Care Malta Group, Malta's largest and leading private care provider for the elderly, has appointed Natalie Briffa-Farrugia as the new Chief Executive Officer. She succeeded Ing. Alex Tranter who has led the company since it was set up 17 years ago.

Commenting on her new appointment, Mrs Briffa-Farrugia said she was delighted to take the driving seat at this point in time: “Care Malta is currently a leader in the private care sector, operating six homes for elderly and employing over 500 people. On June 4, we shall also be launching Roseville, the €5 million new home for the elderly in Attard. These are indeed very exciting times for the Group.”

Mrs Briffa Farrugia graduated in Psychology and Management studies in 1995 from the University of Malta. A year later, she obtained her post-graduate certificate in Education and in 1999, graduated in Gerontology and Geriatrics from the European Centre of Gerontology at the University of Malta. As part of her under-graduate studies, Ms. Natalie Farrugia-Briffa also carried out studies at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, USA.

After finishing her studies, Natalie spent 10 years doing voluntary work in Guatemala and Ethiopia offering her services to sick and dying people and also working in the educational field both locally and abroad. She has joined back the Care Malta Group in 2006.

Up to her appointment as CEO she served as Director of Operations of CareMalta where she has assumed leadership in the operations of all the elderly homes working in close collaboration with all the Facility Managers of all the facilities. Care Malta was the first private company in Malta to invest in developing a privately owned purpose built facility for the elderly, in Mosta in 1993, and then later in Rabat in 1996. Care Malta was also the first private company to closely collaborate with Government in developing Malta's first Public Private Partnership (PPP) in elderly care at Zejtun in 1994.

This PPP relationship continues to develop very successfully, so much so that Care Malta today operates two other Government owned facilities at Cospicua (opened in December 1999) and Mellieha (opened in March 2008). With the Mellieha Home, Care Malta Group managed to win the largest ever PPP contract yet awarded for a 30-year concession period to fund, build and manage a 'state of the art' home capable of accommodating 154 residents. The Group also operates the Prince of Wales Apartments in Sliema, Malta's first Independent Living facility for the elderly. Caremalta Chairman, Nazzareno Vassallo, Natalie’s father, said the appointment will strengthen the ‘care philosophy’ of the Group: “Natalie’s extensive experience in the industry, her strong background in voluntary work and her academic background in psychology will strenghten the care philosophy within the group and enhance the group’s commitment to achieve the highest quality of service whilst encouraging further development of our employees”.