Anglican Deaconess Ministries announces appointment of new CEO, Mary Un

The Board of Anglican Deaconess Ministries is delighted to announce the appointment of Mary Un as the next CEO of ADM.

With twenty years of experience working in not-for-profits, community health and aged care, a passion for the marginalised, and a deep faith in Jesus, Mary is well placed to lead ADM into its next season. Mary brings strengths in people leadership, project management and transformational change. She joins ADM most recently from the private sector where she has been an Operations Manager for Vitalis Health and Home Care.

Mary (right) with ADM Board Chair Rev. Caroline Andrews

Born in Atlanta, Georgia in the deep south of the United States, Mary moved to Australia with her family at age 10, then back to Atlanta at age 16, until finally returning to Sydney permanently after her first semester of college.  

Mary recalls, “While I had not heard the gospel until high school, from as early as I can remember I prayed to God every single night. God is wonderfully active in pursuing his children.”

Mary became a Christian in Sydney as a teenager, after hearing the gospel preached at her local youth group at Christ Church St Ives.

At age 16, after moving back to Atlanta, Mary knew she had to continue nurturing her fledgling faith, so took herself to church. She remembers, “The church I first went to had thousands of members. I stumbled into a youth service that looked more like a sporting event than anything I had witnessed in Sydney. I sat in the bleachers by myself feeling alone, but for the fact that this was my Heavenly Father’s Church and I could trust him to hold me near. That very day, I met a gorgeous older woman who gently cared and supported me until I left for college.” 

Upon her return to Australia, Mary settled at UNSW and completed a BA in Politics and International Relations. While studying, Mary considered various career options, eventually settling on working in not-for-profits. Mary explains, “Since my teens, God has placed those with intellectual disabilities close to my heart, and I pursued a career as a case manager and behaviouralist advocating for and supporting people with intellectual disabilities in the workforce. I have gone on to work in aged care and community health. I am passionate about bringing God’s view that all people are precious and deserve respect and value to organisational culture, strategic policy, processes, and governance.”

Mary has now worked in the not-for-profit sector for over 20 years, serving recently in executive leadership roles for programs run across NSW and the ACT. She is particularly thankful for having had the opportunity to be a part of rolling out human rights-based legislative changes to aged care in the last decade. 

Mary characterises her leadership style in her past roles as passionate. She says, “I cannot help but ooze passion and energy for things I am invested in, including work. My experience is that passion is contagious, and I work hard to inspire those I work with to come on the journey with me. I am innovative, creative, curious, a natural storyteller and listener, and get great joy coaching and supporting those I work with to grow and thrive in their areas of expertise.” 

Ministry has always been an area of interest for Mary and her husband Guan. She explains, “We began our married life with the intention of a more conventional ministry path. At differing times, we were both part of Ministry Training Strategy with Campus Bible Study at UNSW. Guan then went on to complete a Theology degree at Moore College while I continued to work with not-for-profits. But as is often the case, God had different plans for us than we anticipated.

“My experience in not-for-profits, and faith-based organisations, had been that they struggled to attract the brightest and the best in their fields. I decided to commit my career to developing strong leadership and business acumen to give the vulnerable in our communities the type of leadership, services and supports they deserve. They deserve the best of the best. I had hoped one day to take all God has taught me to a Christian organisation where I could serve his church.” 

Along with her husband and their two children, Mary is part of Newtown and Erskineville Anglican Church. That’s where she first heard about the role with ADM. Mary shares, “A woman I have churched with for years, whom I deeply respect, pulled me aside one Sunday and encouraged me to consider the role. She has spoken to me over the years about ADM and planted the seed that I may one day be of service to it. My plan was that a CEO role may be on the cards for me towards the end of my career, but throughout the interview process, I became convinced that what was really holding me back from leading a Christian organisation was my own need to want to do it “perfectly”, which will never be possible. God knows I am not perfect, in fact he chooses the imperfect and broken in the world to be his people and involved in his work. I come to this role humbly walking alongside Jesus excited to see what he has planned for ADM.”

Mary’s delight about being appointed to the role is evident, as she says with enthusiasm, “I am still awestruck that I get to spend my days empowering my Christian sisters to better serve our Lord. I honestly could not have designed a better job myself had God given me the chance. It is an honour to be part of the long legacy of women who have served in this ministry.”

She continues, “I want my time with ADM to contribute to the success of the next 130 years of its history. We have a wonderful opportunity in the next decade to refine and embed our mission and strategy and deeply root ourselves into the lives of Christian women and the vulnerable in Sydney and beyond. I am particularly excited about exploring opportunities to re-invest in ADM’s compassionate ministries.”

 “It is an honour to be part of the long legacy of women who have served in this ministry. I want my time with ADM to contribute to the success of the next 130 years of its history.”

Chair of the ADM board Rev. Caroline Andrews says of Mary’s appointment, “We are delighted that Mary has accepted this role. We prayed that God would lead us to a stand-out candidate and he brought us Mary, for which we give him great thanks. Mary’s experience, her obvious passion for ADM’s work, and her creative ideas for new ways for ADM to serve women and the vulnerable are a beautiful extension of the legacy of the deaconesses. The Board looks forward to working closely with Mary and seeing God work powerfully through her.”

Please join us in prayer, thanking God for bringing Mary to ADM and praying for her in this time of change. Mary asks specifically, “Please pray that I wrap up my current role with integrity and grace. I think leaving a role well is hard and I find it takes a lot of emotional and spiritual energy from me. Pray for the ADM team that God will give them peace as they prepare for a time of transition. Pray that God will continue his faithful growth in me as he prepares me for my new role. It is not perfection that I need, but rather a deep trust that God loves his church and because of his kindness and grace I can call on him to see ADM thrive.”