Leadership

Chair

Associate Professor Ines Rio

MBBS (Hons), MPH, GDip Venereology, DRCOG, FRACGP, FAICD

Responsibilities: Clinical Council Chair, Nominations and Remuneration Committee Chair

Ines Rio is a local GP and senior clinician, Head of the GP Liaison Unit at The Royal Women’s Hospital, and Medical Advisor for the City of Melbourne.

Dr Rio has extensive experience as an educator, service developer and manager, and public health advisor. She has held board and senior committee positions for more than 12 years in federal, state and local governments and in the not-for-profit and profit sectors, including the Victorian and federal branches of the Australian Medical Association (AMA).

Other appointments/memberships

• Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria Notifications Committee Member
• Victorian AMA  Member GP section  
• Federal AMA Council of General Practice member and on Executive Council 
• Department of Health Member, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities COVID-19 Health Advisory Group and Vaccine Strategy Group  
• Victorian COVID-19 cancer taskforce Member 

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Deputy Chair

Mr Damian Ferrie

B. Theol, GDip Conflict Resolution, MAppSc (Social Ecology), ANZSOG Executive Fellows Program, and graduate of several leadership programs at Judge Business School Cambridge  

Responsibilities: Commissioning, Quality and Performance Committee Member

Damian Ferrie has held executive leadership roles in health, housing and community development within the public and not-for-profit sectors. His career has been focused on tackling social, economic and health equity. 

For the past decade Mr Ferrie has led a highly regarded community health service in the inner south of Melbourne.  His work is focused on prevention and social justice. He has initiated many place-based interventions to build community capacity through partnerships with the community, business and the philanthropic sectors. 
 

Other appointments/memberships:  

• Better Health Network Ltd CEO  
• Mental Health Victoria Chair  
• Victorian Council of Social Services Chair  

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Director

Ms Abiola Akinbiyi

BN, BTech (Hons)(Math), GradCert (MH), GradDip (ISM), MIS, CertIV (Training & Assessment)

Responsibilities: Community Council

Abiola is an award-winning healthcare professional, entrepreneur, and community leader with more than 20 years’ experience in Australia’s health sector, working with multicultural communities and not-for-profit organisations.  

Her career in the health industry spans frontline to senior management. A registered nurse, Abiola advocates for improving health outcomes for marginalised populations. She sits on several boards promoting inclusive governance, and chairs the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria’s New and Emerging Policy Advisory Committee.  

She is the founder of Changepreneurs, a not-for-profit organisation that fosters leadership and makes a meaningful and lasting difference through mentoring culturally and linguistically diverse youth. She is an AICD foundation directorship graduate, an alumnus of Leadership Victoria, and the 2021 Spirit of Victoria University Alumni People’s Choice Award winner. She was also winner of the Excellence in Business and Entrepreneurship Award at the 2018 Afroshine Awards by Africa Media Australia. 

Other appointments/memberships:

• Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria (ECCV) – Non-Executive Director 
• ECCV New and Emerging Policy Advisory Committee – Chairperson  
• Victoria Multicultural Commission – Commissioner  
• Changepreneurs – President
• Africa Day Australia – Executive member 

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Director

Dr Kathy Alexander

BA (Hons), GDip Public Health, PhD (Public Health Management), Graduate of the London School of Business Proteus Program, 2012

Responsibilities: Finance, Audit and Systems Committee Member

Dr Alexander is an experienced board member and chair who has served public, private and not-for-profit organisations. She has a strong reputation for stakeholder management, community engagement and effective public relations in complex and politically sensitive environments.

Dr Alexander has held many board positions in her previous roles as CEO of the City of Melbourne, CEO of the Women’s and Children’s Health Service (incorporating the Royal Children’s and the Royal Women’s Hospitals in Melbourne) and as CEO of several health services in South Australia. Recent board roles include Chair of Administrators of the City of Greater Geelong, Chair of Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network and member of the Advisory Board of Porter Davis Homes.

Dr Alexander has an international reputation for stakeholder management, community engagement and effective public relations in complex and politically sensitive environments. She has chaired numerous governance and management reviews for government across health and local government in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. 

Other appointments/memberships:

• City of Wyndham Chair, Audit and Risk Management Committee
• Victorian Local Government Rating System Review Chair
• Porter Davis Homes Independent Board Member
• Naomi Milgrom Foundation Chair

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Director

Mr Robert Gerrand

BA, FAMI, FAICD

Responsibilities: Finance, Audit and Systems Committee Chair

Robert Gerrand’s extensive governance experience includes serving as chair of Parks Victoria and of Healthy Parks Healthy People Global. He has been a director of Alfred Health, the Mental Health Research Institute, the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) (serving on the Audit and Risk Management Committees of all of these), the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne City Marketing, Melbourne Convention and Marketing Bureau and the Koorie Heritage Trust.

He has won awards for his professional work in marketing and communications, and is a former general manager of group public affairs at ANZ and director of the Australian marketing and communications agency Turnbull Fox Phillips. He is also a published author. His books include Rewrite Your Life! and Rewrite Your Relationships! (co-authored with Eve Ash), which show how to entrench new behaviours.

Other appointments/memberships:

• Gerrand & Associates Principal
• SANE Australia Non-Executive Director
• The Dax Centre Non-Executive Director
• Australian Institute of Company Directors: Nexus group Chair

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Director

Dr Chien Ho

MBBS (Hons.), FRANZCR, GAICD

Responsibilities: Finance, Audit and Systems Committee 

Chien is an experienced board director and radiologist with interests in clinical and corporate governance, strategic planning, equitable health care and digital health. He has been a board member of Integral Diagnostics and a director of Lake Imaging.  

He has held senior leadership roles, including chair and member of both the group wide Integral Diagnostics and Lake Imaging Clinical committees. As a radiologist for Lake Imaging, he has subspecialty expertise in musculoskeletal imaging, body MRI and cardiac computerised tomography. He is also a member of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists Digital Health Working Group and is actively involved with the not-for-profit global charity Radiology Across Borders, where he is co-lead of the Film Bank Project. 

Other appointments/memberships: 

• National Imaging Facility – Board Member 
• RANZCR – Member, Digital Health Working Group  

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Director

Dr Nancy Huang

MBBS. DipRACOG. MPH. GAICD. 

Responsibilities: Commissioning, Quality and Performance Committee 

Nancy is an experienced public health clinician and board member who has held senior executive roles in design, implementation, governance and evaluation of health programs within the commercial, not-for-profit, academic and government sectors.  

Her 35-year career focuses on leading initiatives that use education, behavioural approaches, technology, clinical data, and systems changes to translate evidence into practice and deliver health outcomes that matter. Recently, she led the clinical governance of the Independent and Assisted Living Platform – a program by Australian Unity with 6,500 staff, 1,000 aged care beds, 20 retirement villages, and 35,000 home care packages, delivering care to more than 100,000 people across four states.  

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Director

Dr Catherine Hutton

MPH, DRCOG, MBBS, FRACGP, GAICD, FAMA

Responsibilities: Commissioning, Quality and Performance Committee Chair

Catherine Hutton has worked as a local GP for more than 30 years, mainly in Melbourne’s north-west. Her extensive experience includes general family medicine, women’s health and antenatal care, chronic disease management, preventative health and care of marginalised people.

Dr Hutton is an experienced board member specialising in clinical governance, strategy and GP–hospital integration. She has served as a director of North West Melbourne Division of General Practice, AMA Victoria and The Royal Women’s Hospital.

Dr Hutton was also on Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre’s board for five years, where she was chair of the Community Advisory Committee and the Quality Committee.

Other appointments/memberships:

• Western Health Board member
• Victorian Clinical Council Member
• Medicare Professional Services Review Member

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Director

Ms Genevieve Overell

BA, LLB, Dip Financial Management, FIPAA, FAICD

Responsibilities: Finance, Audit and Systems Committee Member

Genevieve Overell is an independent non-executive director on several boards. Her career spans leading executive and non-executive roles in financial services, infrastructure projects, professional services, government, healthcare, health sector, not-for-profits and the arts.  

An experienced Chair Ms Overell brings significant commercial, legal, governance and advocacy skills. She was a Victorian Government deputy secretary and was a partner at KPMG, advising on infrastructure projects. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Institute of Public Administration of Australia. In the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia, in recognition of her service to the community.   

Other appointments/memberships:  

• Australian Institute of Architects Chair  
• Victorian Opera Chair  
• State Revenue Office Victoria Audit Committee Chair
• Australian British Chamber of Commerce Deputy National Chair  
• Cladding Safety Victoria Non-Executive Director  
• German–Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Non-Executive Director  

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Chief Executive Officer

Mr Christopher Carter

MBL, GDipHlthProm, GMQ, BSW, FAIM, GAICD

Chris is a broadly skilled leader in health and primary health care with extensive experience in managing complexity, driving transformational change and delivering organisational outcomes.

His experience encompasses strategic planning of services, service and system redesign, organisational development, redesigning and implementing new models of care or service delivery and building organisational capacity through collaboration and partnerships with a variety of organisations. Chris’ career has included work as an allied heath practitioner, an educator and policy maker, an international development and evaluation consultant, and as an advocate for young people and marginalised populations in a variety of roles.

Chris’ qualifications include a Master of Business Leadership, Graduate Diploma in Health Promotion, Bachelor of Social Work, and an Executive Certificate in Leadership and Management.

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Executive Director (Acting), Health Systems Integration

Ms Bianca Bell

BNursing, BASC (Health Promotion), Cert. IV Training & Assessment

Bianca has a strong track record of driving evidence-based primary care and health system reform, in partnership with general practice and local hospital networks. She has worked in the general practice sector for more than 18 years in a range of education focused, liaison and management roles across both the acute and community sector.

Before joining North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network (NWMPHN), Bianca was the GP liaison manager at Western Health for 9 years. Bianca has since been the director of integrated care and the director of primary health care improvement at NWMPHN.

Bianca is passionate about championing the vital role of primary care teams in providing care for the community. She is driven to see better integration of primary care with the broader health system and to facilitate improved communication to ensure patients experience a seamless experience throughout the health system.

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Executive Director, Service Development and Reform

Mr Jagjit Dhaliwal

Jagjit Dhaliwal is an outcomes-focused executive with more than 15 years’ experience in leadership and management roles.

His experience spans a diverse range of settings in the United Kingdom and Australia, including corporate sector and not-for-profit organisations, rural health services, health and human services, early years education and care, and primary health commissioning.

Before joining North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network, he was executive director, Community Services at IPC Health and executive director, Primary Health Services at Murray Primary Health Network.

Mr Dhaliwal is passionate about delivering high-quality, sustainable care that is geared to meet the needs of consumers.

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Executive Director, Systems

Mr Craig Walker

Masters of Education

Craig Walker is a human resources and corporate services professional with more than 20 years of experience working across a diverse range of local and global industries. His areas of expertise include improving business systems, developing and executing change management processes, and enhancing staff capabilities and performance.

Before joining North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network, he was HR services manager for the University of Wollongong and senior HR manager for global information technology services firm Capgemini.

Mr Walker is passionate about developing workplace cultures that encourage diversity and collaboration, and harness the very best in people.

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Executive Director, Insight, Performance and Digital Services

Ms Emma McKeown

B. Health Science (Health Information Management), B. Information Science (Information Systems)

Emma McKeown is a results-oriented leader with more than 17 years’ experience in health and analytics. She has diverse experience across leadership roles in private hospitals, private health insurance and the medical technology industry. Before joining North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network, Ms McKeown was a senior director in PwC’s National Health Practice, where she led specialist data and analytics teams to work with public and private health clients to build analytics-driven organisations.

Ms McKeown is passionate about using data and analytics to better understand the precise needs of an individual or community, and to transform the services around them to deliver high-quality outcomes at a sustainable cost. She specialises in developing analytics capability to obtain insights from diverse data sources through the design and implementation of solid data analytics foundations and frameworks, and the development of user-friendly applications and tools.

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