David Meale

M:	(+61) 0411 104 291
E:	david.meale@candra.com.au

David Meale is the Managing Director and Principal Consultant of Candra Business Advisers.

David’s clients include Minter Ellison, Freehills, Blake Dawson, Deacons, Corrs, Telstra, National Australia Bank, SingTel Optus, ANZ and talented people from those organisations. David is an experienced executive coach, has a broad consulting practice in the professional services sector, and is a regular presenter and facilitator on leadership and other development programs for lawyers and other technical experts. David has a special interest in helping leading professionals develop beyond their technical expertise, to become more effective leaders in their organisations and more effective developers of client relationships.

David practised law for more than 15 years, was a partner of a leading Australian law firm for a decade and was staff partner of its Sydney office for eight years – a period during which the firm more than doubled in size and underwent very significant change.

David graduated from Macquarie University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours and the University Medal. David is MBTI® and FIRO-B® accredited, is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is a Certified Member of the Australian Human Resources Institute.

Sam Fernando - Director, Potential Spaces

Sam has 20 years of business experience within the Learning and Development and Organisational Development fields. Her consulting experience crosses the financial, professional service, banking and executive education fields both within Australia and Asia. Sam held Head of Learning & Development roles within Minter Ellison, Freehills, and Mallesons Stephen Jacques, with national responsibilities. Accredited in MBTI, Belbin Team Roles, Firo-B and Genos Emotional Intelligence, and with coaching certifications, Sam is currently completing her Masters in Integrative and Transformative studies.

An experienced individual and team coach with a passion for creating extraordinary team performance, Sam has deep subject matter expertise in the design and development of key learning & development and OD initiatives, with a focus on people, self-leadership, adaptation leadership and leadership development.

Erica Edmands - Director, Potential Spaces

With degrees in law and labour relations/economics from University of Melbourne, as well as coaching certifications, post graduate qualifications in finance and accreditation in Genos Emotional Intelligence, Erica has 20 years business experience spanning law, professional services, government, banking, financial services and manufacturing. Commencing her career as an EEO and Diversity Lawyer with Freehills, Erica later held Head of Human Resources roles with Comalco Smelting and Minter Ellison and was Associate Director of Australia's leading work life and diversity consultancies, working within Australia and Asia.

A sought after facilitator, commentator and speaker on diversity, self leadership and resilience, Erica has appeared on ABC radio and television and written many opinion pieces for major newspapers and journals and is contributing author to published texts on mental health in the workplace and resilience.

Kate Crawshaw - Director, Potential Spaces

Kate has over 10 years international business experience in Australia, the Middle East and the UK. With a background in marketing, communications and knowledge management Kate’s consulting work focuses on online technologies that facilitate communication, collaboration, knowledge sharing, innovation and thus employee engagement.

Her international experience includes working for large corporate and professional service organisations such as British Telecom, Sky, Minter Ellison, Fosters, WSP Environmental and Headshift. Upon her return to Australia, Kate helped establish the Australian presence of Headshift and then joined Erica and Sam to co-create Potential Spaces. Working in strategic Knowledge Management and Communication roles, Kate collaborates with organisations to develop methodologies that encouraged people to fully embrace the power of social software technologies. She is skilled in designing platforms to support R&D, knowledge sharing, communities of practice, learning and development initiatives and employee engagement programs.