1. itbdigital.com November 2014 037
MEET THE CFO
David Gerrard CPA
CFO Heart Foundation
Melding business realities with
the goals of a donor-funded
organisation makes the most of
David Gerrard’s experience.
MEET THE
CFO
AS TOLD TO
PAUL ROBINSON
PHOTO
DAMIEN PLEMING
LESSONS LEARNT
There’s always something to learn
from people around you – not
necessarily in your specific sphere.
Particularly in health, there’s a high
level of commitment from staff that
should be admired and taken on board
– even if your own field is not directly
related to care. You need to recognise
the strengths and commitment of
others and learn from that.
JOINING THE HEART
FOUNDATION
Coming to the Heart Foundation felt like a
natural progression after more than 20 years in
the health industry. After working in direct acute
care organisations, it had new challenges, being
a charity. It’s run on generous donations from
the public as opposed to any particular funding
body. We have federal and state-based grants,
but more than 75 per cent of our funding is
from the public. We have our Big Heart Appeal
throughout Australia in September, basically
a door-knock appeal using more than 120,000
volunteers in a very short period.
BEST CAREER MOVE
This would be working within the
Australian health industry in the
private and then public sector. The
commitment of staff to providing
a better outcome for another
individual or public generally
is very inspiring. My career’s
progress was supported by
completing an MBA at
Monash University
and completing the
Australian Company
Directors course.
KEY STRENGTHS
It’s that blending of business reality
with the commitment of staff doing
their best to achieve the vision of
the organisation. It’s being able to
mediate between those two challenges
and ensure that the organisation is
looking at itself in a sustainable form
– particularly the Heart Foundation,
which is donor-based as opposed to
funded. I don’t know whether that’s
a value-add or just making sure we
keep on strategy in a sustainable way.
THE ROLE
The Heart Foundation is a federation across Australia. We have nine separate
entities to report on and consolidate into one. It can be a complicated
challenge to navigate. I don’t have direct management over the state
organisations. There are about 70 people in the national office. It coordinates
national programs and policy, and the states do much of the fundraising and
advocacy in their local jurisdiction. Our annual budget is around A$70 million.
IN THE BEGINNING
I did sciences at secondary school
then swapped to business and did
an accounting undergraduate degree
– with career advice from my brother!
I worked initially at Australia Post,
then moved to a health insurer and
into hospitals, public and private.