Experience

GROW Australia

• Australia
• Mental Health Care
• 1 - 100 Employee

• National CEO

  • Jun 2019 - Present

  Grow is a community-based organisation that has helped tens of thousands of Australians recover from mental illness through a unique program of mutual help, peer support, personal development, self-actualisation an recovery.Grow has been a leader in mental health peer support since it was established in Sydney in 1957. The founders were drawn together by their first-hand experience of mental illness. The wisdom they gained in helping each other to overcome life’s challenges and recover from mental illness was carefully recorded and forms the basis of the unique Grow Program.In addition, Grow has expanded into new mental health and wellbeing programs, through eGrow on line, as well as through Get Growing which is delivered into schools, young adult programs and services for carers, and in prisons.



Partners2Health

• CEO and Principal

  • Aug 2017 - Present

  Consulting business focused on health and social services. Areas of expertise include: Interim CEO roles (four months at OzHelp Foundation - enhancing wellbeing, mental health and suicide prevention in the workplace) Primary health care including Primary Health Networks (PHNs) Mental health and suicide prevention Rural and remote health Governance/Board performance review Innovation and change Policy development, strategy and execution Organisational design and systems management Services planning and evaluation, and performance analysis Population health, acute, sub-acute and palliative careOur clients include peak mental health, suicide prevention, disability and consumer organisations, government and Not for Profit organisations, primary health organisations, youth health and wellbeing, research institutes, philanthropy and work in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing, as well as Boards, CEOs and Executives.



The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia

• Australia
• Hospitals and Health Care
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Non Executive Director

  • Apr 2018 - Present

  The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) is the national, professional, for-purpose organisation for leading pharmacists and pharmacy technicians working across Australia’s health system, advocating for their pivotal role improving the safety and quality of medicines use. Embedded in multidisciplinary medical teams and equipped with exceptional medicines management expertise, SHPA members are progressive advocates for clinical excellence, committed to evidence-based practice and passionate about patient care.



OzHelp Foundation

• Interim CEO

  • Jun 2018 - Oct 2018

  Appointed as Interim CEO of OzHelp Foundation, an organisation formed following the tragic deaths by suicide of young apprentices. OzHelp operates across Australia and provides health and wellbeing services in the workplace, with a particular focus on mental health and suicide prevention. My role was to undertake a diagnosis of the organisation's strategy and performance, and to realign the organisation to better achieve success. I fulfilled this role until a permanent CEO was appointed in October 2018.



Mental Health Australia

• Non-profit Organization Management
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Non Executive Director

  • Nov 2016 - Sep 2017

  - Mental Health Australia is the peak, national non-government organisation representing and promoting the interests of the Australian mental health sector and committed to achieving better mental health for all Australians- I joined the Board at a time of major reform sweeping across the sector, and in particular through PHNs, arising from government acceptance of many of the recommendations of the national review which I had led and the National Commission’s report, Contributing Lives, Thriving Communities.



National Rural Health Alliance

• Australia
• Wellness and Fitness Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Chief Executive Officer

  • Oct 2016 - Aug 2017

  The National Rural Health Alliance is the peak national body for rural and remote health and wellbeing in Australia. The Alliance works to lead, unite and harness the sector’s intelligence as the national catalyst for change and innovation in rural and remote health, to improve fairness and equity for 7 million Australians living in rural and remote Australia. The National Rural Health Alliance is the peak national body for rural and remote health and wellbeing in Australia. The Alliance works to lead, unite and harness the sector’s intelligence as the national catalyst for change and innovation in rural and remote health, to improve fairness and equity for 7 million Australians living in rural and remote Australia.



National Mental Health Commission

• Chief Executive Officer

  • Jan 2014 - Sep 2016

  The National Mental Health Commission is responsible for overviewing mental health and suicide prevention across Australia, to influence reform and to help people live contributing lives by reporting, advising and collaborating on mental health. The Commission works across all States and Territories and across all sectors - not just government and not just health services. The Federal Government tasked the Commission with undertaking a comprehensive review of Australia's mental health system, to look at its efficiency and effectiveness, overlaps and gaps in services, and what enables a contributing life. The review has now been released - it is available at http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov.au/our-reports/review-of-mental-health-programmes-and-services.aspx



Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care

• Australia
• Government Administration
• 700 & Above Employee

• Deputy Secretary, head of Rural and Regional Health Australia, and Chief Allied Health Officer

  • Aug 2011 - Jan 2014

  Executive member with policy responsibility for primary and ambulatory care, population health (including tobacco plain packaging), regulatory policy and governance (including research, safety and quality) and the Australia New Zealand Therapeutic Products Agency. I was also the head of Rural and Regional Health Australia and in March 2013 I was appointed as the Commonwealth's first Chief Allied Health Officer. Following a restructuring of the Department, in late 2013 my policy responsibilities were changed to Primary and Mental Health Care, Population Health, and Indigenous and Rural Health.



Australian General Practice Network

• CEO

  • Oct 2008 - Jul 2011

  As the peak national body of Australia’s divisions of general practice, comprising 111 divisions across Australia, as well as eight state-based organisations, I played a lead role in positioning the members as central to national primary health care reform and evolution of network into future Primary Health Care Organisations (PHCOs) – Medicare Locals. As the peak national body of Australia’s divisions of general practice, comprising 111 divisions across Australia, as well as eight state-based organisations, I played a lead role in positioning the members as central to national primary health care reform and evolution of network into future Primary Health Care Organisations (PHCOs) – Medicare Locals.



Little Company of Mary Health Care

• National CEO

  • 2000 - 2008

  Little Company of Mary Health Care is one of Australia's largest private or not-for-profit health care organisations, best known for the Calvary hospitals, aged, community and home care services. Appointed as the first National CEO for the group, I was responsible for leadership and management – strategic and operational – of a diverse organisation across six States and Territories of Australia and with more than 8000 staff. This included a major organisational change process, taking independent, diverse, and geographically dispersed services and successfully developing a single national system providing a broad range of services to the community. This included significant expansion of the organisation through both organic growth and strategic acquisitions: in my time as National CEO, revenue increased from $175m to $750m in eight years.



ACT Department of Health and Community Care

• Chief Executive

  • 1996 - 2000

  As the major provider of health services in the ACT, ACT Health has the role of promoting, protecting and enhancing the health and wellbeing of the local population of 320,000 and a catchment of more than 500,000. As Chief Executive, I was responsible for the leadership and management of the Department, which included both purchasing (commissioning) responsibilities, shared services arrangements, and the delivery of environmental and population health services (budget of $400 million and 300 staff). I was also chair of the Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council (AHMAC), the peak advisory council to all Australian and New Zealand Ministers for Health, from March 1998 to June 2000.



Queensland Health

• Australia
• Hospitals and Health Care
• 700 & Above Employee

• Executive Director, Policy and Planning

  • 1994 - 1996

  Queensland Health is responsible for the planning and delivery of health services to what was then a population of 3.3 million people. As head of policy and planning, I was responsible for statewide policy development, health services planning, capital works, infrastructure and workforce planning, casemix development and implementation, private sector policy including private hospital collocations, and intergovernmental relations including negotiation of the Commonwealth/State Health Funding (Medicare) Agreements.

• Regional Director, Peninsula and Torres Strait Heath Authority

  • Nov 1993 - Jan 1994

  Peninsula and Torres Strait was the Regional Health Authority formed to take responsibility for the delivery of health services in the Far North of Queensland. I was responsible for leadership and management of a Region covering more than 250,000 sq. km (from south of Cairns to the Torres Strait and the Papua New Guinea border), with more than 2000 FTE staff, an annual budget of $124 million, and a population of 130,000, including a very high proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. I was only in this position briefly when I was brought back to Brisbane to run Policy and Planning. However it helped instil in me a passion for those people and communities in rural and remote areas, and in particular the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people – a passion which fed into my priorities within Queensland Health and in my subsequent roles in the health system.



Various roles with the Federal and Queensland Governments

• Director, Senior Private Secretary, etc

  • 1984 - 1993



The Telegraph

• Journalist

  • Dec 1973 - Feb 1983

  Roles included Sydney bureau chief, Melbourne bureau chief, Chief Police Roundsman, Special Features Writer Roles included Sydney bureau chief, Melbourne bureau chief, Chief Police Roundsman, Special Features Writer