Bonnie Bley

Director

Bonnie is a strategic thinker who is passionate about fostering innovation to achieve public-interest outcomes.

Her experience includes co-designing pilot projects to test commercial and audience strategies in the media industry. She also has experience using vast datasets to build user-friendly digital tools that capture policy insights creatively. Bonnie has more than seven years of experience in project management across the public policy and not-for-profit sectors, from project design and strategy, to operationalisation and impact evaluation.

Influential work

Developed a three-year strategy for a multi-million–dollar grants program focused on public interest journalism in Australia and Asia
Designed an evaluation framework using qualitative and quantitative metrics to assess a funder’s impact across all activities
Created two large-scale data-driven indices to measure diplomatic and geopolitical power and provide policy advice to foreign and defence ministries internationally
Led the creation of a digital report on the state of news media in Asia used by newsrooms, policymakers and academics across the region.

Outside of Nous

Before joining Nous, Bonnie was the business development lead and project manager for more than 100 grant projects at a journalism funding institute with the aim of supporting quality journalism in Australia and Asia.

Prior to this, Bonnie was a research fellow and public commentator at the Lowy Institute, an independent foreign policy think tank. Bonnie co-authored the Asia Power Index and the Global Diplomacy Index, providing data-driven policy advice to senior policymakers.

Bonnie has written op-eds and provided commentary for the Australian Financial Review, The Australian, Foreign Affairs, Financial Times and The Diplomat. Bonnie was named one of 10 Next Generation Leaders by the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre and one of 25 Young Women to Watch by Young Australians in International Affairs.

In her spare time...

Bonnie enjoys getting her nature fix from coastal runs and exploring new walks with her dog Ferdinand. She spends her weekends visiting galleries, art fairs and film festivals, watching documentaries and cooking.