Mr Christian Zahra AM FAICD

Christian Zahra is Principal of the specialist policy and strategy consulting firm, Impact Partners Australia. He has served on the Board of the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) since its inception in 2011 and was appointed Chair in 2021. 

He was Chairman of the Federal Government’s one-billion- dollar Regional Development Australia Fund Advisory Panel and served on the Ministerial Advisory Council on Regional Australia. 

Christian has been the Chief Executive of major regional indigenous organisations and is currently a non-executive director of one such organisation based in Western Australia’s Kimberley. 

In June 2018, Christian was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for "significant service to rural and regional development, to the advancement of Indigenous welfare, and to the Australian Parliament". 

Christian grew up in the Latrobe Valley in Eastern Victoria, represented a Gippsland electorate in federal parliament and now lives with his family in Central Victoria.