At the end of 2022, we said a fond farewell to our founding director and CEO Klaus Zimmermann, and Board director, Samantha Bowen.
With well over 30 years of experience in the aged care sector, Klaus has been on the CommonAge journey since the was first discussed in 2013.
He began working in aged care sector in 1991, joining our Founding member, ACH Group as a senior executive and Deputy CEO.
From August 2001 to September 2013, Klaus held the position of CEO of Eldercare Incorporated, (another of our Founding Members) which is one of the larger South Australian-based not for profit (NFP) aged care organisations specialising in Residential Care Facilities, Community Care and Retirement Villages for the elderly.
Klaus has presented widely across Australia at forums and conferences as a Subject Matter Expert on aged care, superannuation, governance and leadership. Internationally he has presented in Japan, USA, South Africa, Malaysia and Switzerland. Klaus is also proficient in the German Language.
In January 2014 he was awarded an Order of Australia for services to the Aged Care Sector.
Read more about Klaus’s achievements here.
We are forever grateful for his vast experience and acumen in steering our activity ensuring financial, regulatory and governance compliance for our charity.
Klaus will continue to support is as a board alumni and Director Emeritus.
A huge thank you Klaus for your 10-year dedication and commitment to CommonAge.
Samantha has been associated with us since 2018, when she joined us at the inaugural Elders Forum in the UK as one of our bursary recipients.
She is an expert in supporting young people to engage in age service careers through her roles in building intergenerational mentoring programs and young leaders initiatives across Australia.
Dedicated to raising the profile of the sector in Australia and beyond, her many initiatives include social media campaigns such as #celebratingwomeninagedcare and #CelebrateAgedCare.
In 2021, she accepted our invitation to join the board where she continued supporting young and developing leaders across the Commonwealth, and was part of our 2022 delegation at The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Rwanda
Read more about Samantha here.
We were delighted to hear she gave birth to her first child, a healthy baby boy in early January this year.
Thank you Samantha for your time and commitment.
New members to the team
To refresh and strengthen the board we welcome three new directors:
- John Collyns, New Zealand
John is the Executive Director of the Retirement Villages Association (NZ) Inc (RVA). The RVA represents the interests of retirement village owners, developers and managers around New Zealand. John is responsible for setting the Association’s strategy and policy direction, as well as developing relationships with members, key stakeholders, central and local government agencies, and the media.
Read more about John here.
- Linda Justin, Australia
Linda has held a variety of senior management roles in health and human services, in the NGO, public and private sectors.
She sits on a number of Boards in Australia and is currently completing a PhD programme at UTS, where she is a casual lecturer.
Read more about Linda here.
- Antony Pivato, Australia
Antony has over 20 years of commercial and financial experience, from accounting and financial reporting, to progressing into a broad-based commercial roles within the
manufacturing, mining, electricity and water industries. We were delighted Antony accepted our invitation to join us as Honorary Treasurer.
Read more about Antony here.
John Collyns
Linda Justin
Antony Pivato
All former board members have been invited to maintain their interest in CommonAge by accepting membership of our Board Alumni group with the lifelong membership status of Fellows of CommonAge. They are much valued members of our great international ‘family’.
Consisting of leaders from across the Commonwealth, our Board directors bring with them an amazing and invaluable wealth of knowledge and experience.
The position of Board director is a voluntary one, and we greatly thank these people for their time, commitment and dedication to the charity and our cause.
Find out more about our Board here.
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