Email: [email protected]

Melissa Gibbs, Deputy Director of the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG), is a recognised leader in the fields of regional collaboration and strategic planning, combining over two decades of experience in practice, consulting and more recently in an academic setting.  

Melissa was the Executive Director of the Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC) for 15 years.  During this time, she led a number of innovative cross-boundary programs, plans and strategies, including the development of a regional procurement program, resource sharing strategies and a range of regional asset and environmental plans and programs.  Melissa has applied her knowledge and experience in a consulting capacity by preparing strategic plans for a number regional organisations of councils, resource sharing strategies for groups of councils, service and organisation reviews, development of structural reform options, and organisation values setting exercises.

Melissa's research interests at ACELG include local government reform and consolidation, shared services and cross-council collaboration, and the capacity building needs of rural-remote and Indigenous local government.  She is co-author of a number of research papers on these themes, and has presented research findings across the country and internationally.