Lesley Podesta

I’ve always believed that expertise shouldn’t be locked away where only the well-resourced can reach it. That conviction has shaped every chapter of my career — from senior roles in the Victorian Government, to international development work as Head of Global Partnerships at the Fred Hollows Foundation, to leading the Alannah & Madeline Foundation.

A turning point came when I founded the Australian Gun Safety Alliance, work that taught me how much can be achieved when people with influence and expertise are mobilised behind a cause bigger than themselves. That lesson followed me into my current work. As CEO of Kilfinan Australia, I lead a program that matches senior corporate and public sector leaders as volunteer mentors with CEOs and leaders across the social impact sector — organisations doing vital work but rarely able to afford the calibre of advice that’s taken for granted in the corporate world. I came to this role having once been a Kilfinan mentee myself, so I understand firsthand what it means to receive that kind of help at a critical moment.

Alongside this, I chair Good Things Foundation Australia and run Red Mitten, a low bono and pro bono government relations practice, because I believe good ideas deserve a hearing regardless of an organisation’s budget.

A Churchill Fellowship will let me build on this work by studying how organisations like Pilot Light in London deploy teams of mentors to support not-for-profits through crises such as mergers and funding collapses, and how bodies like Business in the Community build more diverse mentor pools. My vision is to bring the best of private sector knowledge and insight to support the important work of developing a fairer, more inclusive community — and to ensure good decisions are never out of reach for those doing that work.