Stephen Smith, a senior airline executive for more than 20 years, has been appointed Chair of The Scarborough Hospital’s Board of Directors after serving as Vice-Chair since 2008.

“I want to maintain consistency in terms of the hospital’s direction and strategies. The last three years have been fascinating for me, and we’ll continue to improve on the many initiatives we started in providing patient-focused healthcare,” Stephen says.

Recognized for his visionary leadership and ability to create a corporate culture that allows frontline employees to deliver great customer experience, Stephen has served as Regional Vice President – Canada for Servisair, President of Air Ontario, President and CEO of WestJet and President and CEO of Air Canada’s ZIP. He was also the Senior Vice President, Customer Experience, for Air Canada.

“Given my management history, I can say that The Scarborough Hospital has a group of managers, staff and physicians who are very committed to the hospital,” Stephen explains. “As the new Chair, I plan to engage physicians and staff as much as possible. I have already had a front row seat to the inner workings as Chair of the Performance Monitoring and Stewardship Committee, which allowed me to get a better understanding of how the hospital works.”

Stephen replaces Michael Mueller, who has served as Board Chair for the past three years. The Scarborough Hospital’s bylaws limit the Board Chair’s term to three years. However, Michael will remain on as a Board member.

“Under Mike’s leadership, The Scarborough Hospital became revitalized, connected with the community, improved its operations and became a transparent organization. He is to be commended,” Stephen says. “I’m also determined to continue focusing the hospital on its vision of being recognized as Canada’s leader in providing healthcare for a global community.”

He also wants to continue engaging the community and focusing on further improvements to the quality and safety of healthcare provided to our patients.

“We will move forward with our Clinical Action Plan, continuing to improve wait times in our Emergency Departments and work closely with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care as well as the Central East LHIN for funding for new surgical suites,” he adds. “And the Board will continue to work hand-in-glove with the Foundation on fundraising for the new MRI and for equipment that we sorely need.”

For more information please contact:

Cindy Woods
Communications Officer
The Scarborough Hospital
(416) 438-2911 ext. 6594
cwoods@tsh.to