Brenda Wilson


Brenda Wilson was chief executive of Cancer Council SA, from 2002 to May 2015 and is South Australia's first female Lieutenant-Governor.

Early life

Wilson was born in Wales and migrated to Australia as a young girl with her parents and older sister in 1959.

Career

Wilson has worked in the health industry since 1973, training in nursing at the Royal Adelaide Hospital from 1973 to 1976. She was later nurse manager at the RAH from 1985 to 1989. She then became Director of Nursing at Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre from 1989 to 1992 and was promoted to CEO of HRC from 1992 to 1994.
Wilson was CEO of the Cancer Council SA from 2003 to 2015. She was a member of the board of Burnside War Memorial Hospital, Adelaide between 2003 and 2011.
In 2014, Wilson was appointed to the board of aged care provider ACH Group.
Wilson was sworn in as Lieutenant-Governor of South Australia on August 15, 2014, replacing Hieu Van Le who became governor on September 1.
In 2016, she and a bunch of other people were members of a flash mob; they posed as statues at Adelaide Airport.

Academic ranks and awards

Wilson has a Diploma of Applied Science, Bachelor of Business and an MBA. She is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the College of Health Service Executives, a fellow of the Royal College of Nursing Australia and a fellow of the Wharton School of Management.
Wilson was the recipient of the Telstra Business Women's Award, Corporate and Government Sector in 2000.
In the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours Wilson was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for "significant service to community health, and to the people of South Australia through a range of roles".

Personal life

Wilson's partner is Dr Kym Bannister, a nephrologist and nuclear physician, and she is stepmother to his two sons.