Your Facilitators
Janet Cribbes
Janet Cribbes has a career spanning three decades, working in State government, community services, the private sector, Local Government and more recently Not for Profit. Janet specialises in governance, ethical and authentic leadership coaching and mentoring in the non for profit and Local government agencies. Her community engagement saw her elected to Port Phillip Council in 2004 to 2008 with one term as mayor in 2008. Public life has many rewards and challenges, having a sense of humour is great life skill. Following Council, Janet went to establish and manage the Community Bushfire Recovery Service after the Black Saturday 2009 Bushfires, on behalf of the Archdiocese of Melbourne delivered through CatholicCare. Janet is currently a director and co-chair on a not-for-profit Board and Chairs 2 other not for profit Board.
Julie Reid
Julie has 33 years’ experience working in Local Government, including large Councils in the UK, rural Councils in New South Wales and Victorian Councils, and has recent experience in State Government. This diverse experience has seen her contribute to governance, planning, urban design, sustainability, economic development, building, waste, capital works delivery, community engagement and more. Julie’s recent career highlights include working as Executive Director of Local Government Victoria in the Department of Jobs Precincts and Regions and as the first female CEO at the City of Kingston. Julie also spent 10 years at an executive/director level leading city development and engineering/infrastructure portfolios at Whitehorse and Greater Dandenong City Councils.
She is a qualified Master of Planning and has a Graduate Diploma in Management and Bachelor of Arts (Urban Studies). Julie launched her own consultancy business in June 2022 to continue assisting Local Government into the future.
Allison Watt
Allison is a senior Local Government professional with a strong background and experience in strategic communications, governance, council business, corporate planning, risk management, advocacy and other functions over a 25-year career. She is a former journalist, editor, sub-editor and proof reader and after 15 years in suburban newspapers entered local government to work in corporate communications in the late 1990s. Allison has worked for 25 years in the sector, in various senior communications and governance roles at Brimbank, Nillumbik, Moonee Valley and Macedon Ranges Councils.
Allison has a Graduate Diploma in Communication from Victoria University; an International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) Certificate and a Certificate in Governance and Risk Management from the Governance Institute of Australia
John Nevins
John has a broad employment background in Victorian; Public Transport, Public Service and Local Government. Starting in Local Government in the era of Local Government reform under the Kennett Government John held senior Local Government leadership positions for 25 years until semi-retiring in 2019 after 14 years as Chief Executive Officer of the City of Kingston. Since then, he has engaged in Local Government interim executive and consultancy undertakings, is on the Advisory Board of a digital technology business and is an Independent Member of the Bass Coast Health and Snowdome Foundation (a charity focused on funding research into blood cancer) Finance Audit and Risk Committees.
John describes his strengths as corporate and operational leadership, financial acumen, and leading positive organizational development. John has an Economics Degree, a Graduate Diploma in Public Policy and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Tim Tamlin
Tim’s Local Government career commenced when he moved from being the General Manager for a civil contracting company and joined the City of Greater Dandenong as the manager of the Depot and outdoor staff.
Tim went on to be the Director of Engineering Services at the City of Greater Dandenong before joining the South Gippsland Shire Council as the Chief Executive Officer for a 10 year period. Recently Tim has completed two short-term contracts with the City of Kingston and the Campaspe Shire Council as the Interim Chief Executive Officer.
Tim’s passion is for working with people to create happy and engaging work environments and finding opportunities for communities to thrive.
June Strutt
June has a heart for governance excellence, and passion for Local Government which is reflected in a 44-year career spanning leadership of parks and gardens, customer service, records management, open space/environmental parks planning, risk management, team and service development, corporate services, internal auditing, governance, and corporate planning. Drawing on her broad local government experience, and learnings from her Master's in Business Administration, she has delivered stronger good governance and strategic corporate planning in Local Government.
Today June is sharing these skills and knowledge with others, encouraging them to recognise that good governance and corporate planning underpin the success of every organisation.
Heather Johnson
Heather has a long association with local government, starting with the City of Melbourne in the 1990s. She has worked in community services, policy, management, and executive roles in both metropolitan and rural municipalities. As an independent consultant since 2016 she has assisted Councils with service reviews, business and corporate planning. Heather also works with health, aged care, and community health services.
Heather’s qualifications include an MBA from Melbourne Business School, a Masters in Social Work, and she is a graduate of the AICD company directors course. She is a director on two not-for-profit boards of management.
Heather is an experienced facilitator, with experience in both organisational facilitation and community engagement. She has a commitment to achieving agreed outcomes such as keeping groups focused on the purpose of sessions, involving all participants, and meeting timelines.
Heather’s writing experience spans letters to clients, community members, politicians and grant holders; speeches and articles for publication; Council and other governance reports; emails, web content, and daily texts.