Nareen Young

Nareen Young is the Associate Dean (Indigenous Leadership and Engagement) at the University of Technology, Business School, Sydney, utilising her experience across the business, NGO, and employment sectors.

Nareen also leads UTS Jumbunna Indigenous Education and Research Institute's Indigenous People and Work Research and Practice Hub, which focuses on robust research and analysis, policy, practice, people, and law reform at the intersection of the human rights and employment jurisdictions as it pertains to Indigenous people. The Hub leads the broad National Indigenous employment sector and convenes the First Nations Employment Alliance.

Nareen is one of Australia's leading and most respected workplace diversity practitioners, thinkers, and influencers. She was first a trade union official and represented women’s employment interests on the Executives of both the ACTU and Unions NSW. During this time, she led and managed two diversity peak bodies (Diversity Council Australia and NSW Working Women's Centre) with enormous impact and success for nearly 15 years and was then Director and Employment Lead at a large Indigenous consulting firm for three years.

She is influenced by both her Indigenous and culturally diverse heritages in this work and has received numerous awards and acknowledgements, including the inaugural Westpac 100 Women of Influence honour for Diversity, has commentated widely, presented both nationally and internationally, and published. She has and continues to hold many Government appointments, including with NSW Treasury, the National Indigenous Australians Agency, and the Human Rights Commission. With her team, she advises public sector, corporate, and NGO organisations and unions on employment issues affecting First Nations people and leads ‘Gari Yala’, the only Indigenous-led survey of Indigenous people’s workplace experiences that utilises Indigenous research methodology.

Nareen has significant governance experience, having spent a term as Director at Indigenous Business Australia, and currently sits on the boards of BlakDance and Per Capita. She sits on the Indigenous advisory bodies of National Australia Bank, Insurance Australia Group, Kindergarten Union, and Museums of History NSW and reported very successfully to boards as an NFP CEO for nearly 15 years.

Nareen identifies First Nations and diversity employment trends in the unique Australian context and is a significant collaborator in the diversity and employment sectors by bringing together people and organisations for the common good. She achieves practical, measurable outcomes utilising her ethical leadership style, and, working with others, her thinking and concepts have had significant influence on employment diversity policy and practice. She is a committed, tenacious, and active self-determination advocate and leads in developing understanding in the employment sector as to its importance and has worked and led at the intersection of the employment and human rights jurisdictions for many years.