New president and CEO at St. Thomas hospital

ST. THOMAS, Ont. – The St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital (STEGH) Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Karen Davies (pictured) to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer, effective August 7, 2021. Karen was selected following an extensive national search conducted by the Medfall Group, a Canadian-owned executive search firm. Karen is an accomplished leader who, for the past nine years, has held the position of Vice President, Integrated Care and Chief Nursing Executive at STEGH.

“The Board is confident that Karen has the right leadership qualities, depth and breadth of experience and demonstrated values to take STEGH forward during an extraordinarily challenging and pivotal time for our organization, patients and families, and our community,” says Peter van der Westen, STEGH’s board chair.

With more than 22 years of progressive healthcare leadership, Karen has an unwavering commitment to quality excellence and the patient experience with a reputation for achieving results and inspiring others.

Karen helped to lead large transformational changes to the hospital, including the $100 million facility expansion project where she led operational readiness and delivered on the execution of the move into the new hospital tower in 2017. As Vice President, she has been responsible for all clinical programs and services in addition to many non-clinical services and has been instrumental in building and sustaining the collaborative and high-performing culture for which STEGH has become known for.

Karen has a track record of establishing high performing teams, empowering leadership, and nurturing partnerships and networks across the broader health system. She has distinguished herself as a passionate champion of patient and family-centred care and the pursuit of excellence.

A mentor and teacher, Karen inspires individuals and teams to go beyond what they think is possible. Karen holds an Adjunct Clinical appointment at the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing at Western University and is an active surveyor with Accreditation Canada.

“It is an honour and privilege for me to lead at STEGH. This is a challenging time in healthcare and it is also a time of great opportunity,” says Davies.

Karen obtained her Nursing designation from Fanshawe College, a Bachelor of Arts in Administrative and Commercial Studies from Western University and a Master’s in Healthcare Administration from Athabasca University. She is a Certified Healthcare Executive with the Canadian College of Health Leaders and in 2019 was nominated for the Premiers Award for Outstanding Ontario College Graduate, and in the same year was awarded a Distinguished Alumni Award from Fanshawe College.