Chief Executive
Professor Sue Matthews, RN BA MHScN DPH Wharton Fellow
Professor Sue Matthews is the CEO of the Women's and an Adjunct Professor in Nursing and Midwifery at Latrobe University.
She is a member of the Victorian Women’s Health Advisory Council and Co-Chair of the Victorian Inquiry into Women’s Pain, a member of the Commonwealth Government’s National Women’s Health Advisory Committee and the National Women’s Health Advisory Committee Research Sub-Committee.
An internationally recognised leader in women's health and healthcare systems, Professor Matthews is deeply dedicated to elevating the well-being of women and newborns through visionary, passionate, and evidence-based advocacy.
She has a professional career that is grounded in a mission-driven and values-centric approach that integrates clinical practice, research, education, administration, governance and policy. Professor Matthews’ career showcases consistent leadership and passion for women's health, underpinned by a rich experience in clinical expertise, research contributions, governance and administrative oversight.
She is a Graduate of the AICD Company Directors course, has a Doctorate in Public Health, Master of Health Science Nursing, Bachelor of Liberal Arts, Health Studies, and has completed a fellowship for Nurse Executives at Wharton School of Business.
Chief Operating Officer
Lisa Lynch
The Chief Operating Officer has executive responsibility for the leadership and management of clinical services across the hospital.
This role ensures effective and efficient delivery of high quality, integrated clinical services across the hospital with a focus on safety, quality and the patient experience.
It also provides strategic leadership to the overall operations of the Women’s and leads business improvement initiatives ensuring consistency with the Women’s strategic and annual operational plans.
Chief Communications Officer
Tania Angelini
The Chief Communications Officer is responsible for leading the development and implementation of all media and communication strategies, systems and protocols at the Women’s that are aligned with, and contribute effectively to, the strategic directions and business objectives of the Women’s.
The primary purpose of this role is to promote and protect the Women’s reputation, maximising potential opportunities and minimising risk.
The position provides direct support and strategic counsel to the Chief Executive, other executive leaders and the Women’s Board on all matters with potential to impact the Women’s reputation and standing, including media, issues and crisis communication and stakeholder management.
Chief Midwifery and Nursing Officer
Laura Bignell
The portfolio of the Chief Midwifery and Nursing Officer (CMNO) has responsibility for professional leadership of midwifery and nursing at the Women’s.
This includes strategic, operational and industrial issues of relevance to midwives and nurses.
The CMNO is responsible for ensuring the Women’s attracts and retains a high calibre midwifery and nursing workforce that espouses the Women’s values, and is competent and accredited to practice.
The CMNO works with internal and external partners to enable the Women’s to maximise all available opportunities to plan, professionally develop, and effectively use its nursing and midwifery workforce.
Executive Director, Digital Innovation. Chief Information Officer
George Cozaris
The Executive Director, Digital Innovation (Chief Information Officer), has executive responsibility for strategic leadership and transformational information technology change programmes.
George established the Digital Innovation service in March 2023 a shared collaboration initiative for The Women’s and The Royal Melbourne Hospital. A single cohesive, dynamic, success-oriented service with improved digital capability delivering on becoming a Digital Health Service.
George is passionate to deliver on new digital advancements, efficiencies and explore opportunities around collaboration and consolidation of digital platforms.
Chief Financial Officer
Sam Garrasi
The Chief Financial Officer has executive responsibility for the leadership and management of financial strategy and management, corporate support services, asset management, payroll, procurement and commercial operations at the Women’s.
This role provides strategic leadership to the Board and broader organisation on financial governance, compliance, policy and risk management and oversees financial planning and annual operating and capital budgets; financial analysis, business development and revenue management.
Chief Medical Officer
Mark Garwood
The Chief Medical Officer is responsible for providing the professional leadership of the Women’s medical staff to achieve the highest standards of clinical practice and patient-centred care.
The position oversees medical professional standards across the organisation and provides advice to the Executive on professional medical issues including medical workforce planning and management, clinical innovation and service development.
The Chief Medical Officer is accountable for medical governance, workforce, education, training, professional practice, leadership development, medico-legal matters, university relations, and is responsible for managing the Research domain including Research Governance, Research Facilitation and Research Strategy.
Executive Director, Clinical Excellence and Systems Improvement
Damian Gibney
The Executive Director, Clinical Excellence and Systems Improvement provides executive and strategic leadership to the quality and safety function and leads clinical improvement initiatives. This role has responsibility for improving our quality and safety culture, leading clinical and service reviews and working across the hospital at a system-wide level to connect and improve the quality, safety and experience of our patients.
Chief eXperience Officer
Sherri Huckstep
The Chief eXperience Officer is responsible for the development, implementation and evaluation of the Women’s Creating Exceptional Experiences Strategy which is the cornerstone of the Women’s 2016-2020 Strategic Plan. This position is responsible for creating an organisational culture that ensures the Women’s realises its commitment to put patients and consumers at the heart of everything we do.
Executive Director, Philanthropy and Community Investment
Jason Smith
The Executive Director, Philanthropy and Community Investment has responsibility for cultivating collaborative relationships with donors and supporters and driving philanthropic innovation across the hospital so that the Women’s can continue to provide exceptional value to the community and improved outcomes for women and babies. This role is responsible for establishing and managing significant partnerships with individuals, charitable trusts and businesses, donor relations and stewardship, major gift campaigns and the development and implementation of the Women’s philanthropy and community investment program.
General Counsel
Danielle Corden
The General Counsel ensures the Women’s operates successfully within the complex regulatory and legislative framework in which it delivers services. The role is responsible for providing full service legal advice across a range of strategic and operational issues with a focus on effectively managing legal risk.