About

Formerly GC for Australasia’s largest diversified healthcare distributer, EBOS, Sarah Turner joined REA Group as general counsel and company secretary in August 2015. Turner has gained respect for her transactional track record, and is praised for her work ethic, rapid turnaround, ‘surgical precision’ and ‘insight’. With reference to her role at EBOS, she has won exceptional recognition across Australia’s legal and business circles. ‘The market in which EBOS operates is highly competitive and heavily regulated’, says one private practice source. ‘Managing legal risk in that environment requires sound judgement and the ability to interface effectively with internal stakeholders. Sarah has delivered outstanding results for the business with a small support team’. In a previous stint as Symbion’s GC, Turner guided the company through its $1.1bn merger with EBOS, subsequently assuming responsibility for the entire EBOS/Symbion ANZ portfolio. She handled the company’s 2013 ASX listing, and its subsequent acquisitions of Blackhawk Premium Petcare and Good Price Pharmacy. She is also credited with building impressive strategic relationships with core clients such as New South Wales Department of Health. Internally, she reduced EBOS’s external legal spend by over 50% through a combination of fee negotiation, direct barrister instruction and improved capacity within the team. She also spearheaded comprehensive face-to-face compliance training across the business. ‘Face-to-face training enabled me to get out in front of the business’, she says. Giving her ‘a much deeper grasp of the day-to-day issues concerning the company. The new format training has also given the individual businesses the opportunity to engage directly with me and to ask questions about areas which concern them. This has given us more flexibility than traditional tick-the-box online compliance training’. In her new role, Turner will attempt to bring similar internal and external successes to benefit REA Group.