Speakers

Ramona has worked in the public, private and community sectors for over 30 years and in a wide range of service roles, primarily focusing on training including braille or assistive technology support. She has served on many cross-disability advisory and management committees. she has been undertaking a project in the past two years with the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations to help people with disabilities and their families to better understand the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Ramona lives in South Melbourne, tries to get to the gym twice a week, loves horse riding, hates chilly and is blind. She is keen to help people understand the needs, abilities and contributions of all people who have disabilities.  She loves travelling, learning new things and encourages open discussion of topics that may be difficult for some and that may include disability.

The Rotary Mentoring Program is considered one of Australia’s leading mentoring partnerships, which is enabling Rotarians to leave a lasting legacy for our emerging leaders and community.

Club member Francesco Fedele is responsible for leading the growth and strategic direction of the Rotary Mentoring Academy and will share with you the roadmap for the future of the mentoring program as well as some exciting new developments and partnerships.

Regardless of your experience the Rotary Mentoring Program will have a place for you to leave a lasting legacy.

The Governor is an administration officer of Rotary International and is directly responsible to the Board of RI for the administration of the District.  During the year, the District Governor carries out an official visit to each Club. This visit is to provide an opportunity for the DG to meet with the president, board and club members. He will address the club on Rotary International President’s theme and emphasis for the year. He will also highlight the District goals and focus and may comment on our club’s plans and objectives.

Spanning a career of over 30 years, Philip Archer has provided strategic management consulting, executive coaching and mentoring, human resource advisory and executive search services for high profile companies across a diverse range of industries. A key aspect of his consulting services has been assisting many organisations with business and strategic planning, training, restructuring and change management whilst mentoring and coaching leadership groups and individuals.

Philip has a strong personal interest in providing the guidance and support that aids the development of leadership careers. He is the Managing Director of The Archway Group, a boutique human resource consulting firm that focuses on building teams for businesses.

“The Forecast for D-Day”, is the story behind the decision to choose 6th June 1944 as the day for the invasion of occupied Europe. For military reasons, the requirements for the Allied forces included specific moon phases and tides. These variables could be predicted accurately months in advance using astronomical and tide tables. But the other requirement – the weather – was a much more difficult proposition.

“The Forecast for D-Day” examines how the Allies’ meteorological team went about this very difficult forecast, in the days before satellite images and weather radars had become available. It was also a time of a vastly reduced network of weather observations, with very little meteorological information coming in from occupied Europe.

James Stagg, the Chief Meteorologist, had the difficult task of reaching a consensus from three different forecasting teams that had very different methodologies and divergent beliefs in the predictability of the weather. The story of how they all came together and finally decided on the 6^th June 1944 is one of the more fascinating back stories of the war.

As the invasion forces prepared to depart ,General Morgan remarked to Stagg: "Good luck Stagg: may all your depressions be nice little ones: but remember, we'll string you up from the nearest lamp post if you don't read the omens aright."

Dick Whitaker was a weather forecaster in the Bureau of Meteorology for 30 years, during which time he undertook several specialised roles. He has worked with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as a rapporteur for the Commission for Agricultural Meteorology, was a consultant in the AusAID funded “Enhanced Applications of Climate Predictions in Pacific Island Countries” (travelling extensively in the Pacific Islands) and began the Bureau of Meteorology’s “Indigenous Weather Knowledge” endeavour in 2001. He then spent ten years as Chief Meteorologist with Sky News Weather. Dick has been author, co-author and consultant editor of seventeen general interest books about the weather, including publications for Time-Life and Reader’s Digest. He has a long-standing interest in public education about weather and climate through community talks to Probus, Rotary, Lions, schools and U3A audiences.

Ignacio has over 25 years' experience in working with telecommunications, banking and finance, state government and retail clients. The last 20+ years have involved project delivery, fulfilling team leader, project manager or program manager roles. He has worked mostly in implementing, integrating or delivering IT systems or their components. Ignacio has worked for large enterprises, consulting organisations and small firms.

A certified Project Management Professional and Managing Successful Programs Practitioner, Ignacio is a career Program and Project Manager whose membership of the Project Management Institute Melbourne Chapter includes over five years as Chapter Board Member. He is also a member of the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) holding the Certified Practising Project Director certification and is also member of the respective Canberra chapters of both associations. Ignacio also holds PRINCE2 (Projects IN Controlled Environments) Foundation and (Information Technology Infrastructure Library Foundation certifications.  Ignacio has also achieved certifications in Agile Software Development and Lean Software Development from the University of Minnesota, through Coursera.

The ubiquity of change and challenges brought about by an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (aka VUCA) world have opened opportunities for Ignacio to provide support and guidance to teams in implementing flexible and collaborative ways of working to provide increasing value through product and project delivery to their clients.

Ben was named by Pro Bono Australia as one of the top 25 most influential and inspiring people in the social economy in 2020 and was also awarded the judges’ choice award of Innovator of the year. As a passionate advocate for the most vulnerable Australians, Ben is committed to driving significant reform to ensure everyone has the opportunity to be the best they can be.

Ben is a fearless young leader who his driving real change for vulnerable Australians. He has dedicated his life to community service. Ben became CEO of Youth Projects in 2017, leading the way in prevention and early intervention for young people, giving them the opportunities to be the best they can be! This is coupled with building pathways out of poverty for all people experiencing homelessness.

Ben has been instrumental in creating an industry-leading outcomes framework that has seen engagement grow to over to 50,000 contacts and support delivered annually, to the most vulnerable people experiencing homeless and young people in need. Ben’s innovative thinking and contemporary approach to leadership has enabled the launch of new outreach programs, employment support and extended health services, all of which are changing and saving lives every day.

Youth Projects is an independent charity that provides critical and unique front line support to vulnerable people experiencing disadvantage, unemployment, homelessness, alcohol and other drug issues. They deliver primary health services, AOD counselling, youth employment & skills development programs, night nursing on the streets of Melbourne's CBD, unique drug safety programs and a wonderful social enterprise.