Group Chief Executive Officer, Cape York Partnership
Fiona Jose is the Chief Executive Officer of Cape York Partnership, where she leads the strategic direction and delivery of its comprehensive reform agenda to empower Indigenous families across the Cape.
Belonging to the Kuku Yalanji and Zenadth Kes peoples and deep connections to Wujal Wujal and Badu Island, Fiona brings lived experience, systems thinking, and a collaborative leadership approach to her role. She oversees a diverse portfolio of initiatives that translate policy into practice, spanning education, employment, health, and economic development, with a focus on enabling families to take responsibility, seize opportunity, and drive long-term change in their own lives.
Under her leadership, Cape York Partnership has expanded to encompass ten entities and enterprises, including the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership, Djarragun College, Cape York Girl Academy, Bama Services, Ngak Min Health Clinic, Cape York Employment, and the award winning Pama Platform, a tech solution supporting financial capability and wellbeing products. Across the group, CYP employs more than 350 people, with 65% identifying as First Nations.
Fiona has been instrumental in the establishment of several nationally recognised innovations. She led the development of Cape York Girl Academy, Australia’s first boarding school for young mothers and disengaged girls, Mayi Market, a fresh food social enterprise tackling food affordability in remote communities, and the Work Opportunity Network, a regional strategy linking school leavers with employment and further training. CYP’s targeted jobs plan, driven under her stewardship, is on track to deliver 300 jobs over three years in some of the country’s most impoverished regions, where there is no jobs market.
Nationally, Fiona is one of ten First Nations leaders advancing the Empowered Communities initiative, a reform movement shifting the relationship between government and Indigenous communities by placing decision-making and accountability in local hands. She plays a key role in aligning local practice with policy design, ensuring innovation is grounded in community context and scalable impact.
Fiona holds executive directorships across Cape York Partnership entities and serves on the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service Board, Empowered Communities Board, National Indigenous Employment & Training Alliance Board and a range of roles on philanthropy and government advisory groups.
At the heart of her vision is a deep commitment to the next generation:
“Children have no time to wait for adults or governments to get their act together. We must change their circumstances today, or we’ll continue to pay the price tomorrow and long into the future.”
“Education is the powerhouse to a better life. Without it, our children are locked out of the economy, out of society, out of a future they have reason to value.”