Named one of Australia's 100 Most Influential Women
About Ali Green
Social entrepreneur, Ali Green, is CEO and co-founder of #1 fastest growing independent Australian book publisher, Pantera Press.
For as long as Ali can remember her family's philosophy has been that "education is the key to opportunity", informed by her parents own upbringing with immigrant and working class backgrounds. But it wasn't until a trip to an indigenous community in far north Queensland in 2007, where Ali discovered how inaccessible education in Australia continues to be. In this beautiful coastal community Ali met a group of lively children who were unable to communicate with her or each other. Returning to Sydney from this eye-opening trip, Ali started to understand how big the literacy problem in her own backyard really was, discovering from the OECD and ALLS Survey that almost 50% of Australians had literacy levels below the minimum proficiency level, and these stats were even worse in remote or indigenous communities.
Armed with this horrifying data, and intent on having an impact in the literacy space, Ali co-founded Pantera Press in 2008, at the age of 22. Rather than work for a charity (or start a charity) to help lift literacy rates, she realised that she could have far more impact starting a company that could fund the changes she wanted to make in society.
The mission of Pantera Press was 3-fold:
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Actively invest in the next generation of Australian writers by nurturing new or emerging authors that bigger book publishers with traditional infrastructure were unable to take a risk on.
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Publishing 'books that matter' - books that would spark imagination, conversation or change in the broader Australian community.
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Fund a variety of charities, NFPs, and programs that worked to close the literacy gap and encourage a joy of reading.
This business model was designed to champion writing culture via an intentional virtuous circle, where all aspects of the business are focussed on the broader purpose of investing in the next generation of writers, readers and leaders in Australia.
Ali passionately supports the next generation of business leaders, reinforcing the importance of work/life balance and creating fulfilling work environments.
She enjoys working with SMEs, particularly at inception stage, to incorporate social purpose into their business models.
Today Pantera Press is the #1 fastest growing independent book publisher in Australia, and the leading social purpose book publisher globally. Green is the 2020 Sydney Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Arts & Culture) and the 2019 Sydney Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Media/PR) and was named one of Australia’s 100 Most Influential Women by Westpac and the Australian Financial Review for exemplifying, through Pantera Press, the trend towards integrating business and social good to maximise impact.
Ali is a UNSW B.Sc and M.Comm graduate and a Harvard Business School Alumna. She sits on a number of industry committees and boards including Writing NSW (Director) and the Pantera Press Foundation (Director). She was also chosen as one of the top 20 young leaders in philanthropy in 2013 and again in 2015 for Philanthropy Australia's study tours to USA, and UK/EU.
Ali loves working with SMEs, particularly at inception stage, to incorporate social purpose into their business models. She is also passionate about supporting the next generation of business leaders. And after an autoimmune diagnosis and several work-related burnouts, Ali is focussed on reinforcing the importance of work/life balance and creating fulfilling work environments while maximising output.
Unsurprisingly, Ali is an avid reader (in fact she backpacked around Spain in 2005 with 22 novels in her bag, for some light reading). She is also a champagne and scotch enthusiast, and spends much of her free time dreaming about travel, buying shoes or playing with her cavoodle, Winston.