Penny has over 25 years of senior executive experience in various areas of health and community services, including public health, primary health care, aged care, and disability services. She holds an Executive Master of Public Administration and a Masters in Primary Health Care. She is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors Course. Penny was previously the Deputy Chief Executive of the Northern Territory Department of Health and Community Services. As part of this role, and other leadership roles in the NT, she was responsible for policy reform in hospital pricing, disability, and aged care. She has held seats on a number of national Boards and Ministerial forums across aged care, community care and child protection.

Since returning to her home state of Western Australian, Penny undertook the role of Executive Director of Business and Performance at North Metropolitan Health Service. She was responsible for Workforce (including HR, IR and Staff Development), Financial Management, Audit and Risk. She was also responsible for Clinical Planning, System Performance and Business Intelligence in the largest health service provider in WA.

In 2020, Penny returned to her passion of working in the aged care sector and took on a senior leadership role at a national privately owned residential and home care business. In this role she was responsible for transition of care and HR arrangements for home and residential services that were acquired and the recommissioning of a newly built 160 residential aged care service.

Penny has a proven track record of leading and implementing strategic and operational reform and facilitating stakeholder engagement and collaboration across diverse sectors and levels of government. She is passionate about improving the quality and sustainability of health and aged care services, and advancing the environmental, social, and governance agenda to promote improved client outcomes.

Penny has been active on a number of Boards and is currently a Board member on the Breast Cancer Care Board.