Mary Ackenhusen

Mary has been a healthcare executive in the BC system since 2000 with Fraser Health, Vancouver Coastal Health and the BC Ministry of Health. She served as President and CEO of Vancouver Coastal Health from 2014-2020. As CEO, she focused the organization on improving its effectiveness by engaging and empowering the 18,000+ staff and physicians. In 2019, she was the only non-profit CEO to be named as a Top 25 CEO in Canada by the social media site, Glassdoor, based on employee reviews. She is currently an executive advisor with Deloitte Canada.

From her many years in healthcare, she learned to appreciate that social and economic factors are even more influential to the health of an individual than access to high quality healthcare. Today, she works to leverage her skills and experience to drive awareness and actions around the need to transition to a low carbon economy and support an environmentally sustainable planet. She admires the many passionate leaders who are tackling this challenge with the gusto that it deserves.  She is keen to be a part of the Vancouver Foundation because it supports organizations that are fighting for a more equitable and just society. Mary splits her time between Vancouver and Saltspring Island where she enjoys her 3 horses and yoga.