IRT Group chief executive Nieves Murray surprised staff with her sudden resignation from the large aged-care service provider on Monday.
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IRT Group chair Mike Halloran confirmed the shock news on Tuesday saying “Nieves Murray has resigned due to personal circumstances. IRT is grateful for the contribution Nieves has made to the growth and success of the organisation over many years, especially over the last 11 years as CEO”.
Read more: IRT Group an Australian employer of choice
The 2012 Illawarra Business Person of the Year and 2016 Wollongong Citizen of the Year’s departure comes after IRT was recently recognised as an Australian Business Awards' Employer of Choice for the fourth consecutive year. Under her stewardship IRT has become one of Australia's largest community-owned providers of aged care, home care and lifestyle communities. And has enjoyed ongoing expansion and long-term staff retention for its 2500 employees and 10,000 clients in NSW, the ACT and Qld.
In 2012 IRT won the title of Illawarra Business of the Year and Ms Murray was named Illawarra Business Leader of the Year. It came shortly after Ms Murray was named a finalist in the 2012 Telstra Businesswoman of the Year Awards.
Under Ms Murray’s leadership the group has enjoyed commercial success in many ventures such as the new research based IRT Foundation and expansion of the IRT College.
She was a driving force behind Wollongong's first Vinnie's CEO Sleepout for the homeless and many since.
Read more: Heeding a cry for help
And she has been a volunteer telephone counsellor for Lifeline since 2010.
“It doesn't matter what position you hold in society or in a job, at the end of the day we are all people. People help people no matter what situation they are in. Being on the end of the phone connecting with someone is a great privilege. Particularly when you are the first person they have spoken.”
Read more: CEO sleepout smashes 2012
Ms Murray was born in Wollongong, lived at Port Kembla and went to St Mary's. Her father was a shift worker at the steelworks. After leaving school in 1981 she became the first female engineering cadet at Lysaghts.
“I was strong in maths and science at school. I wanted to be a pilot but at the time my dad was a shift worker and I was my visually impaired mum's main carer. Having a cadetship at Lysaghts meant I could study at Wollongong and still be at home,” she said.
Read more: Nieves Murray in top 100 women of influence
After three years at Lysaghts as an indentured apprentice she decided to swap to a psychology degree and got a cadetship at the Area Health Service. She then became a community support coordinator for Kiama Council for four years before moving to IRT and as a community services manager for nine years and then moving into a regional manager role.
Ms Murray was Wollongong-based until she went to Australian Unity as a retirement living general manager based in Melbourne and Sydney.
She always aspired to one day become the CEO at IRT but that came sooner than she expected 11 years ago.
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FROM THE ARCHIVES – 2007
THE HOT QUESTIONS
A cup of coffee with GREG ELLIS
MERCURY business editor GREG ELLIS met IRT chief executive officer Nieves Murray.
GE Where did you grow up?
NM I am born and bred in Wollongong, lived at Port Kembla and was schooled at St Mary's. Dad was a shift worker at the steelworks. My sister (Sofi) is about eight years younger and works at IRT looking after programs for homeless elderly. My husband is an engineer at BlueScope.
GE After leaving school in 1981 you became the first female engineering cadet at Lysaghts. Did your father's background influence that?
NM I was strong in maths and science at school. I wanted to be a pilot but at the time my dad was a shift worker and I was my visually impaired mum's main carer in a sense so moving away from home wasn't really on the cards. Having a cadetship at Lysaghts meant I could study at Wollongong and still be at home.
GE How did the male-dominated workforce react to your arrival on the factory floor?
NM They tried so hard. It was a test case and they were incredibly accommodating. There have been quite a few women do cadetships and degree traineeships since then.
GE You spent three-and-a-half-years at Lysaghts. Why did you leave?
NM I was an indentured apprentice doing a degree at uni but I actually swapped degrees. I swapped to psychology and got a cadetship at the Area Health Service.
GE What led you to make such a significant career change decision?
NM The realisation that I liked working with people. If I had stayed in industry I would have been working mostly with machines.
GE Where did that take you?
NM I moved into local government (community support coordinator for Kiama Council) for four years. I moved on to IRT and was community services manager for about nine years and then moved into the regional manager role. I was pretty much Wollongong-based until I went to Australian Unity (as Retirement Living general manager) which was Melbourne and Sydney-based.
GE Could you have asked for a better opportunity than the one that brought you back to Wollongong?
NM I didn't expect the opportunity at IRT would come up for another five or 10 years. When I left, I thought the CEO job at IRT was probably something that would bring me back to the Illawarra and obviously it did.
GE Was it the only Illawarra-based organisation you would have considered such a role in?
NM IRT has been very progressive over the years. Even compared to the other aged care providers IRT was definitely the pick of them for me. IRT has been at the forefront of development in aged care retirement living space since it was born in 1969.
GE IRT hasn't stopped being innovative. In Campbelltown I understand you are pulling all services together in one giant location.
NM It is almost like a one-stop-shop for senior living solutions where they can get independent living through to nursing care. It is comprehensive in the range of products being offered.
GE Would you do that in Wollongong?
NM The Illawarra is well served by IRT in townships and I think our philosophy for Wollongong where we have fairly significant market penetration is to service people in their townships. Because we have a large infrastructure here there are no advantages from an economic perspective to do one big complex. To be able to deliver services and provide facilities to people in familiar surroundings I think is a huge advantage. We can do that in Wollongong but we can't in Campbelltown because we don't have the infrastructure.
GE What is the next step for IRT's expansion?
NM IRT is being driven by community needs. We don't go into places to create a demand. What we have been doing is working with governments to identify areas so we go in with our services and products. Canberra at the moment is an area we are moving into. We are in the final stages of design of a large facility at Belconnen where there is absolutely a huge demand.
GE How much has the provision of aged care changed since you first started at IRT?
NM Extraordinarily. The industry is just not recognisable from 1992. People are now making accommodation choices to get into retirement villages. The stigma is starting to wane. The other thing that has changed is we didn't have regulation in the late '80s early '90s. Now there is layer upon layer of accountability, regulation and governance.
GE What is the best thing about working in aged care?
NM Being surrounded by decades and decades of experience every day. Sometimes you lose perspective on what reality is and all you have to do is have a conversation with a resident and they will bring you right back down to earth. They have often seen real hardship and have amazing clarity through wisdom.
PROFILE ONE-LINERS
- Nieves Murray was appointed Illawarra Retirement Trust chief executive officer last October.
- The 42-year-old was previously general manager of retirement living operations at Australian Unity.
- She is no stranger to IRT, having previously spent 13 years in IRT's residential, community and self-care operations.
- Her goal is to continue the vision and innovative achievements of her predecessors Noel Howard, John Cowland and Dr Max Diment.
QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS
- Aged care or senior living? Senior living.
- Pensioner or senior citizen? Senior citizen.
- Trade or degree? Degree.
- Classical or jazz?Classical.
- Play or musical? Play.
- Theatre or restaurant? Restaurant.
- Piano or guitar? Piano.
- Round the world cruise or flight? Flight.
- Red wine or white? Both.
- PDA or mobile phone? PDA.
- Skiing or hiking? Skiing.
- Sydney or Melbourne? Sydney.
- Paris or New York? New York.