5 Leading Change Management Speakers in Australia

These categories are not exclusive. Several speakers work across connected areas, so the final choice should depend on the audience, the organisation’s circumstances and the outcome you want from the session.

 

How Were These Change Management Speakers in Australia Selected?

I considered three things: a clear connection to organisational change, relevant professional or research experience, and published speaking content that helps event organisers understand the speaker’s approach.

That experience takes different forms. Executive leadership, change implementation, research, consulting and business transformation can each provide a valuable perspective.

The important point is relevance.

For this guide, I have focused on what each speaker’s work could contribute to a particular event brief. I have not treated audience size, celebrity status or promotional claims as proof that one speaker will be the best choice for every organisation.

Current topics, availability, customisation and delivery arrangements should be confirmed directly with the speaker or their representative.

 

The 5 Leading Change Management Speakers in Australia

1. Caroline Kennedy

Leadership Accountability and Organisational Transformation

Caroline Kennedy is a former CEO, executive coach and keynote speaker whose work connects leadership behaviour with business transformation.

Her speaking topics include organisational change, strategic decision-making, disruption, behavioural change and AI-ready leadership. She draws on executive experience to address the commercial and human responsibilities involved in changing how an organisation operates.

For this shortlist, her particular relevance is the connection between the organisation’s direction and the leadership required to deliver it.

Caroline’s approach asks leaders to consider their own role in change: the assumptions they need to revisit, the decisions they need to make and the accountability they need to demonstrate.

Her published Leading Through the Gravity of Change offering applies this perspective to AI-related transformation. It’s available as a bespoke keynote and facilitated executive workshop, with an emphasis on moving leadership teams towards specific commitments. This is one application of her broader speaking work on leadership and organisational change. You can check it out here.

For an event organiser, Caroline is worth considering when the audience needs to connect a transformation agenda with practical leadership action.

Best suited to: Executive conferences, senior leadership offsites and corporate events focused on business transformation, disruption or leadership responsibility during change.

Particularly relevant for: Strategic decision-making, leadership accountability, behavioural change, AI adoption and translating organisational priorities into action.

Booking consideration: Clarify whether the priority is a conference keynote or a more focused executive working session. Caroline’s published offering includes both formats.

 

2. Ciara Lancaster

Change Fatigue and Resilience During Workplace Transformation

Ciara Lancaster is a keynote speaker and author of Reimagine Change, with a particular focus on change fatigue and resilience. Her professional background includes change-management work at Deloitte Australia.

Her published keynote addresses the experience of leaders and teams navigating continuing workplace change, including competing demands, uncertainty and the challenge of maintaining engagement.

The emphasis is on practical change-leadership and coaching approaches that support people through those conditions.

For this guide, Ciara offers a useful perspective when the audience already understands that change is necessary but needs a more grounded conversation about navigating it. That could be a leadership group supporting teams through several initiatives, or an employee conference taking place after a demanding period of transition.

Best suited to: All-staff conferences, people-and-culture events and leadership gatherings where change fatigue is a central concern.

Particularly relevant for: Change resilience, uncertainty, team engagement, human responses to change and supporting people through continuing transformation.

Booking consideration: Explain what the audience has already experienced. A team anticipating its first major change will need a different emphasis from one managing several overlapping transitions. This is especially relevant to Ciara’s stated focus on continuing workplace change.

 

3. Dr Peter Fuda

Leadership Transformation and Organisational Alignment

Dr Peter Fuda is a consultant, coach, researcher, author and speaker whose work focuses on leadership and business transformation. He is the author of Leadership Transformed and works with leaders and organisations through The Alignment Partnership.

His speaking draws on his research and advisory work with senior leaders. His published material and client accounts emphasise leadership effectiveness, trust, alignment and the relationship between individual leadership change and wider organisational performance.

For an executive audience, that creates a different brief from a general presentation about embracing change. Peter’s work would be worth considering where transformation requires a serious examination of leadership itself.

Best suited to: Executive offsites, senior leadership conferences and events focused on leadership effectiveness and organisational transformation.

Particularly relevant for: Executive-team alignment, leadership behaviour, trust, culture and transformation.

Booking consideration: Define the leadership issue you want the session to address. For a senior audience, a specific brief about alignment or leadership effectiveness will be more useful than a broad request for inspiration about change. This assessment reflects the executive focus of his published work.

 

4. Dr Jason Fox

Making Progress Through Complexity and Uncertainty

Dr Jason Fox is a keynote speaker, leadership adviser and author of The Game Changer and How to Lead a Quest. His work addresses motivation, leadership, complexity and change.

His published keynote topics examine how established ways of thinking shape behaviour, how to recognise meaningful progress and how leaders can move forward when the path is uncertain. For example, A Quest Beckons challenges habitual thinking, while Change the Game considers behaviour and the practices that sustain progress after an event.

That makes Jason a relevant consideration when an organisation needs to rethink its direction, rather than simply explain an already-defined implementation plan. The audience may need to question assumptions, become more comfortable with uncertainty or distinguish useful experimentation from activity that only looks productive.

Best suited to: Strategy offsites, innovation conferences and leadership events where uncertainty and established thinking are important parts of the challenge.

Particularly relevant for: Complexity, motivation, experimentation, leadership through uncertainty and meaningful progress.

Booking consideration: Review a longer presentation sample and discuss the audience’s expectations. His self-described philosophical, playful approach is distinctive, and delivery style should be part of the fit assessment.

 

5. Gus Balbontin

Adaptability, Experimentation and Business Relevance

Gus Balbontin is a former Executive Director and Chief Technology Officer of Lonely Planet, where he helped lead its transition from print to digital. His speaking work centres on adaptability, innovation and leadership through change.

His Unlocking Agility & Adaptability keynote addresses established processes and the challenge of supporting both existing and emerging business models. Other published topics include customer-focused innovation and leadership during difficult periods. His approach encourages audiences to spend more time developing their capacity to respond and less time relying on predictions about what will happen next.

For this shortlist, Gus is particularly relevant to events where the organisation needs to challenge established practices and become more active in responding to external change. That might involve reconsidering customer needs, testing new approaches or examining processes that make adaptation unnecessarily difficult.

Best suited to: Corporate conferences, industry events and transformation gatherings focused on adaptability and business relevance.

Particularly relevant for: Experimentation, customer-centred innovation, organisational agility, disruption and challenging established practices.

Booking consideration: Identify whether you need a broad keynote or a workshop applying the ideas to a specific organisational challenge. Gus publishes both keynote and workshop options.

 

What Should a Change Management Keynote Actually Achieve?

I would give the keynote a specific job. That might be helping leaders recognise their role in a transformation, giving managers a better way to discuss change or creating a shared starting point for a difficult organisational conversation.

The event should also connect to the work that follows. Change-management provider Prosci distinguishes genuine readiness from attendance at a one-off communication or training session. Its guidance emphasises understanding, willingness, practical capability, leadership support and opportunities to apply new ways of working.

That is an important distinction for event organisers. A keynote can contribute perspective, language and momentum. It cannot take over the responsibilities of the organisation’s leaders, managers and change team.

I would therefore judge the session against a realistic outcome. For example, an executive team could leave with a clearer understanding of the decisions it has been delaying. Managers could identify questions they need to answer with their teams. Employees could gain a more useful way to express where they need support.

Those are worthwhile starting points when someone is responsible for carrying them forward.

 

How Do You Choose the Right Change Management Speaker?

Start with the specific change

“We need our people to embrace change” leaves too much open to interpretation. A stronger brief might explain that the organisation is combining two teams, introducing a new operating model or asking managers to lead a different way of working.

Describe what will change in practice and what is proving difficult. That gives the speaker something meaningful to work with.

Understand the audience’s experience

I would distinguish between people who are anticipating change and people who are already working through it. I would also ask what the audience has been told, what remains uncertain and whether there are concerns that need to be acknowledged.

The speaker should not be discovering the organisation’s most important sensitivities from a question asked halfway through the session.

Match the expertise to the issue

Use the shortlist to identify the conversation you need. Is the priority leadership accountability, change fatigue, executive alignment, navigating uncertainty or organisational adaptability?

There may be several relevant issues, but identifying the primary one will help avoid a keynote that attempts to cover everything.

Brief beyond the event theme

I would provide the speaker with the audience profile, the organisational context, the intended outcome and examples of the decisions people are facing.

It’s also useful to explain what has already been tried. A presentation about the value of experimentation, for example, will need a different emphasis when employees have previously been criticised for taking reasonable risks.

Decide what happens afterwards

Before the event, agree who will lead the follow-up. My preference would be a small number of practical commitments, with a clear owner and a review date. These could involve a leadership discussion, a team conversation or a decision about an obstacle that needs to be removed.

The organisation’s leaders and people managers remain central to communicating, supporting and reinforcing change.

 

How Much Does a Change Management Speaker Cost in Australia?

As one market reference, Saxton publishes an indicative range of approximately A$6,000 to A$20,000 or more for its change-management speaker category. This is a bureau’s category guide, not a verified fee range for the five individuals in this article. Obtain a current quote for the speaker and event you are considering.

When requesting a proposal, specify the date, location, audience, session length and level of customisation. Request a quote that clearly states whether GST, travel, accommodation and any additional workshops or facilitation are included, and specifies permissions for recording or distributing the content.

I would compare the complete engagement rather than the stage time alone. A keynote and an extended executive working session should be assessed against their different purposes.

 

Final Thoughts

The most useful change management speaker is the one who can contribute to the conversation your organisation needs to have. For some audiences, that means understanding why people are hesitant. For others, it means acknowledging the demands of repeated change, questioning established practices or asking leaders to take more visible responsibility.

My preference is for a brief that makes those expectations clear: What needs to be understood? Which assumptions need examination? What will leaders do with the discussion once everyone returns to work? A successful event should give people something useful to carry into those decisions.

Choose the speaker for that contribution, then make room for the organisation to act on it.

 

About Caroline Kennedy

Caroline Kennedy is a former CEO, keynote speaker, executive coach and strategic adviser based in Australia.

Her work connects commercial experience with leadership behaviour, decision-making and organisational transformation. She delivers keynotes and executive sessions on leadership, disruption, AI and change for corporate conferences, leadership teams and industry audiences.

Planning an event around organisational change? Share the audience, the context and what you want the session to help achieve.

 

Sources:

Ciara Lancaster. Reimagine Change – Change Fatigue, Resilience and Change Leadership.
https://www.reimaginechange.com/

Saxton Speakers. Ciara Lancaster – Change Fatigue and Resilience Keynote Speaker.
https://www.saxton.com.au/speakers/ciara-lancaster

Peter Fuda. Biography – Leadership and Business Transformation.
https://www.peterfuda.com/bio/

Peter Fuda. Keynote Speaking – Leadership Transformation.
https://www.peterfuda.com/speaking/

Dr Jason Fox. Keynote Speaking – Leadership, Motivation and Change.
https://www.foxwizard.com/speaking/

Gus Balbontin. Keynote Speaking – Innovation, Leadership and Adaptability.
https://gusbalbontin.com/speaking

Saxton Speakers. Change Management Speakers in Australia – Speaker Profiles and Indicative Fees.
https://www.saxton.com.au/speakers/change-management

Prosci. Making Change Stick: The Role of People Readiness.
https://www.prosci.com/blog/the-role-of-people-readiness

Prosci. How to Implement Change Successfully: Change Management.
https://www.prosci.com/blog/how-to-implement-change-successfully-change-management