CHATHAM, Ont. – Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) Supervisor Rob Devitt is pleased to announce that Ms. Lori Marshall (pictured) has accepted the position of president and CEO. Ms. Marshall’s appointment was made following a robust recruitment process that saw an unprecedented number of qualified shortlisted applicants for the position.

“Lori Marshall is a well-respected healthcare executive, a principled and committed leader and an active community member in Chatham-Kent,” said Rob Devitt, supervisor.

“She brings to this role an important combination of executive experience in acute care and community care, reputation as a patient-centred strategist with a track record of addressing complex issues through a shared vision and knowledge of our community and region. I can’t think of a better candidate to join our team and help our organization thrive.”

Lori Marshall is a pharmacist with over 15 years of progressive leadership experience in Ontario’s acute and community care sectors. This is Lori’s third appointment as CEO, the first being in 2005 for Nipigon District Memorial Hospital and in 2014 for the Erie St. Clair Community Care Access Centre.

She has served as vice president at two hospitals including Oshawa General Hospital and Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, where she held the positions of VP patient care before being promoted to executive vice president, strategy, performance and Aboriginal health. Lori has a rich history of community service and has been active on many boards and committees at the provincial and local levels.

“I am very excited to join the team at CKHA. This is an opportunity to lead an organization with such a dedicated staff and medical team who provide excellent patient care to our community,” said Lori Marshall. “I value all of the staff, physicians and volunteers who contribute at CKHA and look forward to being a part of that team. As a resident of Chatham-Kent, I am truly honoured to continue to engage with and serve this community.”

Lori is a Registered Pharmacist with the Ontario College of Pharmacists and a Certified Health Executive with the Canadian College of Health Leaders. She holds a Health Leadership Certificate from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and a Masters in Health Administration from the University of Ottawa.

Her appointment follows a successful and efficient recruitment process that saw CKHA use an innovative approach to the challenge of recruiting a President & CEO by coupling its executive search activity with a hospital-led social media campaign. The organization’s engagement of the community to identify the key attributes they were seeking in their next leader paid dividends and was key to a very timely yet comprehensive process that identified top healthcare leaders from across Canada.

The search firm credited CKHA with the success of this process. “Having such high levels of engagement from the current executive, all levels of staff and the broader community helped us deliver this search in eight weeks with a broad range of exceptional leaders to consider,” explained Jon Stungevicius, Waterhouse Executive Search. “This is clearly an organization and community that cares and we are grateful to have had the opportunity to assist them in their leadership recruitment efforts.”

The video was promoted by the Ontario Hospital Association and the Canadian College of Health Leaders and reached over 1400 views. “I want to thank our community for their input into the video that identified what we needed in our next CEO. Your ideas and contributions were taken to heart. Lori’s attributes and reputation as a person and leader reflect everything the community and our staff told us we needed,” added Devitt.

Lori will join CKHA on March 1, 2017. Ken Deane, president and CEO (Interim) will work with her for one month to assist with the transition.