Chief Operating Officer

The organisation

Scope was founded over 70 years ago, by families who wanted better support for their children with cerebral palsy. Today, Scope Group has welcomed Home@Scope and Disability Services Australia to their operations. Scope Group is one of the largest not-for-profit disability service providers in Australia, supporting thousands of people with complex intellectual, physical, and multiple disabilities. They operate across Victoria and New South Wales through more than 425 service locations.

Scope’s mission is to enable each person they support to live as an equal and empowered citizen.  The Scope Approach integrates the organisation’s values into the fabric of everything they do. Simply and clearly articulated, they are: See The Person, Do It Together, Do It Right, and Do It Better.

Scope offers a wide range of supports and services, to enable people of all ages to achieve their goals. A registered NDIS provider they have supported people to successfully move to the new scheme since its inception in 2013.

The brief

Along with delivering high-quality services for people with a disability, Scope’s been active in research for more than 30 years and this helps deliver positive outcomes for participants. The organisation has also led the way in working with companies to remove barriers to social inclusion through its pioneering work in Communication Access.

As a result of strategic changes, the decision was made to recruit a new Chief Operations Officer for the state of Victoria.  The COO would be integral in assisting the design and delivery of major strategic change whilst ensuring operational excellence across the Victorian operations.  A major component of this new role would be the successful integration of the Victorian Scope operational entities into one harmonious, high functioning organisation.  It was also expected that the COO – Vic would have the leadership capability to effectively advocate for the sector as a whole.

The process

For the year ending 30 June 2023, the Victorian Operations comprised approximately 4,100 employees with 350 geographically dispersed supported independent living facilities, community day care services, therapy and short term respite accommodation, with managed revenue of $480 million and an operating budget of $365 million. 

The campaign launched with a comprehensive combination of external advertising and targeted executive search and generated an incredible level of interest in the position. A stellar short-list was well received by the selection panel.

The outcome

At the conclusion of a rigorous panel interview process, followed by extensive reference checking Lisa Evans was announced as the new COO – Vic for Scope.   

With a background in law, Lisa is an accomplished executive leader with demonstrated capability in enhancing the performance of cross-functional teams, leading people, and implementing change across a wide range of business disciplines. Lisa had held executive positions at Monash Health, COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria and Australia Pacific Airports Corporation Ltd (Melbourne Airport) leading their corporate functions across a range of areas including legal, human resources, safety, environment, sustainability and corporate affairs.