Growth on the Coast: The Leadership Series, is back for it's final event of the year!

Proudly hosted by the Matthew Flinders Foundation, this event will bring the Flinders parent and business community together to learn from local leaders as they share insights, spark dialogue and encourage collaboration.

Event MC Richard Thompson returns to lead another high-energy and engaging conversation, commencing with guest speaker Kate Mallord, CEO of ScienceAlert. A strategic leader with deep expertise in go-to-market and commercial growth, Kate brings incredible insights from her senior marketing leadership roles at LinkedIn, Meta and BBC Worldwide.

Our three leadership panellists – Nathaniel Simpson, CEO of Youi, Professor Maree Dinan-Thompson, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education) University of the Sunshine Coast and Tim Forrester, Founder and Managing Director of Aria Property Group, will share real-world perspectives on performance, leadership and excellence, fostering community impact around issues key to the Sunshine Coast’s future.

EVENT DETAILS

When: Thursday, 8 October 2026


Time:  5:30pm - 6:15pm - Drinks and Canapes   6:15pm - 8:30pm - Presentation

Where: Infinity Centre, Matthew Flinders Anglican College 

EVENT SPONSORS

This Matthew Flinders Foundation event is proudly supported by Rafter Myers and Bridgewise Insurance

TICKETS

Ticket price $40 per person (Drinks and Canapes included)

SPEAKER LINE-UP

Emcee: Richard Thompson, Director, Thompson Legal and host of the Success X Happiness Podcast

Guest Speaker: 

Kate Mallord, CEO, ScienceAlert

Leadership Panel:
• Nathaniel Simpson, CEO, Youi Insurance
• Professor Maree Dinan-Thompson, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education) University of the Sunshine Coast
• Tim Forrester, Founder and Managing Director of Aria Property Group

BIOGRAPHIES

Kate Mallord, CEO, ScienceAlert

Kate Mallord is a strategic leader with deep expertise in go-to-market and commercial growth. Passionate about making science news accessible for all, Kate joined ScienceAlert as CEO in 2024. ScienceAlert is the world's leading independent and trusted science news website, entertaining over 30 million readers each month. 

Prior to leading ScienceAlert, Kate held senior marketing leadership roles at Meta and LinkedIn. At Meta, Kate spearheaded global developer marketing for Meta Horizon Worlds, a role highlighted by her co-leading a cross-functional team of 30+ to build a fully-functional virtual reality world in just five days. 

At LinkedIn, Kate built the foundational marketing teams and go-to-market strategies for LinkedIn Learning across the Asia-Pacific region. She also led the Women@LinkedIn initiative at APAC, which supported more than 1,000 female employees. By partnering with the business, the team was able to significantly address underrepresentation at leadership levels and tackle high employee churn in countries across the Asia-Pacific region with significant gender imbalances. 

With a background spanning journalism for major titles like BBC Worldwide and The Daily Mail, Kate brings a unique mix of high-impact storytelling, technical commercialisation and rapid platform scaling to the stage.

Nathaniel Simpson, CEO, Youi Insurance

Nathaniel is Youi’s Chief Executive Officer leading the continued growth at Youi which is one of Australia’s most successful challenger brands in the insurance industry. Before he was appointed CEO in July 2023, he held several executive roles including Chief Product Officer, Chief Operations Officer and Chief Customer & Innovation Officer.

Nathaniel’s career spans roles in the financial services industry in both Australia and South Africa and was part of the start-up team of a direct-to-consumer life insurance unit within OUTsurance, a multinational insurance group.

Professor Maree Dinan-Thompson, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education) University of the Sunshine Coast

Professor Maree Dinan‑Thompson brings more than two decades of leadership experience across early childhood, schooling and higher education, and now executive leadership. She has made significant contributions to national curriculum and assessment development, student success and retention strategies, and the integration of contemporary educational technologies. Her work also focuses on designing inclusive learning environments that support diverse student cohorts.

Tim Forrester, Founder and Managing Director of Aria Property Group

Following his schooling life at Matthew Flinders and after growing up on the Sunshine Coast, Tim moved to Brisbane to commence his entrepreneurial pursuits.

What started with a mobile coffee cart, moved to land deals, then flipping development sites, to then delivering projects and slowly working to where he is today with Aria Property Group, a fully integrated, nationally awarded high-rise apartment development business, with an in-house construction and property sales & management team.

Tim is driven to create places which leave a lasting legacy for families and the community. It is with this vision and goal of pioneering world-class, sustainable, residential developments that he leads Aria. Tim strives to deliver projects that challenge and redefine existing frameworks, with each forthcoming project an improvement on the last. Aria is now Australia’s most awarded developer and has been awarded Best High-Density Development in Australia 7 times (2026, 2025, 2023, 2022, 2019, 2018 & 2017.)

Richard Thompson, Director at Thomspon Legal, 2 x Ultra Triathlon Wold Champion and host of the Success X Happiness Podcast

As a solicitor and former professional athlete, Richard brings a rare blend of legal expertise and elite performance. He has practised across commercial, property and succession law, before spending five years as a full-time ultra triathlete – winning two world titles and setting a world record. Returning to law in 2023, Richard founded Thompson Legal in 2024, specialising in commercial and business law.

Thompson Legal is the fastest growing law firm on the Sunshine Coast and is recognised for their client-focused approach, strong values of integrity and teamwork, and ability to deliver practical, results-driven legal solutions.