With his hands-on experience driving community sports in Queensland, Damien Peters brings a winning tenacity to Healthia along with extensive success identifying business opportunities and realising the synergies they can bring to large organisations.
For Peters, who joined Healthia in April 2023, improving the quality of community sports was critical in turning a fledgling sporting body into a commercial powerhouse.
In 7 years with Queensland Rugby Union (QRU) as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer, Peters saw how quality support services contributed to the stronger “product” that QRU became.
“Sports is a business in Queensland and competition for participants was inevitable,” said Peters.
“We had some great support service initiatives over the years which have substantially grown participation numbers and helped transform QRU from a loss-making business to become a financial success. This also included the Ballymore redevelopment into a multi-sports precinct that will also be utilised for the Brisbane Olympics in 2032.”
Among the many corporate partnerships secured by QRU during Peters’ tenure was one with Healthia. It not only played an important role in uplifting the QRU product as a supplier of allied health support services to participants under the Allsports Physiotherapy brand, but also as a sponsor to community sports, including the Premier Rugby competition.
Although Healthia’s multi-disciplinary clinics won’t be hosting Olympic medal ceremonies in 9 years, Peters sees a lot of synergies between Healthia’s acquisition strategy and the transformational initiatives he previously spearheaded.
“The allied health needs within Queensland community sports have progressed over the past decade and Healthia clinics have been at the forefront of demand with co-location of new services, easily accessible by the community,” said Peters.
“Seeing Healthia harness these synergies to create new revenue opportunities while supporting local communities is something that drew me towards the Company. Since joining, we’ve identified opportunities to further streamline the integration process of acquired businesses into the Healthia network as part of plans to keep a tight rein on expenses.”
With more than 2,000 employees within the Healthia network, the size and reach of Healthia was the biggest surprise for Peters who had led what he described as a “tight ship” prior to his arrival at Healthia.
“The staff that I have met have been very knowledgeable across their disciplines. I’ve also been very impressed by Healthia’s genuine commitment to education for its clinical staff.
“These ongoing professional development opportunities enable organisations to continually upskill its team which I foresee as fuel for acquisitive and organic growth knowing we have the right leaders in waiting without the costly recruitment drives.”
Much like a sports organisation applying statistical analytics to game planning, Peters is looking forward to applying advanced analytics to potential new acquisitions.
“Healthia operates impressive tech that records and manages large volumes of data that contribute to positive outcomes for its clientele. There is a very successful ‘plug-and-play’ approach to new business in place, but I’d like to leverage the absolute latest tech to make this process even more seamless than currently.
“This will mean we can identify external business opportunities, move more quickly to integrate those businesses into the Healthia model, and accelerate organic growth.”