With choice, comes dignity – new Oceania boss wants to lead with purpose

Suzanne Dvorak’s career has always centred on driving positive change. Beginning her journey in Cambodia with the United Nations, she played a pivotal role in rebuilding communities and advocating for women’s rights, setting the foundation for her mission-driven leadership approach.
Dvorak continued her work across Vietnam and Thailand, driving initiatives that strengthened community resilience and deepened her understanding of the region’s diverse needs.
Returning to her home country, Australia, in the late ‘90s, Dvorak established the Australian branch of Marie Stopes International, focusing on reproductive health programs that empowered women in Bangladesh, Malawi, and China to make informed choices about their futures.
This commitment carried forward into her CEO role at Save the Children and as a director on the board of UNICEF, where she championed global initiatives that improved the lives of vulnerable communities around the world.
While many CEOs climb the corporate ladder, Dvorak’s path has always been about leading with purpose. Her transition into the retirement sector was a natural extension of her lifelong commitment to elevating the quality of life for vulnerable communities. Today, she brings the same focus to ensuring that our elderly have the choice, dignity, and care they deserve.
Growing demand
In joining Oceania, which operates more than 35 retirement villages, Dvorak stands on the brink of a big demographic shift happening in New Zealand.  
As the population ages, the dignity of older New Zealanders will become increasingly dependent on the quality of care being offered by retirement and aged care providers. It presents a growing business opportunity, but Dvorak also believes there’s a strong social imperative to getting this right.
“Aged care can have a bad reputation,” admits Dvorak.
“People see it as a choice you just do not want to have to make. It’s viewed as being both institutionalised and unpleasant, so I think there’s a real opportunity in New Zealand through the integrated model to give people the choice of where and how they want to retire, knowing that when they need it, care will be on site.
“It’s about giving people the choice when they’re thinking of retirement to determine where and how they want to live and what care they want when the time comes. It’s about dignity.” 
Dvorak’s dedication to creating meaningful choices for people is what drove her to take on senior management roles in the retirement sector, starting at Australia Unity and later at Bupa, where she served as managing director.
Her experience managing complex humanitarian environments equipped Dvorak with a strong capacity for strategic problem-solving and adaptability. In the retirement sector, she navigated regulatory challenges, workforce issues, and crises such as bushfires and Covid-19, demonstrating a steady hand and a clear focus on delivering positive outcomes.
Crossing the Tasman
When Suzanne Dvorak became the CEO of Oceania in May 2024, she became one of only six women to be leading an NZX-listed business.  
Her arrival also marked a significant shift in New Zealand’s retirement sector in that she became the only female CEO among the six big village operators. (Naomi James is set to join her in November when she takes on the leadership role at Ryman.) 
Women are now well represented on Oceania’s senior leadership team, with Dvorak sharing the board table with Chair Liz Coutts and Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Waugh. 
This is fitting in a care-based business that skews 83 per cent female in terms of overall staff working across both retirement and aged care living.
Oceania’s emphasis on offering a continuum of care that stretches across both retirement and care was a big pull behind Dvorak’s decision to leave Melbourne to take on the challenge in Auckland. 
“New Zealand is seen as a leader in retirement and integrated care,” Dvorak tells Newsroom.
“With so much of the Australian approach modelled on New Zealand’s success, I see a great opportunity to enhance what’s already working and set new standards for quality care.”
Dvorak’s move to the helm of Oceania comes at a pivotal moment for the local sector, amid increased focus on what retirement living should look like in the coming decades.
Research by property development company JLL found there are currently more than 53,000 New Zealanders living in retirement homes across the 470 villages across the country, accounting for around 13 per cent of the estimated 383,000 Kiwis aged older than 75.
This provides a snapshot of the current landscape, but the bigger concern is where we’re headed. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development estimates that our senior population (those over 60) will increase from around 850,000 to 1.5 million over the next 30 years, accounting for a quarter of our population.
The broader economic slowdown means that retirement providers aren’t building quite as quickly as they once did to meet demands.
“Things have absolutely slowed down due to inflation and high building costs, but that’s directly linked to interest rates and macroeconomic forces,” says Dvorak.
“This slowdown is temporary. As economic conditions stabilise, build rates will recover, positioning providers to meet future demand.”
As Kiwis age, their retirement needs will be contingent on their financial position, which will vary from the very wealthy to those struggling to make ends meet. Part of the challenge for retirement providers will be ensuring they have the right mix in their portfolio to meet the needs of the population as it ages.
“Not everything has to be premium or luxury, like The Helier,” says Dvorak, referring to Oceania’s flagship premium retirement village in the Auckland beachfront suburb of St Heliers.
“There are different ways to retire. There are also mid-market price points that are more accessible to more people.”
Getting that balance right will be integral to all retirement providers as they make longer-term plans to meet the steepening demand for their services in the coming decades.
Delivering for investors 
The reliance of retirement providers on the property market means their share prices are often sensitive to shifting values of land housing.
We’ve seen this over the last few years, with the property slowdown dragging heavily on share prices across the retirement sector.
Retirement operators will start to see some benefits as interest rates track down and the property market comes back to life, but there is room for a discussion on how to make these businesses less sensitive to shifts in the property market.
Dvorak doesn’t shy away when asked about this.
“Retirement living is inherently tied to the broader property market, and interest rates directly influence how people plan for their retirement years.”
“If people have to sell their family home before they move into a retirement village, it definitely has an impact. The lowering of interest rates will ease that path, but we know that, particularly during a cost-of-living crisis, many people think about downsizing earlier.”
This is especially true for older couples who are living in an over-sized family home, waiting for the opportunity to move into a unit where they can enjoy their retirement years.
“It is time to look at how we change it to make it more accessible,” says Dvorak.
“The steadily growing population means we could face a housing crisis as time goes on, so having people vacate larger properties to move into retirement is going to be beneficial for everyone. I believe there needs to be different avenues for making that possible.”
Creating sustainable solutions will require a strategic, long-term approach, but Suzanne is committed to driving meaningful change from the outset.
“Living with dignity is always about choice,” says Dvorak.
“And if Kiwis have greater ability to choose the life they want to lead when they want to, then we’re doing our jobs properly.”