Leadership reimagined

Passionate and caring individuals who want to make a difference

Leadership reimagined

Rockpool’s leadership team is made up of passionate and caring individuals who share and own the organisation’s vision of life reimagined, want to make a difference and are role models across the organisation.

Corporate Leadership Team

Desma-Ann van Rosendal

Chief of Quality & Innovation

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Sam Henny

Marketing Coordinator

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Jimina Silvestri

Resident Relations Manager

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Ian Kelleher

Chief Operating Officer

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Roman Summers

Development Manager

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Cheryl Tether

HR Business Partner Lead

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Cheryl Norlander

Financial Controller

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Leadership at our homes

Morayfield

Facility Manager

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Jade Miles

Clinical Manager

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Brandon del Rosario

Hospitality & Services Manager

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Carseldine

Karen Conroy

Facility Manager

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Latika Dumaru

Clinical Manager

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Greg Beaver

Hospitality & Services Manager

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Karen Conroy

Facility Manager

Karen has a passion for nursing leadership and has over thirty years’ experience in health with expert clinical knowledge in a range of practice settings including Medical Surgical, Residential, Subacute, Rehabilitation, Brain Injury and Psychogeriatric.

 

Karen facilitates the delivery of high-quality nursing care, blending her skills in chronic and acute illness to ensure an individualised person-centred approach to the nursing care of all our residents. Karen is very approachable and has an enthusiastic attitude to her work and the desire to ensure the aged care industry has a voice.

 

When not at work Karen will be boating on the high seas, actually she is really a fair-weather boater who is terrified of the high seas and is devoted to her family.

Ian Kelleher

Chief Operating Officer

Ian has over 25 years’ experience in leading diverse business functions in the highly regulated telecommunications sector, human services and tourism industries. Over the years Ian has developed deep capabilities in leadership, operations, marketing, technology, strategy, innovation, modern work practices, project management, financial management and delivery.  These skills are crucial for advancing Rockpool’s strategic vision.  

 

Ian is an authentic, dynamic leader and is driven by a strong purpose to make a positive impact on people’s lives.  He empowers those around him, is curious to learn, has the courage to innovate, all while keeping things simple.  A passion of Ian is connecting with people and is dedicated to the personal development and mentoring others. He loves a new challenge, while having fun along the way.  You will often find him alongside others training for a new adventure, attending major events or volunteering his time to advance one of his passion projects in Outback Queensland.

Desma-Ann Van Rosendal

Chief of Quality & Innovation

With over 25 years in Aged Care, Desma has filled a variety of positions across Australia including Quality and Compliance Manager, Staff Development and Training Manager, Facility Manager, Chief Executive, Industry Consultant, Quality Assessor and Mediator. Desma is skilled in change management and team development. She is passionate about creating a culture that values cooperation and collaboration to achieve common goals.

 

Desma believes that by leading and partnering with team members, a sense of community is built which empowers the team to provide care and services in a way that enhances the quality of life for those who live in residential aged care. Desma has no doubt that Rockpool is an organisation that can offer these values to any resident seeking residential care.

Jimina Silvestri

Resident Relations Manager

Jimina is one of Aged Care leading Resident Relations Managers and comes to Rockpool with a breadth of experience of relationship building for our resident relations team and has over 20 years’ experience in Client Relations and Sales teams.

 

Jimina is responsible for leading Rockpool’s occupancy and engaging with local community groups. She works closely with teams on the ground to ensure our new family’s experience a smooth transition into aged care. Empowering and supporting Rockpool’s team to deliver exceptional care to every resident as they make their journey into Rockpool’s Residential Aged Care.

 

Prior to Aged Care, Jimina worked in Public Relations, Insurance, Sales Management, Client Relations and Property Sales working closely with developers on the Sunshine Coast. She currently holds licences and certificates from Financial Services Institute of Australia and Property Sales.

 

Jimina is constantly recognised for going the extra mile from start to finish when assisting families when making difficult decisions with their journeys into aged care.

Roman Summers

Development Manager

As development manager, Roman’s responsibilities lay mainly within ensuring Rockpool deliver the best built form outcomes for our residents. However he takes an interest in all parts of the operations of Rockpool to ensure we use learnings from all facets of our business. As most in aged care, he has a varied past, undertaking studies in engineering and psychology. The common thread being a passion for critical thinking and problem solving.

 

Roman is passionate about photography, basketball and food. He takes great delight that his friend’s often can’t tell the difference between the food photos taken at Rockpool or at fine dining. Residents often recognise him as the man with the camera during special events. Roman also works closely with Cathy Meyer on the Living Memories project, documenting some of the interesting facets of our resident’s lives.

Sam Henny

Marketing Coordinator

Brandon del Rosario

Hospitality & Services Manager

Brandon is a professional chef with a passion for the culinary arts, his many years of fine dining and catering experience has made him a very proactive leader. He has worked at multiple venues in both Australia and the U.S., including under the tutelage of Chef Katsuo Sugiura and Wolfgang Puck for popular events such as the U.S. Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Awards.  His extensive culinary repertoire has helped to set the standard for the dining experience at Rockpool.

 

Brandon draws from his many years of experience to lead our Hospitality team at Morayfield, by ensuring all aspects of catering, cleaning, laundry, and maintenance are delivered to a high standard on a daily basis. Brandon has an open-door policy and positive attitude, which is reflected through positive staff engagement and communication to deliver exceptional care for all residents.

When not at work, Brandon enjoys rock climbing and surfing and can usually be found spending time with friends.

Greg Beaver

Hospitality & Services Manager

Greg has a passion for hospitality in Aged Care, bringing his vast experience from within the sector as well as 5-star hotels and acclaimed restaurants. His experience allows him to deliver the highest standard of hospitality at Rockpool Carseldine. Greg is a big advocate for true partnering with our residents, ensuring a person-centered approach to hospitality at Rockpool.

 

Greg empowers his team of catering, cleaning, laundry, and maintenance staff to deliver a world-class hospitality service on a daily basis that contributes to a beautifully lived environment at Rockpool. You will find Greg in the dining rooms every day, engaging with residents or simply having a chat over coffee.

 

When not at Rockpool, you can find Greg pursuing his second passion on the rugby pitch, coaching, or at home entertaining friends and family.

Cheryl Norlander

Finance Manager

Cheryl Tether

HR Business Partner Lead

Cheryl Tether is the Human Resources Business Partner Lead across the Rockpool RAC Group.  Cheryl has over 20 years experience partnering with organisations to develop the full potential of one of their most valued assets – their people.   Cheryl has a passion for the health industry, having worked in the sector for the last 10 years.
 
Cheryl completed her Masters in Business (HR) in 2020 and has a keen interest in the areas of psychological safety, employee engagement and industrial regulations.  To compliment her education, Cheryl has also studied a Diploma in Workplace Health and Safety and Cert IV in Training & Assessment.
 
As the HR Business Partner Lead for Rockpool, Cheryl believes in cultivating a workplace that values curiosity, honesty, integrity, and empathy. These core values drive innovation, foster trust, maintain ethical behavior, and create a supportive and inclusive environment for our team.

Latika Dumaru

Clinical Manager

Latika has been working as a registered nurse for over 12 years in a range of healthcare settings including gerontology, medical and rehabilitation. Latika has specialised in Palliative care as it is her passion to ensure positive palliative outcomes for older individuals and their families.

 

Latika treats her residents as family with a calm sweet nature and has a focus on a person- centred care, when residents are fortunate to encounter these characteristics of an exceptional nurse, it makes their care experience that much better. When not at Rockpool Latika loves spending time with her children and can cook up a storm in the kitchen.

Jade Miles

Clinical Manager

Jade has been working within the health care sector for the past 16 years in a range of settings including Aged care, acute care and general practice. Jade has worked her way through aged care starting out as a personal carer and moving through the ranks to her current role as Clinical manager. Jade has a passion for wound care, leadership and quality and safety.

 

Jade likes to ensure all of her staff and residents are treated like family and provided with remarkable person-centred clinical care each day. When not at Rockpool Jade loves spending time with her husband, children and Charlie her beloved Cavoodle. 

Bill Summers

Executive Chairman

As a co-founder of Rockpool Residential Aged Care, Bill is driven by passion, unrelenting commitment and an unwavering belief that the role of aged care is to not just provide care but also enhance quality of life. Bill has been a driving force in the evolution of the industry over the last three decades.

Having founded, managed and overseen some of Australia’s leading Aged Care groups, Bill is one of the sectors most respected leaders.

  • 1980’s Founder and Managing Director | Ashmore Aged Care
  • 2002 Co-founder and Managed Director | Domain Aged Care
  • 2008 Foundation Managing Director | Domain Principal Group (now Opal Aged Care)
  • 2009 – 2014 Non-Executive Director | Domain Principal Group (now Opal Aged Care)
  • 2014 – 2017 Consultant and member of the Development Committee | Opal Aged Care

Michael Watson

Chief Financial Officer

As a co-founder of Rockpool Residential Aged Care and with a career spanning more than 20 years in the residential aged care sector, Michael is an experienced Chartered Accountant. Having held a variety of CFO roles in large and medium sized Private Aged Care Groups, he brings a wealth of expertise and financial management experience to Rockpool.

 

Michael was the founding CFO of the Domain Aged Care Group. Established in 2004, under Michael’s financial management, it quickly grew to become one of the largest players in the Australian Residential Aged Care Industry with over 2,200 beds and some 20 facilities. Between 2010 and 2013, Michael was also the CFO of the IBIS Care Group.

 

Earlier in his career, Michael built his knowledge and expertise working in a large Chartered Accounting Practice, where he was a Partner for 6 years.

Melissa Argent

Chief Executive Officer

Moving into a Residential Aged Care facility is a life changing process for many people, their families and friends. Melissa is determined to ensure Aged Care provides support, dignity and trust, as well as a happy environment for all.

 

Melissa has over 20 years of diverse Healthcare and Financial Services experience. Melissa commenced her career as a Registered Nurse receiving her Bachelor of Nursing from Griffith University, a Graduate Certificate in Health Management from QUT and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern QLD.

 

Early in her clinical career, Melissa found her passion for the Aged Care sector and has since worked in a variety of specialties both in Australia and internationally. Her experiences have reinforced her commitment to ensuring the provision of exceptional Aged Care services. It is this commitment combined with her passion and enthusiasm for the sector that ensure Rockpool residents live their best life whilst receiving the care, support and compassion that they need.

 

Melissa is committed to leading a culture of excellence which always focuses on the resident and their family, ensuring professionalism, quality outcomes and collaborative practice.

Cathy Meyer

Non-executive Director

Cathy had a vision about what aged care should be from a young age after working as an Assistant Nurse. Since attaining her Registered Nurse qualification, Workplace Trainer and Assessor and Bachelor of Health Science (UCQ), Cathy has had many leadership roles within the sector such as Acting Manager Lower Hunter Community Health Centre, Facility Manager (Tricare), General Manager (Allity), External Assessor (AQSC), Panel member of Administrators for Non-Compliant homes (Accreditation Agency) and Gold Coast Regional Chair (LASA, formerly ACQ). Cathy has done all she can do to push the boundaries of traditional and institutional thinking in the sector in her many and varied areas of influence over the past 50 years.

Cathy embraced the opportunities of the Aged Care Reforms in the 1990’s to explore alternate care and service models that challenged the ineffective and disempowering hierarchal and medical model that framed aged care and services delivery at the time.
She became a qualified Eden Associate, Eden Trainer, Auditor and Mentor and Chair of Eden in OZ & NZ for over 10 years. Cathy then became co-founder and founding Chief Operations Officer of Domain Aged Care (now Opal). Cathy created, developed, and implemented a Quality Management System ensuring their group of 18 homes remained compliant and consistent with contemporary practice that was assured throughout the group.

Still driven by her high standards, unrelenting energy and expectations of others, to deliver quality care and services to residents, including support for their families. Cathy welcomes collaborative efforts to overcome today’s workforce challenges and continue to change the workforce standards across the sector through best practises implemented at Rockpool. Cathy seeks to engage with, nurture and support the young and emerging workforce so team members at Rockpool always feel cared for and supported by our culture.

Patrick Staunton

Non-executive Director

Patrick is a Chartered Accountant with a career spanning three decades. Before establishing his own practice in 2007, he was a Partner in a mid-tier Chartered Accounting firm for 8 years. He then went on to create a successful Salary Packaging Company that later became a subsidiary of a listed company, where he continued as CEO until 2007.

Through his own practice, Patrick has gained extensive experience in the medical and healthcare sectors working on projects for Queensland Health and other organisations. Providing business management consulting services to a variety of clients and projects, Patrick also works closely with a range of small and medium businesses on their accounting and taxation.

Anthony Vedelago

Non-executive Director

Anthony is an accomplished Civil Engineer turned Property Management, Finance and Investment Portfolio expert. He is passionate about creating community-driven social change. Following an accomplished career as a Civil Engineer, Anthony has spent the past decade operating a successful Property Management, Finance and Investment Portfolio Company.

His experiences have helped him develop high level strategic planning skills, analytically thinking and a strong commitment to long term, successful outcomes. He remains as an Executive at Standbyu, an organisation committed to connection to save lives. Whilst seeing the challenges across the child protection and domestic violence sectors, Anthony believes in the power and strength of families. He has a deep passion and unwavering focus to influence social change that delivers meaningful and positive outcomes to vulnerable children and families across the community.