Jess Lees

Director

Jess has more than 15 years of experience in health and human services across government, peak body, not-for-profit and consulting settings.

Jess combines strategic insight with practical experience to deliver evidence-based, person-centred solutions across health and human services. She works closely with clients to translate complex evidence into meaningful reforms. Her experience spans strategy, system reform, service design and implementation across government, not-for-profit and private settings. Jess has supported national reform agendas and delivered strategic reviews and operating and service model design. She excels at turning complexity into practical, actionable insights that enhance service delivery and inform policy and funding decisions.

Influential work

Managing a multi-year national program to explore aged care quality system improvements, delivering evidence-based recommendations to support reform
Developing a national model of care to guide policy and reform service delivery for young people who experience family, domestic and sexual violence
Analysed the case for national investment in digital mental health supports for people with complex needs, informing future policy directions
Engaged stakeholders across the justice system to design a performance framework to track system-wide reform impacts and improve resource allocation
Established and led a transformation function focused on testing and embedding a new operating model, commercial strategy and outcomes framework

Outside of Nous

Before joining Nous, Jess held senior leadership roles in the health sector, where she led cross-functional teams to design and deliver outcome-focused system improvements. Her work sat at the intersection of strategy, design, delivery and measurement, with a strong emphasis on improving services for people experiencing vulnerability and embedding the voices of those closest to the issues to shape effective, sustainable change.

Jess was instrumental in enterprise transformation, deploying digital solutions for better business planning and investment decisions. As lead of the transformation office, Jess designed new operating models around client journeys and data-based frameworks.

Her leadership in cultural and service transformation included thought leadership and coaching leaders. Jess played a key role in supporting a successful merger, preserving brand and reputation amid significant changes.