
CULTURA’S NEW DIRECTION IN LEADERSHIP
Geelong’s leading multicultural organisation, Cultura, is soon to lose its esteemed leader, with CEO, Joy Leggo OAM, announcing her hard decision to step down into retirement in 2025.
Joy Leggo was awarded the Order of Australia Medial in 2023 for her work in the aged care and diversity space, after being CEO of MACS for 27 years. Upon being appointed CEO of Cultura in 2021, Joy Leggo continued her journey in providing innovative services to support, care for and celebrate culturally diverse individuals throughout their life journey.
According to the Chair of Cultura Board, Director Gillian Costa, Joy Leggo has been instrumental in shaping the new entity of Cultura, leading the complex merger of Diversitat and MACS in 2021.
“For over 30 years, Joy has championed the expansion of care and support services to the diverse, multicultural sector in Geelong.,” Ms Costa said.
“Joy has been a driving force behind supporting an inclusive, engaged and harmonious multicultural Victoria. Cultura is an organisation that at its heart, represents 85 different nationalities and as a relatively new organisation, we are still creating our own culture and Joy has shaped the entire direction of this with her clear vision, passion, knowledge and expertise in this space.”

“The merger of MACS and Diversitat was incredibly complex and from the outset, Joy was aware that diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) must be our foundation stone, from which we build a workplace and indeed a community that celebrates equity and equality,” Ms Costa said.
“It’s not every day you meet someone as extraordinary as Joy. She truly is a force to be reckoned with and we will miss her creativity, loyalty, passion and bravery as a leader,” Ms Costa said.
“I think what is different about Joy, is her firm belief that diversity is one of Australia’s greatest strengths and assets. She has encouraged engagement across all levels of Cultura while demonstrating the ability to make sound informed decisions based on facts with a focus on delivering exceptional services to our service participants and the wider multicultural community,” Ms Costa said.
“We are immensely grateful to Joy for her dedicated leadership, passion and commitment to Cultura and the Geelong community over the past 30 years. She will be hard to replace and while we will certainly miss her extraordinary leadership, we are also excited about the future and have commenced the robust recruitment process for a new CEO who will guide us into this next phase of growth and impact in mid 2025.” Ms Costa said.


BACKGROUND ON JOY LEGGO, OAM
Now 69 years of age, Joy has been volunteering since the age of 15. In addition to her time at MACS and Cultura, she has been involved in an array of community organisations, including with Sirovilla Retirement Village in Belmont, Aged and Community Services Australia, and a member of the Colac and Geelong Rotaract Service Clubs for 10 years.
Ms Leggo said she does the work that she does, not to receive any accolades, rather because helping others has always been in her DNA.
“It is part of who I am. It is so important to give back to the community in which you live. Working in the not-for-profit sector for over 50 years has allowed me to do that and make a difference where I can,” Ms Leggo said.
Ms Leggo said she will continue to work and volunteer for the community “for as long as I’m able”.
“It is about making a difference to people who need our support,” Mrs Leggo said.
“There’s no doubt life gives everybody challenges at times, but I have been fortunate, and I have been able to give back.”
Reflecting on her time with Cultura, Joy shared, “Serving as CEO has been an incredibly rewarding and humbling experience and I am deeply grateful to the Board, our incredible team and all our volunteers, community groups and supporters.”
“Victoria has a long history of multiculturalism, and this diversity enriches everyone. It promotes understanding, brings new ideas, extends our skills, attracts businesses and creates new jobs. I am incredibly proud of our organisation for all we do in this space and the difference we make in these people’s lives,” Ms Leggo said.
“In Geelong, we embrace the ‘different’ and celebrate the ‘different’ and the tireless work we do at Cultura is testament to this.
I believe the time is right for new leadership to take Cultura forward into its next chapter,” Ms Leggo said.
Details can be found here:
https://futureleadership.com.au/opportunities/chief-executive-officer-cultura/