Michael Neale is Managing Director and Principal Consultant of Literally Brilliant, a strategic marketing consultancy company. Prior to this he had a distinguished career in corporate marketing in Australia and the UK. He holds a Masters of Business by research, is a Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute and is a Graduate of the Institute of Company Directors. He chairs a number of Global Advisory Boards for a diverse range of client companies. In 2016, he became Chair of the Bay to Birdwood, one of the world’s great historic motoring events, held annually in South Australia.

Dr Lainie Anderson is a writer and historian who aims to bring South Australia’s past to life through storytelling, research and public engagement. With a 35-year career spanning journalism, public relations and historic fiction, she has written for The Times in London, Melbourne’s Herald Sun, and spent 17 years as a columnist with Adelaide’s Sunday Mail.

In 2016 Lainie was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to investigate the global significance of the 1919 Great Air Race from England to Australia. The race was won by South Australians Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith with mechanics Wally Shiers and Jim Bennett in Adelaide’s historic Vickers Vimy aircraft. As Epic Flight Centenary Ambassador in 2019, working with the History Trust of South Australia, she helped to raise $7 million to conserve and relocate the historic aircraft into its new purpose-built exhibition space at Adelaide Airport. Her debut novel Long Flight Home and an SBS TV documentary, narrated by former NASA astronaut Dr Andy Thomas, were inspired by the race and its legacy.

Lainie completed a PhD at the University of South Australia in 2024 on pioneering policewoman Kate Cocks, whose life inspired her Petticoat Police mystery series: The Death of Dora Black and Murder on North Terrace. She is vice-president of the History Council of South Australia, a member of the SA Regional Selection Committee for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, and was named 2023 Emerging Historian of the Year by the History Council of South Australia.

Jared Thomas is a Nukunu person of the Southern Flinders Ranges and the Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art and Cultural Material at the South Australian Museum. An international award winning author, his titles include The Game Day series with Patty Mills, Dallas Davis, the Scientist and the City Kids for children, and Sweet Guy, Calypso Summer and Songs That Sound Like Blood for young adults. Jared’s writing explores the power of belonging and culture.

Jared has worked as a University of South Australia Communications lecturer with a specialisation in protocols for art and creative production that involved Aboriginal people and culture, and Manager, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts and Culture, Arts SA. He currently serves on the Australia Council for the Arts Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Strategy Panel. Jared is an Ambassador of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and South Australian Premier’s Reading Challenge.

Jared’s pursuits through the South Australian Museum explore new methodologies and models for engaging Aboriginal people and communities in the telling of their stories and the custodianship of their material culture.

Carolyn Grantskalns OAM has worked in school education in a variety of roles including 23 years as a school principal. She graduated from the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in History and English and taught History for more than 40 years at a secondary school level. She is an experienced board member having served on the Boards of the Association of Independent Schools of South Australia, St Ann’s College, the teacher credit union, SATISFAC, the Education Standards Board of South Australia, ACARA, the Alliance of Girls Schools Australasia, the Association of Heads of Independent Schools, of which she is an honorary life member, Independent Schools Australia and Girls Sport Victoria. She is currently the Deputy Presiding Member of the Teacher Registration Board of SA. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Australian Council of Educational Leaders.

A passionate advocate for 20th century art, architecture and history, David is President of the Adelaide Chapter of the Art Deco & Modernism Society of Australia, and a member of Uni SA’s Architecture Museum Advisory Board. He resides in a State Heritage listed Art Deco home in Prospect, where he served for nearly 20 years in local government, including 16 years as Mayor.

David is currently a member of the State Planning Commission, the Renewal SA board, and Chair of the Local Government Procurement Board and The Cottage Homes Inc Board. His breadth of governance experience across 40 years spans education, housing, finance, construction, reconciliation and community service. In parallel he was a practitioner in private and public sector construction and development sectors across South Australia. David’s nearly 20 years’ experience in Local Government included serving as a Councillor, Mayor, member of the state board for 14 years, as State President and as President of the Australian Local Government Association where he served on COAG and numerous national Ministerial Councils.

David studied architecture at Adelaide University, before graduating in Project Management at Uni SA. He is also a graduate of the Governor’s Leadership Foundation and the AICD’s Essential Director and Director Update courses.

Now retired from paid work, Steph is busy as a volunteer in a number of areas including the SA Coalition for Welfare Rights, the Muriel Matters Society Inc., SA Unions Women’s Standing Committee and WEL SA. She has been a Justice of the Peace now for over 40 years. Prior to retirement, Steph worked for over 21 years as a Labor state member of parliament. During that time she served as a shadow minister, government minister, and presiding member of parliamentary committees and significant inquiries. As a local MP, Steph was involved in many local community campaigns, actions and local histories and stories. She has been a Patron, Trustee or Board member of a number of community organisations. Her work before becoming an MP was as a trade union industrial advocate. She was also one of the early Directors of the SA Working Women’s Centre Inc.. As a long-time member of the Australian Society for the study of Labour History (SA branch), Steph continues to be interested in developing and promoting stories about work and the industrial arena. She has also worked with other women, from many different backgrounds, to bring to light women’s stories and herstories and hopes there will be some time to continue this work. Steph’s areas of study for her BA at Flinders University were Politics, Sociology, Australian History & Women’s Studies.

Board director, strategic advisor, and CEO with over 25 years’ global experience in governance, cultural inclusion, and cross-sector leadership across the US, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Australia. Serafina has a proven ability to guide organisations through strategic growth, stakeholder engagement, and systems transformation. She is a passionate advocate for inclusive storytelling and for preserving and amplifying diverse cultural narratives – especially First Nations and culturally diverse stories – and is skilled at advising and delivering mission-aligned outcomes in complex, multi-stakeholder environments across Australia and internationally.

She currently serves as a Director of the US-based Tingari-Silverton Foundation, which invests in bold, systems-changing innovations, from capacity-building programs and women-led ventures targeting humanity’s most challenging predicaments. Serafina is also a Senior Industry Fellow at RMIT University’s FORWARD Centre for Future Skills & Workforce Transformation, and the Founder of Our Global Table advisory, partnering with education institutions, business, and government to design and implement culturally agile and inclusive leadership and education models that improve organisational performance, belonging, and impact.

A lifelong learner and global traveller, Serafina is committed to building a future where shared humanity and inclusive leadership shape thriving communities.

Chris Kelly is a partner and notary at the prominent Australian law firm Thomson Geer, specialising in property and commercial transactions. He has been recognised by his peers as a leading lawyer in South Australia in both Doyle’s Guide and Best Lawyers. Chris holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) from the University of Adelaide.

Chris is a member of the Property Council of Australia’s South Australian Division Council and is a sessional teacher and guest lecturer at the University of Adelaide.

Chris has a passion for history spending much of his spare time consuming all forms of historical media with a goal to better understand how the modern world was shaped and what we can learn from the past to implement a better future. He believes that preservation and recognition of our past is critical to this goal.