The Board of COTA Queensland announced the appointment of Darren Young as their new CEO following the resignation of Mark-Tucker Evans at the end of June.

COTA Queensland’s Chair Jean McRuvie stated, “Darren brings to COTA Queensland a wealth of experience in both the not-for-profit sector and the ageing sector, and we look forward to a bright future, with Darren opening a new chapter in COTA Queensland’s long history”.

“Our goals are to combat ageism; create an age-friendly Queensland; and shape a person-centred integrated health system that meets the needs of all Queenslanders throughout our entire life.”

As an experienced leader in human services, Darren was most recently the Executive Advisor at Australian Red Cross, supporting many areas of their humanitarian work across Queensland. Immediately prior, he held the position of State Director of Mission Australia responsible for both Queensland and the Northern Territory. This was a diverse portfolio of services in the areas of children and families, disability and indigenous employment, homeless and youth services. Under his leadership, the services grew significantly to include Local Area Coordination services as a main point of contact for people who experience disability in North Queensland, and a leading drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility based in Darwin in the Northern Territory.

In addition to his experiences in the national charity, Darren was also the General Manager of Helping Hand Aged Care in South Australia. As an aged care executive, he had a broad responsibility and included operational and strategic oversight of residential aged care, home based care and retirement village living.

Daren Young said of his new appointment, “It’s a tremendous privilege to be given the opportunity to serve as COTA Queensland’s new CEO. With our well-established history of advocating for the rights, needs and interests of older people in Queensland, I am very much looking forward to building on our capability, strengthening our many partnerships and most importantly, ensuring the voice of older people features strongly in the development of policy and services.”

The board conducted an external recruitment process through the Windsor Group, and they were delighted with the quality and quantity of applications we received. Darren has the background and depth of experience COTA Queensland requires to move the organisation forward into the future and the board and staff are looking forward to working with him.

COTA Queensland is Queensland’s seniors peak body advising government on the needs of Queenslanders as we age.