about donna

Boards don't struggle from a lack of answers. They struggle from a lack of permission to question everything.

Donna Worthington works with boards and leadership teams as a facilitator, creating the conditions for the conversations that matter most. The ones that have been quietly avoided. The assumptions that have never been tested. The foundational beliefs that may have worked once, but perhaps no longer do.

This is not about delivering a workshop or producing a report. It is about holding space for complexity, sitting with uncertainty and leaving with greater clarity about the questions that need to be asked.

Her ability to do that didn't come from a textbook.

Donna grew up in rural Australia, where hardship was a way of life and building resilience was necessary for survival. She learned early to read a room, to sense what was unsaid, to find comfort in the discomfort. Those instincts have never left her. They show up every time she sits with a board.

That foundation is now backed by over two decades working at the intersection of risk, governance, transformation and strategy for CBA, MinterEllison, PwC and Zurich. In 2023 Donna founded Elevare Advisory, a boutique risk and transformation practice.

Donna established the first Risk Advisory practice within a law firm in Australia. She has designed culture transformation strategies for banks under regulatory scrutiny, built enterprise risk frameworks for organisations navigating significant growth and change, facilitated workshops that have reset programs in crisis, and coached executives through difficult career transitions.

What runs through all of her work is the same belief - that the most important shifts happen when people feel safe to be honest. Creating that psychologically safe space is Donna’s greatest strength.

Donna brings to every engagement:

→ A track record leading complex, high-stakes programs across risk, governance, culture, strategy and reputation → Deep experience working alongside and reporting to boards across a range of profit and not-for-profit organisations

→ A facilitation practice grounded in complexity, regenerative leadership and living systems thinking

→ Coaching qualifications and a genuine commitment to the development of the people she works with

→ Board experience as Chair and member across education and the arts sector

Donna knows what it feels like to navigate complexity without a clear map, to hold uncertainty without the luxury of waiting it out and to co-create a pathway through.

That is what she brings to the boards and leaders she works with.

Donna is based in Brisbane and works nationally and internationally.