CEO Paul Savvas named National Executive of the Year Finalist in CEO Magazine’s awards
October 1, 2026
A proud achievement for our CEO and an important moment of national recognition for the Hellenic Community of Western Australia.
The Hellenic Community of Western Australia (HCWA) is incredibly proud to congratulate our Chief Executive Officer, Paul Savvas, on being named a national finalist for Not-for-Profit Executive of the Year in The CEO Magazine’s 2026 Executive of the Year Awards.
It is an outstanding achievement for Paul personally and an important moment for the Hellenic Community of Western Australia, placing our CEO and our Community on the national stage alongside some of Australia’s most respected not-for-profit leaders.
Paul is one of the national finalists selected in the Not-for-Profit category and one of only two Western Australian finalists in the field. His fellow finalists include executives from organisations such as Mission Australia, FSHD Global Research Foundation and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.
For a Western Australian community organisation with more than a century of history and deeply local roots, this national recognition is something of which our entire Community can be proud.
The CEO Magazine’s Executive of the Year Awards recognise outstanding executive leadership and achievement across Australia. The Not-for-Profit Executive of the Year category places particular emphasis on social impact and organisational sustainability and the leadership of significant operations and service delivery.
Paul’s recognition comes during an important period of growth, development and renewal across HCWA and its operations, acknowledging the challenge of leading an organisation with a unique responsibility to preserve its history and ensure the success of its future.
For more than a century, generations of Western Australians have entrusted the Hellenic Community with preserving and strengthening institutions that carry our faith, culture, language and identity.
Today, that responsibility extends across St. Andrew’s Grammar, Hellenic Community Aged Care, Saints Constantine and Helene, cultural and educational programs, community events and the wider work of HCWA – all with its own challenges, expectations and opportunities.
Leading an organisation of this nature requires balancing two equally important priorities: respecting the legacy inherited from previous generations while ensuring our institutions remain strong, relevant and sustainable to serve the generations still to come. As CEO, Paul has maintained a strong focus on that long-term responsibility.
Under his leadership, and in partnership with the Board, the Community has continued to invest in the future of St. Andrew’s Grammar, which has grown to more than 900 students while continuing to develop its facilities and expand opportunities for students.
At Hellenic Community Aged Care, the focus remains on providing high-quality care while creating a genuine sense of home, dignity and community for residents. At the same time, HCWA’s broader religious, cultural and community activities continue to bring generations together, strengthen Hellenism and preserve the Greek Orthodox faith and identity that sit at the heart of the Community.
While these areas of operation may appear very different, they are united by a common purpose: ensuring the institutions entrusted to this generation remain strong and capable of serving those who follow.
Central to Paul’s leadership philosophy has been the belief that being a community or not-for-profit organisation should never mean lowering expectations around governance, financial management, strategic planning or organisational performance.
While the award nomination bears Paul’s name, he has consistently acknowledged that the progress of the Hellenic Community has never been the work of one individual.
Our Boards and Committees across HCWA, St. Andrew’s Grammar and Hellenic Community Aged Care, together with our employees, volunteers, families, members and supporters, all contribute to the strength and future of the organisation.
Paul’s finalist recognition therefore also provides an opportunity to shine a national spotlight on the Hellenic Community of Western Australia itself and the work being undertaken across our organisation.
HCWA is proudly Western Australian and proudly Hellenic and Orthodox. We can be proud of more than a century of history while continuing to modernise, improve and grow. We can preserve the traditions, values and institutions entrusted to us while expecting high standards of leadership, governance and organisational performance.
Whatever the result when the awards are announced in Sydney this November, being selected as a national finalist is already an exceptional achievement and one worthy of celebration.
On behalf of the Board, our staff, members and the entire Hellenic Community of Western Australia, we congratulate Paul on this outstanding achievement. We are enormously proud to see our CEO and our Community represented on the national stage and wish Paul every success at The CEO Magazine’s 2026 Executive of the Year Awards.
