Modern Leadership in Community Led Organisations

Freda Valasakkis is a Certified Chair™, accountant, Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, sought-after advisor, and respected community leader. She made history as the first female president and chair in the 98 year history of one of Australia’s iconic communities, the Greek Orthodox Community of St. George in Brisbane, which serves thousands of people through a broad spectrum of services including aged care, childcare, education and sports club affiliations. As Chair, her focus is simple: honour what was built, and make it stronger. Ensuring an organisation approaching its centenary remains as relevant, purposeful and impactful in its next hundred years as it has been in its first.

Innovation is not about disruption but continuity, because keeping communities like this alive is really important for our social fabric. It’s getting harder for people to connect, and what I see through my work is that people want to belong to something and want to contribute. The top two tiers of the organisation are the governance board and the advisory boards. It’s a community built on volunteers, and we do that because we are contributing to a purpose.

KEY INSIGHTS

Dive in to the conversation to learn:

• How Freda manages the tension between the needs of a community led organisation and a commercial one

• What role advisory boards play in leveraging corporate strategies while bridging community insight and governance

• Why valuing diverse thinking is key to making safe, well-framed decisions, and how strategic questioning plays a role in seeing the full picture

• … and what’s all of this got to do with a dinner and closing off one of Brisbane’s most iconic bridges?

Watch one of our most inspiring Advisor Insight interviews to date!