I was thinking this week we need more women leading retirement village operators.
Women don’t necessarily do a better job – but they do a different job and the outcomes are better for residents, in my view.
A big example this week was mother and daughter village owners Judy Clarkson and Jodie Mitchell. They just invested $20 million of their own money to build a shopping centre with paddocks on one side and the retirement villages on the other so residents had a Coles supermarket on their doorstep.
I don’t believe men would have made this risky investment.
A more empathetic approach
Not surprisingly women are more empathetic managers. Women think about the life journey of residents and plan ahead, shaping the tangible and intangible benefits of living in a village to support that journey. This often requires a larger upfront investment but delivers a longer term, bigger payoff.
Men look at hard facts and want real, accountable returns.
Here is another example. Mavis Gannon provided the successful empathetic formula for the first Gannon village empire that was sold to what is now RetireAustralia just before the GFC. Since then her two sons have four villages and a land lease community in development but she has provided the soul – that has created the sales.
Check out this video here made two years ago. Sadly she passed away three months ago aged 81 but she was still attending village openings as late as last November in Griffith.
Women making a difference
While across the retirement village sector I would guess women account for less than 10% of the leadership but there are a number of standouts. Here are a couple that spring to mind.
Chiou-See Anderson, has built Elements Retirement Living south of Brisbane where she has created a Zen environment complete with a wellness centre.
Anita Torrisi has guided the community creation at Fraser Shores 1 and 2 (just sold to BlueCare) up at Hervey Bay and Sugarland Gardens at Bundaberg.
Roxanne Norris at Lifestyle SA has been the steady influence building 11 villages with 2200 units, all in the small market of Adelaide.
Amongst the larger public village operators, RetireAustralia is led by Alison Quinn – who is also the President of the Retirement Living Council. Operations at Lendlease is led by Melanie Leijer and Stockland operations were led by Anna Learmonth before she took over sales and legals.
But more is needed.
Interestingly, in the aged care sector where 90% of the workforce is female, again less than 10% of the leadership is women.
