Corporate Culcha’s principal consultants and facilitators have a combined experience of over 45 years in Indigenous recruitment, project management, education, training and development across a diverse range of industries.

The principal consultants are complemented by a national network of respected facilitators and consultants. These consultants and facilitators have extensive knowledge and experience in a range of disciplines including, cross cultural respect training, Indigenous Employment Strategies, mentoring, research and evaluation, team building and Indigenous recruitment and training. All cultural respect facilitators are trained in the Corporate Culcha model of delivery, ensuring consistency, quality control and best practice.

Where possible, we endeavour to include high profile Indigenous celebrities and elders to further enhance the cultural experience.

CULTURAL RESPECT CONSULTANT, INDIGENOUS WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, TEAM BUILDING

Paul Dodd identifies himself as a Bundjalung man, sthe traditional Aboriginal language group of his mother. Paul has 22 years experience working in State, and Commonwealth Government in management positions. Paul is a Principal Consultant for Corporate Culcha.

Paul has been facilitating cultural Respect Training for the past 22 years. Between 1994 – 2008, Paul had facilitated Cultural Respect Training for over 4000 QLD Health staff alone.

Other regular clients include, Bond University Schools of Medicine and Physiotherapy School, Gold Coast TAFE, NSW Department of Aged, Disabilities and Home Care.

Paul developed the South Coast Regional Health Authority and the Gold Coast Health Services Cultural Awareness Program.

Paul also has a background in developing Indigenous Workforce Development Strategies including Indigenous Employment Strategies; and Indigenous Participation Plans for the construction industry. Between 2006-2007, Paul was commissioned to develop 20 Aboriginal Employment Strategies across state government departments in the Central and Northern Coast Regions of NSW.

Paul along with Marcus Pedro also deliver team building programs. Currently the NSW Department of Aged, Disabilities and Home Care utilises this service regularly.

Paul has a Bachelor Degree in Aboriginal Community Management and Development. In 2001 he worked with OxFam on community development projects with Indigenous people of New Zealand, Guatemala, Mexico, America and Canada.

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CULTURAL RESPECT CONSULTANT, PRE-EMPLOYMENT & MENTORING

Russell belongs to the Coodgenburra clan of the Bundjalung Nation; he was born in Brisbane, Queensland and raised on the Tweed Coast of NSW, Australia. Russell is the Co – founder WICEEDO and Carbon Culcha.

Russell has a diverse professional background. He has developed and delivered Indigenous training, employment, education and housing projects for the Australian Public Service in locations throughout Australia.

Whilst working as Indigenous Employment Coordinator for NSW Department of Housing he was responsible for a record number of Indigenous recruits and instigated successful retention tactics through the development of an Indigenous Employment Strategy. As a result, in 1997 Russell was awarded the NSW Premier's award for Indigenous Employment Excellence.

He was considered an authority in Indigenous Cultural Awareness Training within the Public Service and was a part time teacher at Kingscliff TAFE, delivering the Indigenous Conservation and Land Management course.

Russell is a leader in the Tweed Aboriginal Community, working tirelessly to improve the lives of Indigenous people. He is committed to achieving self determination through economic sustainability with cultural integrity.

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Billy is a Kamilaroi man from north-western NSW of the Thorne and Weatherall families. He is the Senior Consultanst for wanmob, currently residing in Brisbane. Billy has successfully operated Identity & Cross Cultural Awareness seminars, training, presentations and lectures for over 15 years.

Corporate Culcha utilises Billy expertise specifically to present our Executive Entree. He has presented this 1 hour program to senior executives and partners of global corporate identities such as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Ernst & Young.

Some of his other clients have included the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), National Rugby League (NRL) and associated clubs, Australian Football League (AFL), National Aboriginal Sports Corporation of Australia (NASCA), Griffith University, various Federal and State Government Departments and Education bodies to name but a few.

Billy is currently developing the Australian Sports Commission Cross Cultural Awareness (CCA) presentation for national implementation across the sporting industry. Furthermore, the AFL Sportsready organisation employed Billy to develop and train staff in a CCA presentation tailored towards future employers of Indigenous trainees.

Evaluations have shown a remarkable 98% effectiveness rating for Billy in communicating the issues and strategies regarding identity and cultural awareness, with an astonishing 100% of participants recommending the training to others.

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John, a Wiradjuri man who spent his childhood years living in Darlington Point, a small town on the Murrumbidgee River in south western NSW. John holds a Degree in Adult Education. For over 20 years, John has been implementing, promoting or managing education and employment polices and strategies for Indigenous people in various organizations.

John worked on the Indigenous Employment Policy in Canberra for three years until 2000 and, as part of this role, he managed programs dealing directly with Indigenous stakeholders and negotiating Indigenous employment initiatives with employers and industry groups nationally.

Developed and implementing a national Indigenous recruitment and retention strategy for Cement Australia - McDonalds Australia - Stockland Group - St George Bank.

Guiding Circles – Currently Designing an Australian version of Canadian model for Indigenous career planning.

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Gavin identifies and belongs to the Goodgenburra clan of the Bundjalung Nation. Gavin was raised along the beautiful Tweed River. He has 22 years working as a customer service representative, specialising as a sales coach and mentoring for inbound first customer contact in Telecommunication.

Gavin’s skill in customer conflict management has broadened his knowledge of inclusivity, honing his skills over 11 years with the Telstra Corporation. Gavin’s career has spanned industries from Agriculture, Geothermal exploration to sales coach. While working for different agencies he has built on firsthand knowledge of how a business can grow when implementing cross cultural awareness strategies. His success in training multicultural teams has led him to branch out and specialise in Cultural Awareness Training.

Gavin’s expertise:

• Conflict Resolution
• Facilitating Cultural awareness programs
• Customer service coaching
• Inbound sales trainer
• Competency and non competency based training

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John has been employed by the Commonwealth and State Governments over the last 20 years in the specialist field of Indigenous Services through the engagement and the maintaining of Aboriginal Staff.

John has Design and Developed Cultural Awareness Programs for the for Federal and State Governments such the NSW TAFE Kingscliff, Centrelink Nationally Indigenous Train the Trainer Program, and the Centrelink Australians Working Together National Training Team.

John also has Delivered and Facilitated Cross Cultural Awareness - OATSIH Queensland Commonwealth Health (Human Services/Aged Care/Hearing) and Queensland TAFE - Gold Coast and Coolangatta campuses.

John has been engaged as an Indigenous Consultant to the Education Queensland on development and training of Indigenous staff in the delivery of Cross Cultural Awareness Training Package, and Queensland Government Youth Suicide Prevention Committee.

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CREDENTIALS: YOUTH, PRINCIPALS, TEACHERS, COUNSELLORS

Marcus was born on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait, and spent the early years of His life on Moa Island, in St Paul’s village and attending high school on Thursday Island.


He has had a variety of career paths that have included – fibreglassing, assistant engineer, labourer on the Queensland railway, driver, security guard, started an all male dance group called Hot Chocolate, DJ and a Constable within the Queensland Police Service… culminating as a Motivational Speaker.

His motivational speeches highlight the value of self-confidence, self-control and self-respect. He has outlined the importance of having passions, a vision and believing in your dreams. He has used humour and symbolism to assist people to understand the role they have in the prevention of bullying and racism. His speech also explores the influence of American culture on contemporary Australian society (e.g. Hip-Hop music and clothing). He has encouraged people to be themselves and be proud of being an Australian.

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Allinta is a young Goreng Goreng and Koko Berrin woman with connections to Cherbourg. Allinta has studied her Honours in Arts (Leisure Management) at Griffith University, Certificate IV TAA, Certificate IV Life Coaching and Certificate IV in Small Business Management.

A community and business leader within her community of South East Queensland, her communication style is open yet firm. She can lead groups of people well, through role modelling and practical examples she can capture participant interest and buy in.

Allinta has written approximately 20 business plans and feasibility studies for Indigenous businesses and community organisations and facilitated small business workshops throughout Australia for Indigenous business aspirants. During the past 4 years she has coordinated local employment projects and pre-employment programs and has an acute understanding of what Indigenous job seekers require to assist them in finding employment and achieve sustainable employment outcomes. She continues to build her business acumen and experience by working collaboratively with others, and ultimately wants to develop innovate solutions to meet the needs of Indigenous people, as it relates to economic development, employment and training.

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Janis has extensive social research, project design, policy analysis and program evaluation skills built on senior policy and research roles for federal and state governments, including a range of think tanks. Janis also possesses extensive consultation experience including experience working with Aboriginal communities and organisations.  
 

Janis has been a senior advisor to two federal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioners on Indigenous human rights issues and has led a number of key research projects. 
 
Indigenous Economic Development and Employment Policy and Program related experience:

• Conducting a review of the federal government's Welfare to Work and CDEP reforms for the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, including leading consultations with CDEP providers, Indigenous stakeholders, DEWR, FACSIA, Job Network providers, other relevant training providers, and relevant non-government community/welfare support agencies.
• Coordinating the Economic Development Stakeholder Group under the NSW Government’s Two Ways Together Aboriginal Affairs Plan, and reporting to Department Director General, Minister, Cabinet and Premier.
• Examining the impacts of proposed CDEP reform in the Northern Territory on Indigenous communities including considering ways in which Job Network providers could improve delivery of employment and training services to remote Indigenous communities. The research involved undertaking field visits to remote Aboriginal communities in the NT, conducting community consultations and one-on-one interviews with key stakeholders.
• Evaluation of the North Coast Aboriginal Employment Strategy which sought to increase Aboriginal employment in public sector agencies located on the North Coast of NSW. This evaluation included extensive consultations with public sector agencies, including Human Resource Managers, key Aboriginal organisations, Aboriginal employees and Job Network providers and resulted in a the development of recommendations for strategic direction presented at   regional and state public sector forums.
• Managing national research project for National Australia Bank (NAB) and the Diversity Council Australia examine Aboriginal employment strategies with a focus on recruitment and retention. 

Janis also has extensive experience in researching and evaluating Indigenous criminal justice policy and programs at state and federal levels.  

Qualifications:
BA (Hons) Politics and International Relations
University of New South Wales (2000) 

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Colin’s work has taken him to many locations around Australia and New Zealand, working with Government, Construction and Mining interests as well as Traditional Owners, Land Councils and Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander communities.

He is passionate and focused upon business development for regional and remote Australians to engage with a broad scope of business opportunities. He has provided Indigenous community support and enterprise development on a national level for both Industry and Indigenous interests. He is dedicated to the growth of commercial awareness for future Indigenous enterprises from relationship building to the advocacy required to promote trust and confidence for both commercial growth and Indigenous capacity across a range of industry opportunities.

Colin has previously established and implemented support for mining interests in the Hunter Valley for Coal & Allied, and in the Bowen Basin for Rio Tinto to establish connections with Aboriginal organisations and community interests. He has written comprehensive strategic plans and Indigenous community engagement plans for organisational change and for major projects worth in excess of $2 billion.

Previous employment includes:

• Environmental Management for Victoria’s National Park Service
• Environmental Manager for the Gamarwa Nuwul Landcare Dept (Yirrkala Dhanbul Council Dept NT)
• Environmental & Sustainability Manager for Leighton Contractors (NSW, Qld, NT and NZ)
  

Colin has a Post Graduate Degree in Conservation and Land Management and Rural Resources.

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Dave is a proud Aboriginal man from the Anaiwan nation on the Northern Tablelands of NSW (Armidale). David has worked for over 18 years at the community, local, state and federal levels of government across a variety of targeted industries.

Dave is passionate about his work. He has provided training in well over 50 communities across Australia, receiving very positive feedback on the courses he facilitates. For the last three years, Dave has been operating his own consultancy (Widders Consultancy), specialising in the employment field.

This business has included:

• Running Aboriginal specific Job Readiness programs across Australia aimed at motivating clients and giving them the skills in finding the right job and career path to suit their lifestyles.
• Providing Indigenous Cultural Awareness Training for staff within the Job Networks and government agencies.
• Educating and advising organizations on how to work effectively with Aboriginal clients and communities. Assisting them to provide a culturally appropriate service that meets the needs of Aboriginal people. This has been delivered in VIC, QLD, NSW, NT and WA.
  
• Delivering Indigenous Mentoring training across Aboriginal communities, including Alice Springs, Townsville, Mt Isa, Tennant Creek, Bunbury, Karatha and Darwin.
• Providing mentoring to Aboriginal people placed in the workforce that ranged from FT, PT and clients on Traineeships and Apprenticeships.

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(QMACA)
Craig is from the Gumbainggir (Urunga), Dainggatti (Kempsey) and Bundjalung (Coraki) nations. Whilst Craig has lived and worked in Western Sydney for most of his life, he has extensive knowledge of traditions and culture from his travels around Australia.

Having lived in rural and remote communities and gained a thorough understanding of lifestyles, experiences and issues that impact Aboriginal people, his knowledge has been extended through study and work. Working across various fields of social welfare in government departments including Health, Education, Employment and Housing. Craig is a qualified member of the Australian Counselling Association (ACA), Craig has worked in mental health for the past six years. He has developed training programs in Aboriginal Suicide Awareness and facilitated numerous workshops in health, including Aboriginal Mental Health and Aboriginal Cultural Awareness.

When working with his people, Craig’s approach is solution focused and strength based. These approaches are empowering and develop resilience. He is passionate and professional when working with his communities.

Craig's qualifications include:

• Bachelor of Adult Education, Bachelor of Health Sciences
• Diploma of Aboriginal Family and Community Counselling
• Cert. IV Training and Assessment, Cert. IV in Drug and Alcohol
• Mental Health Assessment, Mental Health First Aid Instruction and Juvenile Justice Mentoring
• Senior St John’s First Aid
• Strength Focused Interviewing

Craig has also completed numerous courses in Business Administration and Employment.

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(Ba.A.Ed)
Libby Brown is from the Biripi people of Taree/Forster. She has lived and worked in western Sydney for most of her life. Libby’s educational qualifications are in Adult Education and Counselling, and she has extensive work experience in health and education.

Libby’s expertise has been developed through her work as an educator at university and TAFE. With over ten years experience already in the field of education, Libby continues this work with a passion to support Indigenous communities. She has also completed training in ECAV Education Centre Against Violence, which is focused in supporting Indigenous communities.

Through her experience in working in drug and alcohol Libby has gained extensive knowledge of drug & alcohol issues that impact Indigenous people. She has attained Certificate IV Training & Assessment TAFE, Counselling On The Run Training and numerous accredited courses.

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