KIMBRA BELIEVES
Kimbra is passionate about involving communities in decisions that affect their lives. She cares about facilitating conversations that matter and believes that every meeting can always be a better meeting.
FOR KIMBRA, MOSAICLAB IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE
Kimbra co-founded MosaicLab in 2013 and sees the group as a platform for continuous learning about participation. She believes that these learnings should be shared with others, ultimately contributing to quality and meaningful engagement becoming the norm in the way that decisions are made.
“(Kimbra) engages everyone in the room in a way I haven’t seen other facilitators able to do. Is flexible with different audiences and can adapt to different contexts.”
OTHER PEOPLE SAY THAT
Kimbra is known for her responsive, flexible and friendly approach. She is a dedicated professional who consistently goes above and beyond, personally investing herself in the pursuit of outstanding outcomes.
Kimbra is an active member of the participation community and always has her ‘finger on the pulse’. She approaches everything she does with energy and enjoys exploring new concepts and ideas and approaching issues in innovative ways.
KIMBRA KNEW THIS WAS HER CALLING WHEN
Kimbra completed a thesis on public participation and planning in 1990 – an early reflection of her ongoing interest in the field which had surfaced early in her career. In the initial stages of her career town planners were working in the engagement space, but only offered the community the right to object rather than participate. Kimbra was interested in ways to increase involvement in the process and keen to see the community participating earlier in each project.
There was no one defining moment for Kimbra when it came to realising her passion for participation, but she felt a strong connection to the philosophies and principles around the practice from the very beginning.
“Good with disparate groups and tricky people. Well equipped for variations in plan.”
KIMBRA LOVES
Kimbra passions outside of MosaicLab include active pursuits such as swimming and long distance walking.
Kimbra has completed several large walks including a walk across England in 2015 and is a member of different walking groups across Australia. She enjoys travel and is especially passionate about holidays centred around walking opportunities.
SOMETHING YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT KIMBRA
Kimbra lived in Texas for five years where she went to university and achieved her Masters in Business Administration.
KIMBRA'S CV IN A NUTSHELL
SKILLS
Kimbra has planned and facilitated a wide range of participation processes: large and small, easy and hard, and at times with high levels of outrage and emotion. She specialises in a range of areas including community and stakeholder engagement, outrage management, advisory committees and board governance.
QUALIFICATIONS
Kimbra has a Bachelor of Economics, Bachelor of Arts (Hons), Graduate Diploma in Urban Planning and a Masters in Business Administration.
BACKGROUND & ACHIEVEMENTS
Kimbra has worked extensively across state, regional and local government engagement projects. She commenced her career as an urban planner for Hobart City Council and has worked with the NSW Deparment of Planning, the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils, the Outer Eastern Municipalities Association in Melbourne and Business East and the economic development board for Melbourne’s eastern region where she was the Executive Director.
Kimbra is:
• a former president and board member of IAP2 Australasia,
• a former board member of IAP2 International Federation.
• an active member of Australian facilitators network.
• the initial co-convenor of the Facilitation One Day Wonder annual event
Kimbra has facilitated several award winning projects including:
• IAP2 Australasian Environment Project of the Year in 2014
(for the City of Melbourne’s Urban Forest Strategy)
• IAP2 Victorian Project of the Year
(for Hepburn Shire’s Conference of Big Ideas, part of OurSay’s community engagement for the Council Plan).
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