9
tHe INterVIeW
2008 CeO OF THe YeAR:
anne wilson,
kidney health australia
Alisha Dean recently caught up with Anne Wilson, Ceo of Kidney Health Australia and
recipient of `Ceo of the Year' at the Not-For-Profit Network Awards for excellence 2008.
KHA is a NFP whose focus is to improve kidney health outcomes
as well as developing initiatives that reduce the incidence of kidney
disease in the Australian community. As well as advocating prevention,
they aim to substantially improve the quality of life for people with
kidney and urinary tract diseases, their families and carers. They
have broadened their focus from the funding of cutting-edge medical
research to incorporate the delivery of needs and evidence-based health
programs and services including awareness and education programs,
care and support networks as well as the promotion of organ donation.
Since 2003 they have expanded their services with their national
business units now delivering ten different programs within the
community.
Anne has diversified the revenue base with total revenue having
increased by approximately 40% since 2003. "I would have liked
this to have been more but there was lots of homework to do in
the beginning," she said. She has also established two commercial
businesses that generate revenue for the organisation. KHA is now one
of the few national organisations that has its own call centre which
generates 50% of all revenue. They also have a mobile phone reselling
business which has developed from the call centre.
Apart from this, the organisation is solely community funded. "We have
no government funding. This doesn't mean that we don't want any! We
have the capacity to further broaden our funds base. But as much of our
funding comes from community supporters, we have very tight scrutiny
from those who give and increased accountability to them. So we are
highly transparent. The greatest percentage of every cent raised must go
to service. We understand that we are holders of the public good and as
such will uphold that always," she says.
KHA is currently the second largest funder of kidney-related issues
outside of the federal government, giving away up to three-quarters of
a million dollars to kidney research each year.
Anne is both the CEO and Managing Director of KHA. As such
her workload is a heavy one. In her role, Anne strives to inspire and
provide strong, clear leadership and direction to her management team.
Believing in the need for professional development and to ensure she
was able to be the best leader for her organisation, Anne successfully
undertook the renowned leadership program at Stanford University.
She also feels that a successful CEO must have a strong leadership
vision, be strategic, sometimes get their hands dirty and they must care
about their team, their constituents and their cause. They must also be
creative, innovative and unafraid of change.
She also feels that to remain sustainable and thrive in today's
environment one must run an NFP as a commercial enterprise, seeing
no differentiation between the role of CEO for the corporate and NFP
sectors. To do so the CEO must have some degree of business acumen
and sales skill. According to Anne "I need to be able to spruik my
cause to anybody at any hour of the day or night!"
Crucially, they must also have a strong grasp of marketing principles.
They must understand what their organisation's value proposition
is and they must ensure that their organisation is differentiated and
stands out from the crowd. "If you can't do this in the proliferated
marketplace of today then you may as well pack up and go home!"
she adds. And for Anne, most vital of all is "Passion! It's a big word.
It inspires, excites and with the right people behind you and the right
degree of energy and commitment you can do anything. You must love
what you do and have passion for your cause. And this is not difficult
with Kidney Health, I very much believe in what we do."
And where does such passion stem from? "Coming to work every day
and knowing that something that you do every single day makes a
difference in someone's life. If you're not doing this, then you need to
take a long, hard look at yourself," she says.
Anne believes that some of the greatest rewards in working for KHA
and the sector are the simple ones. "Making a difference. Delivering on
our promises. Achieving what you set out to achieve. Celebrating every
single success. Not to mention having the most fantastic team working
with me!" she explained.
However, there will always be challenges that must be met. Anne
feels that the GFC will have significant impacts, "next year will tell
especially in philanthropic support. We will need to be doing what
we do with less which is always a major challenge." She believes that
one of the greatest challenges for the charitable sector today is the
sheer number of competing organisations in the space, all chasing the
same donor dollars. She says "we have to work smarter not harder.
We need to collaborate. Together we can achieve greater outcomes. In
the health sector especially there is somewhat of a silo mentality. We
need to break out of this thinking and work together more rather than
mindlessly competing, we must strive for greater synergy." She also
believes that a challenge lies in overcoming donor fatigue and targeting
new and different donor groups, particularly younger generations.
"These challenges will become bigger as the funding pools decrease"
she says.
Outside of all this hard work, Anne also enjoys writing. "I write a little
bit. I have just finished editing a book with a friend. I also love reading
trashy magazines, walks on the beach and catching up with friends
over a glass of red wine." She also enjoys her family both children
and grandchildren. "Sometimes I find that there's just not enough time!
But at this stage of my life, most of my energies are channelled into my
work and I love what I do. I have the privilege to devote as much time
as I want to work and it's very cool. I don't feel like stopping now
there are too many fantastic things happening."
It's no wonder that all this hard work has led to industry recognition.
Winning the NFPN CEO of the Year award Anne feels was a "nice
feather in your cap". In addition, this year Anne was also a finalist in
the SACS Award for Leadership in the Not-for-Profit Sector.
So what does the future hold? "Fantastic stuff! KHA have some very
exciting plans for the next five years," she says. She goes on to explain
that KHA have expanded operations to cater to a broader base of
people including those with kidney cancer and they have some great
marketing initiatives on the horizon. According to Anne, "the future
for Kidney Health Australia is bright! Although we might have some
hiccoughs along the way ... but that's life!" n
A
lthough she essentially fell into the not-for-profit sector,
Anne Wilson always had a passion for social justice. Feeling
strongly that the less advantaged in society should have
equity and access to service led her to study social work
and welfare. From there she moved into education. "After my job in the
education department was phased out, I sort of fell into the charitable
space. I was asked by OzChild to set up their first education support
service. This I did and have been in the space ever since," she says.
Since then she has not looked back and has now been involved in the
sector for 25 years. Having a strong entrepreneurial streak saw her move
quickly into senior management positions and then to CEO, a title she
has held in various organisations for the past 12 years.
She first arrived at Kidney Health Australia (KHA) by answering an
ad in the newspaper. After serving as CEO of the Asthma Foundation
for five years, and having felt she had contributed as much as possible
to the organisation, she applied for what she thought was a national
CEO position at the then Australian Kidney Foundation. She got the
job in January 2003 only to find that the organisation was not what
she had expected. Since then Anne has driven an organisation-wide
transformation. KHA has undergone a massive restructure, converting
from a loose confederation of state-based organisations to the fully
functional, efficient national body it is today. It has also been through
a complete and hugely successful rebrand and renaming exercise. "We
gave the organisation a profile where before it had no profile" says
Anne. This has also led to investment from corporate partners which the
organisation had never had before. No mean feats, and things that Anne
counts among some of her greatest triumphs to date.
We have to work smarter not harder.
We need to collaborate. Together we
can achieve greater outcomes.