Jane Ellis, manager of Forest Hills Retirement Village in Nunawading, East Melbourne has been crowned the Victoria/Tasmania winner of the 2018 Programmed Award for Village Manager of the Year. This is part of the National Retirement Living Awards, which recognises the contribution and achievements across all areas of the retirement living sector.

During her time as manager at the Lendlease village, Jane has implemented several initiatives to ensure that Forest Hills is an active and harmonious community, working closely with residents on the upgrade  of village accommodation and recreational facilities and leading initiatives to enable residents to stay in their homes longer through access to community services.

Jane has fostered opportunities for greater connections between village residents and the local community and focused strongly on residents’ wellbeing by introducing initiatives to ensure residents and staff are involved in decisions relating to day to day running of the village. 

She has also been recognised for her village management strengths, ranging from the village’s daily operations, finances and maintenance through to managing responses to extreme weather events.

Jane’s open and consultative style and her village management expertise has been applauded by residents which has been reflected in a significant increase in resident satisfaction as measured through an annual survey.

Following her success Jane will now be in the running for the 2018 Programmed Award for Village Manager of the Year, which will be announced at the 2018 National Retirement Living Awards to be held in Canberra on 29 November.