Chief Operating Officer

Now the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Southlake Regional Health Centre, Gary Ryan was the Hospital’s Interim COO since April 2010, overseeing the financial and operational performance of Southlake. Under his guidance and leadership, the Hospital continues to operate with a balanced budget, and Gary is working alongside the President and CEO to transition Southlake from a community hospital to a Ministry-designated teaching and research facility. Gary also fulfils the same mandate for the Southlake Residential Care Village as the Corporate Secretary to the Board and he has recently led the restructuring of the Village to a self-managed home.

Gary graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Science in Physiology in 1979, and in 1982, obtained a Master of Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Toronto. In 2001, he completed a Master of Business Administration from the University of Toronto.

At the start of his career in the medical field, Gary worked at Belleville General Hospital as a Speech-Language Pathologist from 1982 to 1985. Gary joined Southlake (then York County Hospital) in 1985 and over the course of his tenure, has held a range of positions, including Vice President of Acute Services (Emergency, Medicine, Surgery, ICU, Rehabilitation) and Director of Paramedical Services (Diagnostic Imaging, Laboratory, Pharmacy, Food Services, Ambulance Services, and Cardiac Diagnostics).

Gary is well-known for leading the Mental Health Program through its full restructuring process at Southlake and this innovative program structure still continues to this day. As Chair of the Mental Health Planning Committee, he helped position Child and Adolescent Mental Health as an ‘area of focus’ for the Hospital.

From 2007 to 2011, Gary was the Acting President and CEO for Stevenson Memorial Hospital, a small community hospital in Alliston, Ontario. Under Ministry supervision, Gary successfully led the turnaround of this organization by improving both quality and patient satisfaction measures throughout the facility. His efforts resulted in the hospital gaining full Accreditation status (i.e., with no report) from Accreditation Canada.

Gary has served on numerous committees, including as Chair of The Aphasia Institute, Vice Chair of the Newmarket and District Association for Community Living, Director of Speakeasy of Canada, and Past-President of the Ontario Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists.

Gary has co-authored articles on the subject of mental health services and treatment of communication disorders which have been published in medical journals.