Aged Care CEO Mass Exodus or Evolution

By guest blogger Anthony Nguyen Founding Director – Aged Care Recruitment Experts (ACRE)

If you look at the industry headlines from the last six months, you’d be forgiven for thinking Australian Aged Care is having an identity crisis. Over 150 years of combined executive experience has walked out the door since mid-2025; the roll call reads like a Hall of Fame.

Tracey Burton (Uniting NSW/ACT) called time in February. Janet Muir (RSL LifeCare) departed in January. Clare Douglas (Mercy Health) retired just days into the new year. And that’s just the last six weeks.

Zoom out to late 2025, and we said goodbye to other titans. Rohan Mead closed a 21-year chapter at Australian Unity, Stephen Muggleton finished his transformation of Bolton Clarke, and Bryan Lipmann, the man who practically invented aged care for the homeless, stepped down at Wintringham.

And the list goes on: Les MacDonald (Meals on Wheels NSW), Claerwen Little (UnitingCare Australia), Tony Godfrey (Ozcare), and Fabio Maya (FPACA).

Talk about a changing of the guard.

The Mellors Update: From Regis to InvoCare

The announcement of Dr. Linda Mellors’ resignation from Regis back in December hit close to home. Having spent time with her outside of our podcast recordings, I saw a side that doesn’t make the annual report.

Whether returning a call to a struggling founder or offering guidance to the next generation of innovators, she never made me feel she was “too busy.” She treated the “little guys”, with the same respect as a board of directors. That accessibility is why her presence in the sector will be so missed.

Fast forward to Friday, February 13th: news broke that Dr. Mellors is heading to InvoCare as their new CEO. There is a fascinating symmetry here. Remember when Olivier Chretien left InvoCare to lead Bolton Clarke? We are seeing a high-level talent swap between care and funerals. How’s that for Freaky Friday?

They Finished What They Started

Some call this a mass exodus triggered by burnout and that leaders are finally waving the white flag. I’m not quite sure. These leaders piloted their organizations through a global pandemic, a brutal Royal Commission, and the legislative marathon of the Aged Care Act 2024.

They carried the “crisis years” so their successors could focus on the “transformation years.” Simply put, they finished the job.

The New Guard

The incoming roster reveals exactly where Boards are pivoting. There seems to be a push-pull dynamic playing out between boards hiring for external disruption, and those doubling down on deep sector expertise.

On one hand, you have the external heavyweights like Kelly Bayer Rosmarin (ex-Optus) at Australian Unity and Olivier Chretien (ex-InvoCare) at Bolton Clarke. These appointments scream that the future is consumer-led and data-driven.

But on the other, you have the internal titans. These are the leaders who have spent decades mastering the sheer complexity of the sector. Take Gavin Young, who has just stepped up as CEO of Healthy Ageing at Mercy Health. Gavin is a career operator with a CV (Bupa, Calvary, Australian Unity) built on managing multi-site complexity.

Then there is Kevin Mercer, who recently took the reins at Ozcare. Kevin is the ultimate “sector specialist” play. Having previously served as the Executive Director of Aged & Community Care at Mercy Health and more recently leading St Vincent de Paul QLD, Kevin represents the new gold standard for Boards: a leader who understands the mission-driven heart of the sector but possesses the “commercial engine” required to navigate the 2026 landscape.

Whether they are importing talent from banking or promoting the sharpest operators from within the Mercy or Catholic Health networks, the signal is the same: We need leaders who can run a tight, efficient ship in a high-stakes, complex market.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants 

To the next wave of CEOs: Welcome. You inherit a sector shaped by giants, but the mandate has changed. 2026 is not 2020. We’re no longer fighting for survival; we’re fighting for sustainability. Your digital fluency and commercial rigor are the new weapons of choice. The outgoing generation cleared the rubble and laid the foundation. They fought the wars. Now, you build the future.  

Anthony Nguyen
Founding Director | Aged Care Recruitment Experts (ACRE)
Host | Pioneers in Aged Care Podcast
Co-Host | All Things Aged Care Weekly Live Stream
anthony@acrex.com.au 
https://www.youtube.com/@PioneersInAgedCarePodcast