Grand River Hospital’s Board of Directors includes the following individuals. In addition to attending monthly Board meetings, members also take part in several committees focusing on specific areas of the hospital’s activities.
Our 2022-23 Board members include:
Sandra Hanmer, Chair
Sandra is currently an executive in residence with Capacity Canada. She was the founding CEO of the WWLHIN, serving in that position for 5 years. She has international experience including serving as CEO of Healthcare of New Zealand Ltd., a national private for profit community based health care organization. Sandra is a passionate advocate for integrated patient-centred care. She is a strategic leader and accomplished community builder.
David Graham, First Vice-Chair
David holds an MBA, is a CPA and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants. Following his retirement from PricewaterhouseCoopers, he has continued to work with a small group of clients to whom he provides business advisory services. David has served as Chair of the Board of Trustees of SMGH, United Way, Leadership Waterloo, and the Ontario Summer Games and served on the Board of other community non-profit organizations.
Xavier Vallverdu, Second Vice-Chair
Xavier is founder and CEO of CAMTACAN, a finance boutique consulting firm providing CFO services to companies around the region. Previously, Xavier worked in various finance roles for General Electric, including CFO of Baker Hughes, a GE Company; Operational Controller for GE Canada and its Healthcare division; and Audit Manager. He has also sat on GE Canada's Pension and Benefits Board. Xavier received his MBA from Ivey School of Business at Western University in 2012, and is fluent in English, Catalan and Spanish.
Ron Gagnon, President and CEO, Secretary of Board
Ron was appointed President and CEO of GRH in November 2018. Previously, Ron served at the President and CEO of the Sault Area Hospital, and prior to that as their Senior VP of Corporate Services. Ron led SAH through the development of a new hospital facility, the successful management of financial challenges, and a wide range of quality improvement and wellness initiatives. He has an Honours Bachelor of Commerce Degree from Laurentian University and is a Chartered Professional Accountant, Certified Management Accountant.
Garth Cressman, Director
As CEO of WalterFedy and AEC, Garth is responsible for delivering on corporate strategy, growth and aligning business operations with the company’s values and vision. Garth was formerly a Partner and VP of Operations at Collaborative Structures Ltd. Garth’s governance experience includes being a past President of the Rotary Club of Waterloo and on the Board of Directors for Community Justice Initiatives (CJI) for the past 5 years. He has an MBA and is a Professional Engineer.
Dr. Vivek Goel, Director
Dr. Vivek Goel is President and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Waterloo. He has held a number of senior leadership roles at the University of Toronto including as Vice-President and Provost and most recently as Vice-President Research and Innovation. He served as founding President and CEO of Public Health Ontario and also as a founding scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), where he continues as an Adjunct Senior Scientist. He has extensive experience in governance and currently is Chair of the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Goel obtained his medical degree from McGill University and completed post-graduate medical training in Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Goel obtained a master’s degree (MSc) in Community Health from U of T and a master’s degree (MS) in Biostatistics from Harvard University School of Public Health.
Dr. Angela Good, Director, President of MSA
Dr. Good is serving as the current President of the Medical Staff Association for Grand River Hospital and St. Mary's General Hospital. She is an active member of the joint medical staff (Emergency) since 2007. She has served as President of the KW Academy of Medicine 2014-2018, and has been an active member on various committees at both hospitals including quality of care, pandemic response and Med-Tech. Dr. Good completed her medical degree (2004) and family medicine residency at Queen's University (2006), and emergency medicine residency at Western University (2007).
Rob Hall, Director
Rob is a financial services executive with global experience. Prior to founding Bankspeak Inc., he spent over 30 years with various large financial institutions, including Meridian Credit Union, Desjardins and TD Bank Financial Group as a commercial Vice-President. Rob holds a BSc from the University of Guelph and is a Board member and Treasurer of the Ontario Agriculture College Alumni Foundation, Past President of the Alumni Association and graduate and Board member of the Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program.
Dr. Dieter Kays, Director
Dr. Dieter Kays is the former CEO/President of FaithLife Financial, one of the largest Canadian Fraternal insurance companies, and former CEO of Lutherwood and the developer of Luther Village on the Park in Waterloo. With a PhD in organizational effectiveness, he has a special interest in value driven leadership and aligning governance practices, strategy and organizational culture for effective organizational performance. A corporate director since 2010, Dr. Kays has served on a variety of boards including the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, and St. Mary’s General Hospital. Currently he is on board for the Ombuds Services for the Life and Health Insurance Industry and chairs the Lutheran Church-Canada Worker Benefit Board.
Elaine Leung, Director
Currently an independent executive advisor, Elaine has held senior positions in the areas of business advisory, strategic planning, and program management at various organizations including the Lazaridis Institute of Wilfrid Laurier University and the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Growth. As the former Chair of the KW YMCA, Elaine counts among her accomplishments, the merger of four regional YMCAs in 2020. Elaine has degrees in computer science and economics and certificates in business (Ivey Executive Program) and governance (The Directors College, DeGroote School of Business & Conference Board of Canada).
Joanna Lohrenz, Director
Joanna is Chief Pension Services Officer at The University Pension Plan. Prior to this role, Joanna spent 20 years at Manulife and successfully filled many transformational and client service centered executive roles including VP Strategy Group Benefits, VP Sponsor Experience Group Benefits, VP Transformation Customer Experience, and VP Contact Centres, among others. Joanna’s professional expertise includes negotiation, transformational change, strategic planning and execution, and digital adoption. Joanna holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Western University in London Ontario and is Chair of the Board of Capacity Canada.
Fauzia Mazhar, Director
Fauzia Mazhar earned her first BA in Economics from Pakistan. She completed a second BA in Psychology, Master of Social Work with specialization in Community, Policy, Planning, Organizations (CPPO), and a post graduate certificate in Leadership and Management from Wilfrid Laurier University. Fauzia is also a proud graduate of Leadership Waterloo Region’s Community Leadership program, and a proud recipient of Leading Women, Building Communities Award (2015), and Ken Murray Award (2021). Fauzia has 20 years of experience in the social profit sector, much of it in leadership and management. She is currently the Executive Director of Coalition of Muslim Women of KW, a local not for profit organization she co-founded in 2010 with a small but mighty group of women. A staunch advocate of equality, she is a community builder and an engaged citizen, who passionately brings people and groups together to build a welcoming, inclusive, and safe community.
Caroline Meyer, Director
Currently partner at Strigberger Brown Armstrong LLP, Caroline practices insurance litigation. Caroline received her Master's and Juris Doctor degrees at the University of Toronto and is certified in risk management. She has worked internationally in Italy (management consulting), Australia (litigation funding) and the United States (death penalty defense). Caroline is passionate about the delivery of health services to traditionally underserved communities.
Dr. Peter Potts, Director, Joint Chief of Staff
Dr. Potts is the Joint Chief of Staff for GRH and SMGH. He received his medical degree from McMaster University in 1986 and his Fellowship in Obstetrics and Gynecology from UWO in 1991. He has been an active member of the joint medical staff at GRH and SMGH since June 26, 1991 and served as Chief of Reproductive Medicine from June 1, 2009 to August 31, 2015. From June 2014 to August 31, 2015 he served as Deputy Chief of Staff.
Gloria Ringwood, Director
Gloria is a visionary leader with extensive senior experience in the Ontario and British Columbia health care system. Her experience spans teaching and community health care facilities providing services in Acute, Chronic, Long-Term Care, Mental Health and Rehab Medicine; Ministries of Health; Public Health; LHINs and other organizations. Her areas of expertise include corporate leadership, information and technology and change management.
Currently the Chair of the Conestoga College Life Sciences Community Services Applied Health Information Professional Advisory Committee for the BAHIS degree program and has held board positions with Leadership Waterloo, WWD Victorian Order of Nurses and Health Information Management Systems Society of Ontario. Gloria received education in health information management and business and holds designation as a certified health information management professional, CHIM.
Kate Robertson-Cain, Director, VP, Clinical Services and Chief Nursing Executive
Kate brings more than 27 years of experience in health care as a registered nurse and clinical leader. She has extensive experience working in intensive care units, and has managed surgical services as well surgical/oncology units. Kate received a diploma in nursing from Mohawk College and Bachelor of Science in nursing from Ferris State University. She also holds a master’s degree in nursing with a concentration in nursing administration. Kate comes to GRH from the Detroit Medical Center, Adult Central Campus in Detroit, Michigan where she was Associate Chief Nursing Officer.
Paul Singh, Director
Paul was educated at Wilfrid Laurier University in Computing and Computer Electronics. He began his career in the mortgage services field, and has run his own real-estate management and development business for a number of years. Paul has been on the City of Kitchener Council since 2010. Paul brings the skills he has gained through his career, self-employment, committee membership, and knowledge of this community, to provide effective and committed leadership in order to address the distinct concerns of the Ward 6 residents and businesses.
Karen Wetteskind, Director
Karen is currently working for OCTOPUZ Inc. as Chief Operating Officer (COO) as well as for Communitech as a Growth Coach supporting a wide variety of local start-up and scale-up companies. Prior to this, Karen was COO of Accelerated Systems Inc. (ASI) and worked for BlackBerry/RIM in management roles spanning product, global operations and strategic programs. She also worked for Siemens in Germany doing product management and international business development. Karen leverages experience gained from having been trained as a Systems Design Engineer and a CMA when volunteering on the Grand River Hospital Board of Directors.
Our 2022-23 Board Committees and Sub-Committees include the following individuals:
Audit Committee:
- Rob Hall, Chair
- David Graham
- Elaine Leung
- Gary Pooley
- Ron Gagnon
- Sandra Hanmer
- Janice Deganis
- Christopher O'Connor
- Ted Bleaney
Executive Committee:
- Sandra Hanmer, Board Chair
- David Graham
- Xavier Vallverdu
- Ron Gagnon
- Dr. Peter Potts
Governance and Community Engagement Committee:
- Sandra Hanmer, Chair
- Caroline Meyer
- Gloria Ringwood
- Paul Singh
- Ron Gagnon
- Martha George
- Shereen Rowe
Pension Committee:
- Xavier Vallverdu, Chair
- Elaine Leung
- Ron Gagnon
- Sandra Hanmer
- Emilie Gordon
- Andy Ladzik
- Ted Bleaney
- Lisa Strayer
- Lisa Jankov
- Doug Brock
Quality and Patient Safety Committee:
- David Graham, Chair
- Gloria Ringwood
- Joanna Lohrenz
- Caroline Meyer
- Xavier Vallverdu
- Ron Gagnon
- Dr. Peter Potts
- Kate Robertson-Cain
- Sandra Hanmer
- Kari Soontiens
- Dianne Wilbee
- Joanne MacPhail
- Rita Westbrook
- Armen Bakirtzian
- Fauzia Mazhar
Resources Committee:
- Karen Wetteskind
- Elaine Leung
- Rob Hall
- Garth Cressman
- Ron Gagnon
- Sandra Hanmer
- Kirk Miller
- Shereen Rowe