JACK KITTS TO BOW OUT
Hospital CEO to retire in June
The Ottawa Hospital’s president and CEO, Jack Kitts, will retire next June after more than 18 years in the position.
The announcement was made by the hospital’s board of governors on Wednesday.
In his letter to the board, Kitts, 64, noted “it has been a privilege and an honour for me to be part of The Ottawa Hospital team for the past 30 plus years. I joined the medical staff in 1988 and have enjoyed numerous roles prior to becoming President and CEO in October 2001.
“I am grateful for the many opportunities that I’ve had to lead and represent the hospital in our community, provincially and on a national level. I am also grateful to have worked with so many amazing staff members, from administrators and managers to physicians, nurses, other health professionals, support staff and volunteers. Because of you, The Ottawa Hospital is well positioned for the future.”
Board chair Katherine Cotton said Kitts “has led the hospital through a period of massive change in the delivery of health care in Ottawa and Eastern Ontario. He was the architect of a successful cultural transformation within the organization after four separate hospitals amalgamated into what is now The Ottawa Hospital.
“He has always led by example,” she added, “and his extraordinary legacy is characterized by prioritizing people and putting patients at the centre of health care.”
Kitts’s announcement comes as the hospital manoeuvres through a complicated relocation process. In his announcement, Kitts promised to help ensure a smooth transition as the hospital searches for a successor.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Nepean MPP Lisa MacLeod offered Kitts her congratulations.
“Jack Kitts has been a friend for twenty years,” she wrote. “I’ve long admired his work ethic and visionary leadership. I wish him well as he announces his retirement — well deserved — and look forward to continuing to work with him to get the Civic rebuilt.”
The second-oldest of nine siblings born in Barry’s Bay, Kitts’s youthful ambition was to work at the local LCBO outlet, until a high-school guidance counsellor encouraged him to get a university degree.
He received his medical degree from University of Ottawa in 1980, and a few years later joined the staff of The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic campus as an anesthesiologist and the department of anesthesia’s research director. In 1992, he led the development of the hospital’s preoperative assessment clinic, becoming its first medical director. He was appointed the Civic’s chief of anesthesia in 1995.
Three years later, he was appointed vice-president of medical affairs, leading medical staff through the restructuring that saw the creation of The Ottawa Hospital.
He finished his master’s degree in business administration in 2001 and was subsequently named president and CEO.
In 2017, he earned about $700,000 in salary and taxable benefits from the hospital.
Last year, Kitts was appointed to the Order of Canada.