Mental Health Australia Board Appoints Interim Chair Mark Orr AM

The Mental Health Australia Board is pleased to announce the appointment of interim Chair, Mr Mark Orr AM.

Mr Orr is the CEO of Flourish Australia and has over 30 years of experience working in mental health, disability and LGBTIQ health services.

“I am honoured to take on this role and continue my work with the Mental Health Australia Board,” Mr Orr says.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us in the lead-up to the Federal Election next year and it is important to keep focussed on our common goal of mental health reform.”

Carolyn Nikoloski, CEO of Mental Health Australia, says Mr Orr’s leadership skills and dedication to advocating for the community are an asset to the Board, and his wealth of experience puts Mental Health Australia in a good position to work closely with the Australian Government on implementing mental health reform. “We are thrilled to welcome Mark as our interim Chair,” Ms Nikoloski says.

“Mark joined the Mental Health Australia Board in July 2020 and has been the Chair of the Governance Committee since December 2022. I’m looking forward to continuing our work together on ensuring our recommendations to the Australian Government have been heard and actioned in the Federal Budget next week.”

Recruitment for the role of Board Chair will commence soon.

The Board would also like to welcome Helen Rowell as the new Board Appointed Director.

Ms Rowell comes to the Mental Health Australia Board with significant industry and regulatory expertise in financial services, wealth management and insurance.

“Ms Rowell has strong leadership and stakeholder management skills, with a demonstrated ability to achieve sound business, regulatory and policy outcomes in the face of complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity,” Ms Nikoloski says.

“Her track record of effectively overseeing execution of strategy, projects and transformation programs will be a great benefit to the Mental Health Australia Board.”