Why We Established Jenny Ashby and Associates

By 1995, Jenny Ashby had worked in local government for 14 years. Her roles included Essendon City Librarian and Services Manager – Moonee Valley Regional Library covering 5 local government areas and 80 staff. Also, Project Officer in the Home and Community Care Program at City of Melbourne and City of Fitzroy / Yarra; Staff Training and Development Officer for the City of Sunshine; Corporate Projects Officer and Business Facilitation Officer at City of Brimbank.

This breadth of experience in local government led Jenny Ashby to believe that her expertise could work well in a consultancy. As part of her preparation to go into small business, Jenny Ashby worked for a small publishing firm in Geelong for a transition year.

In 1996 Jenny Ashby and Associates Pty Ltd was established and since then local government has made up two thirds of the clients we work with. Our contacts led us to work with the Royal Women’s Hospital on a series of projects and workshops particularly around consumer participation in health and service planning.

By establishing Jenny Ashby and Associates we were able to bring to our clients:

• Community engagement experience and expertise in working with diverse communities
• Knowledge of how local government works
• Capacity to develop theoretical models that worked when implemented by clients.