SEA Summit 2024 Speakers

Jo Gilbert

Head of Sustainability, Australian Football League

Graduating with a BA Applied Science from RMIT and having spent her industry-based year with Spotless Services Limited at the MCG, Jo comes full circle now working in Australia’s leading sporting industry, the Australian Football League.

After spending 4 years in London working with the Virgin Group, Jo commenced her career in Australia within leading global ad agencies such as Ogilvy and JWT championing the experiential side of consumer engagement within the marketing mix for top tier brands such as Ford, Kellogg’s, L’Oreal and Nestle. Jo then moved brand side leading Sponsorships and Brand Activation at National Australia Bank for 5 years and General Motors Holden for a year as they transitioned from local manufacturing.

Jo Gilbert began her career at AFL over 5.5 years ago leading the Commercial Partnerships, Events and Match Day experience team. Over her time in the role, Jo oversaw the transformation of her portfolio from transactional sponsorships to strategically aligned and value driven partnerships.

In 2023, Jo transitioned to the newly created role of Head of Sustainability at AFL. This is a crucial role for the business in its commencement of their Environmental Sustainability journey. Jo’s remit includes working with experts to establish the baseline carbon audit for the AFL right through to providing strategic direction and leading collaboration across the entire industry including Clubs and Players to drive climate positive outcomes.

Jo is also Board Member of the Ladder Foundation, a charity organisation backed by the AFL Players Association that delivers tailored development and mentoring programs that support young people in need to change their lives for the better. 

Alexia Morgan

Group Manager, Business Improvement, Belgravia Health & Leisure Group

Alexia Morgan is a passionate sustainability professional, determined to lead anyone who will listen on their sustainability journey. Alexia believes that everyone can make a positive difference to the way their business, sporting club or household operates environmentally. Whether it’s simple initiatives like recycling, or more complex carbon emissions boundaries, it’s just a matter of getting started and then continually improving.

Alexia has worked the majority of her career in the sport, recreation and aquatics industry. Alexia is a Life Member of Aquatics and Recreation Vicotria after serving on their board for over 13 years. 

Alexia has an MBA and is currently completing her Master of Environment and Sustainability at Monash University.

Adam Bishop

General Manager Growth & Development, Athletics Australia

Adam is a dynamic and entrepreneurial senior sports executive with an impressive track record of delivering successful outcomes across the areas of community participation, high performance sport, and the events industry. Appointed to the CEO role at Athletics South Australia at the age of 25, Adam spent nearly a decade in this position transforming and growing the business before accepting an offer to take up the Interim High Performance Director role at Athletics Australia. Following athletics’ highly successful 2018 Commonwealth Games campaign, Adam moved to his current role of General Manager of Growth and Development at Athletics Australia where he is responsible for overseeing and developing a range of range of programs to facilitate the growth of athletics participation in Australia.

In addition to his employment, Adam is a member of a number of advisory groups including the World Athletics Development Commission, the AFL’s National Women and Girls Coaching Advisory Group, Oceania Athletic Development Commission, and La Trobe University’s Centre for Sport and Social Impact Advisory Group. Adam is also an experienced Non-Executive Director, having served 3 years on the board of a community disability services organisation during a period of significant organisational growth and governance reform.

Adam holds a Masters degree in Sports Administration, a Bachelor of Education with majors in physical education and English and is a graduate Fellow of the renowned Governor's Leadership Foundation program.

Adam is also a competitive athlete having won a National Junior 800m title before securing a college athletics scholarship in the USA and later going on to represent Australia at the World University Cross Country Championships.

Holly Tyrrell

General Manager of Strategy and Social Impact, Water Polo Australia

Holly Tyrrell is the General Manager of Strategy and Social Impact for Water Polo Australia and led the introduction of their recent Social Impact Framework, inclusive of their Climate Action Strategy, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Strategy and Reconciliation Action Plan.

Holly has worked with WPA for 7 years and prior worked with a number of other NSO’s in roles including Sport development, participation, sponsorship and event management. An Australian Institute of Company Directors graduate, MBA holder, and possessing 15+ years in national sports management.

Beyond her professional life, she's a dedicated mother to two young daughters and is passionate about the impact that can be created through sport and physical activity, on a person’s health, their behaviours, the community they interact with and the environments they live in.

Marcus Reynolds

Marcus Reynolds, CEO of Forest Green Rovers Football Club

Join Marcus as he sets the stage for an engaging discussion on the importance of sport and sustainability and discover why it's critical to ‘the future of sport that we take action today for tomorrow'

Marcus is a qualified lawyer with 20 years of commercial and sports management experience in New Zealand, and became CEO of Forest Green Rovers in May 2023, having been attracted to the club by its green ethos and position as a global leader on sustainability matters. A critical component of his role is ensuring that the clubs’ values, culture and behaviours are aligned, particularly around their focus on environmental sustainability

Merrilee Barnes GAICD

Merrilee Barnes, Head of Games Impact and Legacy for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organising Committee

The Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee is a key delivery partner of the Elevate 2042 Legacy Strategy and we’re delighted the Merrilee will be sharing some highlights and opportunities from the Strategy as we progress towards the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2032 – and beyond.

Merrilee has worked across myriad layers of sport, including club through to national level sport, sport stadia, athlete management, sponsorship, education, government and mega sporting events. In her previous roles, Merrilee has provided guidance to the Australian sport sector to bolster the capability of its workforce to bring about sustainable, organisational change, particularly in the areas of safe, fair and inclusive sport.

In her current role as Head of Games Impact and Legacy, Merrilee is committed to ensuring the Games are a catalyst to delivering a safe, inclusive and sustainable experience for all stakeholders, particularly those from marginalised and disadvantaged communities.

Sheila Nguyen

Sheila was Head of Sustainability for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 and is also co-founder and current board director of Sports Environment Alliance

Join Sheila as she speaks around the lessons learnt from the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 with her keynote entitled: Learning what can work through intention, discipline, and a little bit of madness.

Sheila was Head of Sustainability for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 and is also co-founder and current board director of Sports Environment Alliance and we’re absolutely delighted that she will be joining us.

Sheila will be speaking around the lessons learnt from the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 with her keynote entitled: Learning what can work through intention, discipline, and a little bit of madness.