Special Edition: Mary Ackenhusen appointed CEO
On behalf of the Board, I am pleased to appoint Mary Ackenhusen as President and Chief Executive Officer for Vancouver Coastal Health effective Monday, April 14, 2014.
Mary is already well known to you, having been a member of the VCH Senior Executive Team in a variety of roles since 2007. During that time, she has shown outstanding leadership and a commitment to innovation, efficiency and productivity to support our True North goals and strategies.
When Dr. David Ostrow announced his intention to retire, the Board commenced a search for outstanding candidates to lead our complex $3.2 billion organization. We knew that finding the level of experience, expertise and commitment necessary to lead VCH into the future would be challenging, but we also knew that a wealth of competency exists within the current executive leadership group. To be able to hand the reins over to an “internal” candidate speaks volumes not just for the quality of leadership already in VCH, but for Dr. Ostrow in ensuring such competencies are an integral part of our organization.
Mary earned her MBA at Harvard and was a vice president at Fraser Health for seven years prior to joining VCH as Chief Operating Officer for the Coastal Community of Care. In 2010 she accepted the role of Chief Operating Officer for Vancouver, with one of her first challenges being the integration of Vancouver Acute and Vancouver Community into a single, unified Community of Care. Since then, Mary has encouraged a People First approach to care by redesigning services to improve patient outcomes and efficiencies despite growing demand pressures. She also accepted the duties as acting Chief Financial Officer and VP of Systems Development & Performance in 2013 while recruitment was underway for that role.
On behalf of everyone at VCH, I wish to extend thanks to Mary Ackenhusen for accepting this challenging position and agreeing to bring the continuity of strong leadership necessary to maintain the strategic directions of Vancouver Coastal Health. Please join me in welcoming her to this role.
I also want to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Ostrow once again for his service which will officially end on Friday, April 11, 2014.
Sincerely,
Kip Woodward
Board Chair, Vancouver Coastal Health