A warm welcome to Kelly McCarthy (Deputy Manager) at the Flinders Rural & Remote Health NT (Centre for Remote Health) in Alice Springs.
Kelly McCarthy hails from the US state of Montana, which he left at the age of 19 to commence service in the US Air Force. He served for 23 years in the Defence and Intelligence Communities including eight years alongside Australian Defence Forces. During this time Kelly earned a Bachelor of Science in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and later an MBA in Global Business from University of Texas at Dallas.
After returning to Montana in 2008, he joined a regional banking firm where he was tasked with improving profitability and modernization ahead of the firm’s impending IPO.
In 2012 Kelly was elected to the Montana House of Representatives where he continued to serve until he and his wife Glenda (a long time Territorian), returned to Central Australia in 2018. While serving in the Montana legislature, Kelly led the Minority Budget team where his policy efforts focused largely on economic development, equality, and education.
Kelly also founded a consulting firm to focus on economic development projects when not engaged with legislative responsibilities. He oversaw a multi-year healthcare innovation pilot. The project’s aim was to trial a more holistic approach to healthcare that addressed social determinates contributing to poor health outcomes.
Upon returning to Australia, Kelly was tapped to lead the VET Trades team for Charles Darwin University. His team delivered over 800,000 hours of vocational education annually and innovated approaches that resulted in increased numbers of trades qualifications delivered onsite in remote communities.
Through his relationships with Native American communities in Montana, Kelly witnessed the adverse impacts that a lack of access to quality healthcare can have in remote communities. Seeing similar challenges in Australia, Kelly viewed the opportunity with Flinders University as a promising avenue to enhance health outcomes in remote communities in Australia.
He hopes to be able to channel a diversity of career experiences to support Flinders NT’s continued growth and innovation in their aim to improve conditions in the communities they serve.