Board of Directors
Patrick K. Horgan
Chair
Pat’s career spanned many transitions in the IT industry and within IBM – and was instrumental in leading numerous transformational efforts both in Canada and Globally over his 35 years.
In Pat’s final role he led a wide range of business operations for IBM Canada from CIO, Procurement, Supply Chain to Government Relations. As head of Innovation he led IBM Canada’s SW Lab and IBM Microelectronics Plant in Bromont, Quebec – both the largest in the country. Pat was the Chair of the IBM Canada Board.
In June 2020 Pat was announced Chair of the Board of the Southlake Regional Health Centre.
He also holds a Thompson Industrial Fellow position at Western University focusing on AI and its implications to the university. He is a member Newmarket Economic Advisory Committee.
Pat participated on many external Boards, including being 2013/14 Chair of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce; the Ontario Brain Institute; the Canadian Council of Aboriginal Business and Social Science & Humanities Research Council.
Pat is an Ivey Business School graduate and holds a CPA designation.
Marilee Harris
Vice Chair
Marilee has championed the cost-effective growth of a variety of businesses within telecommunications, energy, security, retail, educational and communications segments.
Marilee’s skills involve strategic planning, brand strategy, marketing and new product development.
During her career she has held a number of executive positions for national and global organizations including Vice President Marketing TYCO Security International, Vice President, International Marketing & Strategic Planning, Direct Energy, Vice President, Marketing & Field Support, C1 Telecommunications, Vice President, Marketing, Coles Book Stores/Chapters, Executive Director, Marketing, Hallmark Cards, as well as Director Communications, CBC Radio.
With a strong commitment to the educational sector, Marilee has held the positions of Chair, Board of Governors, Seneca College, and affiliations with the Executive Committee of the Association of the Ontario College Board Chairs.
Her community involvement includes 8 years of membership in the Town of Aurora Economic Development Advisory Committee and was appointed in 2018 as Vice Chair of the newly appointed Economic Development Board. She is currently a member of both the Quality and Finance & Property Committees of Southlake Regional Hospital. In March of 2020 she was asked to join the Mayor of the town of Aurora’s Covid Business Recovery Task Force. She is listed as one of the top 300 Canadian women in business in the Women in The Lead 2001 and 2003 Ivey School of Business Directory.
Diana Brouwer
Treasurer
Diana Brouwer is an assurance partner with Ernst & Young LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants. Diana has spent over 25 years of her career specializing in the government and not-for-profit sector with a specific focus in both health care and education. In her career Diana has always been actively involved in initiatives outside of her day job, from involvement with her professional organizations such as CPA Canada and CPA Ontario, through to local initiatives such as her time as the chair of the Town of East Gwillimbury’s Physician Recruitment and Retention Committee (2009 to 2013) and a member of the Southlake Ladies in Philanthropy (2011 to 2016).
Diana serves as the Chair of the Audit Committee.
Diana lives in Sharon with her husband and two daughters.
Barbara Bellissimo
Chair, Foundation
Barbara is an experienced executive with over 30 years in the insurance and financial services industry. She held several influential senior executive roles in Canada and the USA. As Chief Agent and SVP, she led State Farm Insurance Canada from 2009 to 2015. She was was instrumental in the integration and transition into Desjardins and continued to lead the organization until 2020.
She is a graduate of Western University and a Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional. As an influential advisor in the insurance industry, she was Chair for the Institute for Catastrophic Loss (ICLR) and a past board member of the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC).
Barbara’s expertise extends beyond the boardroom, she’s passionate about mentoring individuals and teams, helping them reach their full potential. Dedicated to the advancement of women in business, she has been a member and global board member of the International Women’s Forum (IWF) and developed and led the State Farm Insurance Women’s network.
As a York Region resident, Barbara actively engages in the community. She has served on the United Way Campaign Cabinet Committee for many years and on the Southlake Regional Health Centre Foundation board since 2018. She was awarded The Ontario Volunteer Service Award for her years of dedicated service to the community.
Ansar Ahmed
Director
Ansar Ahmed, P.Eng., is a seasoned professional engineer who brings to the Board of Directors over 25 years of public and private sector experience delivering infrastructure across Canada. Prior to launching Partnership Solutions Limited, an advisory and management consulting firm, Ansar held a number of executive positions at Metrolinx (GO Transit),the Ontario Ministries of Transportation and Energy & Infrastructure as well as positions within the consulting engineering sector.
Ansar completed his undergraduate studies at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute and received his P.Eng. designation through the University of Toronto School of Professional Studies.
Ansar has lived in Newmarket for the past 23 years with his wife Cheryl and their four children. Over the years, Ansar has volunteered his time to several local groups including Belinda’s Place, the Newmarket Islamic Centre, the Mayor’s Interfaith Council along with Newmarket Minor Hockey and the Newmarket Baseball Association.
Doug Bannister
Director
Doug Bannister is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Omnivex Corporation. Over a career spanning three decades, Doug has built a reputation for being a visionary in the digital communications space. Doug is passionate about digital transformation and the role it plays in business operations, sales and the customer experience. An experienced speaker, Doug presents regularly at industry events and on webcasts, covering a wide range of topics including the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, integrative technologies, and emerging digital models.
Doug lives in Aurora, holds a degree in Engineering from Queen’s University and is a member of Mensa Canada.
Mike Downs
Director
Mike Downs is a Senior Vice President with Connor, Clark and Lunn Private Capital. He has served on the Southlake Regional Health Centre Board of Directors since 2013, and is a member of the Finance & Property and Governance & People committees. He has more than 24 years’ experience in discretionary investment management, tax and estate planning and Not-for-Profit organizations. Mike graduated from the University of Western Ontario and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Certified Investment Management (CIM) designations.
Avanthi Goddard
Director
In a career of over 35 years of experience in the health care industry Avanthi Goddard worked across the hospital sector in leadership and consultant roles in areas of Performance Management, Risk Management, Accreditation specialist and Governance leadership. During her health care career Avanthi also operated an independent consulting practice that included specialization in mergers and acquisitions. Avanthi served as an Accreditation surveyor with Accreditation Canada and is presently Accreditation surveyor with CARF International.
Avanthi has served on Boards for over 25 years including serving as Board Chair for the Community Home Assistance to Seniors (CHATS), for the York Region Children’s Aide Society and for the Ontario Association of Children’s Aide Societies. Presently Avanthi is a Board member of the Blue Mountain Village Association, an Executive member of the Ontario Chapter of the Institute of Corporate Directors and more recently appointed on the Board of Southlake Regional Health Centre.
Avanthi holds a Honours degree in Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University, a diploma in Adult Training & Development from the University of Toronto, and is a graduate of the Director Education Program from Rotman School of Management. She achieved her designation as a professional director with the Institute of Corporate Directors.
Sean Sprogis
Director
Sean Sprogis was born and raised in Toronto. After graduating from Silverthorne Collegiate Institute in Etobicoke he went to Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) in Waterloo where he majored in Business Administration with a minor in Economics and also played for two years on Wilfrid Laurier’s Varsity Baseball team. After graduating from WLU, he went to work at IBM in their Finance organization. While holding progressive roles at IBM, Sean completed his Certified Public Accounting (CPA) designation in the State of Delaware, Certified Management Accounting (CMA) designation in Ontario, and his Masters of Business Administration Degree at York University’s Schulich School of Business.
In his final role at IBM, he and his family moved to Vancouver, BC, where he was the Vice President and Delivery Leader for IBM’s Province of BC and Health Shared Services clients. Upon moving back to Ontario, he joined TD and is currently the Vice President of Business Operations in TD’s Platform & Technology Division. Sean lives in Sharon, Ontario, is married to Sharlene who is a Special Education teacher in the York Catholic District School Board and has three children.
Stacie Stanton
Director
Stacie Stanton was appointed to the Hospital Board in 2013. She has sat on numerous Boards in various positions including past-Chair of The Country Day School Board and is presently serving on the Southlake Foundation Board and the King City Cemetery Board. She has engaged in Board leadership, strategy development and volunteer fundraising for non-profit organizations for more than 20 years. Since 2010, she has been the Editor of the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph, North America’s oldest continuously running newspaper. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce (BComm) degree from Queen’s University and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from Osgoode Hall Law School.
Andrew Tamlin
Director
Andrew Tamlin, CPA is Chief Financial Officer of TWC Enterprises Limited – a publicly listed company. TWC is owner of ClubLink Corporation (based in King CIty, Ontario) – the largest owner and operator of golf clubs in Canada and is the former owner of White Pass & Yukon Route tourist railway, based out of Alaska. Mr. Tamlin has been with the TWC group of companies in varying roles for approximately 25 years, including as Controller. Mr. Tamlin was also appointed Chief Financial Officer for Morguard REIT in November 2018. Morguard REIT is a diversified real estate publicly listed REIT focusing on office and retail asset classes. Mr. Tamlin has been a local resident in Newmarket for the last 25 years.
Derek Watchorn
Director
Derek Watchorn has a legal and business background. He was for many years a partner of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg in Toronto. Following this, he held senior executive positions with Canary Wharf plc. and TrizecHahn plc. located in London, England. Thereafter, for five years, he was the President and CEO of Revera Inc, a retirement and nursing home business based in Mississauga.
Currently, Derek is a director of two publicly traded companies listed on the TSX, a member of the Management Committee responsible for the development of the Buttonville airport in Markham, a member of the Advisory Committee for Graywood Developments Limited, a Toronto based real estate developer and the Chair of Polo For Heart, an annual charitable event held in Aurora.
Suzanne Wolfe
Director
Suzanne Wolfe is the Vice President of Organizational Development at Danaher Corporation headquartered in Washington D.C. Suzanne has held several positions in the Danaher organization over the last 30 years. In her role as Vice President of Human Resources & Communications for the SCIEX business, she facilitated the transfer of the manufacturing facility from Concord, Ontario to Singapore. Suzanne led the acquisition and integration of three businesses in the US, the acquisition of two carve-outs from sister companies in the US and India, the divestiture of a business in the US and the closure of a product line globally. She successfully led the ISO 2000 certification for the quality management system (QMS). Under her leadership, SCIEX was ranked number 22 in the Globe and Mail’s Top 100 companies (2002) to work for due to a performance-based culture and a progressive and supportive work environment.
In her current role since 2015, Suzanne has led the design, implementation and management of a global selection and development assessment framework and a global coaching model and internal certification process. She is currently managing a change enablement framework to ensure that change initiative targets are met and sustained.
Suzanne holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Adult Education from the University of Toronto. She is trained as an executive coach and is a certified change practitioner.
Non-Director Members
Southlake Staff Members
Arden Krystal
President & CEO
Secretary of the Board
Arden Krystal joined Southlake Regional Health Centre as President and Chief Executive Officer in October 2017. Since 2008, Arden held senior executive roles in two of Canada’s largest health regions: The Fraser Health Authority (FHA) and the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) in British Columbia.
Arden was responsible for leading thousands of staff and physicians to improve and sustain quality of care and overseeing financial stewardship of budgets totaling more than $1-billion.
Dr. Charmaine van Schaik
Chief of Staff
Dr. Charmaine van Schaik trained in Paediatrics at McMaster University, after completing a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Psychology and Master’s of Science in Kinesiology. Since joining Southlake in 2004, Charmaine has acted as a Physician Leader at Southlake in multiple capacities, as well as the previous Chief of Paediatrics and Medical Director of the Paediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO) Satellite Clinic when it launched at Southlake in 2009. More recently, Charmaine served on the Southlake’s COVID-19 Clinical Advisory Panel (CCAP) and is the Co-Medical Lead for Southlake’s COVID-19 Vaccination Committee, where she was instrumental in promoting community awareness through regular appearances in local media.
Dr. van Schaik advises Ontario’s Ministry of Health on pediatric cancer care as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at POGO and is a Lecturer with the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto.
Charmaine is also a very proud mother of five children.
Elizabeth Ferguson
Vice President, Clinical Transformation, Patient Experience and Chief Nursing Executive
Chief Nursing Executive
Liz is a nurse executive with expertise in strategic change initiatives in acute care hospitals and a passion for patient and family centred care. Prior to joining Southlake, Liz was the Vice-President, Patient Programs, Flow and Chief Nursing Executive at Royal Victoria Health Centre and Vice-President Clinical Operations and Chief Nursing Executive at Sault Area Hospital. Liz also served as Director, Clinical Programs, Centre for Brain and Mental Health at SickKids where she also started her nursing career as a pediatric intensive care nurse.
Liz is a Registered Nurse who holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Toronto and Master of Science in Nursing from D’Youville College. She has completed the Advanced Healthcare Leadership Program at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Liz has recently chaired regional clinical steering committees in multi-site projects for the implementation of Meditech Expanse in both Northern Ontario and Central North and served as a key influencer in the Provincial Epilepsy Strategy in 2016. Liz is a visionary, value-based leader and advocate for the design and delivery of an innovative, quality-driven health care system.
Medical Staff Association
Dr. Edward Chan
President, Medical Staff Association
Dr. Edward Chan joined the Southlake Department of Emergency Medicine as a Courtesy Staff member in 2008 and then joined the Active Staff in 2010. Dr. Chan has been the Vice President of the Medical Staff Association since July 2012 and is currently the Physician Leader of the Emergency Program.
He completed his medical degree at the University of Ottawa and Family Medicine Residency at the University of Toronto. He holds a certification in Emergency Medicine through the Canadian College of Family Physicians. Dr. Chan has held positions in Kirkland Lake, Orillia Soldier’s Memorial and Royal Victoria Hospital, and St. Joseph’s Health Centre.
Dr. Kira Tone
Vice President, Medical Staff Association
Dr. Kira Tone joined Southlake Regional Health Centre in 2017 as a full time Anesthesiologist in the Department of Anesthesiology. She is the lead of the pre-operative clinic lead and has a special interest in perioperative medicine. She is joining the Medical Staff Association as Vice president in 2022.
Dr. Tone attended medical school at the University of Sydney and went on to complete her residency in Anesthesiology at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Tone grew up in Newmarket and had always intended to return to Southlake after her years of training to serve her community.
Calendar
Policies
2023 Meeting Summaries
2022 Meeting Summaries
2021 Meeting Summaries
2020 Meeting Summaries
As with many hospitals dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, our Board opted to suspend open board meetings, effective March 2020.
2019 Meeting Summaries
2018 Meeting Summaries
2017 Meeting Summaries
2016 Meeting Summaries
2015 Meeting Summaries