Tell us a bit about your career background? How long have you worked with Southern Health-Santé Sud?
Besides one non-healthcare job just after my first round of post-secondary education, I have worked in the healthcare industry for my entire career, so approximately 19 years now. I have worked in the finance, decision support & planning portfolios. From a young age I was fairly certain I would enter an accounting career and I am so grateful to have been led to the healthcare industry as I find the work to be extremely meaningful.

Are you from Manitoba? What do you like most about living in Manitoba?
I am from Manitoba and have lived in/near Altona my entire life. I enjoy the variation of our seasons, but when I think about what I miss when I leave the province (besides the people, of course), is our long & flat horizon. It feels claustrophobic when in a heavily treed or mountainous region. I can’t do it for too long!

What do you do for fun? (hobbies, interests etc.)
I really enjoy being entertained. Books, movies, theatre, card/board games, sporting events, I haven’t been to a concert in a while (besides the local entertainment I can hear from my backyard), but I really enjoy the creativity of others. I tend to shock people when I share my favourite genre is horror, however I truly enjoy a wide variety of genres as I would say my second favourite genre is Christmas themed. I also really enjoy simple crafts; I am an accountant so have some challenges being the creator of creativity, but I like to follow instructions to complete a project.

Where did you grow up? And, what are some of your favorite things about Manitoba?
I am born and raised in Portage la Prairie, MB. Some of my favorite things about Manitoba include the diverse landscape, our beautiful seasons and most importantly the people!

What is a piece of advice you would give someone about managing their budget?
In healthcare between 70-80% of our operational expenses are staffing, so your daily decisions matter. In an ideal world we would fill each budgeted shift with a SH-SS staff member at straight time, any variation from this will have a budget impact. Focusing on people-centred, union appropriate and sustainable staffing recommendations is key.

We have a strong finance structure in SH-SS, including (almost) monthly meetings with budget portfolio managers, so please keep discussing the daily decision points as well as the opportunities and challenges. To share and spread the successful tips/tricks to navigate staffing complexities is huge! Please keep discussing these and all resource questions with finance. We have a goal to spread sustainably effective ideas to areas beyond one immediate department/site/program, we want to encourage everyone to remember the broader organizational perspective.

What did you find most inspiring about the Regional Lead – Corporate Services & Chief Financial Officer position?
I have seen SH-SS organizational “business” mechanics throughout my career, which is a side of the healthcare industry and many SH-SS people do not see in depth. In earlier roles I was able to witness leadership deliberations which have been a great inspiration to me. I know that every resource (every staff person, every piece of equipment, all consumable products, etc) are important and used with careful consideration. I struggle to define the word “culture” in a business context, but the passion, engagement, sincere intention, multi-faceted perspective, broad-picture thinking, etc. built into the core foundation of SH-SS is moving. It is the contributions of each staff member that leads SH-SS to successful outcomes.

If you could impart one piece of advice to an aspiring leader, what would it be?
Give genuine effort in all your work tasks and interactions, and create a safe environment of learning.

To sign off I would encourage continued discussions. I am passionate about advancing successful processes in our organization and our province. I especially appreciate approaching these discussions from a brainstorming perspective, as it can be challenging to predict which ideas may be effective in the long run and often requires building on and revisiting ideas to find the best recommendation.