Executive Team

Environmental Leadership Australia Executive Team

Anna Rose
Chief Executive Officer

Anna is a well respected leader in the environment movement who has worked for more than two decades to help Australia make progress on climate change. Her work has taught her that bipartisanship is key to creating lasting policy change. Anna’s background is in community engagement, including leading Earth Hour working with councils, schools and small business. Anna is a Director of Farmers for Climate Action, a Governor of WWF-Australia, a visiting fellow and former lecturer at the Australian National University and an associate at Melbourne University Sustainable Society Institute. Anna is the author of the book "Madlands: A Journey to Change the Mind of a Climate Sceptic" (MUP, 2012), based on a journey with former Finance Minister Nick Minchin that was also turned into a broadcast documentary. She is a member of Chief Executive Women, a Churchill Fellow, a former Myer Foundation Innovation Fellow and was named one of the Australian Financial Review/Westpac’s 100 Women of Influence for 2019. Anna has a combined Bachelor in Arts and Law with first class honours from the University of Sydney.

Brooke Horne
Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Brooke is a qualified lawyer and experienced operator in the philanthropic sector having run major national programs that successfully built bipartisan support for policy changes. He co-founded the Equality Campaign and was a driving force behind achieving bipartisan support for marriage equality in Australia, including working with the ‘Libs and Nats for YES’ movement. Brooke has worked as a workplace relations lawyer at Minter Ellison before branching into the private sector and working in film and television. He is a former Board Director of Australians for Mental Health,  an Adviser to Groundswell Giving and a former Director of the National Art School. Brooke holds a Bachelor of Law and a Bachelor of Arts from the Australian National University.

Karen Kandur
Chief Operating Officer

Karen is an experienced Chief Operating Officer with extensive experience in international development. She has been the Chief Operating Officer of ActionAid Australia and held roles with Opportunity International Australia, Pitcher Partners and BDO Australia. Karen is Director and Treasurer of Australian Progress and Democracy in Colour. She is a Chartered Accountant and has a Masters in International Development from University of New South Wales and an Executive Masters in Business Administration from the Australian Catholic University.

Stephanie McKew
Chief Strategy Officer

Stephanie is an experienced corporate affairs, communications and stakeholder engagement professional and a senior policy adviser. She has experience in the energy sector having worked for Snowy Hydro Limited.  Stephanie led Snowy Hydro’s Corporate Affairs Team during the development and early construction years of Snowy 2.0, Australia’s largest renewable energy project. Stephanie has held a number of senior policy positions in the former Federal Coalition Government, working in the portfolio areas of energy, environment, industry, science and skills. She has worked for a Prime Minister and a number of Cabinet Ministers. She has also worked at a number of Australian Government Departments and the National Farmers’ Federation. Stephanie holds both a Masters and an undergraduate degree in communication disciples from the University of Canberra.

Jonathan Schleifer
Chief Engagement and Communications Officer

Jonathan has more than two decades of experience in advocacy organisations across the United States and Australia and has been a senior adviser to US politicians. He joined ELA from The Fairness Project, which he ran in the United States. Under his leadership, they won 20 of 21 campaigns for higher wages, health care, paid leave, and stopping predatory lending by building support from all sides of politics. Jonathan was the founding Executive Director of Educators 4 Excellence-New York (E4E-NY). Prior to this he was the Chief Policy Officer for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), where he led IAVA’s legislative, research and political work. He started his career as a teacher, where he taught high school Communication Arts, Science, and Social Studies in the Bronx, USA. Jonathan has graduate degrees from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Columbia University’s Teachers College.