Mary Ackenhusen – HCS21
Senior Healthcare Executive; Executive Advisor, Deloitte
Mary has over 20 years of executive experience in the British Columbia health system including her service as the President and CEO of Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) from 2014-2020 and prior executive positions of Chief Operating Officer and Vice-President Facilities, Real Estate and Process Improvement.
Throughout her career, Mary’s passion has been to transform the public system to ensure sustainability in the face of growing demand and constrained resources. As CEO of VCH, she encouraged a focus on innovation and discoveries to improve patient health, transform health systems, and directly impact health and economic outcomes. Her longstanding interest in virtual care enabled health providers to continue delivering care to patients and clients across VCH from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2019, Glassdoor, one of the world’s largest employee recruitment sites named Mary as one of Canada’s Top 25 CEOs based on employee reviews. She was named as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women in 2014 and 2015. Over the past year, Mary led the innovation and research agenda at the B.C. Ministry of Health as the Senior Executive in Residence and the lead for the Partnerships and Innovation Division.
Mary is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Master’s of Business Administration program and holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from West Virginia University.
Mary has over 20 years of executive experience in the British Columbia health system including her service as the President and CEO of Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) from 2014-2020 and prior executive positions of Chief Operating Officer and Vice-President Facilities, Real Estate and Process Improvement.
Throughout her career, Mary’s passion has been to transform the public system to ensure sustainability in the face of growing demand and constrained resources. As CEO of VCH, she encouraged a focus on innovation and discoveries to improve patient health, transform health systems, and directly impact health and economic outcomes. Her longstanding interest in virtual care enabled health providers to continue delivering care to patients and clients across VCH from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2019, Glassdoor, one of the world’s largest employee recruitment sites named Mary as one of Canada’s Top 25 CEOs based on employee reviews. She was named as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women in 2014 and 2015. Over the past year, Mary led the innovation and research agenda at the B.C. Ministry of Health as the Senior Executive in Residence and the lead for the Partnerships and Innovation Division.
Mary is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Master’s of Business Administration program and holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from West Virginia University.
