What drew you to a career in healthcare?
When I was younger, I remember being on vacation and meeting a person who worked for a pharmaceutical company. Even though I had doctors in my family, I was amazed and impressed by how much this “normal” person knew about different active ingredients found in over the counter drugs.  I had a chance to join a pharma company and then a consumer healthcare organization and ended up spending over 30 years in the industry.  Knowing that the products we made were helping people live healthier lives was an inspiration to me every day. 

In your view, what does the future of healthcare procurement look like?  
Everyone knows that healthcare costs are increasing while governments and the entire healthcare industry struggle to deal with some big challenges.  These challenges will only increase as we face growing healthcare needs from our aging population.  Healthcare procurement must continue to play a vital role in the provision of products and services that are of the right quality, the right price and that can be reliably sourced.  This needs to be done in partnership with suppliers and healthcare providers in order to drive effective patient outcomes which, ultimately, must continue to be our primary goal. 

What makes the mission of HealthPRO Canada meaningful to you?  
Effective patient outcomes that lead to healthier Canadians is what matters to me.  Achieving this within a structure that Canadians can afford is paramount and so HealthPRO Canada’s “Promise to Canadian Healthcare” and its focus on contract performance, customer experience, patient outcomes and healthcare innovation strike the right notes. 

With an accomplished and impressive career, what are you most looking forward to in this next chapter?   
Having more time to focus on family, on the things that really matter, and using my experiences to help organizations that are supporting the greater good for Canadians. 

What are your personal interests outside of work?  
I enjoy music, sports, cars, home renovations, gardening, reading, binge-watching TV shows, traveling, and spending time in the country. 

Favourite quote or motto?   
Most of my favourite quotes are ones that I make up. My personal motto used to be “Happiness is Everything” and that evolved to “Master Happiness. Master Life”.  Now those concepts have turned into “Make the most out of every minute but be there for the people that matter.” 

You’ve worked across multiple international jurisdictions including Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the United States and Canada. What are some of the most innovative or inspiring practices in healthcare from these different countries? 
I think that Australia and New Zealand, while different countries, have similar healthcare systems to Canada, but I recall that Australia spends less per capita than Canada (perhaps driven by higher private sector and user pay involvement).  Europe, in general, provides for more services centrally compared to Canada, with Canada paying more for private insurance.  Switzerland was quite different where the government mandated that everyone had to pay into a private system.  The Swiss system was, however, highly regulated and therefore many elements, including costs, were strongly controlled.  Access to good doctors, hospitals and service in Switzerland was very good.  As for the U.S., simplistically, if you could afford to have private insurance, you received good service.  Overall, what has inspired me more, is not how a country managed its healthcare system, but rather, how the best healthcare practitioners and administrators have been able to work together to adapt and quickly adopt advancements in medical technologies and treatments.