About

We build the capacity that keeps changing things after we're gone.

Plate 7. Distance from Melbourne.

Founder, Executive Coach, Governance Advisor

In 2010 I stood in the empty shell of Donkey Wheel House in Melbourne. Peeling paint, broken windows, eighty years of dust. Most people saw a building that needed demolishing. I felt the conversations that hadn't happened yet: the enterprises that would launch there, the community that would form.

That instinct, for what a place or an organisation could become when the right structure is built around it, has run through thirty years of work. World Vision. The Difference Incubator. Benefit Capital. Good Places. Governance, capital strategy, and the patient unglamorous work of turning a vision into something that actually operates.

Regenerative Outcomes is the practice I built to do that work at a pace that respects the change. That means deep engagements, careful rhythm, and leaving your team able to carry the work.

Each taught a different part of the practice.

Donkey Wheel Foundation2010 to 2024
CEO
Turned a private foundation into a national social innovation hub. Grew assets to $20M; led a $6M heritage redevelopment.
The Difference Incubator2011 to 2019
Co-founder, Executive Chair
An incubator for Australian social enterprises. Advised on impact investment deals totalling over $300M.
Ethical Property Australia2013 to 2022
Co-founder, Executive Chair
A $30M property portfolio for purpose-led tenants. Founded, scaled, and sold to a successor steward.
Benefit Capital2013 to 2022
Co-founder, Director
Early integrated impact investing across Australia, the South Pacific, the UK and the USA.
World Vision Australia2006 to 2010
COO and Deputy CEO, then Strategic Project Exec
Managed $350M annual revenue and 500+ staff.

CBM Australia: Strategy planning, marketing plan development
World Vision International: Strategic consulting
Positive Media: Strategy, governance, leadership development
ANZ Bank: Contract management, billing and service management
Telstra: Billing management, truck-roll optimisation, NBN complaints management
Emu Capital (NYC): Partner-level advisory on cross-border enterprise consulting, 2014 to 2017
Lend Lease Retirement Living: Coaching, strategy, leadership development
Be Slavery Free: Governance and strategy
Million Makers: Commercialisation, business planning, capital planning
Spirited Consulting: Coaching and strategy advice
Dragontail: Coaching, strategy, ASX listing process; inaugural Chair
Rision: Turnaround and recapitalisation; interim CEO and Director
Good Places Properties: Strategic planning, investment planning, executive coaching (US and Australia)
STREAT: Enterprise strategy; structured early-stage capital
TACSI: Strategic direction with the CEO and senior team; spun out Family by Family and Weavers, 2016 to 2019

Facilitation at Wasan Island in Canada with the Breuninger Foundation, leading symposia on strategic foresight for philanthropy. Study tours across the UK, Spain and Canada for Australian for-purpose leaders looking at social innovation and impact investing.

A practice with a pace.

Engage early, at the visioning stage.
The strategy is better, and so is the engagement, when I'm in before the shape is set.
Bring the real numbers and the real views.
I move faster with more truth, not more meetings.
Expect candour.
I'll say the thing that needs saying. I ask you to do the same. It's how trust compounds.
Respect depth over speed.
I move quickly on strategy but need deep focus time.

A small group, working closely.

Nothing reaches you that one of us hasn't already pushed back on.

Paul Steele

Founder and Principal

Paul is the one you want across the table when the strategy has to hold under pressure, and the board, the team, and the funder each need to hear it differently. Former COO of World Vision Australia, co-founder of TDi and Benefit Capital. Based in Melbourne, working globally.

Shannon Gibbons

Operations and systems

Shannon is the one you want in the room when the operational machinery has stopped keeping up with the strategy. She untangles the processes that live in someone's head, the systems that don't quite talk to each other, and the paperwork that's outgrown the business. Based in Gippsland, working nationally.

Nick Lane

Systems and community impact

Nick builds business systems for regional communities. Founder and MD of Passive Place, his community-development model helps regional organisations tackle housing, skills, training and employment pathways.

When an engagement needs a skill we don't carry, or more hands than the three of us, we bring in colleagues we've worked with for years. People we'd trust with our own name.

Tell us what you're trying to change.

A short note is enough. We'll reply within two working days.

Write to us

Or paul@regenerativeoutcomes.com.au · +61 418 399 800