 Speaker Biographies
Belinda Hutchinson AC, Chancellor, University of Sydney
Belinda Hutchinson AC became the 18th Chancellor of the University of Sydney in 2013. She graduated with a Bachelor of Economics and in 2012 received a University Alumni Award for professional achievement. She has a deep interest in developing a culture of philanthropy and sits on a number of not for profit boards. She is currently a Director of Australian Philanthropic Services and her family foundation supports a variety of community-based initiatives such as the Hunger Project in Malawi, Africa.In the business sphere, she is currently Chairman of Thales Australia Limited, a non-executive director of Qantas Australia and a Trustee of the St Vincent’s Curran Foundation.
Belinda was previously Chairman of Future Generation Global, QBE Insurance Group, and a director of Telstra Corporation, Coles Myer, Crane Group, Energy Australia, TAB, Snowy Hydro Trading, and Sydney Water. She has served as President of the Council of the State Library of New South Wales and Chief Executive Women. Her executive career included her role as an Executive Director of Macquarie Group where she was the Head of Macquarie Equity Capital Markets. Prior to this Belinda was a Vice President of Citibank in project and corporate finance and the Head of the Financial Institutions Group in Australia. Belinda commenced her career working for Andersen Consulting in Australia and the USA. Belinda is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW.
She was named a Companion in the Order of Australia in June 2020 in recognition of her eminent service to business, tertiary education and scientific research and for her philanthropic endeavours to address social disadvantage. Belinda is married to Roger Massy-Greene and they have between them 4 children and 6 grandchildren.
Lynette Mayne AM, Executive Chair, B Team Australasia
Lynette has a proven commercial track record as a CEO, Chair and Director, and is a successful entrepreneur who has established and run globally competitive businesses including a decade in New York. She is: Executive Chair of Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz’s B Team Australasia (BTA) which works with CEOs to enhance what they do with the people and the planet. The various initiatives include Future of Work, Mental Health, AI, Carbon Investment Schemes and the Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC). The latter comprises approx 50 of our major CEOs all dedicated to working on joint projects to decarbonise their businesses more quickly than working alone. Following the successful launch of the CLC ‘Roadmap to 2030’ at last years COP26, the CLC has recently launched a ‘Scope 3 Roadmap’ highlighting five different proof of concept case studies at COP27 which features 35 CEOs working together to reduce emissions across their whole value chains. This is a first globally. In addition, early next year The BTA will launch an executive leadership program for major corporations in Asia after having led the Chief Executive Women Leaders Program with another CEW member for 14 years. Lynette is also a NED on: the Prime Minister’s Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP); Accounting for Nature; and Top Shelf International. Until recently Lynette was a member of an international blockchain board, convergence.tech and a NED of Chief Executive Women. She was formerly Co-Director PSDI a female executive leadership program in the Pacific for the Asian Development Bank; Owner and Executive Chair Work Wear World; and a CEO at Lendlease.
Todd Sears, Founder & CEO, Out Leadership
Todd Sears is the founder and CEO of Out Leadership, the first company in history whose sole
product is LGBTQ+ equality. Out Leadership connects leaders across the world’s most
influential industries to foster business growth, cultivate talent, and drive equality forward, and
currently counts almost 100 of the world’s most powerful companies in the world as its
members.
To advance economic benefits and talent dividend derived from inclusion, Out Leadership
convenes three trailblazing accelerators: OutNEXT, the first global leadership development
program for the next generation of LGBTQ+ leaders; OutQUORUM, which seeks to advance the
conversation around LGBTQ+ diversity in corporate governance; and OutWOMEN, which
convenes and celebrates LGBTQ+ women in business.
Sears has spent over 20 years working at the intersection of finance and equality. He began his
career as an investment banker before joining Merrill Lynch as a financial advisor. There, he
created the first team of financial advisors in Wall Street focused on the LGBTQ+ community
and brought almost $2 billion of new assets to the firm from LGBTQ+ couples and nonprofit
organizations.. Subsequently, expanding his leadership in Diversity, Todd pioneered award winning diversity initiatives as Head of Diversity Strategy at Merrill Lynch and then at Credit
Suisse as Head of Diversity and Inclusion. Sears started Out Leadership in 2010.
A Duke University graduate, Sears serves on various nonprofit boards, including the Williams
Institute of UCLA, the Palette Fund, the Global Equality Fund of the U.S. Department of State,
Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund, The North Carolina Community Foundation, and the
National Advisory Council of the Stonewall National Archives & Museum. Additionally, he is the
founding chair of Jeffrey Fashion Cares, which raised over $8mm for LGBTQ+/HIV causes over
the decade he led it.
Originally from Tarboro, North Carolina, Sears is driven by his confidence that businesses have
the power to advance LGBTQ+ equality and generate a high return on equality. He currently
lives in New York City.
Yvonne Weldon, Deputy Chairperson, Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council
Yvonne Weldon is a proud Wiradjuri woman. She was born and raised in inner Sydney but maintains strong ties to her homelands of Cowra and the Riverina areas of New South Wales. Yvonne follows in the footsteps of a proud tradition of activists and change-makers. Yvonne is the Deputy Chairperson of the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council. Yvonne also currently serves as Deputy Chair of the NSW Australia Day Council and as a Board member of Domestic Violence NSW. In 2021 Yvonne was elected to City of Sydney Council as an independent Councillor. She is the first Aboriginal Councillor in the City of Sydney's 180-year history. Yvonne has 30 years' experience driving positive reform in health, human services, child care services, child protection, housing, disability and heritage. She has held senior positions in key government and Aboriginal organisations. Yvonne was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours for her work with the Aboriginal community of New South Wales. In 2022, Yvonne was the winner of the Cancer Institute NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year at the 2022 NSW Women of the Year Awards. Yvonne recently published a novel, Sixty-Seven Days.
Karen Mundine, CEO, Reconciliation Australia
Karen Mundine is from the Bundjalung Nation of northern NSW. As the CEO at Reconciliation Australia, Ms Mundine brings to the role more than 25 years’ experience leading community engagement, public advocacy, communications and social marketing campaigns. An architect of the landmark Australian Reconciliation Barometer, Ms Mundine works with governments, the business sector and civil society to advocate for change and is currently a member of the Australian Government’s Referendum Engagement Group.
Over the course of her career, she has been instrumental in some of Australia’s watershed national events including the Apology to the Stolen Generations, Centenary of Federation commemorations, Corroboree 2000 and the 1997 and 2021 Australian Reconciliation Conventions. Ms Mundine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and was the winner of the 2021 Indigenous Australian UTS Alumni Award. She is a Company Director of Gondwana Choirs, Sydney Festival, the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre (AILC), and Australians for Constitutional Recognition, and is a Member of Chief Executive Women. Previous roles include: Director, Mary Mackillop Foundation; Deputy Chief Executive and General Manager Communication and Engagement, Reconciliation Australia; Senior Consultant, CPR Communications; and senior public affairs and communications roles with federal government departments including Prime Minister and Cabinet, Communications IT & the Arts, Health and Ageing, and Foreign Affairs and Trade.
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