The compassionate CEO
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Kirsten Sayers had already visited Newcastle, Sydney and Geelong in the week she came to Adelaide in late summer. The CEO of Caritas Australia, Kirsten was here to promote the launch of Project Compassion, the 2026 major fundraiser by the world’s second largest humanitarian aid organization.
It being the opening weekend of the Adelaide Fringe, the city was buzzing but Kirsten was heading out to a 6.30pm Mass at Dernancourt on Saturday before attending a Vietnamese Catholic community Mass in Pooraka on Sunday morning. Then it was back home to Melbourne for her mum’s 89th birthday celebration that night.
The weekend travel to South Australia was a minor upheaval at best for the boss who has worked as an international lawyer and diplomat (Paris and Singapore were among her foreign residence remits with the Australian Trade and Investment Commission) and for 10 years in Melbourne at humanitarian organization RedR.
The day after she left RedR “which got me into the process of doing things”, she saw a job ad for a board director role at Caritas Australia and got the gig which lasted until she took on a role as interim CEO and which is now permanent.
“I thought ‘I really like this’,” she said. “I would like to stay for a while, I love the work and the people I get to work with.”
The Australian Catholic Bishops Commission) is just one of the many organisations she enjoys interacting with. She is adamant though that she is not a ‘big boss’ and is happy to give out her mobile number to all members of staff, plus it transpires, The Southern Cross.
Her remit is to bring her team together and to get the most from those people working with her. A weekly online Friday Caritas get-together for all staff – Teams is the chosen medium – is a good indicator of the current outlook and vibe.
The focus varies from week to week and the day before we met it had centred on the American political trailblazer and evangeliser Jesse Jackson who died on Shrove Tuesday, aged 84.
The in-house mission facilitator, Michael McGirr, showed everyone a photo of Jackson and Martin Luther King on the balcony of the hotel in Memphis, one day before he was assassinated in 1968
“Jackson, who was a Baptist minister, discovered his path in life at just 15, after hearing Martin Luther King speak for the first time,” Michael said.
“It’s a reminder that all those visits we make to schools and all the work we do with students aged 14, 15 and 16, truly matters. They are so open at that age, and the decisions they make can shape their lives. In Jackson’s case, he chose a path that cost him a great deal, yet one he remained committed to.
“I think the civil rights movement of the 1960s was deeply significant in the formation of Caritas. Caritas came into being around 1964, at a time when there was great concern and upheaval in the world.”
Caritas reaches more than two million people and impacts 100 projects across 30 countries Kirsten said. Detailed involvement everywhere is impossible of course and taking the overarching view is paramount.
“I focus on making sure we have got the foundations and processes right,” she said.
She attended the global climate change summit COP in Brazil last year and sees Caritas as “an agency of the Church, not a NGO. We are not a fly-in, fly-out and already have people on the ground (to work with)”.
“Awareness (of Caritas) is not as high as I would like it to be,” she said. “Project Compassion awareness is higher.”
Kirsten talked of the global challenges in places like Gaza and Sudan and of a young girl, Sisilia, from Tanzania who features prominently in the Project Compassion video and who until drinking water was made more accessible (via Caritas), would walk for several hours each day to collect water for her family. Including before school.
The takeout from her story was that Sisilia hopes to become a pilot when she is an adult. Water is life changing across the board and too in unforeseen ways.
“We need to help provide the resources,” Kirsten said.
She is heavy on good values she says, a trait patently evident.
“I have strong faith and I am passionate about Catholic social teaching. Values and teaching are the foundation of a wonderful culture,” she said.
“I love the job, love the work. We stand with people who are facing immense challenges.”
