Baycrest announces exciting changes in Board and Foundation leadership

TORONTO, Sept. 25, 2013 /CNW/ - Baycrest Health Sciences and the Baycrest Foundation are pleased to announce exciting changes in their Board and Foundation leadership. On September 23, Jeffrey M. Blidner was elected Chair of the Baycrest Board of Directors, replacing Garry Foster who stepped down in order to assume the role of Interim President at the Foundation.

Jeff has been a member of the Baycrest Board since June 2005 and has been Chair of its Strategic Planning Committee since June 2010, helping to develop the organization's 2013-2018 Strategic Plan.  A Senior Managing Partner of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., Jeff is responsible for strategic planning as well as transaction execution.  He is also the Chief Executive Officer of Brookfield's Private Funds Group, a director of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., Rouse Properties, Inc., Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and Chairman and a director of Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners.

"I am very excited to be taking on this new role, furthering my longstanding connection to Baycrest," says Jeff. "Baycrest is a jewel in our community and a gift to the world. As we approach almost a century of caring for older adults, Baycrest has a unique opportunity to redefine aging and brain health. Our new Strategic Plan is the roadmap to that goal."

Garry Foster recently agreed to join the Foundation as Interim President in order to support the day-to-day operations and implement its business strategy as it embarks on an ambitious 10-year campaign.

"This is an exciting opportunity for me to collaborate with the Foundation Board of Directors, and an extraordinary team of people, including our committed network of donors and community members," says Garry. "We will all continue to work together in support of Baycrest's remarkable research, education, and care in aging and brain health."

Garry's new responsibilities are akin to his professional experience as former Vice Chairman of Deloitte, where he provided professional services to some of Canada's largest and most successful companies, leading global client service teams across Canada, the US, and abroad. He is a former member of the Board of Directors for the UJA, and former Chair of the Board of Governors for the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies, where he has led major fundraising events. Garry has been involved in a governance capacity at Baycrest since 2006, assuming the role of Chair of the Board of Directors in 2012.

About Baycrest
Headquartered on a 22-acre campus and fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, Baycrest is unique in the world, combining a comprehensive system of care for aging adults, one of the world's top research institutes in cognitive neuroscience (the Rotman Research Institute), dedicated centres focused on mitigating the impact of age-related illness and impairment, and unmatched global knowledge exchange and commercialization capacity. Baycrest was recently ranked by Accreditation Canada as among the top five percent of healthcare organizations in Canada for delivering excellence in care, patient safety and corporate operations.

SOURCE: Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care

For more information on this press release, please contact: 

Kelly Connelly, Senior Media Officer
Baycrest Health Sciences
416-785-2432
[email protected]