When: Tuesday 14 October 2025, from 7.30–9am (AEST time)
Where: Collider, UniSC Innovation Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast, 90 Sippy Downs Dr, Sippy Downs, Queensland, 4556
Register: Thought Leadership Series - Bridging Generations and Cultures
Registration fee: 

• UniSC staff and Industry members – A$25.00
• UniSC postgraduate business students and alumni – Free

Registrations close: Monday 13 October 2025, 5pm

About the event

Today’s workplaces bring together people of different ages, experiences, and cultural backgrounds like never before. Global trends show that 73 percent of senior leaders now manage multi-generational teams (Work Foundation, 2024), while research also reveals that diverse teams make better decisions 87 percent of the time and reach those decisions twice as fast (Pollack Peacebuilding, 2024). The challenge and opportunity for leaders and businesses are learning how to turn this diversity into an advantage.
 
In this interactive session, moderated by Scott Martin - General Manager, Learning, Development and Membership at IML ANZ, you’ll uncover practical ways to embrace generational and cultural diversity to strengthen collaboration, unlock fresh perspectives, and create a workplace where everyone feels valued and empowered. 

Our expert panelists include Vanessa Pain, Founding Executive Director of The Catalyst Within; Jackie Le Roux, Founder of Empower Opportunity, and Peppi Bueti, Director, Sunny Comms.

You’ll learn:

• How generational and cultural diversity shapes team dynamics
• Strategies to bridge communication gaps and build trust
• Turning differences into strengths that drive innovation and creativity
• Leadership practices for building a truly inclusive and collaborative culture
• Practical tips to navigate conflict and harness diversity for performance
• Join us to explore how to lead confidently across generations and cultures, transforming diversity into one of your organisation’s greatest strengths.

Panellists

Vanessa Pain – Founding Executive Director, The Catalyst Within

Vanessa Pain is a transformational leader, speaker, advisor, and certified practicing manager whose journey from humble beginnings to global executive leadership inspires individuals and organisations alike. As founder of The Catalyst Within, she blends lived experience with strategic insight to help people and businesses unlock their potential.  With a career spanning continents, Vanessa has led teams through complex change, always prioritising psychological safety, inclusion, and clarity. Her authentic leadership style and resilience have earned her recognition as a trusted mentor and change-maker.  Vanessa engages on topics including inclusive leadership, strategic transformation, and creating cultures of belonging. Her impact is reflected in global testimonials, praising her empathy, clarity, and ability to connect across cultures and hierarchies.  She holds vocational and postgraduate qualifications and now channels her experience into coaching, service design, and inclusive leadership development, empowering transformation with compassion, courage, and purpose.

Jackie Le Roux – Empower Opportunity

With over 15 years in the corporate world and 17 years as a business owner, Jackie Le Roux brings a wealth of experience in sales, team communication, and leadership. Her journey is marked by numerous national awards and recognitions, but her true calling lies in helping others unlock their potential.  Driven by a passion to empower others, Jackie founded Empower Opportunity, a platform dedicated to guiding individuals toward discovering their unique purpose and building profitable, fulfilling careers or businesses. She combines accredited expertise with insights from top global online business leaders to deliver, step-by-step roadmaps tailored to personal goals, Proven tools to eliminate guesswork and overcome obstacles, and personalised guidance to help launch your dream with confidence.

Peppi Bueti - Director, Sunny Comms
Peppi Bueti is a seasoned communications and marketing professional with over 30 years experience across major infrastructure, community, and SME projects. As Director of Sunny Comms, Peppi has led PR and marketing campaigns for clients across Australia. He is an executive member of the Maroochydore Chamber of Commerce and co-host of The President and Pep Chambercast. As the proud son of Italian migrants, Peppi serves on the Sunshine Coast Multicultural Advisory Group and has helped to facilitate the award-winning Migrant Work Ready Program. Peppi has been a board member of the Italian Chamber of Commerce (QLD) and is passionate about fostering culturally and generationally inclusive workplaces.

Moderator

Scott Martin - General Manager, Learning, Development and Membership at IML ANZ
Scott is a career manager and leader with a true alignment to the Institute’s vision to create better managers and leaders for a better society. Scott has spent the past 20 years working with many of Australia’s largest companies developing and delivering impactful management and leadership programs that align with the realities of managing and leading from the front. Scott is General Manager for Learning, Development and Membership at IML ANZ and has developed a suite of IML ANZ’s popular programs and diagnostic tools. Having spent many years working in private enterprise, he takes a practical and pragmatic approach to working with clients and their team to deliver learning and development solutions that connect the dots between the content, the cohort and our expert facilitators, enabling a DNA match that just works.

Contact

For any inquiries, please contact Dr Jane Menzies at jmenzies@usc.edu.au or Dr Melissa Innes at minnes1@usc.edu.au