Abbe Anderson

Originally from Colorado in the USA, Abbe is a dual NZ/Australian citizen with over thirty years of experience in a diverse range of hospital and primary care systems including two decades leading complex system reforms.

Abbe’s career has spanned the public, private and not-for-profit health sectors of Australia, New Zealand and the USA, with over twenty years in senior executive roles including CEO of the Brisbane North PHN, Metro North Brisbane Medicare Local and Brisbane North Division of General Practice. She also served as a Strategic Policy Advisor with the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health and, more recently, was the National Director of Commissioning for Health New Zealand, a role which commissioned a nine-billion dollar budget, funding all non-hospital health services throughout New Zealand.

Abbe is a director on the board of Beyond Blue, one of Australia’s most well-known mental health charities, and formerly served as a director on the board of the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service as well as numerous other governance bodies including as a member of the Minister for Health’s Advisory Panel on Mental Health and as inaugural chair of the National PHN Mental Health and Alcohol and Other Drugs working group.

In her early career, Abbe served as a volunteer with a medical relief aid organisation in the South Pacific Islands before becoming a qualified medical assistant and working in general practices in the USA.

One of Abbe’s proudest achievements has been the introduction of medical practice assistants into Australia as a workforce solution contributing toward doctors and nurses working to the top of their scopes of practice.

As a proud member of the LGBTIQ+ community, Abbe has a strong commitment to equity and lived-experience leadership. She is passionate about creating health care systems that are responsive to community needs and measuring success based on what really matters to people.

Abbe is a fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia, holds a PhD in Public Health and Community Medicine from the University of New South Wales and an MBA from Otago University in New Zealand.