Board Chair

The organisation

The Continence Foundation of Australia, established in 1989, is a not-for-profit organisation and the national peak body promoting bladder and bowel health, incontinence prevention, management, education, awareness, information and advocacy. It has revenue of $7 million, 42 staff, over 1,000 members, representing and advocating on behalf of more than five million Australians who experience incontinence.  This is a multifaceted and complex condition that is under-recognised and under-served across the Australian population, including within the disability community. Incontinence, or loss of bladder and/or bowel function, is recognised as a disability under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, but this has not translated into an adequate approach to support, manage and treat the condition within the disability sector. Likewise, incontinence has not been recognised for its impact on employment nor the needs of people experiencing it, nor the supports they require.

The Continence Foundation has representation in each Australian state and territory and is supported by the Australian Government Department of Health under the National Continence Program and Health Peak and Advisory Bodies Program. The Foundation relies on the generous support of its members and partners to carry out its work.

The brief

Following unification and the continued growth of the Foundation, the Board has endeavoured to work to the vision and mission of the reconfigured organisation. Non-Executive Director involvement is critical in raising awareness, reducing stigma, contributing to publications, providing feedback and representing the public voice of the Foundation.

Brooker Consulting was invited by the Chief Executive Officer of The Continence Foundation to provide a confidential proposal, as a competitive bid, to partner with the organisation in conducting an executive search and selection process to identify a Board Chair and/or a Non-Executive Director respectively.

The process

The Continence Foundation chose Brooker Consulting to partner with, and following a comprehensive executive search process, underpinned by extensive external advertising, a shortlist of nine outstanding candidates was presented to the selection panel.

The outcome

After two rounds of panel interviews Elizabeth (Liz) Compton was identified as the preferred candidate. Liz has 25 years’ experience in executive and leadership roles working in Australia, London, Amsterdam and New York. She has gained experience globally and locally across financial services, automotive, health and government. She is an expert in governance, risk, strategy formulation and execution, workforce engagement and government relations/stakeholder engagement.

Liz commenced as the Board Chair in November 2022.