Events
Care Park celebrates the journey of four of its leading women – Catherine Foster
Catherine Foster – South Australian General Manager
“People are generally surprised when it’s a woman turning up who is the general manager of a parking company. I see that as a motivator to do my job to the best of my ability and work harder to prove myself as a female manager. It’s not a challenge, it’s a motivator.”
Care Park’s South Australia General Manager Catherine Foster is proud to be the only currently serving female general manager managing state operations within Care Park.
Tasmania had previously been led by a female general manager, but today Catherine sits proudly among her male counterparts from the other states where she is treated as an equal on the Care Park team.
Catherine started work at Care Park on a part-time basis in July 2011 working 10-15 hours per week in payroll.
By January 2016, her can-do approach and strong business acumen were recognised, and she was appointed the South Australia General Manager.
Today Catherine leads a strong team of 15 staff in South Australia which is responsible for managing 30 car parking properties.
“As the South Australia General Manager, I am responsible for the whole state’s operations across all facets of meeting the landlord requirements, ensuring the car parks provide customers a seamless parking experience and ensuring all parts of the Care Park business are delivered to the highest standards,” Catherine Foster says.
“If something goes wrong in one of our car parks, I have to be decisive and need to move quickly to implement a solution. Something like a boomgate not opening can quickly escalate into something very major affecting a lot of people.”
Catherine’s foundations to be a manager started soon after leaving school when she was accepted into the management traineeship program with Woolworths.
“After finishing my traineeship I was placed in a store management role and was the first manager of Adelaide’s first Woolworths petrol station.
“It was good grounding for my management role at Care Park as I had to work in every department at Woolies and I did the same at Care Park and I still do that today to make sure I continue to understand every part of the business.
“It feels good covering shifts and working in all areas of the business to keep in touch with all aspects of the company’s operations.”
Catherine names the two greatest achievements at Care Park being the company named Parking Organisation of the Year in 2018 and 2020 for two major parking operations in South Australia – the introduction of virtual parking permits at the University of South Australia and the new parking operations at Flinders Medical Centre.
“Those two awards were really pivotal to my career development to know that two of the car parks I manage provided Care Park the honour of being named Parking Organisation of the Year,” Catherine Foster says.
Catherine stands side by side with her peers and colleagues as a manager and company leader. “People are generally surprised when it’s a woman turning up who is the general manager of a parking company. I see that as a motivator to do my job to the best of my ability and work harder to prove myself as a female manager. It’s not a challenge, it’s a motivator.”
Catherine says the parking industry is constantly evolving and Care Park continues to evolve with the industry needs and that means as a general manager I have to lead and move with the times. “During COVID we had to restructure and pivot to make sure we could survive.
“It can be a very intense industry at times and getting the balance right between property management, customer needs and staying competitive is a juggling act. In parking, we are all competing for the same market and we need to choose the right price point.
“Business does not come to us, we have to do all the legwork to ensure we are competitive and successful.”
Catherine Foster says Care Park invested the time to teach her the car parking industry. “It made me stronger in this environment and also taught me how to drive good outcomes for our staff, the properties we manage and our company as a whole.”