Dear friends and colleagues,

As we bring another tumultuous year to a close, I am delighted to be writing with some important news for ASLM members and partners.

Those of you who have followed the development of the society since we relaunched ALMA as ASLM in July 2015 will know that our growth has been exponential, mirroring the growth of the Lifestyle Medicine movement around the world.

In this time, we have gone from just one person in the office to a team of ten dedicated staff, serving a membership of nearly 1000 members, working with hundreds of partner and stakeholder organisations across numerous projects, and reaching a direct audience of around 10,000 professionals.

Lifestyle Medicine in Australia and New Zealand has certainly come of age and to prepare the society for the next stage of growth, we have created a new role for a General Manager, to work alongside myself as Executive Director, and specifically to increase our capacity to be proactive as a society.

I’m excited to announce the appointment of Roni (Veronica) Beauchamp as ASLM’s new General Manager.

Roni’s most recent role was as National Heart Health Operations Director with the Heart Foundation. As such she worked as part of the health executive leadership team to lead Heart Foundation strategy and embed robust governance frameworks to optimise outcomes and ensure value for money for government funding.

Some highlights of Roni’s time with the Heart Foundation included:

• Leading the development and execution of the Heart Health Strategy, operational plan and budget
• Engaging internal and external stakeholders in the development and delivery of the Patient Care and Support Pillar
• Facilitating year on year growth in participation in core Heart Health programs through optimised service delivery and integration of new digital platforms to extend reach
• Providing leadership, direction and development to the Heart Health Operations Team of 60+ staff, working across diversified operations and community programs nationwide
• Managing the team through a period of continual organisational change and restructuring, maintaining high levels of employee engagement, team cohesion and performance
• Designing and implementing a new national operating structure for Heart Health to optimise resources
• Leading a program of digital transformation and continuous improvement within the Helpline/Call Centre operations

We feel so fortunate that ASLM will be the beneficiary of the wealth of experience Roni will bring to the Society. While the last two years of Covid-related disruption have been very challenging for the team, I’m very proud of what we have collectively achieved and now delighted to welcome Roni to the ASLM management team and the Lifestyle Medicine family.

Please join me in congratulating Roni. You can reach her directly at .