Senior Management Team

Through their collective experience and shared commitment to excellence, our senior management team contributes to the strategic and operational long-term success of VON Canada.

Jo-Anne Poirier

President and Chief Executive Officer

Jo-Anne Poirier joined VON Canada in 2014 as President and Chief Executive Officer.

From 2008 until 2014, Jo-Anne was Chief Executive Officer of Ottawa Community Housing Corporation. Under h...read more

Jo-Anne Poirier joined VON Canada in 2014 as President and Chief Executive Officer.

From 2008 until 2014, Jo-Anne was Chief Executive Officer of Ottawa Community Housing Corporation. Under her leadership, Ottawa Community Housing received several awards for excellence including the 2011 Ottawa Chamber of Commerce Business Achievement Awards’ Non-Profit Organization of the Year. Jo-Anne was previously Vice-President, Resource Development and Chief Executive Officer of the Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign for United Way Ottawa, First Vice-President, Business Development for MBNA Canada Bank, and Deputy City Manager, Corporate Services with the City of Gloucester. She has worked for more than 35 years in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.

Jo-Anne is also actively involved in the community and on several Boards of Directors. She is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) and a holder of the ICD.D designation.

She is currently the Chair of the Board of the Shaw Centre, Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), and a member of the Boards of TVO and Calian. Previous Board roles include Chair of The Change Foundation, Vice-Chair of Ottawa Public Health, and founding Board member of the Board of Directors of the Champlain Local Health Integration Network (LHIN).

Jo-Anne has received several awards for her work in the community, including the 2020 Ottawa Distinguished Women Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2020 University of Ottawa Alumni Association Awards of Excellence Community Service Award, the 2012 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and the 2012 Dirigeante de l'année, Secteur Communautaire (2012 CEO of the year, Non-Profit sector) Award from the Regroupement des gens d'affaires de la capitale nationale.

Roxanne Anderson, MBA, FCPA, FCA, ICD.D

Senior Vice President, Business Optimization and Chief Financial Officer

Roxanne joined VON in this role in September 2019, bringing more than 30 years’ business transformation and finance experience to the position. She was previously a managing partner wit...read more

Roxanne joined VON in this role in September 2019, bringing more than 30 years’ business transformation and finance experience to the position. She was previously a managing partner with PwC where she led many initiatives that benefited organizations and helped them reach their potential. She continued this work as CEO of March Advisory Services.

Roxanne is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Ottawa Hospital Health Care Group and serves as Vice-Chair of its finance, audit and innovation committees. Previously, Roxanne served as the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Royal's Institute for Mental Health Research. Other board and committee roles include Co-Chair of the Ottawa chapter of the Institute of Corporate Directors, Board member of Quarterhill Inc., and member of the departmental audit committee of Shared Services Canada. She is a participant in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), whose aim is to find ways to help us live long and live well, and understand why some people age in a healthy fashion while others do not.

Roxanne is a Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant, Fellow Chartered Accountant, holds an MBA and BComm. from McMaster University. She is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors and holds ICD.D designation.

Sharon Goodwin

Senior Vice President, Home & Community Care

With her extensive background in health care, nursing and health informatics, Sharon recently led the transformation of VON’s home care service delivery in Ontario. This initiative created more value for our clients by streamlining processes and introducing point-of-care technologies. Sharon also oversaw the development of the VON’s information systems vision and plan. Prior to VON, Sharon was Ontario Director of Operations for Clinidata Corporation, where she pioneered Telehealth Ontario, a new telephone nurse advice service for Ontario.

Sharon is a Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioner and was influential in integrating the Nurse Practitioner role into Ontario’s health care system in the mid-1990s. Originally a graduate of Algonquin College, she obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Nurse Practitioner certificate from Laurentian University and a Masters in Nursing from Athabasca University. Sharon just recently completed her Doctorate in Health Administration from the University of Phoenix. Over her career, she has received several awards for both her academic and business achievements.

Sharon is a member of the board of the Ontario Community Support Association (OCSA), and serves as treasurer on the board of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI). Previously, she was a member of the Board of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario and chaired its interest group for Nurse Practitioners.

Valerie Carter

Vice president, Engagement and Philanthropy

Val joined the VON team in 2021. She brings extensive experience in health care, strategic planning, public and government affairs, marketing and stakeholder relations and is a strong advocate for health-care transformation. Most recently, she was the vice-president, strategic communications at William Osler Health System and vice-president marketing and communications for Osler’s foundation. She also spent 12 years with The Ontario Chiropractic Association leading their marketing, communications, health policy, government and community relations teams.

Val served as vice chair of The Scarborough Hospital board during its merger with The Rouge Valley Health System and was part of the inaugural board of what is now Scarborough Health Network. She currently sits on the board of The Rekai Centres, a charitable corporation that owns and operates long-term care homes.

Earlier in her career, she was group director brand management at the Canadian Cancer Society, and vice-president, client service for an integrated marketing agency leading corporate and health-care accounts for organizations such as British Airways, Imperial Life Financial and the Canadian Diabetes Association. Val started her career in the newspaper business running content syndication business units. She is proud to have launched the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes in the Canadian weekly newspaper market.

Michele Lawford

General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer

Michele Lawford joined VON Canada in 2017. She holds a Masters in Health Law from Osgoode Law School and a J.D. in Law from Queen’s University as well as a Certificate in Negotiating and Drafting IT Agreements. Michele is currently a Director of the Kingston Health Sciences Centre and a member of the hospital’s Governance. She is a former Director of the Elizabeth Fry Society and Humewood House, in Toronto. Michele practiced competition law and commercial litigation for over fifteen years in Toronto at two Bay Street firms. She has consulted for many years in the healthcare sector for local boards of health, public hospitals and community health agencies. Michele has been a Vice Chair of the Health Services Appeal and Review Board, Health Professions Appeal and Review Board and a Senior Lawyer with the Consent and Capacity Board. Michele is a former Special Assistant (Legislative) to the Attorney General of Ontario. She has been the lawyer member for several Research Ethics Boards reviewing human clinical trials at the University of Toronto.

Wendy Steele

Vice President, Human Resources

Wendy joined VON as Vice President, Human Resources in 2019 after more than two decades of experience in healthcare human resources. Prior to joining VON, Wendy had a 21-year career with St. Joseph’s Health Centre in Toronto, which culminated in her position as Vice President, Human Resources and Organizational Development from 2012 to 2016.

While at St. Joseph’s Health Centre, Wendy oversaw the development and execution of the Strategic People Plan and labour relations framework for an organization of 2600 employees (many unionized), 400 physicians and hundreds of students and volunteers. Throughout her tenure, she also championed people and talent as critical to business success and executed strategies that resulted in record-breaking talent acquisition.

Wendy was recently a lecturer at Centennial College’s School of Business Graduate Studies program, and is passionate about inspiring, coaching and mentoring the next generation of leaders. Wendy holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Royal Roads University and holds Certified Human Resources Leader (CHRL) designation.

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