Meet Kerry Grace
Regional Impact Facilitator
A thought leader and speaker who has spent most of her life living in regional Australia, Kerry Grace applies her skills in leadership, community and economic development and community engagement to amplify the strengths of regional communities.
Kerry's first book is available now
Spiralling Up, a Guide for Accidental Leaders will step you through the three simple steps to enable your community to spiral up and it will provide you with reassurance as you experience similar challenges to those who have come before you.
Services
Kerry applies her experiences in regional communities to add value in the following ways.
ready communities programs
As the co-founder of Ready Communities Kerry works with Dr. Chad Renando to innovate in the delivery of sustainable social change through their two-year place-based flagship program and national conference Social Impact in the Regions.
FACILITATOR
Kerry is an experienced facilitator who works across government, not-for-profit organisations, Aboriginal corporations and community groups, supporting conversations that surface multiple perspectives and enable constructive progress on complex community issues.
Author / Writer
Kerry writes about place, systems change and the human experience of leadership. Her writing spans blogs, essays and long-form work, including her book Spiralling Up: A Guide for Accidental Leaders, which explores how people navigate responsibility, complexity and change.
Emcee / Speaker
Kerry speaks on place-based change, leadership and agency, drawing on lived experience to explore how communities build lasting capacity and respond to complex regional challenges.
About Kerry
A passionate regional Australian
Kerry Grace is a regional impact facilitator, speaker and social entrepreneur, founder of the Social Impact in the Regions National Conference, and co-founder of Ready Communities. She works across sectors to support place-based change, combining systems insight with lived experience to enable progress on complex community challenges.
Communities already know the solutions to their greatest problems. Often what is needed is someone who can gently guide a conversation about what these solutions are and how they should be implemented.
Kerry Grace
Impact Facilitator
Why you should work with Kerry
Proven experience
A thought leader
Tried and tested approaches and theories are often successful, but Kerry isn't afraid to push boundaries and pioneer new and unique ways in which to achieve the goals of the community she is working in. Kerry is called upon by all levels of government to develop strategic pathways forward for regional communities.
Her leadership is also demonstrated via her annual conference, Social Impact in the Regions.
Ability to build trusted relationships
Through years of working in regional communities Kerry is known to build trusted relationships across a broad range of stakeholders, thus encouraging honest and constructive dialogue between all involved. Kerry held a senior leadership position as the Director of Regional Development for Regional Development Australia Mid North Coast and Norfolk Island 2016-2023.
A deep understanding of regional Australia
Kerry’s family have lived in the regions for seven generations. Having grown up in a regional community herself and spending most of her adult life in regional Australia, Kerry understands the challenges that communities and corporates face when looking to work together. There is simply no substitute for lived experience.
A flexible approach to a variety of entities
Throughout her career, Kerry has worked with community leaders, small businesses, large corporations and not for profit organisations. Kerry has worked in a senior role in vocational education to encourage investment in programs for Indigenous communities. She is often called upon to support capacity development in Aboriginal Corporations. She understands the intricacies of the various stakeholders in any situation and is able to speak a language that everyone understands.
Connect
Would you like to work with Kerry?
If you would like to work with Kerry, require more information or simply wish to touch base and connect, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Kerry is always looking to broaden her network as well as answer questions that potential clients might have.
Reviews
What clients say
Michele Donovan
Personally and Professionally I have had a strong, sincere working relationship with Kerry over many years – Kerry does become invested in her projects, she is a great listener and advocate. She is a great people person, loves being engaged at the Grassroots level to gain a better understanding of the real issues, and develop with and alongside community the best way forward.
Tracy Singleton
Over more than 20 years my observation of Kerry’s practice in regional communities has evolved into one grounded in humility, deep listening, and co-design. Kerry has seen the gaps, the lack of consistency and poor support people in regional Australia experience. She focuses on bridging them by building strong relationships and creating space for Regional voices to lead. Her work brings together community members, service providers, government and businesses to collaborate in ways that are purposeful and respectful, even when trust has been broken in the past.
Kellon Beard
I have known Kerry since she took on the role as CEO of Regional Development Australia on the Mid North Coast in 2016. What has impressed me about Kerry is her dedication and commitment to the role in what have been some very tough times. Kerry has always shown great leadership and creative problem-solving approaches. Kerry has shown great leadership and has inspired those around her and dedication to see things through.
Heather Cavanagh
Kerry Grace is a passionate, effective advocate for economic development and sustainability in regional Australia. She utilises outstanding leadership and strong negotiating skills to achieve optimum outcomes, even where (at an early stage) this may simply be achieving a more widespread awareness and understanding of the issues and, of course, the associated opportunities!
Blog
The latest from Kerry
This year I became an empty nester. Well, for four teary months anyway. The short version is this… By design the Ready Communities program and our national conference, Social Impact in the Regions is based in a different community each …
Know that feeling when you find a model that describes your practice? I recently had this experience when I stumbled upon ‘Harmonic Principles’ designed by IA Interior Architects (shared below). For some time now I’ve known my approach to designing …
How producing a conference on my own dime changed my thoughts on speaker payments (and my behaviour as a speaker) Producing conferences and events is not a new thing for me, in fact, I pulled together my first band night …