Staff Profile

Mary Ann Baquero Geronimo

Chief Executive Officer

Mary Ann’s career is a testament to her leadership and advocacy in the not-for-profit sector, particularly in evidence-based policy and systems thinking, focusing on communities in Australia and East and Southeast Asia. At FECCA, in her former role as Director of Policy for Health and Ageing, she championed equitable access for culturally diverse communities during the pandemic, in primary healthcare, and aged care reforms.

Her contributions extend beyond FECCA, having spearheaded projects enhancing community-based care and women’s financial security across six countries in East and Southeast Asia for a decade, including founding the “Regional Learning Network on Women’s Financial Security”. Mary Ann’s early NGO work involved leading a post-conflict reconstruction program in the Southern Philippines and fostering partnerships for UN Millennium Development Goals.

Her management expertise includes navigating financial crises, public policy shifts, implementing cultural changes, and building sustainable strategies. An accomplished scholar, she has co-authored works on ethnography, ageing, and multicultural public health communications, notably a cross-country study on older women’s financial security in Southeast Asia. Mary Ann’s academic credentials were honed as a Lee Kuan Yew Scholar at the National University of Singapore, where she completed her master’s in public policy and administration.