Following a series of consultations with volunteer leaders and a number of Town Hall meetings we have conducted, we are excited to share with you a new senior volunteer leadership structure.

Why are we creating a new Volunteer Leadership Structure?

The new structure will underpin our strategic initiatives to sustain the NSW Medical Reserve. It will provide:

• Divisions that are empowered to resolve problems at the lowest possible level
• More responsive support for Divisions
• Greater focus on Regional NSW
• The catalyst for improved collaboration across functions by creating communities of practice across specialised support functions, and spread the leadership workload
• The framework for improved succession planning and creating more career leadership opportunities and pathways for volunteers.

So what’s the new Volunteer Leadership Structure?

Deputy Commissioner Positions

There will now be five Deputy Commissioner (DC) roles reporting to the CEO as part of the St John NSW Executive Team.

We have split the current DC Volunteering position into Metro and Regional to provide a great focus on Regional NSW and spread workload to improve service to Divisions.
There is also a new DC Strategy role to support our strategic and project initiatives.
The DC roles are:

• DC Metro
• DC Regional
• DC Strategy
• DC Youth
• DC Clinical Systems

Zone Leader Roles

We’re increasing the number of Zone Leaders from 4 to 6 to provide greater support for our Divisional Superintendents and Divisions. The attached Zone Maps and table outlines the changes to our existing borders and detail the Divisional reporting lines.

Zone Support Positions

Generalist Hub Leader positions will transform into specialist Zone Support Officer roles. Each Zone will have four functional support roles reporting directly to the Zone Leader to provide specialist support for our Divisions aligned to the functional areas of output. These roles are:

• Zone Operations Officer
• Zone Youth Officer
• Zone Training Officer
• Zone People Officer

These Zone Support roles will create communities of practice, with state-wide functional teams to share ideas, solutions, and resourcing.

We recognise and thank our Hub Leaders for the incredible support they have provided for Divisions and hope that, moving forward, the Zone Support roles will make the positions more manageable and rewarding.

What are the next steps?

We will be communicating the recruitment for the Deputy Commissioner positions separately except for the DC Clinical position as Andrew Craig has been appointed to the position within the last 12 months. The newly appointed DC Youth will take over the reins from Ben McClure in December 2025 at the end of Ben’s three-year term.

After the new DC roles are announced, we’ll be advertising for the Zone Leader positions and then thereafter the Zone Support positions. All the Zone Support positions will be advertised.

We are actively encouraging all our volunteers to put in their expression of interest for these exciting roles. These are great leadership opportunities!

We’ve reinforced that even if there are volunteers who think they’re not quite ready yet, we would encourage their application as it flags their intention to grow in the organisation. We can provide training and opportunity for their development to inform the succession planning process. The position descriptions will be posted on the Members’ Intranet.

Leaders grow leaders. Please promote this widely and support applications.

When will the changes take place?

It will take a couple of months to work through the recruitment process.

All our current volunteer leadership positions remaoin in place until such time as there is an announcement of the successful candidates for new DCs, Zone Leaders, and Zone Support roles.

There will be a managed smooth transition with inductions and handover periods for all new leadership roles.

Whom do I contact with questions?

Please connect with your Manager or send any questions through to jobs@stjohnnsw.com.au and Vanessa will be able to respond to you.

This is an exciting chapter in the evolution of St John.

We are the Medical Reserve. We Respond.