Eyal Halamish
After protesting styrofoam in the high school cafeteria at the age of 16, he was destined to ruffle a few feathers in the social and environmental justice arena. Eyal was born in Philadelphia, raised in Chicago and now lives in Melbourne, Australia. He travelled to Australia 12 years ago for love and stayed for life. Eyal is an activist, lobbyist, political staffer, and management consultant for Fortune 500 companies in banking and mining and now a social entrepreneur. He is currently the CEO of OurSay, an organisation committed to improving the state of democracy by helping local leaders consult their communities with easy-to-use technologies. His organisation has received a Crikey Media Innovation Award and the International Association of Public Participation Core Values Award in 2013 for helping civic leaders make relevant decisions by keeping their communities close. Eyal is a co-founder of Off the Grid, Australia's first solar-powered community festival which creates a temporary installation of a future city for 1 day on the summer solstice each year. Eyal is a regular keynote speaker at government, media and technology events including the World Forum for Democracy, Personal Democracy Forum, and the International City/County Management Association. He is also a faculty member at the School of Life Melbourne where he teaches classes about entrepreneurship, authentic leadership and how to make a difference. Eyal is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, Unreasonable Institute Fellow, and Center for Sustainability Leadership Fellow. He also sits on the board of the Swinburne University Social Impact Research Centre and is a former board member of Code For Australia, which puts software developers inside government, and the Yarra Energy Foundation, a local council initiative to power the City of Yarra by 100% renewable energy by 2020.