AUSTRALIA | Chris Mamarelis is the Chief Executive Officer at Whiddon, an industry-leading, not-for-profit aged care organisation caring for close to 3,000 people through Residential Aged Care, Community Care and Retirement Living, leading an incredible team of over 2,500 employees.
Mamarelis has more than twenty-five years of financial and managerial executive-level experience in the aged care, travel, hospitality, sports administration, and retail sectors. He has held significant appointments in both For Profit and Not for Profit organisations and currently sits on the NSW Member Advisory Committee for the peak aged care industry board, Aged and Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA).
Passionately embracing a 'people first' approach to aged-care leadership, Mamarelis is an advocate for innovation and is focused on building a motivated workforce who are empowered to create positive impact. With Whiddon’s services extending across rural, regional, and remote New South Wales and Queensland, Mamarelis and his team are always looking at new and disruptive initiatives to create world-leading models of care for Australia’s increasingly aged population.
Since his appointment as CEO in 2015, Whiddon has been continually recognised as an award-winning aged care provider including recently receiving the 2022 Future of Ageing Award for their point-of-care rapid testing solution and the 2022 InnovAgeing National Award for their innovative Exercise 4 Life program.
Under Mamarelis leadership, Whiddon adopted their Relationship Based Care (RBC) approach, introduced the Whiddon Scholarship programme, pioneered Rapid Antigen Testing in aged and community care, successfully operated the first trials of Rapid PCR testing in aged care, and designed and constructed their latest aged care home adopting RBC principals.
These industry-first innovations have seen Mamarelis expert commentary feature across an extensive array of Australian media outlets including The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, ABC Radio National, Australian Ageing Agenda, Australia Today, and Sunrise.
Mamarelis presence and experience within the aged care sector have also seen him provide expert evidence at the Royal Commission into Aged Care on both Relationship Based Care (Perth) and Aged Care Funding (Sydney).
