Ian McConnel has recently started McConnel Consulting, an outlet to share his global experience in sustainable food production and trade. Through this work Ian supports companies to better understand and capitalise on the opportunities available through well implemented ESG strategies. He is also the current President of the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef and has held a seat on the board since 2016.

He has previously spent a decade as WWF’s Global Lead for Livestock supporting sustainable development in the beef industry across 22 countries before joining Tyson foods as their International Director of Sustainability. He led the company’s efforts to ‘Feed the Future’ within their global supply chains and production operations through efforts to combat climate change, improve animal welfare, ensure positive land use and protect people. 

A 5th generation beef producer, Ian began his career as an Extension Officer in Remote Western Queensland where he pioneered innovations in extension delivery and led the trialling and development of remote animal management systems such as walk-over-weighing and telemetry. 

Richard is the Executive Director of the Australian Farm Institute (AFI). The AFI is an independent policy research organisation whose objective is to enhance the economic and social wellbeing of farmers and the agricultural sector in Australia by conducting highly credible public policy research and promoting the outcomes to policy-makers and the wider community.

Previous to this role Richard was Associate Professor of Agronomy and Farm Management at the University of Sydney and before that was involved in a large family farming business in North West NSW. Richard is a director of the Grains Research and Development Corporation and sits on the Advisory Committee for CSIRO Agriculture and Food. He is a Nuffield scholar and was a director of Nuffield Australia.

Kirrily is an agronomic consultant with Grassroots Agronomy, a business she runs in partnership with her husband Greg. She has been an agronomist for over 20 years in southern NSW, commencing as District Agronomist with NSW Dept Primary Industries at Cootamundra, then Manager for FarmLink Research before joining Greg in the consultancy business 11 years ago.

Together they consult to ~35 growers, covering ~150 000 ha of crop and pasture area. Kirrily is also contracted by the Australian Herbicide Resistance and WeedSmart Initiatives to deliver messages around herbicide resistance management in south-eastern Australia.

Brianna is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Foodbank Australia, the largest hunger relief organisation in Australia, and is Australia’s representative for the Global Foodbanking Network. 

Brianna joined Foodbank Australia in 2016, following her successful three-year term as CEO of Australian Childcare Alliance New South Wales, the peak body for privately owned long day care services in NSW. Prior to that, she spent 14 years in agri-politics, both in NSW and Queensland. Brianna served as a Policy Director at NSW Farmers and was Executive Director of Queensland Farmers’ Federation. 

Brianna has served on a number of Ministerial Advisory Councils and committees throughout her career, most recently having played a key role in the development of the Australian Government's first ever National Food Waste Strategy. 

In her personal time, Brianna volunteers in her local community, particularly with her sons’ sporting clubs. She has a Bachelor of Science in Australian Environmental Studies, is a graduate of the iconic Australian Rural Leadership Program and was recently awarded the Pro Bono Australia Impact 25 Award.

Dr Shane Norrish is chief executive officer of Landcare Australia, a national not-for profit that works in partnership with multiple stakeholders to support the landcare community with funding and capacity building for on-ground projects.

Shane commenced with Landcare Australia in 2007 in the role of Landcare Farming Manager. Since then he has managed Landcare Australia’s Landcare Farming program, significant revegetation biodiversity projects, and partnerships focused on the agriculture and land management sectors.

Major projects include the Durness Borland Landcare Corridor at Tea Gardens NSW, Living Landscapes at Bundanon NSW, Conservation Reserve in Victoria’s Wimmera and Landcare Australia’s role as a Service Provider for the Australia Government Green Army and 20Million Trees programs.

During his career, Shane has worked across a wide range of agricultural industries with a key objective of supporting projects that integrate natural resource management and conservation with improved productivity.

Prior to working for Landcare Australia, Shane’s agronomic research background focused on interactions between soil properties, crop nutrition and seasonal rainfall variability.  He has a strong history of participatory on-farm research working closely with farmers and their advisors. The majority of his work on dryland cropping and sugarcane projects addressed the interface between productivity, resource management and environmental issues.

Shane has also worked on an Australia aid project in India addressing food security, natural resource assessment, and monitoring and evaluation of alternative crop sequences.

He holds a PhD in crop agronomy from the University of Western Sydney.

In April 2018, Shane was appointed CEO of Landcare Australia. In this role his vision is to substantially grow the strength of Landcare community groups and networks, and establish Landcare as the preferred delivery partner for all stakeholders.

Shane likes to start his day surfing on Sydney’s northern beaches to get the blood flowing and to delay spending time in Sydney traffic.