Dr Iain Nicolson KStJ
Eighteenth Commissioner of St John Victoria District, 2006-2011
Iain Nicolson was born and educated in England. He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and served in a variety of places with the Territorial Army. After a brief period in General Practice in England he migrated to Australia in 1977, to General Practice in Gippsland. As a part-time Police Surgeon and Area Medical Coordinator of DISPLAN he joined St John as Sale Divisional Surgeon. He was later promoted to Corps Surgeon and, later again, to State Medical Officer under Commissioner Rosenfeld.
During his tenure as Commissioner, he has overseen a major transition of St John towards professional management. The St John Council, once composed of St John volunteers, has been replaced by a Board of Directors recruited as specialists within contemporary corporate governance guidelines. The State organization is managed by a full-time, salaried Chief Executive Officer, answerable to the Board. One of the subordinate full-time, salaried General Managers is responsible for administering volunteer first aid services, with the Commissioner answerable to that person. Other salaried staff undertake many other functions previously done by volunteers.
Iain was one of the Board of Directors for a number of years. His tenure was extended beyond the end of his second triennium until the Board accepted his recommendation for abolition of the position of Commissioner. This ended the century of volunteer leaders of the first aid services.
