LifeLabs is a Canadian-owned company that has been serving the healthcare needs of Canadians for more than 50 years.

Hospital

LifeLabs

As COO, Jennifer is accountable for all areas of operations at [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc) including lab operations, client services, supply chain, employee health and safety and environmental sustainability, logistics and specimen management, medical science and quality management, agile transformation, and business continuity.

Jennifer has been a part of the [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc) leadership team for several years and has an extensive understanding of the business as a whole. Before joining [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc), Jennifer held the position as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of BC Biomedical where she led the successful sale of the organization to [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc) in 2013. Jennifer’s breadth of senior-level knowledge, including finance, strategy, human resources, technology and government relations has gained her invaluable insights into [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc)’ people, clients, and operations. Most recently, she served as President of Excelleris, a health technology company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc), overseeing the connection of Health Information Exchange platforms across 30,000 health care providers as well as hospitals and hospital networks. Also continuing in her role as Senior Vice President, British Columbia, Jennifer is responsible for ensuring strong relationships with leaders in the B.C. health care sector, government, and business community in order to drive business development and growth within the province for [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc).

Jennifer Cudlipp

Nicole Desloges is Senior Vice President, People for [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc). She has a passion for building high performance, high integrity teams, cultures and organizations. An inspirational leader, Nicole sets a clear path to achieve team goals through collaboration, communication and accountability. She is a trusted advisor to the [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc)’ executive leadership team and its Board of Directors.

Nicole brings experience in the service, manufacturing, environmental, aviation and financial technology industries where she has developed expertise on culture transformation. Fluently bilingual, Nicole complements her international HR expertise with customer service and process reengineering experience acquired earlier in her career.

Prior to joining [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc), Nicole served as Senior Vice President, Human Resources at Progressive Waste Solutions (PWS), a publicly-traded $2.0B company, and as Vice President People and Culture at the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA – Toronto Pearson). Nicole is known for delivering results while embracing the challenges of growth initiatives and business turnarounds.

Nicole holds an MBA from the University of Toronto, Rotman School of Graduate Studies, a bachelor’s degree from “l’Universite du Quebec en Outaouais”, and the designation of Certified Human Resources Executive (CHRE) from the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) of Canada.

Nicole Desloges

As Senior Vice President, Strategy, Product Innovation & Customer Experience, Chris is responsible for transforming LifeLabs’ service delivery model and building a product and service pipeline centred on and driven by the customer experience nationally.

Before joining LifeLabs, Chris spent many years serving in the Ontario government in a variety of roles, including Chief of Staff to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. Most recently, Chris served as Associate Vice President at Trillium Health Partners where he oversaw a public affairs portfolio while helping lead health system transformation projects to drive the shift of care from hospitals to the community.

Chris earned an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario with a Health Sector specialization and completed his Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree at Queen’s University in Political Studies.

Chris Carson

As Chief Financial Officer, Kelly is a key advisor to the CEO and Executive Team on strategic and financial matters, working closely with [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc)’ Board of Directors and audit committee. Kelly plays a critical role in increasing [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc)’ ability to further leverage its core lab services capabilities while fueling innovation by capitalizing on growth opportunities to continue to diversify its service offerings.

Acting as a change agent, Kelly will build [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc)’ commercial acumen by developing sound financial plans and simplifying operating policies and procedures.   Her mandate is to evolve the financial operations beyond debits and credits by utilizing financial and customer data to drive a culture of continuous improvement within the organization.

Kelly has over 25 years of organizational and C-Suite leadership experience, with an emphasis on the pharmaceutical sector and brings a broad and unique background in both finance and logistics across multiple sectors. Kelly has a consistent track record of developing winning strategies to realign resources, deliver operational excellence and improve profit margins.

Prior to joining [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc), Kelly held several Chief Financial Officer positions, most recently at Wolseley Canada Inc. Kelly is a chartered professional accountant, and received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto.

Kelly Martin

As Senior Vice President, Government Markets, Erica is responsible for LifeLabs’ core business, renewing and building relationships with government partners and expanding community lab access. In this role, Erica also leads key enabling corporate affairs functions, including corporate communications and community engagement.

Most recently, Erica held the role of Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Secretary, where she was responsible for the management of all legal, privacy, risk and corporate governance matters on behalf of the organization.

Prior to her time at LifeLabs, Erica led a team responsible for all legal, privacy, risk, breach management and regulatory requirements at Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) and played a critical role in the transition of CCO into Ontario Health.

Erica also worked on many of the legal and privacy requirements surrounding Ontario Health’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and has a strong track record of developing meaningful and transparent enterprise-wide risk, privacy, and compliance programs.

Erica is a Loran Scholar and holds an HBSc. in human biology/bioethics from the University of Toronto (Trinity College), an LLB from Queen’s University, and an LLM in Health Law from Osgoode Hall Law School. She is passionate about volunteering and sits on multiple not-for-profit boards and initiatives.

Erica Zarkovich

Charles Brown is President and CEO of [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc), Canada’s largest medical laboratory and leading diagnostics and health technology provider. Since joining [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc) in 2018, Charles has worked to evolve [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc) into a commercially driven organization that brings customer-centred value to market that will improve health outcomes for Canadians.

As part of his leadership at [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc), Charles has been developing a transformational growth strategy to reshape the company’s culture and focus while ensuring that [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc) continues to play a pivotal role in the health eco-system. Charles has introduced new discipline and rigor to [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc)’ business processes, resulting in an improved patient experience, strengthened operations, and higher value innovation.

Before joining [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc), Charles served as President of [The Source](/org/the-source-bell-electronics-inc), Canada’s largest consumer electronics and mobile retailer. Charles led [The Source](/org/the-source-bell-electronics-inc) to impressive results and growth by building an exceptional customer experience.

Prior to leading the Source, Charles served as Executive Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Bell, where he led the delivery of Bell’s telecommunications at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. He brings more than 25 years of experience as an innovative technology leader, from entrepreneurial start-ups to large corporate entities, including serving as President and CEO of [Wave Wireless](/org/wave-wireless) and Chief Information Officer of Clearnet.

Charles’ passion for community service extends to various roles on Boards and Executive Committees. Currently, he serves as the Chair of Kids Help Phone, Canada’s only national 24-hour, bilingual and anonymous counseling service for youth. He is also a past member and long-time supporter of the United Way of Toronto and York Region’s Campaign Cabinet. Charles holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto and a Master of Business Administration from the Ivey School of Business at [Western University](/org/western-university).

Charles Brown

As General Counsel, Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Secretary, Alwin is accountable for the delivery of effective legal and privacy services to support the growth of next-generation healthcare products. Alwin is responsible for the development, implementation and monitoring of key privacy and legal policies to comply with applicable regulatory requirements across multiple jurisdictions in which LifeLabs operates. He also provides support for the Board of Directors as the Corporate Secretary.

Prior to joining LifeLabs, Alwin served as the Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at the public health agency in Ontario while serving as Senior Counsel within Ministry of the Attorney. Alwin has worked in legal roles within financial services, P&C insurance and he started his legal career at Stikeman Elliott LLP.

Alwin received his MHSc. (Health Administration) from the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto and his J.D. from the University of Windsor. He is a member of the Law Society of Ontario.

Alwin Kong

Dr. Catherine Ross is a pathologist, a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and professor emeritus at McMaster University. As the medical director for Ontario, Dr. Ross supports the work of the laboratories and the medical and scientific staff, the leadership, and the provision of high-quality, accurate and timely patient diagnostic services.

Dr. Ross graduated from McMaster medical school and completed her residency in Anatomic Pathology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. She has a focused expertise practice in malignant hematological disease diagnosis.

She has a Master of Science degree in immunology (McMaster University) and a Master’s certificate in health care administration from the Schulich school of business. She has completed several leadership programs, including the physician leadership program of the Canadian Medical Association/Ontario Medical Association.

Dr. Ross is active in medical education and is the current co-chair of the examination committee of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada for Anatomic Pathology.

Dr. Ross has worked with Cancer Care Ontario (CCO-OH) on the Complex malignant hematology steering committee and has supported work done by the Cancer Care Ontario Pathology and Laboratory Medicine program for many years.

She is also active with the Ontario Medical Association (OMA), is past chair of the Section of Laboratory  Medicine, and is currently a member of the priorities and leadership group of the OMA.

Dr. Ross has a longstanding interest in patient safety and quality. In addition to being past president of the Canadian Association of Pathologists, she is the recipient of the Leadership in Patient Safety and Quality Assurance award from this organization.

Dr. Ross has more than 80 published articles, abstracts, and presentations.

Catherine Ross

Matthew is a Managing Director with OMERS Infrastructure’s team in Toronto, where he is responsible for the origination, execution and management of infrastructure investments. Matthew’s current responsibilities include the key investment themes of mobility, natural systems and community services across the Americas. He joined OMERS in 2021.

Prior to joining OMERS, Matthew spent 12 years at Evercore, where he was most recently a Managing Director in the Americas infrastructure advisory team. While at Evercore, Matthew covered businesses across the full spectrum of infrastructure including the core, core-plus and value-added sectors. Prior to Evercore, Matthew was with the Macquarie Group, with roles at Macquarie Capital Advisors and Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets.

Matthew has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University, and a Masters of Finance degree from INSEAD.

Matthew Mendell

Jon is a seasoned business executive with over 25 years of experience, including general management of mid to large size organizations, corporate development, business development, product/service development, business operations, and strategy. He has a proven track record for extraordinary revenue growth, operating performance and developing sustainable, thriving organizations.

In 2015, Jon completed nine years as CEO of Maxxam Analytics, Canada’s largest and leading analytical services company serving the energy, environmental, food and DNA markets. Under his leadership the business more than doubled in size and financial performance through business expansion, innovation and a culture of integrity. The business was private equity and management owned prior to its successful sale to global industry leader, Bureau Veritas in January 2014. Jon is now pursuing new opportunities to advance business creation and leadership development in Canada.

Prior to Maxxam, Jon was the founder and president of a business communications services company as well as holding several successful senior leadership roles across a variety of industries and company sizes/stages.

Jon has an MBA from the [Ivey Business School](/org/ivey) and an Honours BA from Queens University. He has served on the Board of ECO Canada as well as the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Cleantech Canada. He is currently a member of the [Ivey Business School](/org/ivey) Advisory Board and the Ivey Leadership Institute Council. Jon is a 2012 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® award winner for his successful leadership at Maxxam. He was also awarded a Special Citation for Entrepreneurial Leadership as part of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® National Awards. In 2013, Jon was recognized for his contributions to Canadian industry in the field of chemistry and awarded the Purvis Memorial Award of the Society for Chemical Industry. Jon has been both a regional and national judge for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year® for 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Jon Hantho

As Senior Vice President, Commercial, General and Advanced Diagnostics Lawrence is responsible for driving revenue and profitability within [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc)’ growth portfolio through sales, marketing and commercial partnership activities across government, consumer, and B2B segments.

Lawrence has extensive experience in the healthcare industry, having worked in European and North American markets in both the medical device and healthcare services sectors. Before joining [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc) in November 2017, Lawrence led the diagnostic system business at BD (Becton Dickinson) Canada where his teams were recognized with global achievement awards on three separate occasions.

Throughout his career, Lawrence has held a number of commercial leadership roles, including biotechnology trading for the Czechoslovakian trading agency, Chemapol (UK), and business development throughout Western Europe for CellPro Inc. — a pioneer of stem cell based therapy. Lawrence has expertise in sales and marketing operations, performance management, strategic marketing and growth strategy.

Lawrence holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from University College Cardiff and is a board member of the Inscyte Corporation, a not-for-profit health data technology company.

Lawrence Mahan

Tom is currently the principal of Tom Closson Consulting. Prior to this, he held the position of President and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association, stepping down in 2012. Tom has previously held roles as President and Chief Executive Officer of the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto; President and CEO of the Capital Health Region in Victoria; and President and CEO of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

Tom obtained experience in healthcare consulting as an owner of Medicus Canada and as a partner with [KPMG](/org/kpmg). He has government experience with the Ontario Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Community and Social Services and the Management Board.

He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement, Health Quality Ontario and [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc). He co-chairs the Health Policy Advisory Panel for C.D. Howe and is a volunteer advisor to entrepreneurs at the MaRS Discovery District.

Tom earned an MBA from [York University](/org/york-university) in Toronto and graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Industrial Engineering. Tom has been a member of [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc)’ Board of Directors since October 2009.

Tom Closson

In his role at [Borealis](/org/borealis) and [OMERS](/org/omers) as Executive Vice President, Legal, John is responsible for leading the legal group at [OMERS](/org/omers) Private Markets which includes the [Borealis](/org/borealis) and [OMERS](/org/omers) Private Equity legal teams. John is a member of the executive management team of [Borealis](/org/borealis) and of [OMERS](/org/omers) Private Equity. Within the Private Markets transaction teams, the legal team members that he leads play a key role in the pursuit, acquisition and management of assets within the Infrastructure and Private Equity portfolios. In addition, John plays a leading role in the asset management of a number of [Borealis](/org/borealis) investments.

John joined [Borealis](/org/borealis) in April 2005 as Vice President, Legal and General Counsel. He led the [Borealis](/org/borealis) legal team for several years prior to moving into a co-lead role of the [Borealis](/org/borealis) transaction team between 2011 and 2014, playing a key role in the execution of numerous investment transactions. He has considerable experience in structuring international infrastructure projects, negotiating and closing acquisitions and financings.

John is a former associate at Torys LLP, and former senior legal counsel at Bombardier Transportation.

He is a member of the board of directors of Lifelabs, a member of the board of directors of DynaLife and Teranet and a member of several board committees. He holds an Honours BA (Economics) degree from the University of Western Ontario, and a MBA and LL.B. from the [University of Ottawa](/org/university-of-ottawa)

John Knowlton

Brenda Eaton is an experienced corporate director. Based in Victoria, British Columbia, Brenda serves on the boards for a number of private, public, and not-for-profit boards. She currently is Chair of [Transelec](/org/transelec-s-a) and serves on the Boards of Westland Insurance, [Technical Safety BC](/org/technical-safety-bc), BC Ferries, and Victoria’s Wastewater Treatment Project Board (Vice Chair).

Prior to becoming a corporate director, Brenda was a senior leader in the BC government: from 2001-2005, Brenda was Deputy Minister to Premier Gordon Campbell and also held other executive positions, including Deputy Minister of Finance and Treasury Board; Energy and Mines; and Social Services. For several years, Brenda was Chief Financial Officer of a Health Authority.

Brenda has also been active in the non-profit sector. She is currently Chair of the Max Bell Foundation, Vice Chair of BC Alzheimer’s Society and on the Board of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. She is also a Juror for the Donner Award.

She is certified by the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D) and has received several recognition awards, including the Queen’s Jubilee Award for community contribution, [University of Victoria](/org/university-of-victoria)’s Distinguished Alumni, and WXN’s 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada.

Brenda has a Master’s Degree in Economics from the [University of Victoria](/org/university-of-victoria).

Brenda Eaton

Michael is Senior Vice President, Strategy & Asset Liability Management for [OMERS](/org/omers), one of Canada’s largest pension funds with over $100B in assets and 500,000 members.

In his role, Michael is responsible for developing [OMERS](/org/omers) overall strategy and the long-term target asset mix. He works closely with [OMERS](/org/omers) Boards and operates across the organization, working with all investment businesses, pension services and corporate functions.

Prior to joining [OMERS](/org/omers), Michael was a Principal at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). While at BCG, Michael consulted to over 20 leading organizations across Canada, the US and Europe in a variety of industries. Michael was based in the firm’s Toronto office and spent one year working in the Stockholm, Sweden office.

Michael joined the Board of [LifeLabs](/org/lifelabs-inc) in January 2020. He also serves on the Board of Purpose Financial.

Michael Block

Natalie Dakers is a leading figure in the Canadian health sciences sector. Natalie has been the founding CEO of several high impact and first-of-its kind national organizations including Accel-Rx Health Sciences Accelerator, the Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) now Admare BioInnovations, and the commercial arm of CDRD, CDRD Ventures. She co-founded Neuromed Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company in the neurological space developing drugs for chronic pain and epilepsy. Early in her career she enabled the technology transfer for over a dozen start-ups while at the [University of British Columbia](/org/university-of-british-columbia) (UBC)’s Industry Liaison Office. Natalie is an Adjunct Professor at UBC’s Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Ms. Dakers has served on many public and private boards including BIOTECanada, Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Genome Canada, Genome BC, LifeSciences BC and others. She currently serves on Augurex, BioTalent Canada, Pender Private Investments Inc., [Sonic Incytes](/org/sonic-incytes), and Stemcell Technologies.

Natalie has continued to support the health sciences ecosystem as a mentor to early stage innovation companies through programs provided by the [Creative Destruction Lab](/org/cdl) (CDL), eUBC, LifeSciences BC, SFU Venture Labs, and WXN.

Among her many awards are BIV BC500 (2021), LifeSciences BC Milton Wong Award for Leadership 2019, Startup Canada’s Entrepreneur of the Year 2015, WXN’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women and Business in Vancouver’s Most Influential Woman 2016, 2018 and Industry Leadership BIOTECanada 2009.

Natalie Dakers

Rowena Rizzotti is a highly successful healthcare leader with more than 35 years’ experience in management and executive-level leadership roles across multi-site, complex health and business environments.

Rowena holds two Master’s Degrees in Management and Business Administration (MBA) and also holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology with a minor in Biochemistry from UBC. She is clinically trained as both a nurse and a paramedic.

Rowena served as VP of Operations for BC’s largest private seniors’ care operator and also served as a Chief Operating Officer for BC’s Northern Health Authority among many other healthcare leadership roles. Rowena earned wide acclaim for her senior leadership of Fraser Heath’s Clinical Programs and Operations including Surrey Memorial Hospital (SMH) and for overseeing the largest investment in BC’s history in 2012; a $500 million critical care tower in Surrey, BC.

Rowena is an original founder of the Health & Technology DISTRICT in Surrey, is responsible for having developed a research and innovation strategy for Fraser Health in 2012, as well as developed an Innovation Centre for Healthy Aging which won a 2015 Innovator of the Year Award in BC. Rowena also was an original founder and currently leads Legion Veterans Village, a first of its kind $312 M Centre for Clinical Excellence for Veterans and First Responders in Mental Health and Innovative Technologies. Rowena currently holds a number of senior consulting and strategic advisory roles with private sector organizations, is an Advisor on the Conference Board of Canada’s Council for Innovation and Commercialization, is a Mentor for SFU Beedie School of Business and was awarded the 2018 Business Woman of the Year in the Corporate Leadership Category. Rowena is a Board Director for the Surrey Board of Trade and is Chair of the Women in Business Council.

Rowena Rizzotti

Gavin has been Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the [University of British Columbia](/org/university-of-british-columbia) since September 2003. Upon his renewal in September 2009, he also was appointed as UBC’s Vice Provost Health, which involves representing the University in health-related interactions with other universities and health authorities.

A native of Manitoba, he attended the University of Western Ontario for his undergraduate medical and postgraduate training in obstetrics and gynecology. He pursued a fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology at [Wayne State University](/org/wayne-state-university) in Detroit, where he stayed on as a faculty member. He then moved to the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary, where he was the first Director of Gynecology. After a short period as Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, he was appointed as Professor and Head, Department of Oncology and Director of the Tom Baker Cancer Centre. In 1999 he was appointed as Vice-President of the Alberta Cancer Board.

As Dean since 2003, Gavin has worked with government, health authorities, and a large number of other academic partners to enhance health research in British Columbia and oversee the implementation of a provincially-based Faculty of Medicine across four campuses. He is past Chair of the Board of the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada, and was made an Honorary Alumnus of UBC Faculty of Medicine in 2009.

In addition to carrying out his duties as Vice Provost and Dean, Gavin continues to be an active teacher, clinician and researcher. His clinical research and publications have been in the area of gynecologic cancer, including population-based screening programs and the conduct of clinical trials as therapeutic interventions in gynecologic cancer.

His clinical activity is as a member of the outstanding gynecologic oncology team based at Vancouver General Hospital and the BC Cancer Agency. He is the principal investigator of an international phase III trial of the human papillomavirus vaccine. Dr. Stuart has held multiple leadership positions in the field: past Chair of the Gynecologic Cancer Intergroup, leading international trials with several national cooperative groups; past Co-Chair of the Gynecology Site Committee of the NCI Canada; and past President of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology/La Societe de Gyneco-Oncologie du Canada (GOC). In 2009, Dr. Stuart received the Presidential Medal Award from the GOC.

Gavin has been active in leadership roles in many national and U.S. committees on medical education, health human resource planning and evidence-based guideline development. In 2010, he was elected to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Dr. Stuart has been a member of LifeLabs’ Board of Directors since February 2010.

Gavin Stuart

Brendan’s deep passion is to use the latest science to help people change their behaviors and optimize their health. He believes that each of us need our own wellness practice; something that’s fu...


Brendan Byrne

Nandit Gandhi is a Managing Director with [OMERS](/org/omers) Infrastructure team in New York, where he is responsible for the origination, execution and management of infrastructure investments. He also plays a critical role in [OMERS](/org/omers) Infrastructure’s asset management function globally.

Prior to [OMERS](/org/omers), Nandit was Managing Director and Co-Head of Portfolio Operations at J.F. Lehman. Earlier in his career, Nandit held senior roles at American Infrastructure Partners and [Platinum Equity](/org/platinum-equity), where he spent eight years executing on the firm’s M&A operations strategy across portfolio companies in Europe and North America.

Nandit has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and an MBA from [Babson College](/org/babson-college).

LifeLabs

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Leadership Team

CEO and Executive Team

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