Resignations continue to roil foundation

Co-chairs of gala quit after board fails to save CEO

The exodus from Southlake Regional Health Centre Foundation continues, as the co-chairs of a splashy hospital gala planned for November have resigned.

The foundation confirmed that chairs Felicia Salomon and Susan Chant, the co-chairs of the semi-annual event that raises nearly a million dollars for the hospital, resigned last week. The two women, members of major donor families in Newmarket who have supported the hospital for years, did not want to comment. The recent resignations come amidst a turbulent month for the hospital foundation, which saw an en masse resignation of almost the entire board last month to protest an order from the hospital board forcing them to replace their CEO.

But the foundation maintains the internal turmoil is not affecting donations or the community support of the hospital.

“We are hopeful that this is not a significant distraction,” said Dionne M. Malcolm, the manager for marketing and communications for the foundation. “We are pleased that we continue to remain on-track with the gala and other initiatives that are currently underway,” she said.

Malcolm said that thanks to Chant and Salomon, the gala is already 80per-cent sold out, and that the chairs for the event have yet to be replaced. In 2013, a similar gala raised $810,000 for the hospital.

But according to a source, the chairs resigned as the “hospital has not taken any action to solve the problems that created the resignations” over the past few weeks.

The hospital board said it could not comment on a personnel issue. Jonathan Harris, the chair of the hospital board, deferred all comments to the hospital’s media team.

Earlier this month, 12 of 14 foundation board members resigned to protest the directive from the hospital board to replace Neila Poscente, the foundation president and CEO.

Poscente, who is still employed with the foundation, has not responded to several requests for comment.