Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj heading to LHSC

WRH CEO heading to London Windsor Regional Hospital president and CEO David Musyj is leaving and heading to LHSC. CTV Windsor’s Rich Garton reports.

Windsor Regional Hospital president and CEO David Musyj is leaving his position in Windsor and heading to London.

In response to a request by London Health Sciences Centre and conversations with the WRH Board of Directors, Musyj will be seconded to LHSC as its acting president and CEO, effective Thursday, May 23.

David and the WRH Board of Directors were directly approached recently by LHSC about this opportunity, according to a news release from WRH.

Musyj will remain involved directly in ongoing discussions involving the planning and construction of a new, state-of-the-art acute care hospital for Windsor-Essex.

“We wish David success in his role assisting LHSC,” said WRH Board chair Patti France. “While we will miss David on a day-to-day basis, we are proud of his achievements here locally, extremely excited for his new opportunity and confident in his leadership abilities in this role.”

“I'm not surprised. David's a very strong hospital CEO and I know if you're watching the media in London, there have been some issues and certainly his leadership I'm sure will be very welcomed by that board,” said Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens.

“A loss for us in the short term but I'm glad that this assignment for him is only temporary,” adds Dilkens.

In David’s absence, Karen Riddell will take on the role of Acting President and CEO for WRH. Riddell has been with WRH since 1999 and in an executive role since 2017. She became Chief Nursing Executive and Chief Operating Officer in 2021.

“Karen is an incredible leader who supported WRH’s clinical team in navigating through the COVID-19 pandemic and the more recent criminal cyberattack, adding to the many years of experience in hospital nursing she already carried,” France said. “It is a testament to WRH’s leadership that we have such incredible ‘bench strength’ to make the changes necessary to ensure continuously strong leadership at the top of Windsor and Essex County’s largest employer.”

Karen will remain Chief Nursing Executive at this time but in order to assist Karen, Nicole Krywionek has been promoted to interim Vice-President for the organization and as such will sit on the WRH Executive Committee and be responsible for Critical Care, Cardiology, Diagnostic Imaging, Patient Relations, Professional Practice, Corporate Education and Training and Clinical Quality and Safety.

Statement from LHSC Board of Directors

The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) Board of Directors has seconded David Musyj, President and Chief Executive Officer, Windsor Regional Hospital, to serve as Acting President and CEO of LHSC, effective May 23, 2024. In this position, Mr. Musyj will take on the role and accountabilities of the President and CEO to provide additional leadership capacity for our executive team and the broader LHSC team. This secondment is open-ended while Dr. Jackie Schleifer Taylor remains on a leave of absence.

Mr. Musyj brings extensive health care leadership and expertise to LHSC, including more than 15 years of experience leading a major hospital organization. This secondment builds on a long history of partnership and collaboration between LHSC and Windsor Regional Hospital. Mr. Musyj’s familiarity with LHSC and our community will be invaluable as he assumes this acting role to provide additional corporate leadership capacity to our already talented executive leadership team.

LHSC continues to be unwavering in our commitment to excellence in patient care, teaching and research and inviting Mr. Musyj to provide leadership will further enable us to deliver on our goals.