Aaron Lavell: Why I am now Odyssey’s full-time CEO
Key points
- Leadership transition: Aaron Lavell full-time CEO of Odyssey Lifestyle Care Communities
- 32-year career ends: Chartered accountant departs WMS Tax & Advisory
- Growth strategy: Odyssey expands care, construction and Support at Home operations
- Expansion ahead: Operator targeting a fifth Gold Coast community
After more than 32 years with WMS Tax & Advisory, Chartered Accountant Aaron Lavell has departed the Gold Coast firm.
“Words can’t describe the deep connection I have with the firm across my now former partners, team members, clients and allied professionals. Thank you to the firm founders John Watter (RIP) and Jeff McDermid for their vision,” Aaron said on LinkedIn.
He will now focus full-time on his role as CEO of Odyssey Lifestyle Care Communities.
“I love helping the team deliver best in class private aged care,” he told The Weekly SOURCE.
Aaron has been a director of Odyssey since its inception. Under a succession plan agreed with founder Phil Usher in January 2025, he became CEO while Phil turned his attention to sales, development and representing the business.
“2025 was three days at Odyssey and two days in WMS Tax & Advisory. In January 2026, I went to four days at Odyssey and one day at WMS. I finished at WMS on Tuesday, 30 June, with the perfect accountant’s farewell date,” Aaron said.
“Including me, there are five WMS alumni working at Odyssey. My wife works in lifestyle, my daughter works in the restaurant while she completes her university studies and my son is an electrician who worked on our site at Chevron and is currently working on our fourth tower at Robina. Very much a family affair and follows Phil’s route of his wife and daughter also working at Odyssey.”
Odyssey’s 19-storey private care village on Chevron Island opened last month. In an exclusive interview in SATURDAY digital magazine in 2024, Phil revealed he would be building a total of six retirement village communities valued at $600 million-plus within six years on the Gold Coast.
“In 2026, we obtained our own Support at Home licence and established our own building company to construct Hope Island and Burleigh Waters. Both companies are subject to heavy regulatory requirements and ... Phil’s and my general philosophy is to keep the leadership and admin teams lean and invest in our systems,” Aaron said.
“As soon as we meet our financial KPIs with Catalyst Health REIT / Australian Retirement Trust for Chevron Island, our attention will turn to locating and securing our fifth site on the Gold Coast. It is our vision to ‘own the coast’ in the private aged care space.”
