Two senior execs out at LHSC

LHSC execs Neil Johnson and Susun Nickle have departed the hospital, effective immediately

TWO SENIOR-LEVEL EXECUTIVES at the London Health Sciences Centre have left the organization.

Neil Johnson, executive vice president and chief operating officer, and Susan Nickle, executive vice president, general counsel, chief people officer and chief privacy officer, have departed LHSC, effective immediately.

According to CBC News, an email circulated to LHSC staff late Wednesday evening announced the departures. It is not clear at this point whether the pair resigned or if their employment contracts were terminated, nor has any reason been given for the exits.

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LHSC is London’s largest employer, with approximately 15,000 people on staff.

In January, LHSC was embroiled in controversy after it fired CEO Paul Woods, who travelled to the United States five times, despite the federal government’s recommendation against non-essential cross-border travel as part of measures to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Woods is suing the hospital for wrongful dismissal and seeking $3.5 million in damages, including $1.4 million in compensation, $1 million damages for alleged harm to his reputation and $100,000 for unproven breaches to Ontario’s Human Rights Code.

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An LHSC statement of defence issued in January asserts Johnson and Nickle questioned Woods’s judgment about his U.S. travel in March 2020, the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in London.

The statement alleged Nickle and Johnson raised concerns about the risks to Woods’s “personal health, to his personal reputation, and to the organization” posed by travelling during the pandemic.