Ros Moriarty
Business Leader & Indigenous Design & Impact Advocate
Ros Moriarty is a business leader, social investor and author, and Co-Founder of the Moriarty Foundation and Balarinji, Australia’s leading Indigenous design studio. A Hall of Fame inductee and recipient of numerous national and international honours, Ros is dedicated to advancing equity and empowering Aboriginal families through innovative, culturally cognisant programs that unlock children’s potential.
Quick Contact
Ros Moriarty is a business owner, social investor and author. She is Co-Founder, Co-Chair and Executive Director of Moriarty Foundation, and Co-Founder, Creative Executive and Managing Director of Balarinji, Australia’s foremost Indigenous design and strategy studio.
Ros was a former Non-Executive Director on the Australian Design Council (2023-25), Commissioner for the Future of Sydney CBD (2021), Inaugural Chair of the Football Australia Women’s Football Council (2019-21), and Board member of Menzies School of Health Research Darwin (2019-21), National Gallery of Australia, Australian Major Events SA and the Australian Academy of Design.
In recognition of her contribution to design and culture Ros has been inducted into the Design Institute of Australia Hall of Fame, the Australian Graphic Design Association Hall of Fame and named a Good Design Australia Ambassador.
Ros’ honours include the St Peters Citizenship Award, the Advance Australia Award for Service to Industry and Commerce, the Winner of the Business Enterprise category in the 2015 Financial Review/Westpac Australian 100 Women of Influence Awards, a 2021 UNESCO Achievement Award, the 2021 Good Design Australian Design Prize, and the 2022 Design Institute of Australia President’s Award.
She is an alumnus of the Australian National University and in 2018 she was named a Companion of the University by Charles Darwin University.
Ros is the author of the memoir Listening to Country (Allen & Unwin 2010), shortlisted for both The Age 2010 Book of the Year, and the 2010 Australian Human Rights Commission Literary Award. She has also written eight picture books for children (Allen & Unwin 2012-18), variously listed for The Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Award (2012 & 2015), and the 2013 Australian Environment Award for Children’s Literature, with text in both English and Yanyuwa, one of the languages spoken by Aboriginal families in Borroloola.
Ros hopes the Moriarty Foundation’s work will lead to a more equitable Australia that respects and values a rich and unique Aboriginal worldview. She is proud of the Foundation’s commitment to enabling families to unlock their children’s potential through the power of football and innovative culturally-cognisant walking classrooms.
Topics
Ros is a memorable speaker and storyteller who presents with authenticity, passion, and authority. She is able to speak on a range of topics, including:
- Leadership
- Women in leadership
- Indigenous design, co-design, and engagement
- Contemporary design
- Cultural design principles
- Diversity
- Indigenous football
- Women’s football
- Indigenous programs
Ros is also able to speak on the personal and moving story she shares in her memoir, Listening to Country, where she takes an emotional journey across country and culture in Northern Territory’s Tanami Desert with the matriarchs of her husband’s Aboriginal family to perform Ceremony.
