ALA 48th Annual National Conference 2008

Dr Peter Ellyard

Exclusive to Saxton

Dr Peter Ellyard is a futurist, strategist and a leading international conference speaker. He is a graduate of Sydney University (BSc.Agr) and of Cornell University (MS , Ph.D).

He is currently Chairman of the Preferred Futures Institute and the Preferred Futures Group, which he founded in 1991. He also Chairs the Sustainable Prosperity Foundation.

Dr Ellyard is a highly experienced executive. He is the former Executive Director for the Australian Commission for the Future. He held CEO positions in a number of public sector organizations over 15 years including two associated with Environment and Planning, and one with Industry and Technology. He was also Chief of Staff of an Environment Minister in Canberra for 3 years.

He is Adjunct Professor of Intergenerational Strategies at the University of Queensland and a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators, the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand ,and the Australian Institute of Management. He is an elected Member of the International Union of Associations, based in Brussels, which has 45,000 international NGO members. He is also a Director of Green Cross Australia.

He has been a Senior Adviser to the United Nations system for more than 30 years including to the 1992 Earth Summit where he was a senior advisor on both the climate change and the biodiversity conventions. In this he was the only Australian and one of only 20 globally. At other times he has been a senior consultant to the UNEP, UNDP and UNESCO.

Dr Ellyard is the author of the best selling book Ideas for the New Millennium (1998, 2001) and Designing 2050: Pathways to Sustainable Prosperity on Spaceship Earth (2008). He is an enlightening, challenging, thought-provoking and inspirational speaker.

David Helmers

Australian Men’s Shed Association EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Originally employed by Catholic Care Newcastle as the Coordinator for the Shed at Windale in 2006 for a 12-month term, nearly 4 years later David has dedicated that last 2 years to the development of the Australian Men’s Shed Association. The idea of creating an Association to collectively represent Men’s Sheds National and to freely share information between sheds was conceived at the 2nd National Conference in Manly 2007.

Since then AMSA has grown from strength to strength to what is now regarded as the largest Men’s Association in the country. David has represented AMSA at the Senate Hearing into Men’s Health, the National round Table Meeting on the Men’s Health Policy as well as continuously lobbied for the Association and our members at all levels of Government.

Prior to this position David was the General Manager of a large Association, this is why he could see so much opportunity for AMSA, with experience in administration, marketing and tertiary studies, David also has over 17 years experience in a medium sized family business, so his background is quite diverse.

In his spare time David spends time in his shed at home renovating his house or at the Shed at Windale where he is a wood working enthusiast.