Vision and Mission

Creating a Voice for the Disability Sector

At Developing Australian Communities, we believe that working closely with Service Providers, Carers and Participants through our events will ensure that the much-needed change in our sector will be provided for the betterment of the services in our sector. Learn more about us and our dreams for our community.

Despite the great work that the government is doing, they are only eight years into rolling out NDIS and it is still confusing, complex and challenging for people to understand what they can and can’t access, as well as for Service Providers and Carers to provide a world class service.

Combining our 50+ years experience in the Disability and Training sectors, Developing Australian Communities team are simplifying the complex nature of NDIS. Through our large expos and conferences, participants will receive the right information from the right provider at the right time.

Through our highly relevant, advanced and customised professional development training programs, we are partnering with Service Providers to ensure their staff embed behavioural changes that constantly improve the quality of care they provide.

Vision

For Australia to become the world leader in Disability Services.

Mission

Provide a voice for the sector, increase professional standards and bringing people together to talk about the most pressing issues in our sector to deliver solutions!

We’ll achieve this by providing world class expos, conferences and professional development to ensure service providers and carers deliver the highest levels of service to NDIS participants.

We are fortunate to live in a developed nation where the government prioritises the needs of our valued family, friends and neighbours with disabilities.

The Developing Australian Communities story

This is the classic story of when two entrepreneurial minds with the shared values come together to make an impact.

River Night has a 26 year legacy in the Community Services and Disability Sector. Fuelled by his passion for service to others, River’s career has taken him through all levels of the industry, from where he started straight out of high school and into community care camps, through to working with Australia’s leading Disability authorities. This led River to creating an NDIS Service Provider business with one of Australia’s highest levels of service standards.

River wanted to take his knowledge and expertise of how he ran his organisation to support other Service Providers so that they too could provide the highest level of care to Participants.

This is where River and Mike Clark’s story began…

Mike has a 17-year track record in the training Industry. He has run over 1,000 events to over 50,000 people. One of his previous companies he turned into the World’s largest LinkedIn training organisation. Mike sits as a mentor across a range of Growth Accelerators, this is where Mike began helping River expand his provider business.

After a couple of years working together, it became clear that both River and Mike developed a passion for wanting to raise the bar of service standards across the NDIS sector and felt that their two different levels of expertise were the perfect match for doing just that.

That was how Developing Australian Communities (DAC) was born!

Today, Developing Australian Communities stands to create a voice for the NDIS Sector, through our expos, conferences, surveys and professional development, we are giving Participants, Providers, Carers and industry leaders the opportunity to have their voice heard to bring about much-needed change.

Together, as a sector we can develop Australia into a World Leader in the Disability Service space. We’d love for you to come join us to bring this vision to life.

Meet the team

MIKE CLARK

Co-Founder

As an industry advocate, Mike has a 17-year history of running events and training companies to over 70,000 people in over 4 continents. He brings this depth of experience to support the visitors, exhibitors, and sponsors to make each and every expo bigger and better. Mike is passionate about working with providers to share their stories on how they are tackling industry-wide NDIS challenges, so they can work together to find solutions.

RIVER NIGHT

Co-Founder

Mr Night brings to his role almost 3 decades of sector experience across disabilities, child safety, guardianship, advocacy, youth justice, forensic services, education and community service settings in government and non-government agencies. With personal, lived experience of disability, as a carer and father, he works significantly in media and as a sector advocate. His vision is to see a Disability Sector we can all be proud of.

BERNADETTE ALIZART

Executive Director, Events

With many years’ experience delivering world-class events, Bernadette brings a steady hand, compassion and almost criminal organisational and logistic skills to oversee the events team in delivering national expos. A solutions-focussed communication professional driven to create bigger, better and broader experiences for people with a disability, their families, friends and carers.

Bill Poulos

Sales Manager

With more than 22yrs experience coaching Sales Teams in the FMCG industry. Bill brings a wealth of experience in delivering great customer service and a customer centric focussed team.

ALMA CLARK

Senior National Accounts Manager

With a passion for guiding others to make meaningful decisions, Alma is a world-class professional and supports DAC’s clients to the highest levels.

DEON SPANN

Event Director

After being introduced to the disability sector at a young age, Deon uses his significant expericence and attention to detail to craft engaging experiences that help participants connect & enhance lives.

Roschi De Silva

Sponsorship Coordinator

With a strong background in private and public sector experience for over 20 years, Roschi is excited to work closely with all the sponsors for the expos and bring value to their journey with DAC. She is keen to combine her energy, enthusiasm and commitment to excellence to make a positive impact in the disability sector.

CASSANDRA HAMILTON

National Accounts Manager

Having many wonderful years of nursing newborns and children in the disability sector, working in aged care and community service projects, Cassandra is passionate to connect providers to participants to offer solutions and choices.

Naomi Czitan

Events Team

Passionate about the sector and helping to create inclusive events focused on connecting people. Naomi’s strengths lie in the ability to multi-task, partly thanks to her kids, and her exceptional communication skills means everybody is understood. Naomi is excited to use her customer service experience and love of organising to provide an exceptional expo for you!

Pete Cockroft

Events Team

With a great eye for detail and a commitment to making the expos the best they can be, Pete is DAC’s dedicated operational foreman. Pete oversees a marketing build team for registration, expo help, the support hub, entertainment and the main stage. Pete is also DAC’s friendly Entertainment Area MC showcasing the talents in the sector!

KATH TAMAYO

Finance and Admin Manager

Fiercely passionate about accuracy, efficiency and supporting others so they can operate at their best.

Chloe McClure

Sponsorships Team & Virtual Expo Team

Committed to supporting others, Chloe brings significant flexibility and consistency to the team

JC Diago

Video and Sponsorship Specialist

JC brings over a decade of experience in video creation, from editing and storytelling to motion graphic design and animation. He handles all DAC video creation, adding his innovative and creative flair to the team. Equipped with a strong background as facilitator in learning and development teams, JC also plays a key role in enhancing the DAC sponsorship experience.

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We would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we gather for our event and pay our respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.
We extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that attend any of our events.

ENHANCING AUSTRALIA’S DISABILITY SERVICES ONE STEP AND EVENT AT A TIME - At Developing Australian Communities, we believe that working closely with Service Providers, Carers and Participants through our events will ensure that the much-needed change in our sector will be provided for the betterment of the services in our sector. Learn more about us and our dreams for our community.

1300 910 503 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / PO Box 4026 Forest Lake QLD 4078

Creating a voice for the Disability Sector