Sarah is a Sydney based community planning leader with more than 20 years’ experience in community planning, engagement, strategy and policy. She is the founder and Director of Cred Consulting, a unique socially focussed planning consultancy. Sarah is a Fellow of the NSW Planning Institute of Australia, a member of the NSW PIA Divisional Committee, and on the Board of HeadStart Homes, a charity established to enable community housing tenants to enter private home ownership. Sarah’s previous roles include Manager of Youth and Recreation Services at City of Sydney, South Sydney and Brisbane City Councils.

As Director of Cred, Sarah has led her team to numerous State, National and Commonwealth planning and engagement awards including for Tweed Youth Strategy; Embedding Young People into Planning Practices for City of Parramatta; community engagement design for Cool Streets; and for Greater Sydney’s Social Capital, it’s Nature and Value. She has effectively managed high profile and complex projects and created new processes for more effective planning for social outcomes including Community Benefits Analysis and Complete Communities Assessment approaches to assess social sustainability in new and existing communities. 

April is an urban planner and policy specialist with over 18 years experience in government and the private sector in Australia, UK and Ireland across metropolitan and regional areas. Before joining Cred, April was the Policy Manager and Principal Policy Advisor to the Lord Mayor of Sydney and was responsible for a varied portfolio that included strategic planning & design, urban renewal, housing affordability, night time economy/activation, social strategy, and gender equality. Prior to this role April worked as a Senior Placemaker at Place Partners, and Senior Urban Strategist at Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate, ACT Government. April offers an excellent understanding of the local political and cultural contexts in terms of policy development, urban planning, and stakeholder management.

April has worked extensively on the development of urban planning frameworks, place strategies and plans, community, cultural and social strategies and implementation plans across NSW, Victoria and WA. She is highly experienced in project management, working in multidisciplinary teams, community engagement and navigating contested and political environments.

April is an advocate for people focused cities through the development of planning and design policies that positively influence how we experience, connect and function within cities and places. April is a member of the Planning Institute of Australia, Place Leaders Asia Pacific and Living Future Institute Australia. She is the founder of Urbanistas Australia and a member of the Living Future Institute's inaugural Biophilic Design Initiative Committee. She holds a Bachelor of Social Science and Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning (Hons).

Jen has over 20 years’ experience in engagement, strategy development and project management working for Government, not-for-profits and the private sector in Australia. Prior to joining Cred Consulting Jen was a senior member of the Strategic Engagement team at the City of Sydney where she designed and lead significant community and stakeholder engagement projects including Planning for Sydney to 2050, engagement to support the development of the long-term plan for Sydney. 

Jen has been a member of a number of state level policy committees including the NSW Water Advisory Council and the State Groundwater Policy Working Group, and has provided policy advice to the National High Level Steering Group on Water.  Jen has previously held the positions of Secretary on the board of the NSW Nature Conservation Council and Chair of the NSW Inland Rivers Network. Jen has extensive experience facilitating successful engagement around political issues.

Elise works at the intersection of urban design, urban planning, social planning, place-making and community engagement. She is passionate about creating meaningful places that respect and celebrate the local social and cultural context, that are authentic, engaging, and memorable, and that contribute to facilitating connections between people and place. Elise’s work is informed by her interest in investigating what attracts and attaches people to place, and how the built environment can facilitate the building of social capital.

Prior to working at Cred Consulting, Elise worked at SJB as an Urban Designer and at Place Partners as a Place Maker. With broad experience working within planning and design teams on both large and small scale master plans, strategies and activations, Elise understands the importance of identifying community needs and aspirations early in the project process to ensure a good socio-cultural outcome. She is committed to working with client and multidisciplinary teams to ensure that they are equipped with the right information to be able to create successful, high quality places that meet the needs of a local community. She also recognises the importance of information design to effectively communicate research outcomes and strategy directions.

With a background working in the cultural sector in her hometown Amsterdam, Elly has a genuine passion for delivering social and cultural research and strategy and meaningful community engagement.

Elly loves exploring what makes communities unique, with a specific interest in the role of the arts, culture and heritage in shaping local community and place identity and bringing people together.

During her time at Cred, Elly has worked on a wide range of community and cultural planning projects in both urban and regional areas. She applies her expertise in qualitative and quantitative engagement and research with the aim of giving people a voice in shaping decision-making, including young people and diverse communities.

Abinaya is an architect and urban planner with professional experience in India, Australia, France, and The Netherlands. She works at the intersection of social planning, community strategy, and placemaking.

Her passion is building people-centric cities with a focus on creating happy and healthy communities through participatory planning and innovative engagement methods. She loves interacting with people from all backgrounds to understand their needs and perceptions, and subsequently engaging them in the planning process to ensure the creation of inclusive and equitable cities. She also uses creative information and graphic design as a medium for effective community outreach and communicating project outcomes.

Before joining Cred, Abinaya worked as a senior associate in Urban Design Collective, India, driving the place making movement in Indian cities. She is also a ‘Jane Jacobs fellow’ with the The Centre for Living City, New York, with the purpose of enhancing the understanding and complexity of contemporary urban life and through it, promote increased civic engagement among the youth.

Madelaine is an urban planner with experience in local government and the private sector. Before joining Cred, Madelaine worked as a Consultant Planner at SGS Economics and Planning. Whilst working at SGS Madelaine was involved in a range of projects including Housing Studies and Strategies, Economic Studies and Employment Studies, Town Centre Studies and Social Impact Assessments. Through these projects, Madelaine gained experience in research, policy analysis, data visualisation and stakeholder engagement and community consultation.

Madelaine is passionate about shaping sustainable communities, places and cities based on targeted community consultation. Madelaine believes that community and stakeholder engagement is an essential part of contributing toward positive planning outcomes. She is also interested in the role that Planning can take in addressing planetary health issues.

Ellie is a current postgraduate student of a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Sydney. Prior to this she completed a Bachelor of Communications at the University of Technology. As part of her capstone work for a Social and Political Science major, Ellie gained work experience at Northern Beaches Council in place planning. There, she developed a keen interest in heritage conservation by working on a council managed site known as Currawong. 

Ellie excels in fieldwork and data collection, participating in a vast array of community engagement activities with Cred, from large workshops to one-on-one interviews and intercept surveys. This is due to her vibrant and welcoming nature, as well as genuine interest in engaging with individuals and groups to better understand their needs and values. 

Ellie is an avid researcher, communicator, and is passionate about shaping future infrastructure developments by acknowledging voices that emerge from both historical research and community engagement outcomes.