

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
GUEST SPEAKER
Marcus Curcija

I work at the intersection of business, government, organisations, and communities to help leaders understand complex problems, make better decisions, and build the capability required to deliver outcomes.
My strength is turning stakeholder intelligence into practical strategy. I design research, engagement, and evaluation approaches that identify what is really happening, where risks and gaps sit, and which solutions are most likely to work. That thinking is grounded in a PhD in conflict management between stakeholder groups. Specifically, why projects fail when competing interests are not properly understood, and how structured evidence and engagement can change that.
I am often brought into environments where objectives, expectations, and stakeholder interests do not naturally align. My role is to make those dynamics visible, translate evidence into clear options, help organisations move from uncertainty to action, and build the internal capability to sustain progress.
This focus on stakeholder intelligence, evidence, strategy, solutions, and capability has shaped two decades of work across ESG, social performance, regional development, infrastructure, sustainability, and social impact. It includes leading a $1M industry–government ESG capability partnership for the Queensland Government, designing evidence and assurance systems for complex client delivery, and currently leading national research on AI capability and future readiness in Australian secondary schools.
I am interested in roles and contracts where cross-sector problem solving, stakeholder intelligence, and evidence-based thinking are needed to reduce risk, build capability, strengthen relationships, and deliver practical outcomes.