Martin Laverty   Chief Executive Officer

Martin Laverty is the CEO of Catholic Health Australia.

He is Chair of the NSW Heart Foundation, and a member of the National Heart Foundation Board. He is Chair of Sunshine, a not-for profit NSW Disability organisation, and is a member of Canteen's Adolescent Youth Cancer Fund. He is a member of the NSW Public Service Commission Advisory Board. Martin has previously held roles at the NSW Parliament, the NSW Muscular Dystrophy Association, The Smith Family, and Burson-Marsteller. He is a former Board director of the NSW Muscular Dystrophy Association, and former Chair of the disability service provider Challenge Southern Highlands. He holds a Master of Comparative Constitutional Laws, and is a doctoral candidate completing a PhD on the contribution of non-executive directors to organisational outcomes. He has contributed to two books: What If? and Determining the Future: A Fair Go & Health for All, both published by Connor Court.

Martin is married with three children, and lives in Southern NSW.

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Richard Gray    Senior Aged Care Advisor

Richard was appointed Director, Aged Care Services with CHA in April 1996. Since that time, Richard has represented the views of the owners and operators of Catholic aged care on multiple Government consultative committees and to 12 Commonwealth Aged Care Ministers. In February 2013, Richard chose to take on the part-time role of CHA's Senior Aged Care Advisor.

Richard served a full term as a board member of the Commonwealth Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency, and served for many years on the Commonwealth Aged Care Minister's Aged Care Advisory Committee. Before joining CHA, Richard was the inaugural Executive Director of what is today Aged and Community Services Australia, establishing its Canberra presence. He is also a former CEO of the Spastic Society of Victoria. Prior to those role he was a manager of a regional commercial TV station and General Manager of commercial radio station in Melbourne.

Richard currently serves as a board director of the Victorian disability and elder care provider Villa Maria. He is also a former board member of ACROD Ltd, Villaggio Sant'Antonio Ltd, Cerebral Palsy Overseas UK and also former chair of the Victorian Consultative Council on Rehabilitation.

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Liz Callaghan    Director Strategic Policy

Liz has joined CHA in the capacity of policy analyst. Most recently she was principal consultant for medical workforce issues in the South Australian Department of Health, where she was also involved in a statewide review of health services. She has extensive experience in health workforce, acute services and capital planning, as well as rural health policy, safety and quality and community care.

Liz has qualifications in Nursing, holds a Bachelor of Social Work, a Graduate Diploma in Human Services Research, Monitoring and Evaluation and a Masters Degree in Public Policy and Management.

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Patrick Tobin    Director of Policy

Patrick joined the team in 2003 as Director of Policy for CHA. In this role, Patrick's work focusses on issues relating to health policy and finance, private health insurance, health system reform, quality and safety and critical infrastructure protection. Prior to joining CHA, Patrick worked for four years at the Australian Medical Association advising on health policy and finance issues. Patrick has also worked at a senior level in Government advising on workplace relations issues.

Patrick has qualifications in law and economics from Monash University.

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Susan Sullivan    Director, Mission Strategy

Susan joined Catholic Health Australia in October 2010 as Director, Mission Strategy.

She commenced her professional life in Perth as a high school teacher in the Catholic system. Following the completion of a Masters in Religious Education at Loyola University, Chicago, Susan worked as a Senior Education Consultant at the Catholic Education Office, Perth. She held responsibilities in the area of Staff Development and Faith Formation.

Arriving in Canberra in 1993, she became involved in community education as Senior Education Officer with the Sudden Infant Death Association and later with the Arthritis Foundation of the ACT. Most recently she was Director of Mission at Calvary Health Care ACT for five years. Susan is married with three adult children.

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Nick Mersiades    Director, Aged Care

Nick has extensive experience in aged and health care, including 16 years in the Department of Health and Ageing. As well as roles as manager of the Department's Queensland and New South Wales state offices, Nick's most recent role in the Department was as the First Assistant Secretary of the Ageing and Aged Care Division, where he was responsible for the development of policy for, and management of, the Australian Government's residential and community aged care programs. Prior to joining Catholic Health Australia in November 2008, Nick had been General Manager of Strategic Policy and Communications in Catholic Healthcare Ltd. In 2012, Nick was appointed a board director of Catholic aged care provider St Mary MacKillop Care (NSW) and was also appointed by Minister for Ageing Mark Butler to the board of the Aged Care Financing Authority (ACFA).

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Angela Lowe    Meetings & Events Manager

Angela commenced at CHA in July 2000, she was appointed Meetings & Events Manager in July 2006. Angela is responsible for the operation and management of the annual CHA National Conference as well as the organisation's other meetings and events including forums, seminars, educational events, special interest groups and committees. Angela is also responsible for the management of membership dues with calculations, processing and distribution of annual membership renewals.

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Siobhan Tanzer Personal Assistant to CEO / Office Manager

Siobhan has been part of the CHA team for five years. Siobhan is responsible for two key areas: personal assistant to the CEO and office manager. Prior to coming to CHA Siobhan worked with TRAHCS (Training Health & Community Services) for eight years in the accounts department. Siobhan is married and has three sons and two daughters.

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Deborah Reynolds   Receptionist and Events Assistant

Deborah is responsible for the daily administrative functioning of the office, including secretarial support to the executive staff. This role is also responsible for assisting the Meetings and Events Manager in the preparation of functions.

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Gavin Abraham   Media Manager

Gavin Abraham came to Catholic Health Australia after spending more than 10 years as a journalist, sub-editor and editor of newspapers in New Zealand and the United States. Born and raised in New Zealand, he studied communications and psychology at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, before beginning his journalism career. Immediately before joining CHA, he had spent six years working in Catholic journalism and communications, including five years as managing editor of NZ Catholic, New Zealand's national Catholic newspaper.

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