Waterhouse Executive Search Lands CFO for Chatham-Kent Health Alliance

March 6, 2017 – Waterhouse Executive Search has placed Jerome Quenneville as vice president and chief financial officer of the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance in Ontario.

During a roughly 90-day-plus search process, Chatham-Kent considered a number of prospective candidates, selecting Mr. Quenneville, who’s been serving in this role on an interim basis since November. He brings extensive executive experience having served as president and CEO at the Sault Area Hospital and at Wellington Health Care Alliance. He also has extensive experience in the Chatham area of Ontario having served as CFO at St. Joseph’s Hospital.

“Jerome brings exceptional leadership skills and a deep loyalty to the organization,” said Ken Deane, interim president and chief executive officer. He joins Debbie Ancocik, VP and chief human resources officer (CHRO); Dr. Pervez Faruqi, chief of staff; and Lori Marshall, incoming president and CEO on a leadership team that will help the Alliance on its current transformational journey.

“I am honoured to join the organization and champion the healthcare needs of our community,” said Mr. Quenneville. “I look forward to collaborating with the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance’s dynamic team while ensuring that we add value and accountability to the health system.”

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Delivering quality care to residents of Chatham-Kent, South Lambton and Walpole Island, Chatham-Kent Health Alliance is a 200-plus bed community hospital system, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and technologies. It is comprised of 1,350 staff, 251 credentialed healthcare professionals and 500 volunteers who care for thousands of inpatients, outpatients and emergency patients annually, with an average patient satisfaction rate of 92 percent.

Waterhouse Executive Search provides executive search services to a wide array of business sectors across Canada and throughout the Pacific Northwest. Headquartered in Vancouver British Columbia, the firm has dedicated executive search practitioners operating in major cities including Saskatoon, Winnipeg, London Ontario, Toronto, and Bellevue, WA. It has managed a wide variety of client engagements in the public, private and not-for-profit business sectors. Just recently Waterhouse placed CFOs at Geneva Center for Autism and The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority.

High Demand for Finance Talent

Recruiters say a need for top flight financial executives has risen, making CFOs much more in demand than other C-suite leaders. And that begs an interesting question: What are ‘actively-looking’ CEOs most after as they team up with headhunters in the pursuit of their next CFO? The position generally serves as right hand man to the chief executive so the perfect match is critical.

One trait every CEO desperately seeks in his or her next CFO is leadership. “More and more often, the CFO is viewed as the No. 2 executive within a public company,” said Phil McCall, a Crist | Kolder Associates managing director. “That perception is consistent with both insiders (peers, managers), and outsiders (analysts, investors, and board members),” he added. “Because a public company CEO is so time constrained, the CFO is expected to take his or her place at certain times. When that happens, you need a CFO who won’t shirk from those responsibilities, but rather, will instill a following.”

Recent CFO Searches

In recent months search firms have placed CFOs at various companies, all with fundamentally distinct and varied backgrounds — from global recruiting to private equity to legal. One thing they all have in common: they’re some of the best finance executives in their respective function. Here’s a look at just a few from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

• The McAulay Smith Firm recruited Alexander Pease as executive vice president and CFO of Snyder’s-Lance, Inc. Search firm president Steven Smith led the assignment. Mr. Pease joins the company from McKinsey & Co., where he was a leader in the firm’s global corporate finance and business functions practice working with leading CFOs across a wide range of industries.

• BridgeStreet Partners tapped Temple H. Weiss as CFO of Centennial Real Estate Company. Dave Westberry, managing director of BridgeStreet, led the assignment. Previously, Mr. Weiss served as CFO of several private equity-owned portfolio companies, including CEC Entertainment, Pegasus Solutions and Ace Cash Express.

• WinterWyman placed Gary Eason as CFO at TG Gallagher. Senior vice president and partner Ken Martin led the search. Previously, Mr. Eason was director of finance for Interstate Electrical Services Corporation and the director of finance and administration for Triumph Modular Incorporated.

• Caldwell Partners recruited Kevin Cash as CFO of law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. Michael DeCosta, a partner and leader in the firm’s professional services practice, led the search along with Kristin Hebert, a leader of Caldwell’s legal practice and managing partner of its San Francisco office. Mr. Cash previously served as CFO of law firm BakerHostetler.

• Odgers Berndtson placed Paul S. Herendeen as executive vice president of finance and CFO of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International. John Hawkins, vice chairman and director in Odgers Berndtson’s life sciences practice, led the assignment. Mr. Herendeen previously served as EVP and CFO of Zoetis Inc.

• Bespoke Partners recruited Bob Bies as CFO of Syncsort. Previously, Mr. Bies was CFO at private equity-backed Cannondale Investments, where he was part of the leadership team that acquired OneSource from InfoGroup and formed Avention.

• PFM Executive Search placed Nelson Chan as CFO of Capital Regional District (CRD). Mr. Chan has experience in both the public and private sectors and is regarded as a collaborative, action-oriented leader and change driver with a refined business acumen.

• NorthWind Partners recruited Kevin L. Cook as CFO of Alion Science and Technology Corporation. Managing partner Mark HuYoung, who leads the firm’s private equity practice, along with partners Hunter Murray and Brian Thomas, led the search. Mr. Cook formerly served as CFO of Booz Allen Hamilton.

Contributed by Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor, Hunt Scanlon Media