Bar one that declined to join, its regional bodies, including southern, dissolved into the national office.
Staff employment agreements transferred from regional entities, which were incorporated societies, to the Wellington-based national body.
Foundation chief executive Mark Vivian said the organisation would be able to develop new services and carry out ''smarter'' fundraising.
The regional bodies had ''struggled'' financially for the past five years, and several had ''eaten into reserves''.
''They've been slipping backwards. The national office, on the other hand, has a very good fundraising programme in place, and we've in fact been growing our revenue significantly each of the past five years.''
The organisation was now equipped to deal with growing demand for stroke recovery services.
The relationship between the national body and the Central region (lower North Island), which declined to join, was yet to be worked out.
Mr Vivian said the now defunct regional boards had been able to veto proposals from head office, which led to a lack of consistency across the country. Despite the fact no Otago-Southland residents were appointed to the national board, it was planned the previous boards would morph into regional advisory committees, retaining a provincial voice.
The southern region encompasses the South Island.
Field officers' job titles had changed to ''community stroke advisers'', better reflecting their roles.
The changes were kept ''under the radar'', as the organisation did not wish to confuse current users of the service, who were unaffected, Mr Vivian said.
