When outgoing Regis Aged Care Managing Director and CEO Linda Mellors reflects on her career in aged care, she’s quick to acknowledge her journey has been unique. She first arrived in the sector in 2018 and at Regis Aged Care in 2019, during which time the organization was reflecting on the findings of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.

“It was an unusual start. I joined during the Royal Commission and shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic,” she tells The CEO Magazine. “These were strong focus areas across the first few years alongside an intense focus on our systems and processes to deliver reliable, high-quality and person-centered care.”

Attracted to the sector by her passion for people, Mellors channeled her experience in palliative care and hospital services into helping grow the Australian-owned aged care operator.

“I have a drive to grow and develop strong businesses and workforces,” she reveals. “The care sector is more than a way to allow us to function as a caring and compassionate society; it’s an important and growing piece of the Australian economy.”

And Mellors’ time at the helm of Regis Aged Care has only helped to further that growth. The sector is still in the midst of transformational reform and efforts to improve the financial sustainability of the sector. In many ways, this atmosphere of change made it easier for Mellors to elevate operations at the company over the years.

“In my time at Regis Aged Care, we’ve increased investment in technology to ensure we’re a digitized business to drive efficiency and better decisions through knowledge,” she explains.

“The vast majority of our systems are now digital; we have a mature business intelligence function and a rapidly evolving AI offering.”

A recent example is an in-house proprietary tool to assist Regis Aged Care’s Clinical Care Managers to review the previous 24 hours of care in the morning. The tool provides summary information that can be cut and diced into useful parcels such as priorities for clinical review, care requirements for the day and referrals to other health practitioners.

“Having digitized information across all functions, including clinical, care, financial, catering, quality, risk and feedback, is and will continue to be a competitive advantage for Regis Aged Care,” she adds.

People first

Elsewhere, improved staff support measures have enhanced the company’s quality of care.

“I’m extremely proud of our work to improve clinical and care outcomes through better training, support, measurement and funding,” Mellors says.

“I’m equally proud of our employee support through the work to increase pay rates for aged care workers that appropriately compensate them for the important and complex work they undertake.”

Regis Aged Care’s efforts in the latter department have been rewarded with an overwhelming show of support from staff.

“Our 87 percent score for sustainable employee engagement speaks volumes,” she says. “A properly paid and engaged workforce leads to better people providing better care with better outcomes, not to mention the discretionary effort you see through such high engagement.”

This engagement is helped by the company’s culture, which Mellors says is lived and demonstrated every day by the team.

“Whether it’s through the hands of our care workers or the supportive actions of our leaders, culture is set and nurtured with every interaction,” she points out. “Statements and values are important markers for consumers and employees.”

With a new start on the horizon, Mellors says her greatest takeaway from the leadership experience is to stay humble.

“You must stay close to your clients and your team,” she reflects. “Leaders need to be close to the front line and understand their role is to make those interactions as easy and reliable as possible. A person’s experience of Regis Aged Care is through the hands of our people.”

Eye on the future

Meanwhile, reform continues to roll out across aged care. Mellors believes that there’s much more to be done that can only be achieved through community and government buy-in.

“I think it’s becoming clear that there’s more to be done to ensure the right care is delivered in the right place by the right person,” she says.

“Aged care still needs more understanding and support to ensure the sector can keep delivering care and services to all those who need them.”

Currently, a shortage of residential aged care beds and home care packages is threatening the future of the sector.

“This means that older people will miss out on care and services if we can’t provide more of them. The funding settings are not yet right to drive urgent construction of new residential aged care homes or the delivery of services in a person’s own home,” she says.

“I believe governments will have no choice but to rectify these urgent issues, as the consequences of not doing so are severe and completely out of step with a modern society.”

As much as Mellors has brought to the industry through her time at Regis Aged Care, the sector has left as big an impression on her.

“This has been the most challenging role of my career,” she admits.

“So many interrelated factors – years of systemic underfunding, devaluing of older people and traditional women’s work, a lack of understanding of the commercial realities of business owners of all stripes. I have dedicated substantial time to advocating for better policy and settings and a mature discussion to ground the reform efforts.”

It is this passion for the industry Mellors devoted so much time and energy to, and the results she’s garnered in that time, that led to her selection as one of The CEO Magazine’s Women of Influence 2026. She hopes her achievements of the past six-and-a-half years will benefit Australians and highlight the strengths of the industry.

“Aged care will impact every Australian family,” Mellors says. “Everyone needs to be interested in what’s happening in this sector.”