Professor Mark Compton AM GCStJ current Chancellor of The Priory of Australia announced as the next Lord Prior of The Most Venerable Order Of St John
On Thursday 3 January 2019 it was announced that Her Majesty The Queen had approved the appointment of Professor Mark Compton as the next Lord Prior of the Order of St John. He will succeed Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Walter Hugh Malcolm Ross GCVO OBE GCStJ when his present term as Lord Prior comes to an end in June 2019. Mark will also assume the role as chairman of the board of Trustees of St John International.
Mark is unique amongst Lords Prior being the only one having been a member of St John continuously since joining as a cadet. He has almost 45 years of service with St John, was a Grand Prior Cadet and is currently national chairman and Chancellor of the Order of St John in Australia. In addition to his board role he has regularly volunteered at a uniformed operational level, has mentored developing leaders through the national leadership and women’s mentoring programs and contributes to international strategy development for the worldwide organisation through his membership of the international board of St John.
Mark will become Lord Prior on St John Day (June 24) 2019. The Order has recently revised its Statutes with the Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council approving the new rules less than a month ago. With a presence in over 30 countries and with over 250,000 people involved, Mark will work with leaders across the St John world to set the direction for the Order as it enters the second decade of the 21st century.
Mark is an experienced Non-Executive Director and CEO, predominantly in healthcare and life sciences organisations including Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listed companies. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors; Fellow Australasian College of Health Services Management; Fellow Australian Institute of Management and Fellow of the Royal Society (NSW). Mark is Adjunct Professor in management at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia and spent 8 years on the board of Macquarie University Private Hospital, integral to establishing MQ Health, Australia’s first academic health sciences centre.
Mark is Chairman and Non-Executive Director of Sonic Healthcare Limited (ASX: SHL), a global medical diagnostics and healthcare organisation. Sonic is a Top 50 ASX listed company and the third largest pathology company globally. He is also a non-executive director on the board of Next Science Limited a medical technology company and Chairman of St Luke’s Care a not for profit health and aged care organisation.
Mark is an active volunteer firefighter with the NSW Rural Fire Service in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia.
He was awarded the Centenary Medal of the Commonwealth of Australia for services to the community; was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in January 2010 for services to health, hospitals, medical research and St John Ambulance and was promoted to Bailiff Grand Cross of the Order of St John in 2017.
Professor Compton said he was both honoured and humbled to be appointed to the role of Lord Prior. He looks forward to working with colleagues across the world in leading such a magnificent and distinguished Order that has so many good people doing so much good for those in need around the world.
