It’s been revealed there were 27 candidates longlisted in Cohealth’s interim CEO search. Only one was interviewed.
Cohealth is again facing scrutiny over its executive spending, after reportedly paying $65,000 plus GST to an external recruiter for an interim chief executive search before ultimately appointing a candidate who already worked in the company.
It comes less than two weeks after the community health organisation faced questions over more than $1 million in spending on senior executives and crisis communications (including $488,000 a year for Ms Gillan, $3000 a day a day for transition chair Paul Geyer, and $288,000 for crisis communications) while it was seeking government help to avoid crisis cuts.
Cohealth announced late last year that it was axing three of its GP services in Collingwood, Fitzroy and Kensington, saying they were financially unviable.
In November, the Albanese government promised a $1.5 million bailout to rescue the three services. It followed up with an additional $1.5 million to make sure Cohealth services at the three sites stayed open.
An independent review took place, which revealed poor governance and oversight, poor use of the model of care, a complicated client base, and inadequate MBS funding all contributed to the community care hub’s troubles.
Nine Newspapers reported today that Cohealth engaged Watermark Search International for a fixed $65,000 fee plus GST for recruitment work. It’s believed this was a discount from its standard fee of 25% of the chief executive’s first year of remuneration.
Internal documents cited by Nine show interviews had been scheduled with three potential candidates. However following the resignation of then-chair Sam Sondhi in June, those applicants were scrapped and the strongest available candidate was determined to be Ms Gillan.
The documents also reportedly show the Victorian Department of Health had indicated a preference for an alternative candidate to Ms Gillan.
A Department of Health spokesperson did not confirm this, but told HSD that ultimately, final recruitment decisions remained matters for the Cohealth board.
“Cohealth is taking positive steps to strengthen its governance so it can continue delivering the important health services community members rely on.
“The Department of Health remains focused on supporting Cohealth as it implements the recommendations from the independent review,” the spokesperson said.
Watermark has now told HSD its search was considerably broader, with 27 potential candidates longlisted and eight discussed in detail.
“A range of potential candidates were identified, approached, and assessed against the requirements of the role. We provided a longlist of 27 candidates of which 8 were discussed in detail,” the spokesperson said.
“Kate Gillan was included in Watermarks longlist and ultimately through the process it was decided to appoint her as the Interim CEO.”
Watermark did not confirm why the scheduled interviews did not proceed or how the process moved from eight candidates being discussed to Gillan’s appointment.
It’s unsure what position Ms Gillan previously held at the company. Her LinkedIn profile says she began at Cohealth in August but noted she had various contract interim executive and consulting roles in various companies between October 2025 and June 2026.
A Cohealth spokesperson did not deny Ms Gillan worked at the company previously but confirmed that she commenced as interim CEO in July.
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“Kate brings more than three decades of CEO and executive leadership experience across public, private, and not-for-profit healthcare organisations, with a strong track record in organisational reform, governance, strategy, operational performance, and service delivery across acute, community and primary health settings,” the spokesperson said.
Geoff Barbour, member of the Save Our Community Health Organisation and former board president of the North Yarra Community Health, said this decision should be seen as part of the decision-making of the old board, which has now moved on.
“The Duckett report points to the problems that the board brought about in the organisation, and frankly, I’m glad to see them gone.
“This decision, it rests with them. I may or may not like it. The amounts are certainly very large,” he said.
While he felt ill at ease with the direction and decisions of the previous board, he felt hopeful of the new board and interim management.
The six new directors to the Cohealth Board were announced last week: Gill Callister, Elizabeth (Liz) Davenport, Tony Keenan, Katherine Stevens, Associate Professor Antony Tobin, and Keith Waters.
“The new board directors all started their roles in late September and bring a dynamic combination of consumer and lived experience, clinical and primary-care governance, and strategic financial management to the organisation,” the Cohealth spokesperson said.
“They join Cohealth’s recently appointed Transitional Board Chair Paul Geyer, and Board Directors Jodie Granger and Elvis Martin, alongside Board Monitor Chris Altis and an entirely renewed executive leadership team.
“All are committed to guiding a refreshed Cohealth through its next chapter as the organisation continues to respond to the recommendations of the Independent Review into its GP services — and to giving our clients, communities and staff a greater voice in Cohealth’s future.”
Cohealth noted the departure of three directors – Mayada Dib, Lisa McKenzie, and Alicia Rathbone.
“They undertook service on the Cohealth Board during periods of challenge and growth. Their final day on the Board was 23 September 2026.”
While it’s believed internal Cohealth communications initially suggested a gift from luxury Danish designer Georg Jensen could be a potential thank you gift, the Cohealth spokeperson said “each received a gift of nominal value, as a token of appreciation for their time served.”
Ms Gillan’s CEO position is for an interim nine-month period. Watermark has again been engaged to recruit a permanent CEO within that time.