PASSION.

PURPOSE.

CRED.

Meet CRED’s multidisciplinary team of passionate, industry leading experts.

Sarah Reilly

CEO and
National lead, Social cohesion

Winner of  the PIA NSW Dr Helen Proudfoot Outstanding Woman in Planning Award 2024

Sarah is the Founder and CEO of CRED Consulting and one of Australia’s leading thinkers (and doers!) on community led and participatory planning for social assets, social cohesion and community resilience. Sarah champions collaboration for design, delivery and management of equitable and beautiful places and services for and with the people they are for. With over 25 years industry experience, she is a big ideas generator who is changing the way things work in social policy and practice. She is known within the industry for her passion, strategic thinking, ethics, and ability to work across diverse sectors and communities to reach mutually beneficial outcomes.

The depth of Sarah’s experience is always apparent – she facilitates, and advises at all levels from community groups to senior executives, to councillors and ministers. Sarah brings her emotional intelligence, energy, and extensive subject matter expertise and strong networks to every project.

Sarah leads and mentors her growing national team of experts, (and all female executive group) with passion, care, and commitment to the highest ethics. She has built a solid business with a team of values-driven experts, clients, and communities, all striving towards Social Cities and Complete Communities from the site to the city-scale. Sarah is an active member of Parks and Leisure Australia and a Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia. She delivers national Social Planning training for PIA.

Jen Guice

Executive Director, National lead Engagement and Resilience

Jen is CRED’s Executive Director, People and Performance, and National Lead in Engagement and Resilience. She has more than 25 years’ experience in facilitation, engagement, strategic communications, strategy development and project management for government, not-for-profit organisations and the private sector across Australia.

As an International Association of Facilitators (IAF) Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF) and IAP2-accredited engagement professional, Jen leads award-winning engagement and research projects at state and national levels. She brings leadership, insight, creativity and energy to make CRED’s engagement projects exemplary.

Jen loves nothing more than bringing people together to create a strong sense of community, whether she is connecting community members, helping colleagues and stakeholders align, or leading an auditorium of delegates through an event. She is trusted by clients and sought after for her creative, warm and strategic approach to facilitation and community and stakeholder engagement.

Jen has built a reputation as an industry leader by designing and delivering research and engagement projects that build community resilience and social cohesion. An authentic, empathetic and caring leader, she connects with people across generations, cultures and places. Jen specialises in designing processes that elevate the voices of diverse and under-represented communities.

With a background in the sciences, Jen excels at interpreting and communicating complex information simply and clearly. 

Abinaya Rajavelu

Executive Director, National lead Social strategy and research

Abi is CRED’s creative and technical powerhouse social planner, spatial analyst, and architect with almost 10 years’ experience working as a consultant in India, Australia, France, and the Netherlands. Abi works at the intersection of social planning, community strategy, and placemaking and has created a reputation for rigorous, visually engaging, and technically detailed work.

Her passion is facilitating happy and healthy cities through participatory research, evidence-based planning and evaluation and she has substantial experience in public space, social infrastructure and recreational planning and community and stakeholder engagement.  Having lived and worked across the globe, she is acutely aware of how different people use cities and is constantly looking for ways to innovate and create places where people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities can connect and have a great time together. She is particularly passionate about inclusive cities for women and girls and culturally diverse communities.

Abi has been awarded the ‘Jane Jacobs Fellowship’ with the Center for Living City in New York with the goal of enhancing young people’s understanding and complexity of contemporary urban life and, as a result, promoting increased civic engagement. She is a member of Parks and Leisure Australia NSW/ACT Council where she is the Generative representative.

Julia Miller-Randle

Executive Director, Queensland

Winner of the PIA Qld Outstanding Woman in Planning Award 2024

Julia is passionate about putting people at the heart of city shaping processes and outcomes through a deep understanding of their values and needs and listening to their lived experiences. She is an industry leading and inspirational strategic and social planner and engagement specialist with almost 20 years’ experience in consultancy. Julia was the winner of the Planning Institute of Australia Queensland Outstanding Woman in Planning Award 2024.

Julia leads Cred’s Queensland team and has successfully delivered projects spanning strategic land-use planning, social strategy and policy, place planning, community resilience, social value capture and stakeholder and community engagement in dense inner-city areas to remote regional areas, across Australia.

Julia’s collaborative approach builds authentic relationships with her clients and project partners. She is committed to rigorous evidence-based research and socially sustainable outcomes. Her extensive technical expertise as an urban planner combined with her communication skills, means she can clearly and confidently communicate complex planning and corporate processes and concepts to meaningfully engage communities and stakeholders to make well informed decisions.

Julia brings energy, joy, empathy and pragmatism to every project, and all aspects of her role. She is an active member of the Planning Institute of Australia and an IAP2 accredited, skilled and experienced facilitator.

Elise O'Ryan

Associate Director

In addition to being a skilled project manager, urban planner and urban designer, Elise leads CRED’s visual communications and design team. Her creativity has revolutionised how CRED and the social planning industry communicates complex planning concepts into award winning, visually compelling, accessible, and beautiful formats.

Elise is driven by her ethics and values and dedication to creating complete communities that deliver social benefits for future generations. She is passionate about, and highly experienced in, creating public spaces, neighbourhoods and cities that reflect their unique local character, and exploring how they can be shaped by those that use them. She is an advocate for inclusive and authentic community participation in planning processes.

Based in Brisbane, Elise is a highly respected city maker with 15 years’ experience as a consultant delivering community development, social infrastructure planning, urban design, spatial mapping, and analysis, placemaking, cultural planning and community engagement services across Australia. Elise is an active member of the Planning Institute of Australia and IAP2.

Phoebe Schumacher

Manager, Engagement and research

Phoebe is an accomplished communications and engagement specialist with eight years of experience. As an IAP2 accredited engagement professional, Phoebe manages a range of research, engagement and resilience projects for CRED’s local, state and private sector clients. 

Holding a Bachelor of City Planning (Hons) from the University of NSW, Phoebe’s background in urban planning provides her with a deep understanding of complex projects and their community dynamics. She is committed to building meaningful connections with the community and stakeholders and ensuring a positive community-centric approach for all projects. 

Phoebe is a member of the Engagement Institute Emerging Practitioners network and was previously Vice-Convenor of the Planning Institute of Australia’s NSW Young Planners Committee.

Ruth Carnac

Senior Project Manager

Ruth is a communications and engagement specialist with over 15 years’ experience across strategic communications, marketing, stakeholder and community engagement, social research, and placemaking.

She has worked with complex organisations across all tiers of government and the private sector to help them better connect with and understand their communities. With deep expertise in masterplanning, cultural planning, social research, and placemaking, Ruth brings strategic clarity, creative storytelling, and stakeholder empathy to ensure communities feel heard and project outcomes align with real needs.

A strong advocate for gender-sensitive and inclusive planning, Ruth has led over 20 co-design safety walks with women, girls and gender-diverse people for the NSW Government’s Safer Cities Program. Passionate about the intersection of culture, community and place, she leverages the arts to foster connection, share stories and enliven cities—spanning projects from large mixed-use precincts to cultural plans and programs for local government.

Ruth’s warm, approachable facilitation style is grounded in building trust, creating safe spaces for dialogue, and ensuring all voices—especially those often underrepresented—are heard and valued.

Ryan James

Head of Partnerships

Ryan has a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning and Environments with a career focused on policy development, investment decision-making and community development across government and advisory settings. As Head of Enterprise Development, he focuses on strengthening long-term relationships that support CRED’s enduring impact. His work centres on building structured, ongoing partnerships and developing innovative tools that enable CRED’s research and insights to inform planning and decision-making for councils, business and communities navigating change and growth.

Sarah Kerridge-Creedy

Senior consultant

Sarah is an accomplished social infrastructure and social impact specialist with a passion for applying creative ways of thinking to ensure every project leaves a long lasting, positive legacy. She excels in multifaceted projects with complex community needs and opportunities to deliver safe, sustainable and inclusive spaces.

Sarah is experienced in leading the preparation of Social Impact Assessments, Crime Prevention through Environmental Design Assessments and Social Infrastructure and Open Space Needs Assessments for a range of developments in the public and private sector, both local and state significant.

Drawing on over four years of experience, Sarah is highly skilled in undertaking social research, including demographic, spatial and policy analysis. She is also experienced in undertaking stakeholder and community engagement for projects in regional and metropolitan areas. Sarah values working within a collaborative environment to better understand how well considered social planning can unlock positive outcomes for the client and community alike.

Aleena Castanos

Senior Consultant

Aleena is a stakeholder and community engagement practitioner with experience delivering engagement and social insights across complex urban development, infrastructure and government planning projects. Her background spans State Significant Development, precinct-scale master planning and public sector infrastructure programs, giving her a strong understanding of how to design inclusive engagement that supports better planning, policy and design outcomes.

Aleena brings a thoughtful, people-centred and evidence-based approach to engagement. She is skilled at developing and delivering end-to-end engagement strategies, facilitating meaningful dialogue with communities and stakeholders, and translating qualitative and quantitative feedback into clear insights that inform decision-making. She is also experienced in preparing audience-friendly communications and reporting, supporting project teams to navigate complex issues with clarity, transparency and care.

Alysson Lucas

Senior Consultant

Alysson is an expert researcher and a multidisciplinary social strategy, urban sustainability and research specialist. She holds a PhD and has more than five years of experience across government, private-sector consulting and academic environments. Alysson applies mixed-methods research, policy analysis and stakeholder engagement to support evidence-based planning and decision-making.

She has delivered social impact assessments, social infrastructure plans, sustainability strategies and research projects for state-significant developments, planning proposals and public-sector initiatives. Her experience spans residential, commercial, infrastructure, industrial, health, education, renewable energy and community-focused projects. 

Alysson translates complex qualitative and quantitative information into clear insights, practical recommendations and client-ready reports. She brings strong project management, cross-sector collaboration and public communication skills, with a particular interest in resilient, inclusive and thriving cities and communities.

Alexandra King

Senior Consultant

Alexandra is a communications and stakeholder engagement specialist with over six years experience delivering engagement, communications and project outcomes across major infrastructure, transport and government projects. Her experience spans public-sector advisory roles and private-sector consulting, giving her a strong understanding of how to develop clear communications and meaningful engagement for complex projects.

She combines strategic communications capability with a technical background in mechanical engineering and business management. She is skilled in developing and implementing engagement strategies, coordinating stakeholder and community activities, facilitating workshops, managing digital engagement platforms and translating complex project information into accessible communications.

Alexandra brings a collaborative, practical and evidence-based approach to stakeholder engagement.  She works across government, contractors, communities and project teams to manage emerging issues, support social licence and deliver transparent, user-friendly engagement outcomes. Her technical background helps her understand complex infrastructure projects and communicate them clearly to diverse audiences.

KHUSHBOO DHIMAN

Senior consultant

Khushboo is a community engagement and project management professional with over five years of experience across government, consulting, not-for-profit and sustainability sectors. She brings experience in inclusive engagement, culturally responsive communications and project delivery, with a focus on strengthening belonging, accessibility and participation for diverse communities.

Khushboo is committed to building trusted relationships and creating opportunities for people to contribute meaningfully. Her experience includes engaging culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities, supporting First Nations programs and coordinating partnerships across government agencies and community organisations.

She translates complex information into accessible communications, facilitates stakeholder discussions and turns community feedback into practical recommendations. Her work spans cultural competency reviews, national health campaigns, community programs and sustainability projects.

With qualifications in environmental science, gender studies and visual arts, Khushboo brings a multidisciplinary perspective to her work. She holds an IAP2 Engagement Professional Certification and combines strong organisational skills with a thoughtful, evidence-informed approach to engagement and project delivery.

Lisa Bryant

Senior Consultant

Lisa Bryant is renowned for her expertise in crafting communications that sing. She makes complex concepts simple, and authors publications that people want to read. She also is a subject matter expert in early education and care provision and not-for-profit organisations.

With over 40 years of experience, she has successfully guided governments, organisations, and communities to better understand and meet the needs of children and families. A strong advocate for services that meet people’s needs easily, Lisa is a sought-after communications specialist, keynote speaker, and policy writer. Her in-depth knowledge of Federal and State Government policies, academic research, and industry trends, positions her as a leading figure in social policy research.

Lisa’s acclaimed work simplifies complex government plans, operational requirements, and complex messages making her a trusted advisor for governments and peak organisations. Her opinion pieces are regularly featured by the Sydney Morning Herald, the ABC, and The Guardian.

Sarah Burgess

Senior Consultant

Sarah is a highly experienced urban planner specialising in social planning and the creation of healthy urban environments. With a passion for fostering vibrant, sustainable communities, she works collaboratively with local stakeholders to design and implement quality places that promote well-being and sustainability for all.

With over 20 years of experience spanning public and private sectors in Australia and the United Kingdom, Sarah has developed expertise in strategic planning, policy development and advocacy, community engagement and urban research and evaluation. She is adept at translating complex concepts into user-friendly strategies and actionable policies that are practical, clear and impactful.

Sarah has collaborated extensively with key stakeholders to develop innovative policies, tools and resources that strengthen the connection between people and place. Her experience includes preparing community plans, conducting needs assessments and drafting spatial planning documents.

Liana Hor

Consultant

Since joining CRED Consulting in 2023, Liana has grown into a Consultant where she works directly with clients and supports the delivery of community and stakeholder engagement projects. As a Bachelor of Commerce and Advanced Studies graduate from the University of Sydney, her background in International Business and Management equips her with a people-first approach to all that she does.

She is energetic and passionate about providing quality outcomes for communities and stakeholders, and has engaged with thousands of community members and stakeholders during her time at CRED.

Liana is skilled at analysing qualitative and quantitative data, delivering community consultation activities, writing thorough engagement outcomes reports, and producing community-friendly communications and engagement plans

Liana is working towards becoming a purpose-led leader focused on creating a positive change in the world for disadvantaged communities and brings this as her passion to all her work with CRED Consulting.

Manasi Prabhu

Project Officer

Manasi is a graduate urban planner and architect with experience across place-based research, spatial analysis, policy interpretation and project communication in planning and built environment contexts. She brings strong analytical capability in interpreting complex planning, spatial and community data to support stakeholder engagement and informed decision making.

She is motivated by the role of planning in delivering inclusive urban environments, resilient community outcomes and a sustainable future, and is particularly interested in the intersection of planning, social research and spatial analysis. Manasi is skilled in observation, policy analysis, spatial and demographic analysis, GIS mapping and stakeholder analysis, and in translating findings into accessible outputs for community and stakeholder audiences.

Her professional experience as an architect on large-scale public infrastructure projects has strengthened her ability to work within multidisciplinary teams, coordinate across stakeholders, respond to evolving project requirements and manage competing priorities within structured delivery environments. Her current tutoring role has further developed her communication, responsiveness and empathy in working with different cohorts.

Lara Ball

Project Officer

Lara is a social planning specialist with a multidisciplinary background in Law and Urban Planning. Her combined legal and planning studies provide her with a strong understanding of the regulatory, social and spatial factors that shape urban environments, and she is passionate about supporting equitable, inclusive and sustainable communities through thoughtful planning practice.

Lara has experience contributing to a diverse range of social planning projects across impact assessment, social infrastructure, research and stakeholder engagement. She brings a strong analytical approach to her work and is skilled at supporting project teams across Social Impact Assessments, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design assessments, social strategy and community-focused planning processes. Her academic focus on community development, social equity, land and environment law and participatory planning further strengthens her ability to contribute to complex and people-centred projects.

Zoey Lipowicz

Project Officer

Zoey Lipowicz is an early-career engagement and social research professional who translates complex community feedback into clear insights and communicates in inclusive, accessible language with culturally and socially diverse groups.

She is completing a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, Politics and International Relations at UNSW. Her studies have developed her understanding of social inequities, diverse lived experiences and the systems that shape participation in community life.

Zoey’s experience includes demographic and community research, workshop facilitation, stakeholder communication, inclusive onboarding and community outreach. She develops accessible materials and has contributed to policy submissions, research essays and engagement activities focused on equity, inclusion, wellbeing and planning.

LUCY EVANS

executive assistant

Lucy is an experienced Executive Assistant and People & Culture professional with over four years’ experience supporting senior leaders and high-performing teams in fast-paced, creative environments.

She brings a strong operational mindset and a people-first approach, with a proven track record of streamlining processes, improving team effectiveness, and being the trusted go-to when things need to get done.

Naturally drawn to roles that blend organisation, strategy and people, Lucy is known for staying calm under pressure, thinking several steps ahead, and keeping momentum behind the scenes. Her ability to balance structure with adaptability makes her a valued support to leaders and a key contributor to collaborative, high-performing teams.

MIKAELA REYES

Graphic designer

Mikaela is an experienced graphic designer and creative practitioner with over seven years experience delivering integrated design solutions for government, corporate, not-for-profit and event clients. She combines conceptual thinking, technical expertise and strategic design to translate complex ideas into clear, engaging and memorable visual experiences.

Her work spans brand systems, presentations, templates, reports, campaign assets, banners, signage, merchandise, environmental and stage design, and digital communications. Mikaela is confident managing projects from initial brief, research and concept development through to stakeholder presentations, approvals, production and final delivery.

With experience supporting more than 20 government and corporate clients, Mikaela is highly adaptable and organised, with a strong understanding of brand alignment, accessibility, confidentiality and professional standards. She brings a collaborative approach to working with clients, account managers, operations teams and senior designers, while balancing creative quality with practical project requirements and deadlines.

Work with us

Interested in joining CRED Consulting? View our current job opportunities and learn more about working with our team.

Current opportunities