Aged care CEO wins accolade for women in business

Aged care leader Cynthia Payne has been recognised for delivering innovative aged care services and for mentoring future leaders.

Aged care leader Cynthia Payne has been recognised for delivering innovative aged care services to the people of Western Sydney and for mentoring future leaders.

Ms Payne, who has been CEO of SummitCare for 15 years, was named Woman of West 2018 (Business) at yesterday’s International Women’s Day event hosted by the Coleman Grieg Women in Business forum.

The Western Sydney University Women of the West Awards honour and recognise the contribution of women in greater western Sydney and their development of the region.

Cynthia Payne

Ms Payne grew up in western Sydney and six of SummitCare’s services are in the region.

She said International Women’s Day was a great time to shine a light on all types of different women.

“I am honoured to be acknowledged for my 15 years of leading SummitCare and the work I do with the Lucy Mentoring Program,” Ms Payne told Australian Ageing Agenda.

The Lucy Mentoring Program aims to inspire and educate women in university studying business, finance, accounting and law about employment and leadership opportunities.

“I genuinely believe that it is behove in a leader’s role to support and enable others in their career journey.

“That is when you can feel successful; when you know you have supported other people to open up career possibilities they never knew were possible,” Ms Payne said.

She said women and male mentors have been instrumental in helping her become a successful businesswoman.

“Being resilient and persistent and doing the best you can do because you genuinely believe in what you do” have also been important, she said.

Ms Payne said she hoped the award would show the public that the aged care sector was vibrant and innovative.

“I am so proud of what we do in the industry and perhaps I can act as a small beacon for other women to see it as a major contribution to the society we live in, and also to inspire women and men to come into our industry.

“We need talent and diversity, and we need people to see that working in aged care is a great way to contribute to people who have made Australia the way it is today.”

SummitCare executive manager marketing and communications Claire Ward accepted the award on behalf of Ms Payne, who was unable to attend the event.

SummitCare’s Claire Ward with Professor Denise Kirkpatrick, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic) of Western Sydney University.

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Tags: cynthia-payne, international-womens-day, summitcare, women-in-leadership,

5 thoughts on “Aged care CEO wins accolade for women in business

  1. Congratulations on such a significant reward Cynthia. You certainly are a role model for the industry and deserve to be acknowledged. May your career success continue for many years to come.

  2. Congratulations…it takes a lot of resilience and determination to think out of the box and make a difference in a slightly neglected sector of our community..your contribution towards this is invaluable .

  3. Congratulations Cynthia. Its wonderful that you have been recognised for being the excellent leader that you are. I hope this encourages many more women to become CEO’s.
    Alexandra

  4. While not challenging the recognition of the person, I wonder why the Lucy Mentoring Program focuses on women in university studying business, finance, accounting and law about employment and leadership opportunities. Is this because these programs are seemingly less women-focused? Equally women studying in the Arts and Humanities need mentoring because the outcomes are so much less certain yet the skills are equally needed in the care sector. I know.. I’m one of them who did such programs and have had to (and still do) try to find real employment in the aged care sector by which I mean decent pay for a huge investment in study.

  5. Congrats Cynthia, well done! It is great to see the CEO of aged care being recognised, I hope it will assist in attracting people both men and women to leadership positions within aged and disability care sector

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