Purpose Asia-Pacific

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Founded in 2018, Purpose Asia-Pacific includes teams across Australia & Indonesia.

Purpose’s Asia-Pacific operation delivers regional projects and campaigns and also supports the global Purpose network. Our work includes partnerships with leading not-for-profit organisations, philanthropies, and corporations to drive impact on a variety of issues including environmental protection and climate change, education, health, international development, and the protection of democracy.

Purpose’s regional Asia-Pacific hub is based in Sydney.


We’d love to get in touch – send us a note at sydney@purpose.com

 

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians – the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation – upon whose ancestral lands we live and work. We pay respect to their Elders, past, present and emerging, and acknowledge the pivotal role that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to play within the Australian community. We

Our Reconciliation Action Plan (Reflect) outlines a plan for Purpose to commit to reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We hope the process of starting on our RAP journey grows Purposes’ understanding, commitment and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island cultures.

Have a read of our Action Plan here.

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Simon Goff

Partner & CEO

Pronouns: he / him

Over the more than eight years Simon has spent at Purpose he has played a key role in our global expansion. After joining the Strategy team as one of Purpose’s first employees in London, he went on to lead the growth of our EMEA region as its Managing Director before relocating to Sydney to establish an Asia Pacific hub for our work. Since 2020, he has played a number of global roles including Global Managing Director and COO. In 2023, he became Purpose’s CEO, relocating to London with his family for two years to lead the organization and identify a long-term CEO successor before returning to Australia where he and his family are based.

At Purpose, Simon has developed and led projects with clients including The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the LEGO Foundation, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, Google, Luminate Group, Unilever, the World Health Organization, the Red Cross, AGL, and The Fred Hollows Foundation on issues including early childhood development, digital rights, climate change, avoidable blindness, and women's empowerment. 

Simon has deep experience working on some of the world’s most complex problems - crafting new ways to channel the power of culture toward positive social change. Through his career he has built unique partnerships to harness the potential of powerful storytelling to mobilize people to action. 

Prior to Purpose, Simon spent over a decade working at the intersection of media and social change. After joining Viacom International in London to work on MTV’s social responsibility initiatives, Simon co-founded the MTV EXIT Foundation, an independent non-profit organization based in London and Bangkok committed to ending human trafficking and exploitation, becoming its Chief Executive in 2009. In 2013, Simon became Executive Director of FilmAid International, an organization that uses the power of film and media to bring life-saving information, psychological relief and empowerment to refugees.

Simon completed a degree in Engineering and Business Finance from University College, London, which somehow led to making a television program about his journey across the Caucasus and Central Asia in search of Xanadu. He hopes the resulting program remains buried in the archives.

He is a native of Brighton, England, and has lived in London, Bangkok, and Sydney.

Chris Cooper

Senior Campaign Director & Head of Office, Australia

Pronouns: he / him

As Senior Campaign Director & Head of Office, Australia, Chris brings over a decade of experience in strategic communications, advocacy and content production to our work on digital rights, public health, international development and climate change.  

Through the combination of his early career in media production and cultural anthropology, he has worked with communities to leverage culture and storytelling to shape behaviours and systems, enable change and drive progress. He has a strong commitment to participatory approaches and is driven to work that enables vulnerable and marginalised communities to self-advocate and design their own progress. With this approach and throughout his career, Chris has co-designed, built and implemented issue-driven programs and campaigns across numerous continents and issue areas.

Chris brings to Purpose experience working across the corporate, NGO, and activist sectors, and continues to drive innovative work at the intersections of these areas. After having spent years working in Kenya, Iceland, the UK and Indonesia, Chris is now based in our Sydney office.

Aldy Permana

Strategic Communications Manager

Pronouns: he / him

As a Strategic Communication Manager at Purpose, Aldy brings together his expertise in policy and political analysis, government relations, and community engagement to push for change and action in Indonesia. He believes that progressive change can be achieved when different groups can communicate effectively and meet halfway. 

Prior to joining Purpose, Aldy was a researcher at WWF-Australia, where he conducted a research on coastal land tenure issues in Indonesia and the Philippines. And previously, he spent almost four years of his professional career as analyst at the retail and FMCG industry in Indonesia. 

He holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Australian National University, which he completed under the LPDP Scholarship from the Indonesian Ministry of Finance. He also has a Bachelor of Computer degree from Duta Wacana Christian University, where he specializes in business information system. 

In his spare time, Aldy likes to play music and write songs, even though he has never published them. He also loves to hang out with like-minded friends and talks about the possibility of holding a public office  in the future. 

 

Alex Mclntosh

Associate Strategy Director

Pronouns: she / her

Alex joins the Purpose team having a background in product, service and process design, where she worked on projects ranging from developing a bed that tracks your sleep patterns to improving the experience for museum visitors to redesigning an onboarding process for new team members.

At Purpose, she applies a human centered design approach to the development of campaigns and initiatives and looks to use participatory methods to designing solutions. Since joining Purpose, Alex has worked on projects in the digital rights, early childhood vulnerability and ethical investments space.

In her spare time, Alex likes to plot out future business ventures which would allow her to live on a plot of land surrounded by trees. She usually comes back to the same idea involving a cafe / camping ground / veggie farm where visitors can amuse themselves reading a weekly news roundup on the back of the menu while eating leeks on toast.

Brigitte Harbrow

Associate Director, Project Management

Pronouns: she / her

As Associate Director, Project Management at Purpose, Brigitte ensures each project is delivered on time and on budget. Brigitte has a background in account management, business development, resourcing and client management.

At Purpose, she has worked with non-profit clients including Australian Conservation Foundation, Save The Children, and forms part of the team of Reset Australia (a charity incubated by Purpose).

Before joining Purpose, Brigitte led fully-integrated advertising campaigns and brand transformations at award-winning agencies. Brigitte has worked across a range of sectors including government, financial, non for profit and technology. Some of her previous clients were Commonwealth Bank, Telstra, Audi, Ikea and Cancer Institute. Brigitte also worked part-time at the environmental charity, Take 3 for the Sea to concept campaigns and social content planning.

Brigitte graduated from the University of New South Wales in a Bachelor of Media, Advertising and Public Relations. She's also completed the competitive creative thinking course, Award School.

In her spare time, Brigitte enjoys dining at the newest vegan restaurant, op shopping and spending time in nature around animals.

Claire Sutton

Associate Creative Director

Pronouns: she / her

As Associate Creative Director at Purpose Sydney, Claire brings a positively charged and passionate approach to all things design and communication. Having worked in the social impact and sustainability sector for over 4 years, she has a passion for urban greening, human rights and diversity. Claire aims to create seamless, emotive and meaningful experiences through considered design to create real-world impact.

Before Purpose, Claire worked for Republic Of Everyone – a collective impact creative agency in Sydney, heading up the design department as a multi-tasking designer, art director and mentor. Coming from a craft-design and advertising background, she is used to wearing many hats at once.

Claire graduated from a Bachelor of Communication Design (with honours) from Swinburne University, Melbourne. She also lectures regularly at Western Sydney University  for the Social Impact Design studies, and sits on their external design committee board.

When she isn’t at the beach or camping, you can find her in the workshop creating jewellery or at the pub with a bunch of mates. 

Dylan Williams

Senior Campaigner

Pronouns: he / him

Dylan is a Senior Campaigner in the Purpose Sydney office. With a background in digital engagement and voter mobilization, Dylan knows how to drive participation and engagement in issue based campaigns. Before joining Purpose, Dylan worked for the NSW Labor Party leading the team responsible for digital campaigning at elections on a local, state, and federal level.

He studied politics at the University of Sydney, where he became involved in the student union and helped run campaigns on student welfare and education funding. 

Dylan is a member of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance and a passionate advocate for workers rights, social justice and economic equality.

Elena Yi-Ching Ho

Impact Measurement Learning Associate

Pronouns: she / her

As a Purpose Impact Measurement Associate, Elena Yi-Ching Ho is a multi-lingual disinformation investigator who brings their OSINT, social listening and public policy research skills to monitor disinformation and hate speech on diverse policy and social issues across government and non-government sectors.

Elena holds a Master of International Relations from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Foreign Languages and Literature from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, where she was awarded a Ministry of Education Scholarship to study in Kraków, Poland and a Russian Government Scholarship to study in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

When she’s not spending time sitting in front of the computer, Elena enjoys bushwalking in the mountains.

Woman headshot social impact agency

Justine Szalay

Strategy Director

Pronouns: she / her

Justine brings her background in creative strategy and communications to her role as a Strategy Director and the Strategy Lead in the Sydney office. Her interest lies in social and behavioural sciences, finding the intersection of strategically applied insights and creative principles to solve problems, impact social issues, and create change.  In her time at Purpose, Justine has worked on a range of projects from nuclear disarmament to female leadership in STEMM, as well as a rebrand for Environmental Defenders Office Australia. 

 Her career began at M&C Saatchi where she was first exposed to the power of insightful creativity. Furthering her skills at a range of digital and creative agencies in both Australia and London, Justine gained experience in leading, developing and executing end-to-end creative and media strategies. In working with commercial clients such as ASOS and Coca-Cola, she quickly established a desire to serve, encouraging her to investigate how organisations can shape positive outcomes for communities and the environment.

In her spare time, Justine runs an urban culture print magazine called Grass Fires, practices as a Functional Medicine Health Coach and spends any chance she can get outdoors - whether it's hiking, surfing or drinking beers in the sunshine.

Lucía Parejo-Bravo

Program Manager

Pronouns: she/ her

Lucía joined Purpose in 2019 as Project Manager after having spent the previous years managing R&D+I European funded cooperation projects in the environmental sector, particularly in the fields of climate change, green entrepreneurship and the circular economy. 

Since achieving her Bachelors Degree in Business Administration & Management, Lucía became very interested in alternative economic models and how businesses can have a positive social and environmental impact. 

She joined us as the first PM for the APAC office, which gave her the opportunity to work in a big variety of projects and issues but in 2021 her role transitioned to become Program Manager of the Purpose Climate Lab in Asia-Pacific, where she’s working on different campaigns in Indonesia, Vanuatu, India and China. 

Apart from her climate work at Purpose, she’s also personally involved in the climate movement helping a non for profit organisation called “Surfers for climate” and she’s also part of the “Climate Reality Leadership Corps,” a global network of climate leaders which was founded by Al Gore. 

Originally from Spain, she is passionate about understanding different cultures and learning different languages. Besides being fluent in Spanish and English, she is also proficient in German, Chinese and French, which has allowed her to experience some of those countries in depth. 

In her spare time, Lucía likes to grab her surfboard and search for waves, do some yoga, take photos and buy lots of books that she still believes she will read one day. 

Michelle Winowatan

Strategy Manager

Pronouns: she / her
As a Strategy Manager at Purpose, Michelle Winowatan brings together her expertise in political advocacy and passion for human rights and social justice. With her background in public policy analysis, evidence-driven programming, and strategic communications, Michelle currently focuses on building movement to drive climate action in Indonesia.
 
Prior to joining Purpose, Michelle did research on technology policy at The Governance Lab in New York City; supported human rights advocacy at Human Rights Watch in New York City and Jakarta; and implemented peacebuilding programs with Search for Common Ground in Bali, Indonesia.
 
She has a Master’s degree in Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy with a specialization in Advocacy and Political Action from New York University, which she completed on a Fulbright scholarship.
 
In her free time, Michelle likes to cook, spend time around a body of water, and try out new things.
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