Healthcare, particularly in disability and aged care, is at a crossroads. Person-centered care remains the sector’s foundation, yet funding models often struggle to support it in practice. The organizations that have looked beyond government reliance are now leading the way, showing that sustainability and compassion can coexist amid reform.

“The healthcare sector is evolving fast, but the real transformation will come when care and innovation work hand in hand,” explains Yasser Zaki, Global CEO of Tender Loving Care Disability Services, and Highly Commended Healthcare Executive of the Year in The CEO Magazine’s 2025 Executive of the Year Awards.

“Technology should empower people to focus on delivering quality care by streamlining the administrative demands of a regulated system.”

Zaki is advancing the industry to a future where care workers are recognized as professionals, not labor. Where digital tools free people to spend more time face-to-face, not less. And where collaboration between providers, government and community drives sustainable reform rather than reactive change.

“At Tender Loving Care, we are at the forefront of that evolution. We have built a model that integrates human-centered design with operational excellence – one that connects aged care, disability and allied health through a seamless ecosystem of quality, accessibility and empathy,” he says.

By challenging traditional models and raising expectations, Tender Loving Care is providing a road map that others in the sector can adopt and adapt.

“Because when we lift the standard for one organization, we lift it for everyone,” he insists.

“Care should be led by people, not systems – and Tender Loving Care is shaping that future.”

Leading through love

With a presence in South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory, Tender Loving Care is a leading National Disability Insurance Scheme provider with a mission to provide services that support people to live their best lives. ​

“Tender Loving Care began as a small provider driven by compassion. Today it stands as a group of companies united by one purpose: to serve with dignity, empathy and excellence,” Zaki says.

“From disability to aged care to travel, allied health and social impact ventures, every arm of Tender Loving Care exists to change lives, not just deliver services.”

The company’s greatest achievement, according to Zaki, is creating a model that proves that care can be both sustainable and soulful.

“We have built an ecosystem that supports over 1,000 staff, serves thousands of clients across Australia and is expanding internationally with the same philosophy: leading through love,” he says.

As Tender Loving Care has evolved, it has become more than a care organization.

“We are redefining what quality, kindness and leadership in healthcare look like through a deliberate, strategic approach,” he adds.

That, he continues, is what means the most as he reflects on all Tender Loving Care has achieved.

“It’s not the size of our company that I’m most proud of, but the depth of our impact,” he says.​

“I’m proud that our legacy is not measured in revenue or reach, but in the lives we’ve changed and the hope we have restored.”

Humanity, not authority

Early in his career, Zaki witnessed just how often people were treated as numbers and how decisions were made about them, not with them. As such, one piece of leadership advice above all others guides him: “Lead with the dignity of the person in front of you, no matter their role or status.”

It’s simple advice, but it changed everything about how he leads.​

“That reminded me that leadership is not about authority, it’s about humanity,” he explains.

“It’s the advice that grounds me when decisions are difficult or growth is fast. It’s the lens I use when shaping policies, resolving conflict or making strategic calls because if a decision doesn’t preserve dignity, it’s not the right one.”

With Zaki at the helm, Tender Loving Care is reimagining what leadership in care looks like, empowering its people to innovate, question and co-create better outcomes for the clients it serves. Or, as he puts it, “Leadership in healthcare must evolve from service delivery to humanity delivery.”

“We are not just here to run businesses,” Zaki explains. “We are here to build systems that restore dignity, create opportunity and redefine what quality care feels like.”

After all, he says, the world doesn’t need more organizations that do more of the same.

“It needs leaders willing to bridge compassion with commercial strength and purpose with performance,” he notes.

That’s the path Tender Loving Care has chosen to prove that kindness and excellence can co-exist; to challenge the belief that you must sacrifice heart to scale. It’s also to inspire a new generation of leaders who see care not as a product, but as a promise.​

“Because, in the end, this isn’t just about healthcare,” Zaki concludes. “It’s about humanity and our shared responsibility to leave the world better than we found it.”