Our Story
Jodie Willmer is a founder and director of Happy Changemakers, part of the Changemaker Associates Group, kicking some serious goals in Australia and around the globe within the social impact, non-profit, small buisnesses and social enterprise sectors.
She is the Chief Empowerment Officer at Happy Changemakers, helping people who are a crossroads find their direction and fulfill their highest potential without fear and overwhelm.
Happy Changemakers mission is to infuse a deep and lasting resilience into the changemaker community through a range of personal and professional empowerment programmes.
Jodie has a wealth of experience and expertise at non-profits, having been the CEO of Travellers Aid Australia for 8 years. Since leaving the organisation in 2014, she has provided compelling and insightful direction to the executive teams and boards of dozens of non-profits, agencies and small businesses through the consulting services she offers. She has also privately mentored and coached changemakers and leaders to find their bliss in the crazy, heady world in which we find ourselves today.
Jodie received a government accredited certificate governance in 2010 and over the years has reported to boards, sat on boards, chaired boards and consulted to boards. She has also acted as a company secretary for several non-profit organisations and has facilitated dozens of results-oriented workshops with a degree of artful finesse that rivals the performance of any leading ballet dancer!. Her core specialisations are : governance evaluations, succession planning and strategic planning. She offers transformational coaching on leadership and governance for emerging and established leaders, CEOs, CSuite and Board directors.
Jodie has been described by some as disarming, however she’s no wallflower and loves to get in front of audiences in a skilful and entertaining way via her public speaking, panel moderation and event MC’ing. A fun fact about Jodie is that she volunteered on community radio for 17 years, co-hosting a travel show where she had the opportunity to interview hundreds of live studio guests and callers over the years.
In 2016 Jodie recorded a number of podcast episodes through a project called The Insightful Director. The episodes are available on both iTunes and Stitcher at:
The Insightful Director on iTunes
The Insightful Director on Stitcher
Jodie is a committed Foundation member of The Xfactor Collective, having been a valuable contributor to the collective since its inception. Jodie sits on the Members Reference Group in the capacity of a foundation member and regularly chairs action-oriented meetings for the group. She appears in several webinars that are available for your viewing pleasure on The Xfactor YouTube channel.
Social impact sector involvement
2009- 2014 : Board Member Victorian Council of Social Services (VCOSS),
2009 - 2014: Member Finance, Audit and Risk committee
2008 - 2014: Inaugural President of Emergency Relief (ER) Victoria
2006 - 2012: Member of the Victorian State Consultative Committee to the Federal Government’s Financial Management program, Microfinance, emergency relief and financial counselling
1998 - 2012: Producer and Presenter of weekly travel program and various board roles, - JOY Melbourne 94.9FM
2002 - 2004: Chair, Outdoor Recreation Centre Inc and Adventure Activities Standards
2000- 2002, Member of Victorian Government’s Small Business Advisory Council to Minister Marsha Thomson