Journey to Impact: Australia

Danny Almagor is co-founder (with his wife Berry) and the Executive Chair of Small Giants. Danny was the inaugural Social Entrepreneur in Residence at RMIT, the founder and former CEO of Engineers Without Borders Australia and is the co-founder and Chair of the Impact Investment Group, and more recently created Sentient Impact Group. He has founded over a dozen for profit and non profit organisations including The Sociable Weaver, The Impact Club, Beyond Family Office and Beyond Creative. He has served on numerous boards, including many of the Small Giants family of businesses such as Tom Organic, The School of Life, The Cape ecovillage and Pacific Biotechnologies, as well as non-profit boards and advisories boards including the Jewish Museum of Australia, Stand Up, Smiling Mind, The Gross National Happiness Centre in Bhutan and Toniic. Danny has been recognised through many awards including a Churchill Fellowship, RMIT Alumnus of the Year, EY Social Entrepreneur of the Year, UN PRI Social Investment Pioneer and the Medal of the Order of Australia.

He has studied Aerospace Engineering, Business Administration and outdoor education. He loves to cook, read, rock climb, talk about philosophy, garden, travel and jump on the trampoline with his three kids. He doesn’t like to run marathons, watch horror films, drink beer, spend time on social media, or invest in anything that isn’t impact.

Hayley Morris is one of Australia’s leading social and environmental entrepreneurs, as well as a prominent impact investor and philanthropist. As the founder of purpose-driven organisations such as Sustainable Table, Impact Sustainability, and Rewild Agency, and serving as Executive Director of the Morris Family Foundation, she is dedicated to building regenerative economies through her work in non-profit, philanthropic, and impact investment efforts.

Eleanor is a curator of immersive experiences, bringing people together to explore the ideas defining our time.

Eleanor is the Executive & Creative Director of TEDxSydney, most recently co-curated the Forest Economics Congress with MONA (Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania) and designed the Climate Leadership Accelerator for Small Giants Academy.

She was previously the Head of Programs at Small Giants Academy, co-creating deep impact learning journeys including the Mastery of Business and Empathy, Impact Safaris to Israel and Palestine (conflict & innovation), Bhutan (GNH & systems of measurement) and the Tarkine Rainforest (regeneration of people and place), as well as various courses exploring the interplay of wisdom and action required to meet global challenges.

Prior to this, Eleanor was the Managing Director of The School of Life Australia, a platform exploring emotional intelligence through philosophy, anthropology and culture, staging ambitious public programming with interdisciplinary thought leaders across the country.

Eleanor co-founded First Light to contribute to the growing global community investing in climate responses. She is a board director for Groundswell Giving and co-chair of the Atelier Council at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

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A passionate and experienced governance professional, Mele-Ane’s work explores the intersection of cultural wisdom, purpose-led business, and the “next economy,” and believes in the immense power of storytelling for change. Mele-Ane holds an MBA from Oxford, where she was a fellow of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship. She also has an LLB/BA from Monash University.

Mele has over 20 years of experience reporting to Boards and Board sub-committees with over 13 years of experience as a non-executive Director of Boards. Her experience spans ASX-listed companies, not-for-profits and for-purpose organisations across a wide range of sectors.

Francie is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Small Giants.

Francie is the CEO at Small Giants. She is passionate about using storytelling, education, business and finance to accelerate the transition to a more socially equitable and environmentally regenerative world. Responsible for leading strategy, finance, investments, governance, and operations for the Small Giants family office and the portfolio of Small Giants businesses, she holds several governance positions across the Small Giants portfolio. This includes Board Chair for Small Giants Catalyst Foundation and Small Giants Academy, as well as a Board member for Impact Funds Management (Impact Investment Group subsidiary).

Francie is also on the Board of Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA), member of RIAA’s People, Nominations and Remuneration Committee and is a Governor at WWF Australia.

She has a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting), and is also a Chartered Accountant (CA) and Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Company Directors course and AICD Boardroom Mastery course. Francie is a member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and APS College of Organisational Psychologists. She is a Provisional Psychologist currently completing a Master of Psychology (Organisational).

Francie has a big family and loves long walks as well as arts and crafts (you can never have enough sequins and glitter!).

Jed’s leadership on impact investing has influenced the sector from its very beginning. He has co-authored seven books, including “Impact Investing: Transforming How We Make Money While Making a Difference,” a Nautilus Gold Book Award winner and the first book on impact investing, and authored “The Purpose of Capital: Elements of Impact, Financial Flows and Natural Being.”

He is a frequent speaker at conferences, including appearances at The World Economic Forum and Clinton Global Initiative. Jed is a Senior Fellow with the Center for Social Investment at Heidelberg University (Germany) and the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth at the University of Zurich and has held faculty appointments at Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford business schools. He has taught social entrepreneurship at Kellogg Business School, Harvard Business School, and NYU-Abu Dhabi.

In addition to his role at AlTi, Jed is Senior Fellow with ImpactAssets, a nonprofit financial services firm. He has founded and co-founded some of the nation’s leading impact investing, venture philanthropy, community venture capital and social enterprises. Jed was strategic advisor to investments for five family offices with over $1.4 billion in total assets, executing 100 percent impact/sustainable investment strategies with their total net worth.