AAPM National Board of Directors

National Board

The AAPM is governed by a national board of directors consisting of representatives from State Branches and the immediate Past President.

The office-bearers of the company shall consist of the National President, National Vice President, National Secretary and National Treasurer.

An office-bearer shall be a Fellow or have been accepted into the Fellowship Program at the board meeting at which he or she is elected to office.

The National President may hold office for two consecutive terms, unless re-elected to a third term by the resolution of the board carried by no less than 75% of the directors present at the meeting at which the vote is taken and entitled to vote on that resolution.

A person may hold office as National President for no more than three consecutive terms.

Please find below the current National Board of Directors for 2011-2012.

Brett McPherson

Brett McPherson Post Grad Bus. FAAPM / National President

Brett McPherson has more than 18 years experience as a practice manager in both allied health/general practice and private/corporate environments.

He currently manages a large GP practice and specialist centre in outer metropolitan Melbourne.

He is a Fellow of AAPM and has been a member of the National Executive, National Board, national working parties and state committees, and is currently national vice-president and treasurer of the Victorian State Branch.

Brett holds a postgraduate diploma in Business, Further Education Teaching Certificate (Oxford, UK) and Level 2 rugby coaching accreditation.

He has been a member of the National GP Software Review panel, consultant to medical practices and companies, and is currently co-writing two books on practice management.

For several years he was also part owner of a pub/hotel. Nowadays, outside work, he and his wife Maggie share a passion for their two dogs, Thai cooking, and rugby.
Marina Fulcher

Marina Fulcher Dip Pract Mgt FAAPM / Vice President

Marina Fulcher had her first job as a secretary in a general practice when she was living in England in the early 1970s.

Since that time she has had experience with working in and managing many different practice types dental, radiology, mixed allied health, community mental health and specialist practices. Marina now has her own practice management consultancy business and is in demand as a trainer and educator.

A Fellow of AAPM, she joined the Association in 1997 and has enjoyed the many benefits of membership since that time, particularly the networking and education. Was finally persuaded to join the NSW Committee in 2004 and have never regretted that decision, she says.

Nationally, Marina was elected as a NSW National Board representative in 2005 and held the position of Vice President in 2006/07, National President for two years from 2007 to 2009 and National Treasurer 2010 to 2011.

Marina is the AAPM member of the General Practice Data Governance Council and a director of Australian Medical Benchmarks, a joint benchmarking project of AAPM, RACGP and Cutcher & Neale.

A Clinical Lead with the National e-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA), Marina co-chairs both the Identification Authentication and Access Reference Group and the Chairs of Reference Groups Committee as well as representing AAPM on the NEHTA Stakeholder Reference Forum, enabling her to champion the needs of Practice Managers in the e-health arena.

Marina has a Diploma in Practice Management, Diploma in Management and Leadership, OND Business Studies and was one of the first students in Australia to complete the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.

Marina has also worked as a trainer for a practice management software company for many years, giving her exposure to the challenges of working in many different practice types, both privately owned and in the NSW state hospital system.

On a personal note, after migrating from England in 1980 and living in the beautiful Adelaide Hills for 12 years, she now lives in Sydney with her husband Keith and cats Bonnie and Clyde. Marina and Keith have two grown-up children, Zoe and James.
Debra Smith

Debra Smith Dip Pract Mgt FAAPM JP / National Secretary

Debra Smith has a nursing background of nearly 30 years and has experience in Practice Management with both GP's & Specialists. She currently manages a private General Practice on the beautiful Central Coast of NSW.

Debra is a fellow of AAPM, holds a Diploma in Practice Management, Cert. IV in Workplace Training & Assessment and is a JP. She also presents on a variety of topics for various organisations.

She has been a member of the NSW committee since 2000 and has served in the role of Vice President and Secretary at a State level. She is also an accreditation surveyor with General Practice Accreditation Limited (GPA).

Her enthusiasm for the role of Practice Management was instrumental in the inauguration of the "NSW Practice Manager of the Year Award" in 2009 which has become an annual event within the state.

On a personal note Debra is married with two adult children, a daughter-in-law, a son-in-law and a loving Maltese named Ike. In her spare time she likes to watch videos, go to the movies, take her dog to the beach and would love to travel more.
Carolyn Ingram

Carolyn Ingram BA, Dip Teach, Dip Pract Mgt MAAPM / National Treasurer

Carolyn stems from a background in education having taught as a secondary educator since 1991.

She began her interest in practice management when helping establish her husbands private practice in 2003 and soon after joined the AAPM Qld branch to gain valuable education and network opportunities from the organisation.

Carolyn opened her own business, Clinic Aesthetic , a non-surgical cosmetic clinic based in South Brisbane in late 2005.

This provides her with a real grounding and experience in small business enterprises.

It also offers its own challenges and rewards as it stands in the widely contested field of cosmetic medicine.

Carolyn has gained her Diploma of Practice Management and continually seeks educational opportunities to further her knowledge in the area.

She became a member of the AAPM National Editorial Committee in September 2007 and is a current AAPM Qld Branch State President and AAPM National Board Member.
Tamara Ruff

Tamara Ruff GCPcM, MAAPM / Non-Executive Director

Tamara Ruff, who has just joined the Board, is South Australias branch president.

She has been involved in the healthcare industry for 27 years, beginning her journey as medical receptionist and not long after becoming practice manager for a large country general practice.

In 2003 she moved to Adelaide to commence a specialist practice for a gastroenterologist.

Tamara has completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Practice Management and will be continuing on to a Masters Degree in the near future.

She currently leads the AAPM National Marketing Taskforce established in 2011.

On a personal note Tamara and her partner Grant enjoy family (having two adult children and a grandson and a stepson) and friends, travel, and the beach.

Tamara is also extensively involved in family research studies and loves the odd game of netball or two as well as coaching netball.
Linda Osman

Linda Osman Dip Bus. FAAPM / Non-Executive Director

Linda Osman has been working in Practice Management for many years including work in a varied range of disciplines from General Practice, Specialist Practice and Aboriginal Health and Medical Imaging.

Initially becoming involved with AAPM in 1995 and subsequently joined the Victorian committee in 1999. During that time Linda has been the Victorian President, Vice-President, National Secretary and National Vice-President.

Her involvement at the national level has extended to being part of the working party for AAPM's Practice Manual 'The Guide', participating on the Internal Business Committee (formerly Structure Committee) for which she served as chairperson and as part of the Working Party for the national website.

Currently Linda is the Victorian representative of the National Board and recently represented AAPM as the conference convenor for the 2009 Melbourne conference.

She currently leads the AAPM National Indigenous Taskforce - established in 2011.
Fiona Wong
Fiona Wong Dip Pract Mgt MAAPM / Non-Executive Director

Fiona Wong is our newest board member, having been on the WA Branch committee for the past 5 years and has completed her Diploma of Practice Management.

Originally from Tasmania, Fiona started out in the Credit Union industry before moving to Perth where she commenced her health industry career in 1996 with a combined Physiotherapy, Podiatry and Massage practice that amongst other clients treated the Perth Wildcats NBL basketball team and the Australian Hockey teams.

She then worked for varied specialist practices as well as for an accounting firm before settling in her current role as Practice Manager of a busy multi doctor Ophthalmology practice.

The practice was already an AAPM member which gave Fiona her initial opportunities to attend the many local seminars for the first time.

Quickly realising the rewards and benefits of being a member Fiona then joined the AAPM WA Branch Committee to be able to contribute professionally to the association.