Susan has been a professional communicator throughout her entire working life. During 20 years as a professional journalist in all media (including a lengthy term as Supervising Producer at the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent), she’s been at the receiving end of every modern PR strategy deployed by business and therefore understands both their strengths and weaknesses. She's also worked as an independent consultant to the U.N., developing communication strategies to support behaviour change, human development and partnerships with the private sector.

Having reported on crisis, conflict and the human condition in more than 70 countries, Susan has gathered an extraordinary knowledge of people. She has also been in direct contact with business when it’s been embroiled in its biggest scandals. And finally, she has garnered a close-up understanding of the business models and drivers for major non-profits. The sum total of this experience is that Susan has a unique understanding of public expectation as well as the major risks to corporate reputation.

Susan came to CSR via her conviction that many people in the commercial sector have a genuine desire to ‘give back’ to the communities in which they operate; and that society’s “money-makers” and “do gooders” are not necessarily two separate groups. She undertook and gained a Master of Business and Professional Ethics (UNSW) so she could learn to identify the moral underpinnings of the way business works. She is undoubtedly one of Australia’s leading CSR specialists and now teams with Vida’s GoodKarma to offer pooled resources covering all segments of marketing and communications as they relate to this exciting philosophy.

David has been a professional writer for over 25 years, working in advertising/marketing since 1980. However along the way he has managed to enrich his life experience by adding stints as a journalist, publicist, poet, editor, music agent, venue booker, band manager and tennis coach to his CV.

David has worked for both multi-national and independent ad. agencies, lectured at tertiary level and run several successful businesses of his own. He has held senior agency positions from Head of Copy to Creative Director and Head of DM and is a multi-direct marketing award winner at both domestic and international level.

David has been following the emergence of CSR as an international business strategy for several years, through the major corporate scandals to the case studies of big business doing great things to improve society and help the environment. At first cynical about the reasons that banks, oil companies, telcos, etc. were adopting CSR, he now believes many key corporate decision makers have realised that their ongoing ‘social license to operate’ from the customers and communities that support them is as important as any licence from government or industrial regulatory bodies.

David sees GoodKarma as an exciting evolution of Vida Marketing’s own ‘CSR journey’, which began with pro bono work for a single charity in 2000 and now includes work for major commercial clients as well as the services offered to young musicians via Perfect Pitch.

As Vida’s nominated Environmental Officer, Anna has a true passion for sustainability, ensuring that the agency not only talks the talk but walks it too.

Anna has worked in the specialist field of Direct and Database Marketing for over 10 years and is acknowledged as one of the real experts in the discipline, Australia-wide. She has designed, built and/or managed databases for a range of clients including Alfa Romeo, AGL, Andrew Harris Vineyards, BMG Australia, Colonial State Bank, CSR, Digital Networks, Hasbro Australia, Janssen-Cilag Pharmaceuticals, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, National Geographic Channel, Oracle Corporation, Sheraton Hotels, Sybase Powersoft, UKTV, WC Penfold, WIRES, WSPA and Yves St. Laurent.

Former Database Marketing Manager of CW Database Services, she has qualifications from both ADMA and the Database Marketing Institute U.S.A., is a published columnist on the subject and the winner of both domestic and international Direct Marketing awards.

Anna’s expertise enables GoodKarma clients to develop ongoing communication strategies to build and maintain relationships with all key stakeholders, both internally and externally. She ensures a company can communicate its CSR initiatives to staff, potential staff, customers, shareholders and suppliers alike, each communication tailored to its specific target audience.

She also brings a voice of reason and logic to our strategic planning and helps our communicators to better empathise with the many different audiences to whom they speak.

Frank combines his affinity with nature and his love of life and people to help organisations improve their sustainability performance. He has more than 25 years experience in environmental and safety management at senior level in both government and industry sectors.

Frank has worked with manufacturing, banking, construction, transportation and property management organisations. He helps GoodKarma clients to develop frameworks for evaluating, managing and reporting on their CSR initiatives.

Frank maintains an active involvement with a range of community based organisations and is a Board member of the Environmental Defender's Office (NSW). He's also a guest lecturer at universities that offer courses covering sustainability.

As GoodKarma's Asian representative, Prem is responsible for promoting our CSR communication services in this important territory. Based in Kuala Lumpur, Prem will be talking initially to companies in Malaysia and Singapore, but is happy to field enquiries from businesses throughout Asia.

Prem has significant experience gained with the Worldwide Fund for Nature in managing and monitoring issues relating to sustainable forestry. He has also assisted future professionals to obtain their international degrees in environmental management at Monash University Malaysia, both as a teacher and by conceptualising and undertaking field research projects geared to innovative solutions for enhancing sustainable development.

Prem studied for his Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA and achieved a Master of Science in Natural Resource Conservation at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) Bangkok, Thailand. While most of the communication requirements in this market will be fulfilled by GoodKarma Communications in Australia, Prem is our 'on the ground contact' in the region. Asian companies can contact Prem at prem@vida.com.au