Stevenson Memorial Hospital
Board of Directors 2017/2018
Stevenson Memorial Hospital is a fully accredited facility located in the community of Alliston, Ontario, within the Town of New Tecumseth. The Hospital offers a wide scope of medical and surgical services to a catchment area including Adjala-Tosorontio, Canadian Forces Base Borden, Essa, Innisfil and New Tecumseth.
The Board governs the affairs of the hospital and provides strategic leadership and oversight of operations subject to the Public Hospitals Act, hospital by-laws and other requirements.
Michael Martin, Board Chair
Michael and his family have been residents of Tottenham for more than 15 years. Michael’s extensive experience as a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) working in the role of senior financial officer in both publicly traded and privately held construction companies and a financial services company makes him well suited to serve as Board Chair while the Hospital continues planning for redevelopment. Michael holds both a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) and a Masters of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree from University of Toronto. Michael and his wife Catherine operate a charitable therapeutic horseback riding program for people with disabilities from their home in Tottenham.
Colleen Butler, Board Vice-Chair
Colleen lives in Tottenham with her family and works in Alliston at Feehely Gastaldi. Colleen practiced civil litigation at a Bay Street firm for several years before practicing law in New Tecumseth. She is a member of the Advocates Society and the Ontario Bar Association. Colleen is involved in community organizations and serves as a director for Community Living Association for South Simcoe.
David Knight, Board Treasurer
David describes himself as a small town boy at heart, having been born and raised in Meaford. He is a Chartered Professional Accountant (FCPA, FCA). He was a Partner and Vice-Chair of the international accounting firm KPMG for many years and subsequently served with the Ontario Securities Commission as a Commissioner, Adjudicator and Board member for six years. At present, he is mostly retired from compensated professional work, but he does some consulting from time to time.
David’s past volunteer work has included service as: Vice-chair of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (a predecessor to Toronto Rehab); Chair of the Regional Geriatric Program of Metropolitan Toronto; National Chair of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada; member of the Advisory Committee to the Auditor General of Ontario; member of the two Ontario Financial Review Commissions; an officer of Yorkminster Park Baptist Church in Toronto; and a member or chair of committees and task forces of the CPA institutes.
Darlene Blendick, Director
Recently retired, Darlene worked for 43 years in the prevention of occupational health and safety injuries, latterly as Vice President, Corporate Services. In this role she was responsible for finance, human resources, communications and information technology. Married for 32 years, Darlene has resided in Adjala-Tosorontio with her husband Bill since 2001.
Norm Depta, Director
Norm resides in Alliston with his family and for 15 years has owned and operated a small insurance and financial services firm. He started with a global pharmaceutical company and was part of a management development program where he rotated throughout the organization before being responsible for the Operation’s Personnel/Organizational Development. Norm’s next role was with a large professional services firm as a consultant for Change Management and Organizational Development. Norm spent nearly 10 years as a local volunteer firefighter where he also served on the Board of Directors for the association. He has an Hons. Degree in Psychology, with a focus on Industrial Organizational Psychology, and his post-grad education is in Human Resource Management.
Paul Edmonds, Director
During his 30 year career in the beverage business, working in Canada, USA and Japan, Paul worked for Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola and Cadbury Schweppes. Areas of responsibility spanned, engineering, logistics, marketing and general management. After leading a Canadian division of Cadbury Schweppes for over a decade as V.P. and Officer, it was time to retire. Previously, Paul holds an Engineering Degree (BASc) and a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), both received at University of Toronto.
Moving to the Alliston area, 10 years ago with his wife Linda, he created a Marketing Consultancy business focusing on product development and innovation in the food industry, for North American clients.
On the Board of Directors of his condominium corporation for five years, he held various positions as V.P. and Treasurer. He was invited to join Stevenson Memorial Hospital as an Advisory Member on the Finance Committee in 2009. Then, Paul joined the Hospital Board of Directors in 2010.
Wendy Fairley, Director
Wendy has resided in New Tecumseth since 1973. Her professional life was spent in education; first as a special education teacher and finally as an elementary school Principal. She continues works in that sector with a focus on Educational Leadership. Wendy continues to serve on several boards locally and provincially. She was the founding chair for New Path Youth and Family Services and the Foundation. During her work with these agencies, she has gained insight into how the various ministries operate, and had many opportunities to examine ways to ensure and support strong governance models.
She has served Stevenson Memorial Hospital (SMH) Board for a year. She had the pleasure of co-chairing the 2013 SMH Gala raising funds for our valuable local hospital. As a community member, Wendy is committed to SMH and believes in the ability of the hospital staff to provide excellent health care in a caring environment. She has experience client focused care for her own personal life many times.
Sheila Kaarlela, Director
Sheila has lived in the Township of Adjala-Tosorontio for the past nine years. She is semi-retired after spending over 28 years in the pharmaceutical industry with executive positions in sales and marketing. Along with her husband she is a partner in a consulting business with a focus on pharmaceuticals and healthcare. Sheila became a member of the Stevenson Memorial Hospital Foundation in 2012 and served on the Communications Committee. As well, she Co-chaired the 2012 Stevenson Memorial Hospital Foundation Gala. For the past four years she has been a member of the Stevenson Memorial Hospital Communication Committee and Quality Committee, reporting directly to the Board of Directors. She became a member of the hospital Board of Directors in 2017. Sheila spends her free time golfing, horseback riding, gardening, and curling. Dedicating time to causes such as the redevelopment of Stevenson Memorial Hospital is very rewarding to her.
Marie-Pierre Lussier
Marie is a bilingual Project Management Professional (PMP) with 15 years of experience in the healthcare industry, specialized in technically complex medical equipment implementation and capital projects. Marie holds a Bachelor of Engineering and Management (B.Eng. Mgt.) degree from McMaster University. She has been a resident of New Tecumseth, with her husband Mike, for five years and is looking forward to many more. In her spare time, Marie enjoys renovating her century home, hiking and riding her motorcycle.
John Murray, Director
John is a resident of Rosemont where he and his family are engaged in the extensive rejuvenation of a century farm. A lawyer by profession, John is Registrar, Professional Standards of Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario, and has served as a director and officer of not-for-profit and charitable organizations for nearly twenty years.
Jan Tweedy, Director
Janet Tweedy has been a resident of New Tecumseth with her husband since 1974. She had a 31 year career in education which included being a secondary school administrator for a local board of education, a curriculum coordinator, and a research consultant for a large city board. She served as chairperson of several professional organizations at the board, provincial and national levels. She travelled Ontario extensively as a trainer for the Ontario Ministry of Education in addition to doing extensive public speaking engagements at professional development workshops and conventions for numerous school boards and organizations. Her management experience ranges from school based to board based and province wide for a variety of positions and projects. She has been on a board of directors for three organizations to date and has served SMH as a Board Director since 2013.
The President and CEO; Vice-President/Chief Nursing Executive; Chief of Staff, President of the Medical Staff; President of the Auxiliary and Board Chair of the Foundation are ex- officio members of the Board.
Jody Joseph Levac, President & CEO
Jody has been the President and CEO of Stevenson Memorial Hospital since January 2014. Jody is recognized for his energetic and transformational leadership style, overseeing the strategic and operational planning of the hospital.
He previously worked at Southlake Regional Health Center holding numerous leadership positions in Mental Health, and winning the award of Leadership Excellence in 2010. Jody has worked across both private and public sectors, starting his career in Northern Ontario hospitals. He was a recipient of the Northern Bursary after completing his Undergraduate degree from Laurentian University, and then attending the University of Toronto for a Master’s degree. In 2013 he completed a Doctoral Degree in Health Administration. Jody is a member of the College of Social Work, and holds the designation Certified Healthcare Executive (CHE) from the Canadian College of Health Care Leaders.
He has lead Stevenson Memorial Hospital through the redevelopment stages, and under his tenure, the hospital has achieved Accreditation with Exemplary standing.
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Carrie Jeffreys, VP Patient Services & Chief Nursing Executive
Ms. Jeffreys brings more than 15 years of experience in strategic change leadership and nursing to Stevenson. She holds an Honours Bachelor degree in Nursing (BScN) from the University of Toronto where she received a the Nursing Leadership Award for her graduating class, and an Honours Bachelor degree in Health Sciences (BHSc) from Western University. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Western Australia, where she was awarded the Annie Wilkinson Prize for the International MBA Student of the Year and was the graduating Valedictorian for the MBA class of 2008.
Ms. Jeffreys started her career as a Registered Nurse (RN) with a specialization in Perinatal/Obstetrics and is certified by the College of Nurses Ontario. She received her Certified Health Executive (CHE) certificate from the Canadian College of Health Leaders (CCHL) and is currently a member of the CCHL Executive for the Southwestern Ontario Chapter. Ms. Jeffreys has a strong history of demonstrating leadership in healthcare and working with hospitals and the healthcare sector on an international scale including roles such as Perinatal Obstetrics Nurse, Public Health Nurse and Senior Management Consultant at Ernst&Young (EY) in the Health and Human Services division in Australia.
In her role as Lead, Hospital Sector at the South West Local Health Integration Network (SW LHIN) she specialized in system design and integration on a large regional scale. This included 19 hospital corporations and spearheading multi-site clinical services planning across the South West. She was responsible for design and implementation of system change initiatives, service redesign methodologies and, using her Lean Black Belt expertise to develop business and operational process improvements in the hospital sector.
In July, 2016, Ms. Jeffreys became the VP Patient Services and Chief Nursing Executive at Stevenson Memorial Hospital. She oversees the clinical operations across the organization including Obstetrics, Emergency, Medical/Surgical and Perioperative Programs, Dialysis, Ambulatory Clinic Services, Cardiac Rehab, Pharmacy, Diagnostic Imaging and Laboratory, Quality, Risk & Patient Experience, Human Resources, Infection Control and Occupational Health.
Dr. Barry Nathanson – Chief of Staff
In 1982, Dr. Nathanson earned a BA (English Lit.) from Yeshiva University in New York City and he graduated in 1990 from the University Of Toronto Faculty Of Medicine where he also completed his Internal Medicine training. In 1995, he began practicing Internal Medicine and Critical Care Medicine at York County Hospital in Newmarket which, in 2000, became Southlake Regional Health Centre. Early on, Dr. Nathanson served as Medical Director of the Inpatient Palliative Care Unit; he later founded the Southlake Heart Function Program. He was President of the Southlake Medical Staff Association for four years. He then helped develop Southlake’s Clinical Resource Utilization Management Program. Since 2008 he has been Southlake’s Physician Leader, Acute Medicine Programs. In 2010 Dr. Nathanson completed a Master of Science degree in Health Care Management at the Harvard School of Public Health. He has served on two provincial task forces, the ER/ALC Advisory Committee and the ALC Action Team.
In July, 2017 Dr. Nathanson completed a two-year term as co-chair of Southlake’s Quality, Utilization and Resource Management committee and he was named Chief of Staff at Stevenson Memorial Hospital in Alliston, Ontario. Dr. Nathanson’s additional professional interests are in: Medical Bioethics and Health Law; Health Policy and Health Economics including the impact of different payor systems on clinical systems design and on clinical decision making; the role of Physician Leadership and Engagement in driving system change toward improved clinical safety, efficiency and effectiveness; and physician health and wellness. His many personal interests include travelling, especially riding his 2014 Indian Chief Classic, together with his wife, Genny, all over Ontario, Canada, the US, and beyond.
Dr. Shazia Ambreen – Chief of Family Medicine & President of the Professional Staff Association
Dr. Ambreen first joined Stevenson Memorial in 2012 as an Anesthetist, Hospitalist and also provided occasional Emergency Department coverage. Dr Ambreen began her role as Chief of Family Medicine in September 2014 and is currently working as a full-time Hospitalist in addition to her Leadership roles. Dr. Ambreen completed her Family Practice Residency from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY and received her Anesthesia training from University of Toronto. Dr. Ambreen was elected President of the PSA (Professional Staff Association) in 2015. Dr. Ambreen works closely with hospital staff and management in evaluating, planning, managing and leading the family physicians in the Medical Inpatient Department. Dr. Ambreen is an active member of several Hospital committees. Dr. Ambreen is also actively involved in Physician Recruitment for our In-Patient Department. In recognizing her for her leadership and commitment to Stevenson and the community, Dr. Ambreen received the Dr. MacIntyre Award for Excellence and Dedication in the community in 2015. She was also placed on the Stevenson Hall of Fame.
She resides in the community with her husband Al, who works as Quality Improvement Decision Support Specialist and supports four academic and teaching urban Family Health Teams. They have three children.
Dr. Ihab Khalil – Vice President of the Professional Staff Association
Dr. Khalil joined the Alliston Family Health Team and Stevenson Memorial Hospital in 2011. He takes special interest in practicing a wide range of rural family medicine including Primary Care, In-Patient hospital care, Emergency Department practice and walk-in practice.
Dr. Khalil enjoys the supportive, friendly and relaxed atmosphere of a rural lifestyle while at the same time having access to the cultural resources of large urban areas.
Previously, he practiced medicine in rural Manitoba as a Primary Care physician, Hospitalist, Emergency Medicine physician, as well as provided his services within two nursing homes, a developmental home, a women’s correctional facility and a walk-in clinic. Prior to working in Manitoba, Dr. Khalil was a physician in Egypt and worked in a rural health unit for 12 years.
Dr. Khalil and his wife, Mona, have three children. In his spare time, he enjoys reading and travelling.
President of Auxiliary – Diane Munro
Diane Munro along with her husband Gary reside in Adjala-Tosorontio Township and have two children and two wonderful grandchildren. During the past 42 years, Diane has based her career in the not for profit field, making the financial sector her priority. She has volunteered her time with many organizations throughout our community such as Class and Focus. Diane joined the Stevenson Memorial Hospital Auxiliary in 2011 and currently holds the position of President. Over the years, she has learned that when we commit to helping others we in turn are helping ourselves.
Margaret Barber – Board Chair of the Foundation
Margaret is a life-time resident of the Alliston area with a thorough understanding of what Stevenson Memorial Hospital means to this community. She became a member of the Stevenson Memorial Hospital Foundation in 2003 and has served on many committees including Fundraising, By-Laws, Nominating, Executive, and Communications. Margaret has also represented the Foundation on the Hospital Communications Committee and the Stevenson Redevelopment Committee.
Margaret retired in 2012 from Baxter Corporation, a pharmaceutical company in Alliston, after working in the production area and quality departments for almost 39 years. During her time at Baxter she was involved in a number of quality and production improvement projects and was a member of many quality committees.
In 2009 Margaret became a member of the Campaign Cabinet for the “It’s Crystal Clear” Digital Mammography Campaign and in October 2012 Marg took on the responsibility as Chair of the Campaign Cabinet for the “It takes you…” Capital Campaign. Most recently in 2013 she held the position of Co-Chair for the 2015 Stevenson Memorial Hospital Gala.
In Margaret’s spare time she enjoys golfing and curling and in 2015 she accepted a volunteer position for the 2015 Pan Am Games. Margaret is very proud to be a Stevenson Memorial Hospital Foundation Board Director and is here to ensure the future success of the Stevenson Memorial Hospital Foundation and Stevenson Memorial Hospital.
