Childcare trailblazer Ros Cornish steps down after 27 years as CEO of Lady Gowrie in role

Lady Gowrie CEO Ros Cornish has made the challenging decision to step down and retire — but she still plans to use her skills to help communities.

• The grand old Lady of childcare
• Pandemic, vandals won’t prevent childcare centre from opening

WATCHING on as children grow into young people has been the biggest highlight of decades of work for one of the state’s champions of education.

For 27 years, Ros Cornish has been the passionate CEO of Lady Gowrie, but announced on Friday she will be stepping down from the role to retire in June after a long and dedicated career in the education and care sector.

Ms Cornish said her reason for staying in the sector so long was simple — the children.

“To witness those little people come very young into our services and see them develop and grow to being young people, and to see them go off into school capable, confident and resilient is just incredible,” she said.

“I’m going to miss seeing them. My office is near the childcare centre, so I would often stop by for a little chat or sit down and have lunch with them.

“Just to hear their conversation is amazing — they’re so confident and have such a strong view on everything.”

She was also very fortunate to have built relationship with wonderful people in the role.

Ros Cornish with Neve Schofield, 4, and Harrison Rundle, 4, at Lady Gowrie Tasmania South Hobart.

“We’ve had a very committed board, and I’ve learned something from each of them that has helped me in this role,” she said.

Across her almost three decades at Lady Gowrie, Ms Cornish said the biggest change they had seen was opening to the for-profit sector.

“That was a massive change and it enabled the growth of the sector with the emergence of larger chain centres,” she said.

“There’s also been the ongoing changes with government policy, trying to support families juggling work and home.”

Ms Cornish said she expected her retirement to feel like a holiday at first, but she planned to continue her advocacy work.

“I’ll maintain an active interest in the sector and I’ll look for the opportunity to help communities — perhaps some of my experience can be advantageous to others,” she said.

Board chairwoman Anne Beach said it was difficult to find the words to capture the breadth and significance of Ms Cornish’s impact and influence on the organisation.

“On behalf of the board, I think Ros for her amazing efforts, leadership and passion. Ros has been a sector-shaping and passionate ambassador for our organisation,” she said.

The board has begun the process of finding its next CEO.

Follow @kaseywilkins95