The Advisory Board of The Centre for Optimism
Robert Masters
Robert Masters is the Chair of the Centre for Optimism and its Advisory Board.
Robert Masters has been advising the corporate and government sectors for more than 30 years. His experience covers industrial and consumer markets, issues and crisis management, employee relations and investor relations.
He is a former senior political journalist, covering Federal and State Parliaments and he lectures widely in Australia, Asia, the United States and the UK on public relations, communication strategies, and issues and crisis management. He is a Life Fellow and a Past President of the Public Relations Institute of Australia and an Industry Fellow of Swinburne University.
Jeff Kerr-Bell
Jeff is an experienced transformation and strategic change executive, and an unapologetic optimist. He loves to challenge the status quo, embraces change for good, and asks not if but "how can we make this better". Jeff has acquired a comprehensive toolkit of skills working with technology units and companies ranging from industry changing startups to advanced data analytics to Tier 1 financial services spanning almost 25 years. His specialities and interests include digital transformation, strategic change management, innovation development, customer and employee knowledge uplift, corporate communications, and marketing. Jeff has implemented digital thought leadership events, built technology strategy and innovation practices, helped communicate and embed complex strategies, and developed experience-based change programs in teams from architecture to strategy to talent management.
Amanda Noz
Amanda is an experienced Global Executive and lifelong optimist, with a broad set of skills acquired during 25+ years working with major Tier 1 technology companies in progressively more complex rolesin Australia and around the world. She has also enjoyed greatly working as an executive start-up advisor in the USA and Europe. Her specialities and interests include Brand, Executive and Corporate Communications, Marketing, Business Strategy, Digital Transformation, Advocacy and Engagement, and Culture/Diversity/Inclusion. She has managed a Global Executive Briefing Centre and organizes, speaks at, moderates and co-hosts virtual and in-person events, workshops and retreats world-wide.
Kay Clancy
Kay Clancy hails from the UK with a career spanning more than 30 years. Her passion is culture with a particular focus on the intersection of task and behaviour. Kay’s background and experience operating in executive roles across the public and private sector position her to understand the operational challenge for organisations and for leadership tension, from both a behavioural and delivery perspective. Much of her career has been spent in transformation environments through which she has experienced first-hand the tension between task and behaviour. Kay believes that leadership is a behaviour and is experienced as a “feel” and not a “think”, recognising that success is driven through the behaviour and outlook of leadership, the “ripple” as she calls it.
An infectious optimist and known for her love of music and singing in the workplace, Kay is Chief of Staff for WISE Employment and runs her own company providing consulting and coaching services specialising in leadership, change and culture.
Nóirín Mosley
Nóirín Mosley was born and reared in Dublin, Ireland.
Nóirín is a learned Optimist.
Having worked in the Insurance and disability sectors in Ireland, she took off for sunny Thailand to work with Sony Asia in product marketing in the late 90s. Next, she made her way to Melbourne, Australia, via Papua New Guinea and Sydney, working online, creating photographic themed wall art for businesses.
In 2015, she started Melbourne’s only city-based slot car racing venue, ‘Race party’, operating in the corporate team building and culture space and children’s events too.
She also started Educate to Elevate, an online learning business, with her good friend and business partner, Jenny Boymal, in 2019. Educate to Elevate specialises in visually engaging online induction programs for all Australian industries.
With these online learning tools, Noirin, Jenny and our Victor Perton decided during COVID to create a learning platform on how to become more Optimistic. As a result, the Habits of an Optimist were brought to animated life via Project Optimism in December 2020.
John Hagel
John Hagel is the Founder and co-chairman of Deloitte LLP‘s Center for the Edge, a research center based in Silicon Valley with branches in Amsterdam and Melbourne. The charter of the Center for the Edge is to identify emerging business opportunities that are not yet on the CEO’s agenda, but should be, and to do the research required to persuade them to put it on their agenda.
John has spent over 40 years in Silicon Valley and has experience as a management consultant, entrepreneur, speaker and author. He is driven by a desire to help individuals and institutions around the world to increase their impact in a rapidly changing world.
James Strock
James Strock is an independent entrepreneur and reformer in business, government, and politics. He’s a bestselling author and professional speaker. James founded the Serve to Lead Group in 1997.
Strock has written four books: Serve to Lead 2.0: 21st Century Leaders Manual; Disrupt Politics: Reset Washington; Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership: Executive Lessons from the Bully Pulpit; and Reagan on Leadership:Executive Lessons from the GreatCommunicator.
Shawn Callahan
“Shawn is the Founder of Anecdote International a global business storytelling enterprise that operates in 22 countries and in 11 languages. He's an award winning author of Putting Stories to Work and helps leaders and sellers of Global 1000 companies engage, influence and inspire their employees and customers.”