Sue Paish is leaving, and she’s staying put. Paish is leaving her CEO role at Pharmasave Drugs International to take on a new job: CEO of LifeLabs.
Because LifeLabs is headquartered in Toronto, Paish spent last week stamping out rumours that her new job meant moving to Hogtown.
“The rumour of my emigration from British Columbia is vastly overstated,” Paish said.
Although headquartered in Toronto, LifeLabs has a significance presence in B.C., including an office in Burnaby and regional labs throughout the province.
“One of the requirements of LifeLabs, when they approached me, was that I would be prepared to split my time between British Columbia and Toronto and not be wholly located in either province,” Paish said. “I’ll have an apartment in Toronto, and we’ll maintain our home in Vancouver.
“The opportunity to work in two provinces intrigued me. It actually results in less travel than I have now. Right now, with Pharmasave having stores all across the country, I spend a huge amount of time travelling across the country.”
Paish, who has been named to Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women’s list three times, starts her new job in July. She will be leaving Pharmasave on good terms and with a solid performance record behind her.
Pharmasave plans to appoint its CFO, Zvonko Maretic, as interim CEO at the end of this month.
Owned by Borealis Infrastructure, a private equity group, LifeLabs provides blood tests and other medical diagnostics. It operates medical labs in B.C., Ontario and Quebec.
Paish has had a relationship with LifeLabs for the last five years, during which time she sat on the company’s board of directors.
She was courted by the company for her experience in law and the health sector. (Before joining Pharmasave in 2007, Paish was the managing partner with Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP.)
“She has the health-care experience, she’s been a LifeLabs board member for the last five years, so she understands LifeLabs,” said LifeLabs spokesman Mitchell Toker.
Because she’ll still live in Vancouver, Paish will be able to continue her work with a variety of non-profit health-related organizations, including the Rick Hansen Foundation and Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. She will also continue to sit on the board of directors for the CORIX Group of Companies.
“LifeLabs is really strongly committed to community engagement,” Paish said, “and my involvement with the community was really critical to them.”
When Paish joined Pharmasave in 2007, she said her goal was to double the number of Pharmasave stores in Canada within five years. A recession put a serious crimp in those plans.
“In 2007, to contemplate doubling the size of the organization was not unrealistic,” Paish said. “In 2008, the world changed. Pretty much at the same time, the provincial government started the focus on pharmacy reform, which put a chill across the whole industry.”
In spite of those setbacks, Pharmasave added more than 20 new stores in Ontario in the first three months of this year and 17 in B.C. •
