KDH Board of Directors Welcomes Five New Members

KEMPTVILLE, ONTARIO, MONDAY, JULY 18, 2022 – The Kemptville District Hospital (KDH) Board of Directors has welcomed five new members, elected at its 62^nd Annual General Meeting on June 23, 2022.

“I am pleased to welcome Ginette Bebeung, Erin Bonokoski, Jeff Panciuk, Dr. Yves Pelletier, and Helen Zipes to the Board of Directors and look forward to the insight and leadership they will bring to KDH,” said Elizabeth MacPherson, Board Chair. “They join KDH at a critical time, when the communities we serve are depending on us to help navigate through the current crisis in Ontario’s hospitals symbolized by staff shortages, overcrowded emergency departments, and rising numbers of alternate level of care patients.”

Ms. MacPherson congratulated current Directors Margaret Harrison and Stephen Saslove (Treasurer), who were re-elected to serve for a third term; both joined the Board in 2016. She also thanked outgoing Past Board Chair, Robert Morais, who joined the Board in 2014, serving as Chair of various committees before being elected Board Chair in 2018.

The skills-based KDH Board of Directors is composed of 14 elected and seven ex-officio Directors, including a municipal council member. The Board has overall responsibility for overseeing the operations of the Hospital and guiding its future in the health system.

New Board Members

Ginette Bebeung

Ginette Bebeung

A global technology leader and certified Director (INSEAD Business School) with more than 20 years’ experience in technology and innovation, Ginette Bebeung brings extensive expertise in corporate governance, organizational strategy, global operations, supply chain management and strategic negotiations to the Board. With a background in Information Technology, she specializes in Digital Transformation and has had the opportunity to apply her skills in various industries (including medical devices and wellness), and on five continents. Ms. Bebeung currently serves as Executive Vice President, Governance and Strategy, with Searidge Technologies of Ottawa. Previously she served as Searidge’s Director of Operations, and prior to that was Technical Project Manager, Hardware Design, with Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Erlangen, Germany. A practitioner of collaborative decision making, Ms. Bebeung is looking forward to helping shape the future of KDH.

Erin Bonokoski

Erin Bonokoski

A senior strategic communications and public affairs leader, Erin Bonokoski brings extensive experience in both the public and private sector to the KDH Board. She gained political and government relations insight working across all federal government departments, and served as Director of Strategic Communications in the Office of the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Stephen Harper. Ms. Bonokoski is currently Vice President and National Practice Lead, Campaigns and Creative, with Crestview Strategy of Ottawa. While this is her first Board appointment, she has extensive experience in governance of a healthcare not-for-profit, gained in the role of Director of Communications and Public Affairs with Health Standards Organization and Accreditation Canada. Ms. Bonokoski and her family live in Kemptville.

Jeff Panciuk

Jeff Panciuk

Jeff Panciuk is a Senior Technical Analyst and Team Lead of the application services team at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO).  He has been at CHEO for the last 28 years and has been a leader in the IT field for the past 18 years. Mr. Panciuk has been involved with implementing and progressing the electronic health record solution at CHEO on the technical front for 12 years. He holds three certificates from Epic, the electronic health information system that KDH will be implementing this fall.  He has extensive hospital experience in all aspects of software, hardware, operations, and innovation. Mr. Panciuk is new to the role of Director, and is eager to help guide KDH using his knowledge and experience to support the fulfilment of the KDH mission of ‘building healthier communities’.  He was born at KDH, raised in the Kemptville area, and now lives back in the community with his family.

Dr. Yves Pelletier

Dr. Yves Pelletier

Dr. Yves Pelletier (Ph.D.) brings more than 25 years of experience in policy development, government relations, research and innovation, human resources management, complex project management and more to the KDH Board. He currently serves as Associate Vice-President, Francophonie, at the University of Ottawa, and has served in a variety of roles within other Canadian universities. He also worked in government both at the federal and provincial level, including a mandate as the Assistant Deputy Minister for Post-Secondary Education for the Government of New Brunswick, with oversight responsibility for public and private universities and community colleges in New Brunswick. Dr. Pelletier holds a Ph.D. from Queen’s University where his scholarship focuses on public memory and commemoration. He currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference and Osteopathy Canada. He returned to the National Capital Region after a 10-year absence in 2020; he is a resident of North Grenville.

Helen Zipes

Helen Zipes

Helen Zipes is an experienced healthcare leader and consultant who has worked in many facets of the healthcare continuum. She is a former Physiotherapist with more than 35 years’ experience. Ms. Zipes obtained her B.Sc. (P.T.) from McGill University and her M.B.A. from the University of Ottawa. She spent 28 years at The Ottawa Hospital (TOH), including the Civic and Riverside Hospitals prior to amalgamation; her career at TOH culminated in the Senior Management Team role of Clinical Director of Rehabilitation and the Academic Family Health Team. Ms. Zipes has chaired and participated on numerous regional, provincial and federal committees and is a former member of the Fitness to Practice and Discipline Committee of The Board of Physiotherapists of Ontario. She currently also serves on the Board of FOCUS Accreditation. She is passionate about quality healthcare and safety and is delighted to be joining the KDH Board.

The complete list of Board Members is available on the KDH website: https://www.kdh.on.ca/your-hospital/board-of-directors/

ABOUT KEMPTVILLE DISTRICT HOSPITAL

Kemptville District Hospital (KDH) is a 40-bed acute care hospital located in the rapidly growing Eastern Ontario municipality of North Grenville, 40 minutes south of Ottawa. We provide 24-hour emergency care, inpatient care, advanced orthopaedic surgery (as a satellite of The Ottawa Hospital), Convalescent Care, Interim Long-Term Care, Day Surgery, Diagnostic Imaging, an ever-growing list of outpatient clinics, and education and wellness programming including Diabetes Education and Support. Committed to advancing our mission of Building Healthier Communities, we are an integrated health services organization with deep partnerships in our community and region. With our partners in the Ottawa West Four Rivers Ontario Health Team, we are collaborating on a new model of health care delivery that puts patients, families and caregivers at the centre of the healthcare system. For more information, visit www.kdh.on.ca

Media contact:

Jenny Read, Communications Officer

613.258.6133 x 223 | jread@kdh.on.ca