Simon Challies, CEO of New Zealand’s largest retirement village operator, announced he would be standing down last week after revealing he had been diagnosed with the disease in 2011.

Mr Challies, who is widely known as ‘Simon from Ryman’ for his passion for ‘walking the floor’ in Ryman’s 31 villages in NZ and Melbourne, said the condition had given him great insight into what some of the residents’ lives were like.

“I had the outlook of an 80-year-old a bit earlier,” he says. “I had times when I had trouble brushing my own teeth, let alone using a keyboard. And it made me face what residents actually deal with when they need assistance with their daily living.”

In his mid-40’s, Mr Challies is young to be diagnosed with the progressive neurological condition. In Australia, the average age of diagnosis for Parkinson’s is 65.

He says the diagnosis gave him a renewed passion for the job however, and made him a much more rounded CEO.

“It’s no accident that in the last three or four years, we’ve put a lot of effort into improving the care so that’s been a real drive for me and I don’t think that’s going to end with me stepping down.”

Picture: Ryman Healthcare Managing Director Simon Challies.