Southern Health-Santé Sud has named a new Chief Executive Officer.

Board Chair Abe Bergen says Jane Curtis will take over as CEO effective April 29th. This follows the retirement of Kathy McPhail who has held that position since 2007.

Curtis, who lives in Winnipeg, has worked in health care in the region for about 18 years. Currently, she is serving as Vice President - Planning, Innovation, Quality & Risk.

2017 04 bergen
(Abe Bergen)"Jane is excellent at planning, she has served as VP Planning so she does strategic planning very well," notes Bergen. "She relates very well to people and we just think that she has lots of confidence from her peers inside the organization and she will do really well in relating to the constituency at large."

The regional health authority received 16 applications for the CEO position. Bergen says while going through the selection process, it became very clear that there was a cluster of qualified candidates. And he says the applicants from within the organization were their most qualified candidates.

"Jane was one of the internal applicants," says Bergen. "Jane just seemed to be the right fit coming into the next phase of the kind of leadership that we need in the next phase of the region."

According to Bergen, it was not mandated by the board that the next CEO be promoted from within, but he says they are quite pleased with the result. He notes Curtis comes into the position well qualified. Bergen says Curtis understands both the culture and the fiscal priorities of what the region needs and what is required from the province.

"Manitoba Health and Active Living has mandated significant budget cuts," he says. "We worked through those and Jane has been part of that."

Meanwhile, Bergen says Curtis' promotion will leave a vacancy, however, he is not sure whether they will hire a replacement VP or disperse her responsibilities to others in the organization.

Read More:

CEO Announces Retirement