Senior Advisor

Mary is a visionary healthcare executive with 20 years of diverse senior management experience within the British Columbia provincial healthcare network, including 6 years as the CEO of Vancouver Coastal Health.   She is known as a tireless advocate working to accelerate the transformation of the Canadian healthcare system into a modern and sustainable service.  Mary served as an executive leader in the regionalization of British Columbia health services since its inception in 2000 and has deep experience in leveraging the benefits of integration to improve health outcomes and reduce costs.   Mary possesses a proven talent for both strategic development and tactical execution that spans strategy, operations, financial and facilities management, and organizational transformation.  

She has led healthcare innovation in both the clinical and technology realms by paying particular attention to the systems and culture required to drive change.  She was one of two CEO co-leads responsible for implementing, at the time, the largest cross-organizational clinical software implementation in Canada.   Additionally, she has a career history of success in working closely with physicians, varied health professions and frontline personnel to achieve sustained improvements in patient outcomes.

Mary has held successive executive leadership roles at Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health. She also served as Associate Deputy Minister and Innovation Executive in Residence at the BC Ministry of Health and Executive Advisor within the healthcare practice of Deloitte Canada.  Prior to her career in healthcare, she spent 9 years leading operations at INSEAD business school in France, and 5 years in high tech manufacturing as a plant manager in the United States.  Mary’s passion and expertise in system change began with her two degrees in Industrial Engineering (B.S. and M.S.) from West Virginia University and her MBA from Harvard University.  

Mary has served on many healthcare and social purpose Boards including Vancouver Foundation, Telus Community, Michael Smith Foundation, Genome BC, and Street to Home, among others.  She was named one of Canada’s Top 25 CEOs by Glassdoor in 2019 and one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women in 2013 and 2014.