2021 in review for the Diversity Practitioners Association

I am pleased to share a summary of the President’s Report presented at the DPA’s 2021 Annual General Meeting.

I’m glad to report the Diversity Practitioners Association held eight events in 2021:

· We partnered with the Equal Employment Opportunity Network (EEON) of Victoria and New South Wales Equal Employment Opportunity Practitioners Association (NEEOPA, now The Inclusion Circle) in January to start the year with an event on Women in STEM in February.

· We held our first members’ networking breakfast in March

· We welcomed DPA Member, Kristy Macfarlane and Prue Gilbert from Grace Papers to present their research on Rainbow families and inclusive approaches to parenting in May.

· We held a Members Roundtable Discussion on Inclusion in June, with special guest Andrew Tran from PwC

· We hosted a networking drinks event in Brisbane CBD for members in June

· We welcomed Naomi Armitage from Humanology and Nic Kelly from Anglo American to discuss how organisations can support mental health in the workplace in August

· Members were welcomed to another networking breakfast in September

· We proudly hosted special guest, Elizabeth Broderick AO, to share her reflections for practitioners working to create and sustain cultural change in organisations in November.

These events have collectively attracted more than 700 registrations as we have expanded DPA’s reach beyond South-East Queensland and effectively partnered with other organisations to broaden the breadth of conversations.

DPA members have continued to enjoy regular instalments of ‘Top 5’ diversity and inclusion related news items and access to the DPA’s online resource hub with research and case studies.

2021 also saw the association invest in the Membership Works platform which allows automation of membership, centralised event registration and a sustainable solution to ensure the continuity of DPA in the longer term. Thanks to Emma Elder for leading this implementation, a significant contribution to DPA.

Thanks goes to my fellow committee members who took on their roles with dedication in 2021: Emma Elder, Ruth Harrison, Malcolm Barter, Bilge Ozgun, Simone McLaughlin, Liz Hansen and Katie O’Connell. Our volunteer committee devotes time, expertise and passion in pursuit of DPA’s mission: to support individuals, organisations and practitioners actively seeking to build and sustain diverse and inclusive organisations.

Thank you to our 2021 corporate sponsors/members: Brisbane City Council, Kingston Human Capital and Anglo American. The support of our sponsors enables the DPA to continue to operate and expand the reach of the expertise and network of D&I advocates.

Lastly and most of all: thanks to the Diversity Practitioners Association members whose knowledge, passion and drive sustains our community and is helping to change our world.

As members, we all ‘own’ the association, and share the responsibility for its success - I encourage you to continue to seek opportunities to be involved so together we can strengthen DPAs value to each of us and seize the opportunities to support one another, learn from one another and work together to progress our shared goals.

This report also marks my final “presidential” duty (for now!). It has been a privilege to lead the Diversity Practitioners Association over the last four years. I’m excited to “hand over the baton”, not because of the effort involved in contributing to a volunteer-led organisation - it is a labour of love that has offered great value and reward in return. But because I believe for the DPA to be sustainable it must also be transferable. I’m proud the association is in a great place to continue its growth and value-add in 2022.

Andrea Smith
President