Sue Thomson

Background

About Sue Thomson

Throughout her 20 plus year career in the Health and Aged Care Sectors, Sue has been motivated to address the challenges faced by people living in regional, rural and remote Australia. As the CEO of NFP aged care provider – McLean Care, she has driven significant social impact across the organisation’s service footprint, now providing high quality care to older people in an area three times the size of Tasmania! These services result in improved health outcomes and quality-of-life; supporting people to age with choice and dignity, in their homes / home towns in Australia. Sue is recognised for: · Using her voice on aged care bodies and local chambers of commerce / business to advocate for the needs of older people in Australia · Contributing to collaborative research both nationally and globally to raise awareness and understanding · Supporting other smaller third sector organisations through sponsorship and corporate donations (E.g. women and children’s family violence shelter) · Partnering with Universities to encourage student placements in communities · Being a servant-hearted leader who empowers her team to embed leadership at all levels of the organisation (e.g. disaster management responses during bushfires and floods that have impacted the service) She is a regular speaker at industry events and conferences, and has gained a reputation as a trail-blazing innovator including being the driving force behind award winning, sector changing iAgeHealth. Sue has been recognised with a range of sector awards for her work in harnessing emerging technologies, such as iAgeHealth, smart home devices and virtual reality to enhance outcomes for older people in communities. These include the 2024 ITAC award for Technology Implementation, 2019 Ageing Asia Eldercare – Innovation of the Year; 2019 ITAC Project of the Year, 2020 Asia Pacific Eldercare Research Project of the Year and 2021 IoT Award Winner in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Action Award