Val Price-Beck is a Kamilaroi Woman from the Liverpool Plains of New South Wales.
She has completed a Master’s in Business Administration, an advanced diploma from the Institute of Company Directors and has extensive experience in corporate services and over 20 years experience in Indigenous Economics development. Val Price- Beck was appointed to the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute Board in June 2019.
Lindon is a descendant of the Yuallaraay people of north west NSW and has over 20 years of experience working across a range of sectors in Aboriginal affairs.
Lindon is a descendant of the Yuallaraay people of north west NSW and has over 20 years of experience working across a range of sectors in Aboriginal affairs. He has held senior executive positions in the NSW Government and has been CEO of Aboriginal owned and controlled organisations. Lindon has also been a Senior Advisor for successive Ministers holding the Aboriginal Affairs portfolio in NSW. He has extensive experience in Indigenous policy development and engagement and will bring that experience to this project. Most recently, Lindon was a Director at PwC’s Indigenous Consulting (PIC) where he led a number of engagements for government, corporate, and not-for-profit clients.
Lindon has extensive experience in organisational, policy and program evaluation. The majority of this experience has been in Indigenous affairs and working with and for Indigenous people and organisations. As a result, Lindon has developed extensive networks and deep relationships with Indigenous peoples and communities across Australia. These relationships are valuable in being able to access sometimes sensitive information that is vital to get to the heart of issues impacting upon Indigenous people. Lindon is currently Industry Professor of Indigenous Policy at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research where he is undertaking a range of projects looking at Treaty, Indigenous self-determination and provision of policy advice and strategy. He is also Co-Chair of Reconciliation NSW.
Jahna Cedar is a Nyiyaparli/Yindjibarndi woman from the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Jahna Cedar is a Nyiyaparli/Yindjibarndi woman from the Pilbara region of Western Australia and is recognised as a strong Indigenous community leader. She has worked for over 20 years advocating for equal rights and reconciliation of Indigenous people and has represented Indigenous Australia at the United Nations in New York on three occasions. In 2012, Jahna was the youngest person to be elected into the West Australian International Women’s Day Hall of Fame, and in 2017 proudly won Business news 40 under 40, First amongst equals. Jahna was also awarded Telstra Business Women Awards WA – For Purpose and Social Enterprise Winner in 2017 and enjoys speaking at various events on issues of social justice, Indigenous rights and business management.
A motivational leader, and the current Director of IPS Management Consultants, WA, Jahna’s corporate experience includes 16 years in business/human resources management and consultancy, including the implementation of organisational and change management strategies, projects and policy development, in both the Not for Profit and Private sector.
Offering an innate leadership style and proven business acumen, Jahna drives consistent results and is passionate about encouraging and developing others, while working ethically towards corporate and strategic goals.
Janine Mohamed is a proud Narrunga Kaurna woman from South Australia.
Over the past 20 years, Janine has worked in nursing, management, project management, and workforce and health policy in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector. Many of these years have been spent in the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health sector at state, national and international levels, and most recently as the previous CEO at the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM). Janine is now based in Melbourne as the CEO of the Lowitja Institute. She was awarded an Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity Fellowship in 2019, and, in January 2020, was awarded a Doctorate of Nursing honoris causa by Edtih Cowan University.
Jason is Wiradjuri. He is a pragmatic optimist devoted to living a life as free from lateral and actual violence as possible. Jason’s addicted to his family and is fiercely loyal to a wide and diverse group of friends. He has spent most of his adult life in an often clumsy pursuit of sustainable and impactful fellowship.
Jason is a fierce judge of talent. He is prone to frustrating levels of self-doubt and is acutely aware of his imperfection but is always up for a laugh, both at himself and the increasingly confusing world in which we live. Jason was raised to value the dignity of work, to always work hard and to know how to have fun. He attempts to model self-care by walking, knitting and laughing but doesn’t do enough of any of them, yet.
Over the last twenty years he has worked in a range of positions in community-based Indigenous organisations, state and federal governments and non-government peak organisations. Jason is the inaugural Executive Director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity, Chair of the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute and Chair of PwC’s Indigenous Consulting (PIC). He serves on the board of the National Australia Day Council and is also a member of the Indigenous Advisory Group of the Art Gallery of NSW and the Indigenous Advisory Council to the AFL. Jason is an Honorary Associate Professor at the National Centre for Indigenous Studies at the Australian National University.
Senior Lecturer at the National Centre for Indigenous Studies / BEc, LLB
Jane is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the National Centre for Indigenous Studies at The Australian National University.
Jane has nearly 20 years of experience providing legal and strategic advice across both the private and not-for-profit sectors, most recently at PwC Indigenous Consulting as the Victorian State Director. Jane currently sits on the board of Culture is Life Limited and First Australian Capital Limited.
Previous appointments include Legal Counsel at Foundation for Young Australians, Director at Social Ventures Australia, senior lawyer at Gilbert + Tobin and in a corporate advisory role as Senior Manager at Ernst and Young. Jane was admitted to practice as a solicitor in Victoria in 1996.
Professor Daryle Rigney is a citizen of the Ngarrindjeri Nation
He is a professor and Director of the Indigenous Nations and Collaborative Futures Research hub in the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Technology Sydney. He is a board member of the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute, a member of the Indigenous Advisory Council, Native Nations Institute, University of Arizona, a member of the South Australian Certificate of Education’s Aboriginal Steering Committee and a Senior Fellow, Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity, Melbourne & Atlantic Institute, Oxford. Daryle’s academic work and community work currently focus on developments in Indigenous nation building and governance following colonisation. He has published widely and influentially on these topics.
Ivan Ingram is a Wiradjuri and Filipino man
He is admitted to practice as a Solicitor in the Supreme Court of Queensland and the High Court of Australia. He completed his undergraduate degrees of Bachelor of Applied Science (Biotechnology) and Bachelor of Laws (Honours) with the Queensland University of Technology, and a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice (Distinction) with the Australian National University. He is also a full-time Doctor of Juridical Science candidate at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA. His research is on Australian native title laws in light of international human rights standards, and seeing the ways in which Traditional Owners have been able to leverage their native title rights in the pursuit of self-determination and economic development for community. Ivan comes to the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute as our Chief Operating Officer, providing guidance and developing AIGI’s capacity in consulting and facilitation services.
Jessica is a qualified legal professional with over five years of experience prosecuting native title claims in the Federal Court of Australia on behalf of traditional owners.
In that role, Jessica was involved in reviewing and analysing large bodies of evidence including anthropological, genealogical and historical reports, as well as compiling evidence in the form of lay witness affidavits, submissions and other court documents.
Jessica’s previous role also involved extensive engagement with Indigenous clients, including providing technical advice including at large claim group meetings in remote areas and undertaking field trips on country with Indigenous witnesses.
Jessica has gained exposure to difficulties faced by traditional owners in implementing good governance practices to effectively manage, and leverage, their native title rights and interests.
In her previous role of Head Office Services Coordinator, based in Amsterdam, Jessica was responsible for overall management and effective deployment of the administrative, facilities and operational activities within the office through close liaison and management with senior executives and corporate services in the United Kingdom. Jessica also provided support to Company Secretaries based in the United Kingdom and Europe to maintain a high level of service to various boards and committees, including facilitating meetings in various locations across the world.
Jessica has also been involved in charity work, including as a fundraising intern for the Voice of Freedom Project, which took her to Israel in 2013. Voice of Freedom project exhibited photo stories of Eritrean and Ethiopian migrants who were kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Sinai desert. The work produced by the project participants was exhibited in the Amnesty International Headquarters in London, and through various other anti-human trafficking platforms.
Dip.Teach; BA – Double Major; Masters of Social Science
Dale Sutherland is a member of the Nganduwal / Minjungbal people of the Bundjalung nation which centers around the Tweed Valley and coast of far northern NSW.
Dale originally moved to Canberra to participate in the Australian Government’s Graduate Administrative Assistant Program (GAA) in the Department of Health, Housing and Community Services, prior to moving to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS).
Dale spent over ten years working in the research section of the AIATSIS in the area of education and contemporary issues, working on a range of research projects including the Concept Study for the establishment of the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre.
Whilst at AIATSIS Dale completed both a Bachelor of Arts through the University of New England; and a Masters of Social Science research degree which examined Aboriginal leadership and how it manifests in an urban Aboriginal community, through the University of Newcastle. Prior to moving the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) at ANU, where she undertook further research on education and training.
Dale has extensive experience working in both the Commonwealth and State/Territory public sector, developing and implementing high-level Indigenous education policy and development.
Just prior to moving to AIGI, Dale was part of the small AIATSIS team responsible for delivering the Referendum Council’s constitutional reform consultation and engagement process. This comprised the organisation a number of key Leaders’ meetings; 12 First Nations Regional Dialogues across Australia; and the National Constitutional Convention convened at Uluru.
BA (Psychology and Cultural Studies); Master of Development Studies
Lara Drieberg was offered a position at the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute (AIGI) upon completion of an internship placement through the competitive Aurora Project Internship Program in 2014.
At the (then newly established) Institute, she worked with a small team of staff to secure funding and partnerships, and to develop organisational activities.
She was appointed Visiting Scholar by the National Centre for Indigenous Studies at the Australian National University in 2016 to promote research collaboration between the institutions.
In 2018 Lara completed a Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA) and spent 1 year teaching English in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.
She is currently working as the Research and Project Officer at AIGI.
Shikierra Thorne is a member of the Kuku-yulinji and Kamilaroi tribes. Born in Canberra and finished her schooling in Townsville.
She has worked in Hospitality for over 7 years and has completed a certificate 3 in business with the Townsville City Council City Libraries department in 2015 and a certificate 4 in Indigenous Leadership in 2018 with the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre (AILC).
Shikierra has worked in the Event industry as well as gaining experience in managing programs for over 5 years.
Shikierra has been with the Institute for 3 years and has had the opportunity to grow and learn within. She is currently working as the project office (Training and Development).
Collette Brown is a member of the Barada Barna tribe from the Central Queensland area.
Collette is originally from North Queensland and have been living in Brisbane for 24 years. Prior to coming to AIGI, Collette was working in the mining industry for the past 7 years and she is looking forward to the working with everyone at AIGI and the new challenges that may bring.
Stay informed with AIGI news and updates.
AIGI acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, and pays respect to Elders past, present and emerging.
AIGI acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, and pays respect to Elders past, present and emerging.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this website contains images or names of people who have passed away.