Our Team

Matt Sawkill

Managing Director

Matt has 20 years of experience in design-led digital agencies as a full-stack developer, technology consultant and team leader.

Matt is obsessed with the craft and delivery of easy to use, accessible and performant digital services and products at scale. Open source software, web standards and human-centred design are the foundations of this approach.

In his spare time, you’ll find him geeking out on food, music and movies.

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Grace O'Hara

Head of Community + Impact

Grace is a connector of dots and people, and a fiend for things that make the world a little bit better. She likes blending tech and storytelling and taking little steps towards good things.

After growing up in farms, art school and start-up land, Grace spent a year travelling the world, seeing the power of technology in all shapes, sizes, and efficiencies.

Now, she loves telling meaningful stories and connecting people in authentic ways at Code for Australia and Code for All. In her spare time you might find her attempting to make edible things or writing children’s books.

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Soreti Kadir

Head of Delivery

Soreti Kadir is a Muslim, Oromo storyteller, creative and organiser. The Oromo are the Indigenous people of Ethiopia. As a creative, she writes diversely and performs poetry, but is always expanding her work. That expansion is currently leaning towards theatre and film.

She is a captivating storyteller both on the stage and on the page. She has performed, lead workshops and spoken amongst a diversity of gatherings across Australia and abroad.

She is keenly interested in using her skills and experiences working with diverse people, across diverse sectors, to empower processes of honest dialogue. This is what led her to the Code for Australia crew!

Alvaro Maz

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Daniel Groch

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Jacob Lindsay

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Lina Patel

Go-To Facilitator

Lina is a facilitator, collaboration designer and former Chief of Getting Things done at Code for Australia, where she made all our programs (Fellowship, Academy, Tech for Non-Tech) hum beautifully.

She spends most of her time with people and teams who know where they are headed; who aren’t sure how to get there; and are open to iteration.

People frikkin love her workshops and meetings.

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Ben Ralph

Tech for Non Tech Lead

With over a decade of experience founding tech companies and teaching web development, Ben is happiest when he’s helping people understand all things human-centred, agile, tech and leadership.

Ben’s approach is to identify significant and real user problems and work collaboratively to find MVP solutions that can be tested in the market – starting with the assumption that the best user experience is one that balances user needs, business goals and technology opportunities.

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Sara Rickards

Sandpit Lead

Sara AKA The Sustainability Ninja and F**kgiver, is trained as both a Biomedical Scientist & Environmental Engineer. She is an ignitor of big ideas such as Re:Purpose for Good.

Sara is a passionate connector, putting purpose and positive impact at the core of everything she does. She is on a mission to unlock human potential and specialises in creating connected and conscious communities.

In a previous life she was the Education For Sustainability Manager at Macquarie University, Co-host for the Un-school of Disruptive Design and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education.

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Alec Sloman

Tech for Non Tech Lead

Alec Sloman is an educator, facilitator, and software developer with over 15 years of experience in IT.

In the not too distant past, he worked as a Lead Instructor at General Assembly and as a Technical Recruiter at Lookahead Search where he gave career advice to hundreds of candidates and worked with many of the most prominent tech companies in Melbourne. He now spends most of his days running a code school in the heart of North Melbourne.

Alec is passionate about driving reform and improving lives with technology. Oh, and he loves hip hop.

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Cam Elliott

Sandpit Lead

Cameron has a passion for supporting authentic leadership, innovation, collaboration, strategic thinking and wellbeing in organisations through effective facilitation, training and coaching.

As a facilitator of the Sandpit Program, Cameron supports innovators from the public and private sector to collaborate on solving some of the toughest issues the public sector faces.

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