of Melbourne, Dr Michael Moran was a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Social Impact (CSI) Swinburne and National Education Director for the CSI network administered by the UNSW Business School. His current research focus is on resourcing dynamics – how organisations are funded and financed – including through blended social finance and impact investment; outcomes-based contracting in public sector commissioning, particularly social impact bonds, and the role of support programs (accelerators and incubators) in developing early-stage social enterprise.
Nam Tran joined Melbourne Business School in 2011. Before completing his PhD and a Graduate Teaching Fellow position at the University of Oregon, Nam was an Auditor with Vietnam Auditing Company (Deloitte Vietnam), providing services to clients in various industries, such as cement, tobacco, brewing and beverages, and real estate.
John Webster is an Associate Professor (Practice) in Accounting at Monash University. He is specialising in sustainability, environmental, social and governance (ESG), and the intersection of accounting and social impact. His work focuses on how accounting can better capture and communicate value in organisations pursuing both financial and social objectives. John works closely with industry, professional bodies, government, and the not-for-profit sector to translate research into practice. He is an award-winning educator and a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, CPA Australia, the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, and the American Accounting Association.
Dr. Rohit Piplani is an Assistant Professor of Management at Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne. He earned his Ph.D. in Management & Entrepreneurship from the University of Connecticut, with concentrations in organisational behaviour and social network analysis. His research focuses on the antecedents and consequences of social networks in the workplace, and covers topics such as employee creativity and innovation, diversity and inclusion, changes in intra-organisational networks, and team dynamics.
Advisory Board
We are pleased to announce our advisory board comprised of a diverse mix of experts whose valuable insights are instrumental in shaping the future of our Centre.
Their extensive knowledge and experience across various domains will ensure a holistic and strategic approach to our initiatives and challenge our thinking.
Simon Lewis - Advisory Board Member
Simon is an experienced board member, trustee and non-profit director and former senior executive in the trustee and family office sector.
He established advisory firm GoodWolf Partners in 2019 to support families, foundations and organisations shifting their strategy and resources to participate in a more generative and distributive agenda, and help build out our social economy. This includes establishing and advising charitable foundations, blended business models like for purpose and social enterprise, and for purpose organisations dialling up their impact and effectiveness.
Simon is a Trustee of the Reichstein Foundation, Chair and Co-Founder of the Australian International Development Network (AIDN), Chair of the Australian Outward Bound Development Fund. He is also a Fellow of the AVPN and AVPA Impact Investing Fellowship. He holds a Senior Executive MBA (Melbourne Business School), MA (Oxon) and a BBusSci (Actuarial, Cape Town University).
Lisa Boothby - Advisory Board Member
Lisa’s career has focused on supporting the development of sustainable organisations. Her focus and passion lie with organisations that have a strong social impact.
Her early experience was in management consulting with the Strategy Group in Accenture, she worked throughout Australia as well as parts of Asia and Eastern Europe. Lisa held the position of Executive Director at Social Traders, where she worked for 10 years helping to grow and develop the social enterprise sector in Australia.
Lisa is currently the Chair of The Future Evidence Foundation, a ‘SaaS’ (software as a service) social enterprise in the scientific evidence sector. She is also providing advice and mentorship to several social enterprise boards.
Lisa holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne (Hons. Economics) and a Master of Business Administration from the Melbourne Business School. She is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).
Juanita Pope - Advisory Board Member
Juanita Pope leads the Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS) as Chief Executive Officer.
At VCOSS, Juanita works with community organisations, politicians and policymakers to tackle profound societal challenges, while also advancing new and innovative ways to empower local communities and create wellbeing for all.
Prior to joining VCOSS in 2023, Juanita spent a decade at Justice Connect's Not-for-profit Law program, and worked in legal and consulting roles assisting for-purpose organisations to improve their governance and performance. She has also worked in corporate practice and at the Federal Court. She has expertise in advocating for better regulation and laws affecting the sector and defending charities’ rights to advocate.
Juanita holds a Bachelor of Laws (with Honours) and Bachelor of Arts (majoring in Australian Studies and Cultural Studies) from the University of Melbourne.
Marc Levy - Advisory Board Member
Marc is the founder and chair of Right Lane Consulting. In 30 years in management consulting, he has played leading roles in strategic projects for around 170 organisations and advised 120 CEOs.
Marc has completed transformational work across several industries, notably the social and public sectors, professional services and financial services, on strategy, operating model, growth and governance projects. He contributed to reviving a major global sport in Australia and has worked as a strategic advisor to several award-winning, not for profit super funds and their peak bodies.
Marc holds business degrees from Monash University and the Melbourne Business School and a PhD from the University of Melbourne on a topic relating to economic and social participation policy.
Alyssa Cameron - Advisory Board Member
Alyssa is an economist with nearly a decade providing economic and public policy advice to Government, the not for profit sector and industry.
She is currently working as a Principal Policy Analyst at the Department of Treasury and Finance, Victoria, where she has provided policy advice across infrastructure, social housing, and transport. She previously worked at Deloitte Access Economics where she provided advice across several other industries including health, energy, and tourism.
Alyssa is the Victorian Chair of the Women in Economics Network (WEN), where she works with a passionate group of women to promote female economists and advocate for gender equality, particularly within the field of economics.
Alyssa studied Commerce and Economics (Honours) at Monash University. She is currently completing her MBA at Melbourne Business School where she was awarded the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust Fellowship for 2023.
