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Leadership Team

Sonya Lockyer

Sonya Lockyer

President & Chief Executive Officer, Lifemark Health Group

Sonya joined Lifemark as President and CEO in March 2023. She has spent the past 20+ years working with a number of Canada’s leading private and public healthcare organizations in executive and advisory roles.

Most recently, Sonya worked at TELUS Health leading their healthcare delivery capabilities, including clinical and pharmacy services. Prior to that Sonya was the CEO of Canadian Addiction Treatment Centres, the largest outpatient and inpatient addiction and mental health treatment network in Canada. Sonya has also worked as a management consultant and as an executive at CML Healthcare/LifeLabs.

Sonya’s relentless commitment to delivering excellence in both clinical quality and patient experience is a cornerstone of her people-focused leadership philosophy.

Sonya has an MBA from the University of Toronto and a BSc in Medical Laboratory Sciences from the University of Alberta. Early in her career, Sonya served as a member of Canadian Armed Forces, spending most of her time stationed at CFB Edmonton.

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Liz Ballantyne - Senior Vice President | Strategic Initiatives and Innovation
Liz Ballantyne, Senior Vice President Strategic Initiatives and Innovation

In her role, Liz is responsible for leading Lifemark’s strategic plan, using innovation to drive and enhance our client experience and customer relationships. Liz holds a Bachelor of Health Sciences in Physiotherapy from McMaster University and a Master’s in Health Administration from the University of Toronto.

A leader with over 15 years of experience in healthcare, Liz has worked in a range of key roles at Lifemark, including Medical Assessments, Seniors Wellness and Clinic Operations. She approaches all new challenges as opportunities and is motivated by working with teams to come up with new, creative approaches to improve and elevate Lifemark’s operations.

Gilles Chabot - Chief Operating Officer | Clinic Operations
Gilles Chabot

As our Chief Operating Officer of Clinic Operations, Gilles sets the course for the day-to-day operations of our clinics. Gilles is a passionate leader who over the last two years, has been serving the company as the Provincial Lead for the Prairie region. Before moving out West, he was the Provincial Lead for Ontario for four years after having been a Clinic Director and an Area Manager. Gilles graduated in Physiotherapy from the University of Toronto in 1986 and was the General Manager of Sudbury Physio Centre for over 20 years, growing the business to one of the largest and most respected providers of rehabilitation services in Ontario.

Andrea Ross - Vice President, Finance
Andrea Ross

As Vice President, Finance, Andrea is responsible for the financial leadership of the business, managing the accounting, reporting, planning, and analysis functions while providing strategic decision support for business transactions and initiatives. Andrea represents Lifemark within the Shoppers Drug Mart and Loblaw Finance teams. 

Andrea joined the Lifemark team in October 2022 and has been with Shoppers Drug Mart since 2010.  In her previous role as Senior Director, Investor Relations, Andrea played a key role in developing messaging and communicating the company’s financial, ESG, and strategic progress and priorities to the investment community.  Prior to this, Andrea held finance roles in Pharmacy, Real Estate, and Retail Finance where she has led the development, implementation, and oversight of financial frameworks and processes for a number of businesses including SDM retail stores. Prior to joining Shoppers Drug Mart, Andrea worked as an auditor with BDO in Winnipeg, Mississauga, and Singapore.

Andrea is a Chartered Professional Accountant with a Bachelors of Commerce degree from the University of Manitoba.  She moved to Toronto from Winnipeg 14 years ago and lives in the city with her husband and 3 boys.

Shari Cohen - Senior Vice President | Corporate Development
Shari Cohen, Senior Vice President Corporate Development

As Senior Vice President for Corporate Development, Shari is responsible for pursuing and completing strategic acquisitions throughout Canada in all areas of Lifemark’s business. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana University, and has a strong and diverse background in US health care business development working at HealthSouth, a US national health care provider. During a ten-year period at HealthSouth, Shari had several roles, gaining experience in marketing, business development and mergers and acquisitions of rehabilitation clinics throughout the US.

Since 1999, Shari has been leading Lifemark’s aggressive acquisition strategy, completing over 75 acquisitions in the last several years. Her role includes collaboration with Lifemark’s leadership team on its acquisition strategy and executing this plan working closely with potential acquisition targets through all aspects of the acquisition process including prospecting leads, business valuation, and negotiation of a transaction. As part of the acquisition process, Shari liaises with both internal and external stakeholders to ensure an effective outcome for all parties as new businesses join Lifemark.

Rene Deschamps - Vice President Strategic Partnerships 
Rene Deschamps

In his role leading Lifemark’s strategic partnerships, Rene heads a team focused on building new relationships which enable partner organizations to meet their objectives.  Rene graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Physiotherapy degree from the University of Ottawa. He also holds an Honors degree in Biology with major in physiology.

 

Rene joined Lifemark in 2005 and has vast knowledge of all aspects of the business thanks to a wide range of prior roles including Clinic Director, Regional Manager, Area Manager, and Director of Operations. Taking a client-centered approach to his role, Rene is known for building strong relationships and matching business needs with innovative business ideas.  

Karen de Vaal - Vice President | Client Services
Karen de Vaal, Vice President Client Services

As Vice President, Client Services, Karen is responsible for the growth and management of national customer relationships, including life and disability insurance carriers, auto insurance companies and employers. She believes that getting to know our customers, understanding their needs and delivering on our promises is at the heart of creating long-standing business relationships.

Karen has a clinical background with a Bachelor’s of Science in Kinesiology from the University of Waterloo along with a Certificate in Business Management from the Schulich School of Business. Since joining Lifemark in 1999, Karen has successfully built a network of customers and a client services team by capitalizing on her breadth of experience in business development, clinic management, clinical programming, direct patient care and case management. With 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Karen consistently brings commitment, leadership and compassion to everything she does.

Brock Dodgson - Chief Information Officer
Brock Dodgson, Chief Information Officer

As CIO, Brock provides vision and leadership for the development and implementation of information technology and telecommunications initiatives.   Prior to Lifemark, Brock has had over 18 years of experience in IT working in several healthcare companies including Cancer Care Ontario, Canadian Institute for Health Information, OACCAC and Agfa Healthcare.

 

Brocks holds a Bachelor of Math Degree from the University of Waterloo, and is also a certified project management professional. Since joining Lifemark in 2015, Brock has led key digital transformation projects, delivering on his mandate to become a technology innovation leader in healthcare. 

Dave Reddy - Vice President | Human Resources
Dave Reddy

Dave leads the HR function at Lifemark Health Group and is responsible for the goal to become the best employer in the industry. His team is focused on meeting the company’s current and future talent needs, including building talent acquisition, leadership development and engagement practices. He was very proud to accept the 2018 Employee Recommended Workplace Award recently on behalf of the company.

Prior to joining Lifemark, Dave held a number of senior HR roles at Shoppers Drug Mart, including leading retail talent, change management, culture and the Ontario Retail HR business unit.  Prior to that, he was with Eli Lilly Canada in progressive HR roles leading their talent development, performance management and engagement strategy.  During this time, he had the opportunity to lead an international CRM implementation and serve as Interim Vice President, HR for their Australian affiliate.  Dave began his career with Lawtons Drugs in Atlantic Canada as a community pharmacist and Manager of Professional Development. 

Dave earned a pharmacy degree from Memorial University and has completed the Executive HR Development program at Queen’s University.  He has been an active volunteer in the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.