South Coastal Health & Community Services has a new Board Chair – with the baton passing from long-standing head Janet Cooper to her deputy, Libby Soderholm.
Since joining the Board in 2006, Janet has twice been Chair for a total of 13 years (as well as stints as Treasurer, Secretary and Vice President). Janet has seen seven CEOs come and go, and steered the organisation through some turbulent waters.
This week, Janet applauded the Board for the amazing governance work it had completed, which she said had contributed to successful accreditations.
“I’ve been proud to work with a great team to get to a position where people look to South Coastal as the place to go, so I am proud that the organisation has made it to 30, with a long life ahead,” Janet said. “I am very grateful for the support I’ve had over the years and it was time for me to hand over the reins to someone with new ideas and energy. Libby will make a fantastic Chair.”
Libby – who is a Non-Executive Director, Consultant and Sports Physiotherapist – is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, has a diploma in business management and is passionate about good clinical governance, risk management and strategy.
“We have gone through some challenging times, but South Coastal has come through strongly,’’ Libby said. “I think there will continue to be some challenging times ahead … with workforce shortages, exploding demand for complex services and possible future COVID outbreaks, we will need to continue to be resilient.
“With the situation in Europe unfolding, inflation and energy pricing on the rise, as well as talks of a recession, we will continue to evaluate the risks to the organisation to ensure we can deliver services.”
Libby said that moving forward in line with the organisation’s vision and values, the Board and leadership team would be focusing on:
- CLIENTS: Continuing to provide quality service to clients, in line with community needs;
- PEOPLE: Ensuring we look after our teams, people and stakeholders, providing a vibrant culture that includes diversity as much as possible;
- GROWTH: Collaborating to develop partnerships and opportunities to optimise and expand services. This will include ensuring financial stability and growth, with sufficient support for our sustainability;
- BUSINESS: Ensuring, from a Board and leadership level, that our governance is efficient, compliant and effective – based on good data and outcome measures of our services.