Jonathan Schleifer
CEO at Charlotte Project

I'm a kid from New Jersey living in Brisbane with my family, and I've spent my career trying to win over the people who are often the hardest to persuade.

Before moving to Australia, I ran the Fairness Project, putting wages, paid leave and healthcare on the ballot in some of the most conservative parts of the US. We won 20 of 21 campaigns. The lesson I carried here: the movable middle is reachable, but only if you do the slow, unglamorous work of meeting people where they are.

For the last six years, that's been my work in Australia's climate movement. At Energy Leadership Australia, I focused on centre-right and conservative audiences — the voters who'll decide on the level of government ambition and whether the clean energy transition sticks.

As CEO of Breakthrough Strategies Co., I help climate and progressive organisations with strategy, campaigning, fundraising and communications, and build AI tools for the strategists and campaigners doing the work.

And I'm now building something new: digital infrastructure to grow public support for the transition among the mainstream audiences that are hardest to reach.