THE TEAM

Dr Narayan Gopalkrishnan

chair
Dr Narayan Gopalkrishnan is the Course Coordinator of the Bachelor of Social Work course and is a Fellow of the Cairns Institute at James Cook University, Australia. Narayan has worked for over thirty-five years in Australia and overseas in universities, NGOs and the private sector and has held senior leading roles in research and sector development. Narayan brings together his background in business and in community development to his work in Social Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise. He has helped to establish a social enterprise network spanning eight countries in Southeast Asia and is the founding chair of the Social Enterprise Network for the Tropics.

Crystal Williams

Theme Leader
Director of Social Enterprise Australasia, facilitating and strengthening the growth of social enterprise with a particular focus on the tropics. Currently involved in a team project developing a coherent, representative and ambitious growth strategy for social enterprise and impact-led business in Queensland. Crystal is committed to raising the profile of social entrepreneurs as innovators in business and impact. She is an experienced researcher, strategist, facilitator, project manager and academic.

Anita Veivers

Theme Leader
Anita Veivers is the Executive Director of Centacare FNQ. Passionate about working with people and community, Anita is a member of several community advisory groups across the disability and community sectors, and chairs the regional Disability Advisory Council as well as representing FNQ on the Queensland Disability Advisory Council. With a long-held interest in Social Enterprise Anita is excited to be leading development of a local enterprise offering employment pathways for refugees and migrants, whilst also addressing the need for ethical and sustainable practices in our community.

Stephen Ung

Theme Leader
Stephen Ung is a Regional Director with the Queensland Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships. For more than 20 years, his roles in Far North Queensland have included state and local government program delivery, contract administration and environmental engineering. Stephen is committed to working with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses as they contribute to economic growth and navigate private and social enterprise models.

Shiralee McHardie

Theme Leader
Shiralee McHardie holds the position of Manager of Community and Customer Services for the Tablelands Regional Council. Shiralee has a 16 year career in Local Government working across the Tablelands, Cairns and Central North West Queensland, with Local State and Federal Governments, NGO’s, Universities and the private sector.
Shiralee is responsible for the strategic and operational development of community health & wellbeing, equity and inclusion, community development and social capital investment, cultural development, sport and recreation, libraries, customer relations, the community and regional arts development grant programs, tourism & information, arts culture and events within the Tablelands Regional Council.
Shiralee’ s guiding values that underpin her work include a holistic approach to sustainable community development grounded in principles of human rights, inclusion, social justice, education, empowerment and collective action.

Dr Taha Chaiechi

Theme Leader

Dr. Chaiechi is Australian Director, Centre for International Trade and Business in Asia (CITBA), at James Cook University where she is also a faculty member at the College of Business, Law, and Governance. Taha’s research attitude is holistic and inspired by issues in climate change and natural disasters, and their impact on different economic sectors such as public health, tourism, environmental and energy economics.

Dr Josephine Pryce

Theme Leader

Josephine is a scholar of Organisational Behaviour with a keen interest in ‘the nature of work’. She came to Academia with a strong industry background having worked for Australia Post and the Hotel Industry. During that time, she developed a strong appreciation of the challenges faced by workers, employers, and organisations in service industries. Her PhD extended understanding of service predispositions, human relations in the workplace, and organisational culture; and developed a fascination for the nature of work. Josephine seeks to enrich her research through methods and methodologies that can better understand the lives of people in communities and the world, especially in relation to their working lives.

Jennifer McHugh

JCU Liaison
Director of Social Enterprise Australasia, facilitating and strengthening the growth of social enterprise with a particular focus on the tropics. Currently involved in a team project developing a coherent, representative and ambitious growth strategy for social enterprise and impact-led business in Queensland. Crystal is committed to raising the profile of social entrepreneurs as innovators in business and impact. She is an experienced researcher, strategist, facilitator, project manager and academic.

Marc Harbrow

Theme Leader

Marc Harbrow is one of the founding Directors of Harbrow Mentoring, an organisation that provides a holistic range of programs to young people living in Far North QLD and the Gold Coast. The organisation draws on its three main pillars of Mentoring, Leadership and Sports Development to give aspiring young people the tools to achieve most out of their life in a culturally supportive and inclusive environment. Marc also runs “Our Future Mentors” a not-for-profit that is designed to deliver meaningful opportunities to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and disadvantaged youth. Marc is very passionate about assisting young people and their communities through the influence of improved health, educational outcomes, and employment opportunities.

BECOME A MEMBER NOW

SENT Membership is free and will give you access to SENT events, resouces and the newletter. We welcome everyone interested in social enterprise in FNQ including entrepreneurs, government, academics and community members.