CDAA Featured Speakers

The CDAA Conference Program in Adelaide will feature a number of invited speakers.

Gray Poehnell
Gray Poehnell is an experienced career consultant with an interest in practical spirituality, creativity, imagination, and career integrity. As partner to Dr. Norm Amundson in Ergon Communications, he has participated in the development and writing of numerous career counselling programs and has co-authored several workbooks, including Career Pathways, Career Crossroads, CareerScope (for High School youth), and Guiding Circles (for Aboriginal or other non-mainstream people). He has worked with diverse client populations, such as youth, social assistance recipients, older adults, immigrants, professionals and Aboriginals and currently trains career practitioners both nationally and internationally. Gray is of Metis descent and is presently involved in projects to develop career materials from an Aboriginal perspective and to train Aboriginal career practitioners across Canada and in Australia in the Guiding Circles approach. He is also facilitating Guiding Circles training with a wide range of career practitioners who work with other client groups  that benefit from a more wholistic approach, such as multi-barriered clients or students. He is very happily married, has 2 adult daughters, and currently lives in beautiful Steveston at the mouth of the Fraser River, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Lesley Tobin
Lesley was trained as a primary school teacher and has taught everything from Kindergarten to Year 12, from Special Education to Vocational Education. Since joining the Dusseldorp Skills Forum in 1994, Lesley has worked on a number of different projects related to young people’s involvement in education and employment. More recently she has worked on developing skills for sustainability through the Y Green and igreen projects, where young people are trained and subsequently employed as home sustainability advisers. Lesley has five children and six grandchildren who take up much of her leisure time.

Nigel Phillips
Nigel Phillips is an international trainer and consultant who specialises in career development coaching and training design. He is the CEO of Careers Fast Track, a human resources consulting business, and Career Life College, a training company that aligns career growth with education and training opportunities. He is the subject convenor for Swinburne's Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma in Career Development and the author of The Big Question career-life skills development series of books.  In addition to working with secondary school students and adults, he is experienced designing and implementing career development programs in small and large corporate organisations.  The career development programs and tools he has developed are used internationally to assist clients at all life-stages.

Lester Oakes
Lester Oakes is Chief Executive of Career Services rapuara, the crown agent that provides independent careers information, advice and guidance to New Zealanders.  He is also the newly appointed President of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG).  Lester has worked in the careers and training industry for over twenty years. After initially training and practicing as a careers counsellor he moved into a series of regional and national management roles within the industry during times of major public sector reform in the late 80s through to the mid 90s. Lester is driven by the belief that the careers industry is a credible contributor to economic and social development. He has been Chief Executive of Career Services since July 1998 and has overseen major expansion of the service in recent years. He holds a Bachelors degree in science, a Masters degree with distinction in Education and is a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Management.  Lester believes that leadership is at the core of organisational success and that truly effective leaders integrate leadership into every facet of their working lives. In 1998, he received the Walk the Talk Award administered by the Equal Employment Opportunities Trust.  Treating people with dignity, respect and honesty are at the heart of his leadership style.

Pat Schwallie-Giddis, PhD
Dr Schwallie-Giddis, President of NCDA has been recognized as a champion of counseling and career development throughout the country for many years. She has spoken to groups of professionals in almost every state in the US as well as Germany and Russia. She is currently an Associate Professor and the Chair for the Department of Counseling/ Human and Organizational Studies at George Washington University.  Dr Schwallie-Giddis formerly served as the Associate and Interim Executive Director of the American Counselling Association and has had a wealth of experiences as a teacher, counselor, district level administrator and director for Career Development at the Florida Department of Education.  She has also held leadership roles in professional associations at the state and national levels as President of the Florida Career Development Association, the Florida Counselling Association, and the DC Mental Health Counsellors Association and currently is serving as President of the National Career Development Association.  

Dr Schwallie-Giddis received her PhD at Florida State University (FSU) in Counseling and Human Systems.  In October of 1995 she was honored by FSU as the “Distinguished Educator Of the Year”.  More recently, in October of 2000, she was honored with the "Distinguished Educator" award from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville where she received her Bachelors and Masters Degrees. She has been recognized many times for her untiring service to education and counseling including the American Counseling Association Carl D. Perkins Legislative Award and the Spirit of America Award from the AVA/Guidance Division and the United States Air Force. Most recently in 2007 she was chosen to receive the honor of an American Counseling Association “Fellow” for her distinguished career in the field of counselling.

Dr Schwallie-Giddis's research interests include studying the effectiveness of school counselors, the impact of comprehensive school counseling programs and most recently the study of the impact of the ASCA National Model for School Counseling Programs. She is also very interested in career development for young women with learning disabilities She has co-authored several articles and three books. The most current book is on Counselling Activities for Life Skills and Career Development, which includes team building, self-management and goal setting.