Association CEO Index 2024 - Flipbook - Page 38
Association CEO Index 2024
38
“But to see that happen (at RACGP) and be part of that
process in a leadership role was really exciting. I saw
how important it was for someone to provide that
symbolic leadership in a time of crisis, someone people
could get behind and follow.”
“It proved that the key to overcoming the challenge of
working with stakeholders to influence change or to
lead people to something is to include and enable them.
Collective agreement on a way forward is crucial; don’t
ever force a change through.”
Graham’s RACGP experience would serve him well at
his next post as CEO of the Australian Veterinary
Association (AVA), which he led for 10 years from 2008.
Graham’s 20 years of association experience has also
included Board Chairman and President positions at the
Australasian Society of Association Executives from
2016 to 2019, and advisory board or council positions at
the Canberra Region Tourism Leaders Forum, the
National Chamber of Commerce & Industry, St John
Ambulance and the University of Canberra.
“The (veterinary) industry was changing really rapidly,”
he says. “Again, corporatisation was part of that in the
pet care space. The AVA had been through a bit of
turmoil in bringing together lots of disparate groups
with lots of different governance into one single entity.
“My role was to consider, ‘OK, it's one thing to legally
be a single, national entity; but how do you make that
work? How do you provide value? How do you change
culture? How do you actually shift your thinking into
looking after members?’
“We looked at how to put the systems in place to
support that against the background of an industry that
was changing very rapidly. Suddenly we had
veterinarians who were business owners or employees
of quite large corporations. We had to ask ourselves
what that meant for our membership, what that meant
for our relationships with those businesses and what it
meant for the way we framed our thinking about the
world.
“This was an organisation that had brought together
40 different groups into this one mega federation.
We brought them into the discussions about what we
proposed and how we were going to act and operate
as one organisation. We brought them all into a room
and we had a vote. And they all voted yes. That was a
great moment.
These days, he is CEO of Independent Schools
Australia, the national peak body representing 1216
independent schools, 720,000 students and a 120,000strong workforce.
It’s a role that draws on his skills and expertise in
government relations, strategic advocacy,
communications and planning. He also has a personal
“skin in the game” connection, as his own children go to
an independent school.
It’s probably not the CV Graham would have predicted
for himself as a young man studying drama and
English literature.
“When I left university, I set out to be a writer really,” he
says. “People today often ask me if I still want to write,
but you know, I've used all those skills more than I ever
thought I would.
“The ability to stand in front of an audience, the ability
to communicate verbally, the ability to write clearly to
persuade people. That’s what drama and literature are
all about … to be able to impart something and get
other people to come along with it.”
I love building teams. If you enjoy leading and watching people
grow and develop and do things they wouldn’t have thought
they could do before, associations are incredibly rich places
to find those opportunities.
Graham Catt, CEO, Independent Schools Australia
