Lincoln grew up in Hillston, a small country town about eight hours west of Sydney. Now working as General Manager at Compass Health Alliance (which he co-founded), his career took a different trajectory after starting out as a high school teacher. Working to remove existing barriers in rural healthcare is a shared passion alongside his wife Annie, and helped to fuel his career change. Overcoming many challenges of running a small business, and juggling a young family, Lincoln’s passion for supporting others enables him to make a positive impact on others every day.
Tell us a bit about yourself; where did you grow up?
I was born and raised on a farm, in the Riverina region of NSW. I loved the space and activities that came with growing up on a farm but never really enjoyed the farmwork and unpredictability that came with it. Our family sold the property just after I finished my HSC at the local Central School, and I made the move to College life in Sydney – it was a fairly significant change in scenery!
Why did you choose St Andrew’s College?
My sister went to Women’s College and spoke so highly of Sydney University and her college experience. I’d stay with her once or twice a year and loved exploring the university campus and college grounds. When I started looking into which college I wanted to reside at, St Andrew’s ticked all the boxes. When I did my tour, it was hard not to be captivated by its grandeur and rich history. The idea of getting to be a small part of that collective experience seemed really special to me.
What aspects of College life were you involved in? Do you have a favourite memory to share?
I was fortunate enough to be a part of both Rawson Cricket and Athletics, a co-organiser of the illustrious Pit Party and was on the committee that founded the St Andrew’s College Children’s Camp (Fun story about that – I only got to attend half the camp as my retina somehow managed to detach itself and I had to be rushed into surgery). These opportunities and all the College events are definitely highlights, but just as memorable were those incidental moments that pop up when living with so many like-minded people who are enjoying the independence that comes with College life.
If I were to pinpoint one of the more unique moments that I had during my time at College – It was when alumnus and TV personality Dr Chris Brown came to give a speech to the student body about the upcoming Rawson Cricket final. He came to have lunch in the Dining Hall and I found myself sitting next to him. Being a polite boy from the country I wanted him to feel welcome – so I asked him what he does for work (I’d never seen him on TV – we didn’t get Channel 10 out in Hillston!). He probably thought I was being sarcastic, but to his credit he didn’t show it, said he was a vet and will be filming after lunch. I found the filming part confusing – until the other students on the table filled me in after he’d left. I firmly cemented my country kid status after this interaction.
You are currently the General Manager at Compass Allied Health. Can you describe what this role involves and what your typical day looks like?
The short answer: My role as GM is to ensure that our business is running as efficiently as possible while providing the best quality service we can. From that comes many different hats – which I really love!
It’s tricky to describe what a typical day looks like as each tends to be different. I’ll often jump between day-to-day operational tasks, providing support to the team, various quality improvement and strategic projects, the occasional bit of networking, lots of problem-solving and dealing with the odd left-field scenario. There are definitely days where I end up focusing entirely on one of those aspects, but more often than not it will be a nice mixture of the above.
What inspired you to pursue a career within allied health, and what motivated you to start your own business?
My professional career actually started off as a high school teacher as I enjoyed working with kids and had a passion for History. There were lots of aspects about teaching that I really enjoyed, but after four years I was keen for a change. The choice of allied health came down to the simple fact that my wife Annie is a Physiotherapist, and an amazing one at that. We both grew up rurally, so it was a dream we shared to start and then grow a practice together in a country town that would work towards breaking down some of the longstanding barriers of rural healthcare.
Did you encounter any initial challenges when starting your business? If so, what were they, and how did you overcome them?
You bet. The odds seem stacked against you when running a sustainable small business, no matter where it is located. Estimates are that one in three new small businesses in Australia fail in their first year of operation, two out of four by the end of the second year, and three out of four by the fifth year. We only pulled the trigger on Compass after conducting a thorough feasibility assessment and creating a solid business plan. We then tried to minimise as many risks as we possibly could – for the initial phase Annie remained working part time at the public hospital and I taught casually while we established systems, built the caseload and tested the model.
Some of the other major challenges that spring to mind are the impact of COVID in our second year, the transition to a multidisciplinary model, the balancing act that comes with starting a family, the process of building a clinic and recruiting professionals in rural areas – but my essay writing days are behind me!
What have been some of the highlights of your career so far?
We’ve been incredibly fortunate in our business journey so far. Compass’ core purpose is to provide high quality healthcare to rural areas, there are significant barriers that need to be overcome to achieve this. My highlights revolve around when we have achieved something that overcomes these rural healthcare obstacles
The two most significant so far being:
1. The growth of our team and expansion of services to encompass not just Physiotherapy, but Speech Pathology, Occupational Therapy and Exercise Physiology allowed us to offer a best practice holistic multidiscipline care model. We also have some amazingly skilled and specialised therapists in each discipline which is pretty unique for a rural area.
2. The construction of our state of the art clinic which opened in April 2024. The space offers specialised paediatric and adult neuro-rehab gyms, large team spaces, consult rooms and is fully accessible for people with disabilities.
What do you like to do outside of work? How do you unwind and switch off?
I say this with a lot of love and wouldn’t change it – but as a father to Australia’s strongest-willed toddler and a five month old baby, my days of unwinding and switching off seem to be well and truly on hold!
I do love cheering on my beloved Arsenal and Sydney Roosters, playing cricket, reading a good book, exercise, the odd games night with friends, and hitting golf balls (rarely where I want them to go).
How did your time at St Andrew’s influence your life after College?
St Andrew’s did an amazing job of providing me with experiences and opportunities that I’d never been exposed to before. The memories and lifelong friendships that were made over those three years are something that I will always treasure.
I also met my amazing wife (a St John’s girl) at an Australia Day party with mutual college friends. That’s fairly life impacting!
We still stay involved with the College by providing yearly training on how to support children with neurological or physical disabilities to each new cohort of volunteers for the Sony Children’s Camp.