Kelly O'Shanassy
Chair, NED, CEO
I am a Chair, Non-Executive Director, Advisory Committee Member and CEO with two decades of board-level experience working with non-profits, business and governments with particular expertise in climate, nature, sustainability, governance, leadership, strategy, organisational culture, public and stakeholder engagement and advocacy.
At board level I help organisations make a greater impact and be future-ready. I do this by driving transformative and positive change for people, nature, climate and our economy. More particularly, by: embedding climate and environmental considerations into strategy, governance, decisions and systems; directing advocacy, media and stakeholder engagement; collaborating with industry and engaging with community networks; and stewarding financial, cultural and organisational sustainability and growth through ambitious and disciplined leadership.
As a CEO, I’ve driven large-scale, system-level change through national legislation and policy reform for nature and climate. This included structuring cross-sector coalitions (NGOs, business, unions, government); securing binding net-zero and renewable-energy targets; co-designing clean-energy and export policies and new national laws to protect nature while accelerating sustainable development; embedding environmental protection across supply chains and finance and securing laws to embed climate risk reporting; ensuring water security for people, industry and major river systems; and transforming organisational strategy, systems, revenue, and capability, achieving major growth in funding, supporters, and impact. I’ve advised boards, regulators, and ministers on net-zero, sustainability, and water-system frameworks; modernise governance; chaired advisory bodies; and overseen charitable governance, including wind-ups.
Finally, I have a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Fluvial Geomorphology and have completed the Prince of Wales Business and Sustainability Program and an Executive Program in Exponential Change. I am completing the AICD’s Company Directors Course and I am the recipient of several awards, including the Eureka Award for Communicating Climate Change, was a finalist for the Telstra Business Woman of the Year, and have received both the Human Synergistics Cultural Transformation Award and the Human Synergistics Cultural Sustainability Award.
