Special Edition: VCH Senior Executive Team re-organization

One of the foundations of a great organization is the strength of its leadership. I believe that the most important aspect of my job as CEO of VCH is making sure that we have an exceptional senior team where each member exhibits an extraordinary fit between their skills and the challenge of the job.  After a great deal of thought and evaluation, I have decided to make some changes to the Senior Executive Team (SET) that I believe will capitalize on the strengths of our team and the leadership of our already amazing organization and enable all of us to move to the next level as one of Canada’s leading health care providers. These moves are aligned to support our three major priorities for the year ahead – Clinical & Systems Transformation (CST); Physician Engagement; and Operational Performance.

Effective Monday, June 16, the following changes will take place to SET:

• Mike Nader becomesChief Operating Officer – Coastal. Mike is moving from his current position as Chief Operating Officer – Richmond that he has held since 2012, and the executive leadership of CST that he has held for the past year. This move will not only broaden his operational experience as the leader of our most diverse urban/rural Community of Care (CoC), but VCH will benefit from his leadership for the first “go live” sites for CST which will begin  in Coastal in 2015.  Mike’s strong focus on operational performance, his history with CST and his experience with implementing new systems as lead for Medical Imaging will be of great benefit to Coastal and VCH.
• Wendy Hansson becomes Vice-President of Physician Engagement and Strategic Initiatives. During her time as Chief Operating Officer – Coastal, Wendy has been a leader in renewing the engagement of the medical staff in the operations of Coastal as well as developing a productive relationship with the Divisions of Family Practice across the CoC. Wendy will build on these strengths and share her learnings across the organization. She will now be the lead for Primary Care and its work with the Family Practice divisions across VCH, as well as work closely with the Health Authority Medical Advisory Committee (HAMAC) on ways to more actively engage our physician leadership. Wendy will partner with the CST team to align physicians to this important VCH strategic priority and also represent VCH on Provincial initiatives.
•  To support the priority of physician engagement, I have invited the Chair of HAMAC to attend SET meetings to ensure there is an active voice to reflect the views, ideas and concerns of our regional medical staff at the table. Dr. John Maynard currently fills this role and his input already has been invaluable.
• Because of the shifts in Community of Care portfolios, I am recruiting for a Chief Operating Officer – Richmond. In the meantime, Dermot Kelly has agreed to take on this responsibility on an interim basis. Dermot is currently Director of Medical Administration/Surgical Services & Ambulatory Care in Richmond and has an extensive background in health quality and safety leadership. I encourage everyone to support Dermot during this transition and look forward to his important contribution at the SET table.
• To further reflect CST as a VCH priority, I have created a new role of Vice-President of CST and Special Projects. This position will play a significant role in the development and implementation of CST across VCH.  I will be recruiting into this position over the coming months.
• Susan Wannamaker is appointed to the new position of Vice-President, Professional Practice and Chief Clinical Information Officer and will work in close partnership with the new Vice-President of CST and Special Projects, and Dr. Bruce Long, Chief Medical Information Officer for CST. In addition to her current role leading Professional Practice, in this new role Susan will provide leadership to clinicians across VCH to achieve the essential “clinical transformation” within the CST project that will allow us to achieve the intended benefits of improved quality and safety in patient care. Her extensive experience as a nursing practice leader, as well as many years of operational leadership, makes her uniquely qualified to facilitate a successful implementation of CST.  On an interim basis, Susan will also assume the overall leadership of the CST project as Mike moves to the Coastal position until the recruitment is completed for the vacant Vice-President of CST and Special Projects.
• Dr. Jeff Coleman has accepted a position with the Ministry of Health as Physician Consultation Executive. In this position, he will have the opportunity to expand on many of the initiatives that he has led for VCH at a provincial level to the benefit of both VCH and the province.  He will, however, maintain leadership within VCH for the innovative Choosing Wisely initiative that ensures appropriate use of our scarce diagnostic and surgical resources. Jeff has been a member of SET since inception in 2001 and an active member of the medical staff for over three decades. His perspective on regional structures and process will be missed at the SET table, but I want to thank him for his outstanding contribution and commitment to our organization. His new focus means that Wendy Hansson will now assume executive leadership for completing the transition of regional councils to programs announced in February. There will be further communication shortly to confirm the specific executive and operational leadership for each program along with next steps.
• Finally, as a result of Jeff’s move, the responsibilities of Executive Lead for Lower Mainland Consolidated Medical Imaging will be assumed by Glen Copping, Chief Financial Officer and Vice-President of Systems Development & Performance.

I recognize that realignment such as this can create anxiety among the organization as people wonder what might come next and I have attached an updated SET org chart to show the new makeup. My plan right now is to bring stability to the SET table and focus on strategy development and priority setting that will give all of us greater confidence in doing the jobs we do even better.

Please let me know if you have any questions as I truly value your feedback, ideas and concerns as we continue to work together to make Vancouver Coastal Health an even stronger and more successful health provider.

Mary Ackenhusen
President & CEO
Vancouver Coastal Health