Ryan Barlow

Empowering the vision

Ryan’s path to guiding the McGrath Foundation’s strategic vision is unconventional. After studying communications and advertising at Charles Sturt, he spent almost 20 years in the work-hard, play-hard world of advertising.

“It was all-consuming – giving 100 per cent, long days, never letting anyone down; eventually it took its toll,” says Ryan. “I wasn’t showing up the way I wanted to for my wife and our four kids. I knew I needed to reset, to rethink not just what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, but who I wanted to be.”

He hadn’t considered the not-for-profit sector when the call came for “the job that didn’t exist until it did”, but the McGrath Foundation’s practical, person-centred impact immediately resonated. For Ryan, this was more than a career move – it was a call to lead with purpose and make a difference where it mattered most.

“Each step of the interview process reaffirmed that this felt right, professionally and personally. It was the change I needed to show up differently.”

In eight years with the Foundation, first leading Marketing and Revenue and now as CEO, Ryan has flourished within the organisation’s ‘inverted pyramid’ model. He describes it as the “ultimate support play”; rather than executives sitting at the top, their role is to empower everyone around them to succeed.

“Leadership isn’t about being the smartest person in the room; it’s about perspective, presence, active listening, and bringing together the expertise around you to make the most effective decisions,” he says. “It’s about continually fighting for an outcome until you get there, never cutting corners – something my time at Charles Sturt really helped bring out in me.”

In a culture built around its remarkable nurses, Ryan’s work is anchored by the McGrath Foundation’s four core values: Care Always, Share You, Get Back Up, and Courageous Invention.

“I think the McGrath Foundation chooses you,” he reflects.

“You need to be willing to bring all your experience, energy and ideas, but also to admit what you don’t know and work with others to find the answers that can, quite frankly, change the world. It rewards you in ways no pay check or handshake ever could.”