Power list: The powerful identities in charge of Qld’s largest hospitals
These are the powerful identities who are in charge of Queensland’s largest hospitals during the challenges of the Covid pandemic.
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As the Queensland health system faces its greatest challenge in living memory in Covid, who are the bosses charged with making sure our hospitals deliver optimal care for Queenslanders?
These leaders join others who made the cut in The Courier-Mail’s Top 55 Health Power List, to be revealed tomorrow along with where they rank against politicians, physicians, researchers and union heavies.
POWER 100: Queensland’s most powerful people 100-51
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PROPERTY: Queensland’s most powerful property players
EDUCATION: Queensland’s 50 most influential in education
TOURISM: Queensland’s 70 most powerful in tourism, hospitality
TOMORROW: Queensland’s Top 50 Most Powerful
Scroll to the bottom to read how we selected the list
CARMEL MONAGHAN
Ramsay Health Care CEO
In August, Carmel Monaghan was hand-picked to attend Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ National Jobs and Skills Summit, such is the extent of her influence – and Ramsay Health as a peak employer.
Ramsay is a leading private health care operator with 72 hospitals, 60 community pharmacies and more than 30,000 staff.
Monaghan, made CEO for the Australian operation in 2020, was previously group chief of staff for Ramsay’s global operations.
Among the hospitals under the Ramsay umbrella are: Caboolture Private; Cairns Private; Greenslopes Private; Hillcrest Rockhampton Private; John Flynn Private (Tugun); Nambour Selangor Private; Noosa Hospital; North West Private (Everton Park); Pindara Private; Southport Private; St Andrew’s Ipswich and Sunshine Coast University Private.
IAN LANGDON
Gold Coast Health chair
With extensive board experience across a range of companies in agribusiness, food production, marketing and health, Ian Langdon is charged with enhancing decision making about Gold Coast health services.
Reporting to Langdon is CEO Ron Calvert, with the board in turn reporting to the Minister for Health and Ambulance Services.
Under the board’s governance are the Gold Coast University, Robina and Varsity Lakes Day hospitals, the Robina and Southport health precincts, and Helensvale and Palm Beach community health centres.
CLIVE SKAROTT
Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service chair
A highly respected leader, Clive Skarott oversees the running of nine public hospitals (Cairns, Atherton, Innisfail, Mareeba, Tully, Gordonvale and Herberton) as well as 11 primary health sites and nine community health centres.
Working with acting chief executive Jeremy Wellwood, a clinical and laboratory haematologist, Skarott is also a member of the service’s finance, safety and audit committees.
He is chair and director of JCU Dental and a former chair of Ergon Energy and Cairns Port Authority.
CRAIG BARKE
UnitingCare Queensland CEO
Among its many other community services, such as Blue Care and Lifeline Queensland, this organisation is responsible for some of the state’s leading hospitals: The Wesley and St Andrew’s War Memorial in Brisbane, St Stephen’s in Hervey Bay and Buderim Private on the Sunshine Coast.
Craig Barke, a certified practising accountant, stepped into the CEO role in 2017 after serving as board chair for three years.
He is chair of Australian Remote and Regional Community Services and previously CEO of Scenic Rim Regional Council.
Reporting to Barke is the Michael Krieg, hospitals group executive, and individual hospital general managers Sean Hubbard (Wesley, and previously CEO of the Mater Group’s health division), Mairi McNeill (St Andrew’s, former GM of Brisbane Private Hospital), Shane Mitchell (acting GM Buderim, a former emergency clinician) and Katrina Ryan (St Stephen’s, former GM of Healthscope).
MIKE HORAN
Darling Downs Health Service chair
A former health minister in the Borbidge LNP government from 1996-1998, Mike Horan has influence well beyond his current position with the Labor government.
Horan, the Member for Toowoomba South in Queensland parliament from 1991 to 2012, also sits on the board of the Toowoomba Hospital Foundation, and is an appointed representative on the Queensland Hospital and Health Board Chairs’ Forum.
He is a former leader of the National Party, leader of the Opposition and Shadow Attorney-General.
DAVID GOW
Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Services chair
With an impressive career spanning the banking, law and finance industries, David Gow is responsible for the governance activities of the service.
The board drives the development of the strategic direction and priorities for the service, monitors compliance and ensures safety and risk-management systems are in place.
Implementation of the board’s directions and the day-to-day management of the service fall to the chief executive Frank Tracey and his team.
Gow led Citibank’s corporate client business in South East Asia before returning to Australia in 2008 where he has taken up a raft of non-executive board roles in government and private sector.
TONY MOONEY
Townsville Hospital and Health Service chair
This former mayor of Townsville now leads this important health service that has one of the most geographically dispersed catchments in the state, extending west to Richmond and Hughenden, north to Cardwell, south to Home Hill and east to Magnetic and Palm Islands.
It is also home to Townsville University Hospital, North Queensland’s only tertiary hospital, which supports a referral catchment of almost 700,000 people.
Mooney became chair in 2016 and reporting to him is CEO Kieran Keyes, a James Cook University alumnus who holds a Bachelor of Nursing Science and a Masters of Business Administration.
JIM MCGOWAN
Metro North Hospital and Health Service chair
This is the largest of Queensland’s public hospital and health services, and Jim McGowan has been in the top job since 2020.
Previously chair of the South West Hospital and Health Board, he has significant high level public administration experience, specialising in the areas of governance, accountability, service delivery improvement and performance management.
Under his remit – and that of CEO Jackie Hanson – are the Royal Brisbane and Women’s, Caboolture, Redcliffe, Prince Charles and Kilcoy hospitals.
FRANCIS SULLIVAN
Mater chair
Experienced health boss Francis Sullivan leads the Mater Misericordiae Limited board and is a member of Mater’s finance and audit committee. So he pretty much runs the accountability and governance of the four prongs of this well-established group: Mater Health, Mater Education, Mater Research and Mater Foundation.
Before taking the top job in 2019, he was CEO at the Truth, Justice and Healing Council and secretary-general of the Australian Medical Association. He also spent 14 years as CEO of Catholic Health Australia, speaking for 73 private and public hospitals and more than 500 aged care services across Australia.
DAVID ROSENGREN
Queensland Health acting chief operating officer
A senior staff specialist in emergency medicine, David Rosengren has more than 20 years of clinical and leadership experience in both public and private hospital emergency departments.
In more recent times he has held a number of senior executive roles in the public hospital setting including the executive director of Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and acting chief operating officer for Metro North Hospital and Health Service.
JANINE WALKER
Metro South Hospital and Health Service chair
This service is the major provider of public health in the Brisbane south side, Logan, Redlands and Scenic Rim regions.
In the job since 2017, Janine Walker has managed crises in the hospitals in her remit, including the Princess Alexandra which was at the centre of Covid outbreaks.
Walker sets the strategic direction for this department of health board, while CEO Peter Bristow, intensive care physician, carries out the day-to-day running of the service.
Other hospitals within the service include Logan, Beaudesert, QEII Jubilee and Redland.
PETER STEER
Mater CEO
Peter Steer is the man on the ground at Mater, managing the development and implementation of a business strategy to sustain Mater’s ministries in health, education and research.
Appointed CEO in 2019, Steer brings plenty of healthcare administration experience and clinical expertise to the role. Previously, he was chief executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London although he began his medical career at Mater Brisbane in 1982.
Steer was involved in the merger of Royal Children’s and Mater Children’s hospitals as CEO of Children’s Health Queensland.
PAUL BELL
Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service chair
Long-serving board chair Paul Bell is the head honcho looking after Rockhampton, Gladstone, Biloela and Emerald hospitals, with Emma McCahon the service’s CEO.
Bell is also chair of Central Highlands Healthcare Ltd and was a regional from 1985 to 2000.
He has a strong history of board leadership including in the energy, rail, superannuation and community service sectors.
FRANK TRACEY
Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service chief executive
With a background in nursing, Frank Tracey has more than 40 years’ experience in health systems.
He runs a network of services through the Queensland Children’s Hospital, Child and Youth Community Health Service, Child and Youth Mental Health Service and statewide services and programs, including specialist outreach and telehealth services.
Tracey is also an adjunct professor at the University of Queensland and his career spans government and non-government roles.
HOW DID WE DETERMINE THE LISTS?
Firstly, The Courier-Mail senior leadership team engaged the newsroom – reporters on the ground and in the know, those whose job it is to cover these sectors every single day.
The leadership team then used its combined years of experience and extensive contacts to brainstorm more names, adding and culling – all the while consulting with external experts and trusted sources in relevant fields.
We have excluded current executives and editors of News Corp, The Courier-Mail, Foxtel and Fox Sports. That is because News Corp Australia is the publisher of The Courier-Mail, and owns 65 per cent of Foxtel.
We understand that any such list is bound to be subjective, and is by no means exhaustive – but this list is as accurate a one as possible to produce in terms of where things are right now.
It is a unique insight into who calls the shots in Queensland. And as a subscriber it is yours exclusively.
But remember that power is more often than not temporary. Who plays large in 2022 might not be so powerful in 2023. Watch this space.
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