Informed by both research and ongoing conversations with the community, the Regional Australia Institute develops policy solutions and advocates for change to build a stronger economy and better quality of life in regional Australia – for the benefit of all Australians.

This cannot be done without a dedicated and enthusiastic team and through the ‘Faces of the RAI’ series, we want to introduce you to the people undertaking this work. They all share a strong commitment to regional Australia and many are regional residents themselves.

Anna Stephenson

Director of Education and Regional Impact

Location: Albury, NSW

When did you start at the RAI and what is your role responsible for? 
I started at the RAI on the 6th of March last year, so I’ve been here just a tad over a year. I am privileged to have joined the RAI in what I see as the most important role in my career - establishing and convening a nation-wide practice community comprising of people working in and across Australia’s regions to grow together, learn together, realise shared opportunities, and address shared challenges.  This Community of Practice brings together suites of evidence-based learning programs, resources, practices, and tools to further empower people to work at all levels in ways that allow Australia’s regions to innovate and thrive. 

Why did you take on the job? 
Over the years, I have grown my ability to bring people together to make shared progress in what really matters to them. One of my ‘super-powers’ is a ‘dot-joiner and glue-stick.’ Through tapping into collective intelligence throughout my career, I have been really fortunate to hone my ability to see systems, patterns, connections, and opportunities in ways that have delivered new forms of value to the regions, systems, communities and industries I continue to serve, no matter what position I am in.

My broad experience spans being firstly a jillaroo, then woolgrower and woolclasser for 20 years in the NSW Riverina, to learning and innovating in community development from the ground-up . One of my career ‘ J curves’ where I learnt the most was as Chair of the  NSW Year of the Outback Working Party from 1999-2002. 

Since then I’ve worked to establish, shape and amplify impact-focused research in regional development and the development of Australia’s manufacturing, and transport and logistics sectors.  I’ve developed programs that help people to grow their soft skills – which is absolutely essential in supporting communities and industries to thrive. I’ve also been privileged to bring high levels of collective innovation and collaboration to my roles managing economic development in the regional cities of Griffith (NSW) and Launceston (Tas), and I’ve also spent over seven years consulting, where my government, industry, and not for profit clients learnt that I was as invested in realising their goals as they were.

The hallmark of my career is a deep and long-game approach to helping individuals, communities, industry sectors, research and learning institutions, and government at all levels, to build their capacity to innovate and collaborate through shared learning and activating collective intelligence – where the solutions and the next steps always lie.

I’ve been lucky enough to be in positions of trust that have enable me to pursue this work - always learning, always deep diving into how regions work, what they need, what is working, and also what isn’t. As a deeply reflective and curious human, I bring all that knowledge set, deep curiosity, skills and know-how to the work that I’m doing now with the people working in and across regional Australia.

My big passion is helping people build the capacity to do what they want to do, in way that realises shared hopes and ambitions, and my role with RAI provides me with absolute joy.

Where do you live? 
I have just moved to Albury and am still discovering what this beautiful city and its surrounds have to offer. My backyard looks up towards Nail Can Hill - part of the hilltops and ridges that run more or less north to south through the city of Albury. I just love the perspectives my new home gives me, watching the sunrise and sunset from either side of my house, and the grounding I always need by making sure I live close to nature.

What does your typical day look like?
Its starts with a walk in nature most days and a then a cuppa in my garden, listening to a very talkative family of magpies who make my garden their HQ most mornings. I think they find my morning ‘hair style’ very funny, or so they tell me through their warbles!

A slow and expansive start to the day transforms into prioritising strategy, design, organisation, and delivery as I work through all the diverse and complex aspects of building a whole new system of support and capacity building, and all its fundamental elements. I work to spend time on the balcony to get the perspective to focus on what really matters.  But like us all, it is easy to get caught in the weeds.

An important aspect of my week is to create the offer and the space as a sounding board and mentor for people in our organisation to strengthen our collective focus on delivering value and impact to the people of regional Australia- the people RAI serves.

I am working to evolve our current program offering, Regions Leading Their Own Development Executive Education, designing and expanding on the better ways to gather and grow the incredible depth and breadth of collective intelligence that exists amongst CEOs and senior executives whose job it is to serve the communities, industries, and businesses of regional Australia.

How does working for an organisation focused on regional Australia make you feel? 
 I cannot describe how privileged, humbled, and excited I am because I share the real challenges and real opportunities at a cellular level with the people and regions I serve.
  
I continue to be blown away by the generosity in spirit, sharing of knowledge, the depth of relationships, and the willingness to offer help without expecting anything in return, that I find everywhere in regional Australia.

I live this way also. Reciprocity is one of my foundational values.

What really gives me a kick is when I see people who thought they couldn’t achieve a particular thing, reporting back that they’ve been able to grow the capacity to achieve what they dreamed, and it’s beyond what they could’ve imagined. 

Where do you see regional Australia in 10 years? 
Because we’re facing so much disruption, and that’s a fact of life, there are many challenges ahead and we must build our capacity to face them together, to activate and focus our collective intelligence to empower our regions to lead their own development ... to thrive.

I’d like to think that as a nation, we will do more to uplift everyone and give more equal opportunities.

I’ve done a lot of travelling, so this is a difficult one to answer, but Frenchman’s Cap, in Tasmania’s south-west wilderness.

I’m a semi-retired, multi-day bushwalker.  I currently restrict myself to no more than 22km in a day, but Frenchman’s Cap is this amazing mountain and at the base of it, there is a beautiful lake, Lake Vera, and I can remember having to walk through mud and scale rock faces to get to this lake and climb this mountain.

I was camping and walking with friends, and I got up early and it was very cold, as it often is in Tasmania. I went out and the lake was so totally still that the mountain was completely reflected, without a glimmer of any water movement, in the lake. It was so clear and crisp and one of those life-long things you carry with you.

When I think about my favourite place – even though I could give you a list of about 10 – that’s it.