RIAA’s conference 2026 falls during National Reconciliation Week and in the 20th anniversary year of the first Reconciliation Action Plans. Many don’t realise that the finance sector supported the pastoral expansion and resource extraction industries that dispossessed First Nations peoples of their land, often without compensation and often violently. Learn directly from the CEO of Reconciliation Australia about the unique role that investors can now play in advancing reconciliation. Leading funds on different stages of their RAP journey will discuss how they have sustainably and strategically taken meaningful action to advance reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and the potential of RAPs to positively impact organisational culture and change.
Chief Executive Officer of Reconciliation Australia
Karen Mundine is from the Bundjalung Nation of northern NSW. As the CEO at Reconciliation Australia, Ms Mundine brings to the role more than 25 years’ experience leading community engagement, public advocacy, communications and social marketing campaigns. An architect of the landmark Australian Reconciliation Barometer, Ms Mundine works with governments, the business sector and civil society to advocate for change and is currently a member of the Australian Government’s Referendum Engagement Group.Over the course of her career, she has been instrumental in some of Australia’s watershed national events including the Apology to the Stolen Generations, Centenary of Federation commemorations, Corroboree 2000 and the 1997 and 2021 Australian Reconciliation Conventions.Ms Mundine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and was the winner of the 2021 Indigenous Australian UTS Alumni Award. She is a Company Director of Gondwana Choirs, Sydney Festival, the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre (AILC), and Australians for Constitutional Recognition, and is a Member of Chief Executive Women.