Jethro Sercombe
Director, Innovation Practice
Jethro is a not for profit leader and a leading practitioner of social impact service and strategic design in Australia. He is the Director of Innovation Practice at ThirdStory, and drives the organisation’s capability in robust design method, and the facilitation of inclusive and engaging participatory processes in complex spaces.
Jethro leads the Western Australian team in their work with nonprofits and government as leaders within seek to understand their complex contexts, design new pathways and develop new capabilities. He has an eye for novel service delivery, and the power of working in between silos to make better systems a reality. Jethro leads work in the social sector, including the award winning ‘Our Way Home’ model alongside Parkerville Children and Youth Care to create out of home care provision that is more inclusive of families of origin, FINWA’s courageous model of lived experience support in the Child Protection System, and a long relationship with St Pat’s bringing shape and clarity to their ‘Future St Pat’s’ vision.
Jethro established the Social Design Academy in Australia, supporting local innovators with real world projects, and their own innovation capabilities. He is passionate about the way that we might join up the changed mindsets that result from these innovations and aspirations to create the conditions for wider systems change.
Before embracing the innovation potential of service and strategic design, Jethro dedicated 17 years as a leader in Western Australia’s not for profit sector, as a key proponent of person centred youth supports. Jethro led flagship projects in the Western Australian youth sector, in particular the design and development of Foyer Oxford for youth homelessness. This work in innovation led Jethro to establish one of Australia’s first in-house design capabilities at Anglicare WA, leading the design of projects like Foyer Broome, the first outreach based headspace service delivery, and the state wide Homestretch project for young people leaving the care system. This perspective drives his understanding of what it takes to make change where complexity and constraints are real.
In 2013, Jethro was named one of Business News’ 40 under 40, and in 2019 was awarded a Westpac Social Change Fellowship for his work in social innovation.