Senior Management Team

Andrew Swanson-Dobbs 

Chief Executive Officer

Andrew Swanson-Dobbs joined WellSouth as the CEO early 2019.

Andrew graduated as a registered psychologist many years ago from the University of Waikato and has worked in health ever since. Beginning his career in child and adolescent mental health services before moving into primary care where he has worked as Clinical Services Manager at Rotorua General Practice Group, CEO at Nelson Bays Primary Health and most recently as a General Manager at Pinnacle Midlands Health Network. 

Contact details are:

Email: Andrew.Swanson-Dobbs@wellsouth.org.nz 

Mobile 021 962 746 

Damon Campbell

Chief Digital Officer

Damon Campbell, Chief Digital Officer, leads our organisation's IT department. Damon is primarily responsible for ensuring the clinical IT programmes are delivered across general practice including providing advice around future innovations and capabilities to enhance patient care.

Damon joined WellSouth after a long career in local government where he led several significant digital transformation programmes. A number of these were recognised by various sectors organisations; most recently the ALGIM COVID-19 Response Special Awards and Taituarā — Local Government Professionals Aotearoa for Award for Better Policy and Regulation.

Damon holds a Master of Business Administration from Massey University, as well as other industry certifications.

Vacant

Chief Financial Officer

Peter Ellison

Associate Māori  Health Strategy & Improvement Officer 

Peter Ellison (Kāi Tahu), Associate Māori Health Strategy & Improvement Officer – Primary & Community, leads our organisations commitment to reducing health disparities for Māori. He is part of the new Southern DHB Māori Health Team tasked with driving strategy and improvement initiatives to support gains in Māori health status across the Southern Health System.

Peter joined WellSouth in 2014. He previously held Māori Health leadership roles at Bpacnz and Otago DHB.

Peter holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Otago.  He is affiliated to Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou and Kāti Huirapa Rūnaka ki Puketeraki - where he is a member of their executive committee.

Dr Carol Atmore

Medical Director

 Dr Carol Atmore is a general practitioner and WellSouth Medical Director, providing clinical leadership for our practice network. A passionate advocate for health system change, Carol helped lead whole of health system change on the West Coast, in her role as Chief Medical Officer for West Coast DHB. She has also held leadership roles at the South Island Health System level and national clinical director roles with the Ministry of Health.

Carol joined WellSouth in July 2021 from the Department of General Practice and Rural Health at the Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, where she has been a senior lecturer and Head of Department since August 2019.

Paul Rowe

Practice Network Director

Paul Rowe leads our organisation’s practice support team and is responsible for managing our day to day relationship with general practices.  This includes improving our performance against health targets and implementing projects such as Health Care Homes, National Enrollment Service, Patient Experience Survey and Foundation Standards.

Paul was appointed Practice Network Director in August 2016 and has been at WellSouth in a variety of roles since 2013.  Prior to working at WellSouth Paul worked at consultants Ernst & Young in Auckland and at Jones Lang LaSalle and Deutsche Bank in London.

Paul holds a Bachelor of Business Studies in economics from Massey University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Studies and Maori Studies from the University of Auckland.

 Fiona Grayson

 People and Culture Manager  

Fiona has been an international business consultant, based in London for 7 years. She has owned and operated several businesses – café and catering, Business and HR Consultant. She has a Master of Arts in Sociology, and a Master of Professional Business Studies (People and Employment). Fiona and her partner, Warren, live in Dunedin with their two children, Thomas and Ella.

 Moira Finn

Communications Manager

Moira leads promotions and communications for WellSouth, providing updates to WellSouth's general practice network and other providers and stakeholders and sharing stories of the wonderful work being done by WellSouth staff and our colleagues in primary care. 

Moira has an BA from Memorial University and an MA from Western University (Both Canada) and has more than 30 years experience in journalism and public relations in Canada, the UK and New Zealand, in the areas of health, technology and business.