Interior Health gets a new board chair

KELOWNA – There'll be a new board chair for Interior Health starting fresh in the new year.

Current board member Erwin Malzer of Kelowna will slide into position January 1, 2015, taking the place of Norman Embree who completes his tenure as chairman in December.

Malzer's new role is to guide the nine-member board of directors in maintaining an evolving, sustainable health care system with improved patient care in mind, according to a media release from Interior Health.

“Norman Embree has served Interior Health for the last seven years, and I want to thank him for his contributions to supporting the health of people in this region,” Health Minister Terry Lake says. “Mr. Malzer brings a wealth of experience to this important leadership role. His leadership will mean that Interior Health Board continues to provide strong strategic direction for the medical needs of Interior residents.”

Interior Health says Malzer has more than 40 years of board experience, either chairing or as a director of numerous corporate, professional, community and trade organizations throughout Canada. He currently serves on the Executive Board of the B.C. Institute of Corporate Directors. He began serving as an Interior health board member in 2007. He's chaired the Audit & Finance Committee of the Board and is the current chair of the governance committee. He's been the lead director providing board oversight for all major P3 capital projects in the Okanagan, including the Kelowna and Vernon hospitals project and the Interior Heart and Surgical Centre.

Malzer is described as a seasoned management consultant and information technology executive. Interior Health says he has consulted in health care and has helped organize the annual Reboot Health Conference for the past five years. He was a former senior IT Partner with PwC and an executive with IBM, he had leadership responsibilities for Western Canada. Along with his Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.) and MBA degrees, he completed the Corporate Governance College director education program and is also a certified corporate director (ICD.D), a certified management consultant (CMC), and has been awarded designation as a Fellow of the Institute of Certified Management Consultants (FCMC).

To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infonews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.