The dedication, commitment and enthusiasm of our people – from our front office staff to the healthcare workers, and from the management team to our advisory board – is truly one of the greatest strengths of Closing the Gap Healthcare.
We choose to treat our clients, our customers and each other with dignity and respect and strive to work together at every level as a team with the singular purpose of providing the best possible healthcare to the communities and people we serve.
Connie Clerici
Connie attends courses and programs every year as she views learning as a privilege and an obligation of accountable leaders.
She has over 40 years of experience in the health care field with 30 years in homecare – currently she is specializing in executive leadership, governance, mergers and acquisitions and corporate administration. She has a vision of the benefits of a multidisciplinary focus for care, a cost per case focus, quality, and innovation.
Connie Clerici actively influences change and seeks system innovations, while making a concerted effort to build and support a high quality, publicly funded healthcare system that is sustainable for Canadians. She values the opportunity to work with individuals who are self-aware while performing with integrity, honesty and ethically on a consistent basis. Connie actively participates on a number of boards, committees, and advisory councils. She shares her time volunteering with numerous charities, continuing her work representing the interests of those who are vulnerable members of our society.
Connie regularly participates in values-based training programs. Connie currently sits as a board member or advisor at both the Ivey Business School and Western’s Entrepreneurship Advisory board and executive team for the Morrisette Institute for Entrepreneurship. Connie spends a significant amount of time mentoring the next generation of health leaders and entrepreneurs. She is an Adjunct Professor and Senior Fellow University of Toronto Institute Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. Connie is also a Special Advisor to the Dean at IHPME. She was the Vice-Chair for Health Quality Ontario and currently sits on the Ontario Health Clinical Council.
Connie was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws in 2022 from Western University, Ivey Business School.
Connie’s contributions to health care, entrepreneurship and the business community have been acknowledged through numerous awards, including the Mississauga Board of Trade Business Award of Excellence, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, RBC Excellence in Entrepreneurship, the ICCO Business Excellence award, the Federated Press Women Leader of the Year Award and her induction into the Hall of Fame of Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100. She was also profiled in “Extraordinary Lives: Inspiring Women of Peel,” published by the Canadian Federation of University Women.
Connie is passionate about helping people increase their enjoyment of life. She celebrates the opportunities that she and her staff at Closing the Gap Healthcare are privileged to have to make positive contributions to the lives of so many Canadians.
Connie is an active philanthropist across numerous sectors.
Lindsey Crawford
I am responsible for the delivery and leadership of all high quality client services at Closing the Gap. My focus is on operational excellence and strategic growth. My approach to innovation and growth is through partnership with government and across sectors, with the goal of creating one system of care.
Professional Experience
I am a dynamic leader that has a track record of delivering results and ensuring that health care organizations continue to grow and evolve, keeping pace with client and community needs, technology, and the healthcare landscape.
I have been in Senior management in several organizations over the last twenty years. I was Vice President of Clinical Programs at two community hospitals, the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre and The Scarborough Hospital, and a Senior Executive at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. I was also the Regional Vice President, Cancer Care for the North Simcoe Muskoka Region. I have a strong track record on strategy development and successful implementation. I have developed effective approaches to client, provider and partner engagement. I believe in a strong customer focus, every day, always.
I have successfully been able to create cross sector regional integrated systems for cancer, cardiac, mental health and addictions, palliative and home and community care through partnership with hospitals, community agencies, physicians, government agencies and ministries and private partners.
I recently completed a Doctorate in Rehabilitation and Health leadership at Queen’s University with a focus on an implementation science approach to the creation of client-centred practices and environments.
Passion
I have a passion for leading the development and transformation of regional health systems to meet the needs of clients and families.
Yiannis Soumalias
Yiannis currently oversees Closing the Gap’s sales, marketing, project management and corporate health departments. Yiannis is responsible for seeking out new business opportunities, conducting market research and feasibility studies, creating corporate communications plans and executing strategic marketing plans.
Professional Experience
Yiannis joined CTG with an extensive background in sales, marketing and customer relationship management and has demonstrated an ability to find unique solutions to problems within our health system. Yiannis has a bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Wilfrid Laurier University and an MBA from Ivey at Western University.
Passion
Yiannis is a change leader who is focused on building a sustainable healthcare system across Canada.
Dan Black
From managing business initiatives to advising the President and CEO, Dan oversees all of Closing the Gap’s corporate legal matters, including general counsel and HR advice. As an essential member of CTG’s Senior Leadership Team, Dan is responsible for all functions related to contracts, compliance, research, health IT policy, and employment issues.
Professional Experience
Dan has been providing employment and labour law advice to both private and public sector healthcare and other employers for over 20 years. Before rejoining CTG in 2014, he practiced as a Partner at one Canadian national law firm and as Counsel at another.
He has worked with CTG for a total of approximately 17 of those years, including one year as Director of Human Resources and Legal Affairs and three years as Vice President, Legal and Business Development.
Passion
Dan has a passion for service, health policy, and improving the lives of those in need.
Klodiana Djawadi
Organizational Impact
Responsible for the financial performance and leadership of Closing the Gap, Klodiana oversees the integrity of financial reporting, strategic planning, and management of internal controls. She is an enthusiastic leader recognized for bringing financial and operational perspectives to executive decisions and ensuring both short and long-term goals are met.
Professional Experience
Klodiana is a dynamic and results driven finance and operations professional that has over 15 years of proven success driving financial performance and strategic growth in the healthcare sector.
She is a strategic leader with a commitment to driving business growth, supporting patient care, and organizational sustainability with expertise in financial planning & analysis, forecasting activities, building effective teams, driving strategic planning initiatives, and establishing business partnerships.
Klodiana holds CPA designation, has completed a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto and a Master of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Passion
Klodiana is passionate about Healthcare and is dedicated to further improving homecare solutions and patients’ lives within our communities as part of Closing the Gap Healthcare.
Sarath Pillai
As the point person for Closing the Gap’s IT functions, Sarath leads IT initiatives across all CTG sites in Ontario and Nova Scotia. With a focus on innovation, Sarath implements integrated technology solutions to increase functionality and improve quality of care.
Professional Experience
Sarath is a senior executive with over 16 years of Information Technology experience mainly in healthcare and retail. He has held executive roles at pt Health, OHTN and Hear for Life. Recently, he was the Director of I.T. at Canadian Professional Sales Association, a member based organization to support and advance sales professionals.
Sarath holds an MBA from Queen’s University and M.S. in Computer Science from Robert Gordon University, UK along with a bunch of technical certifications.
Passion
Sarath is passionate about using his vast IT knowledge to support the implementation of innovative eHealth solutions.
Reema Shrivastava
Professional Experience
Passion
As a pragmatic servant leader, Natalie is unafraid to challenge the HR status quo to foster a culture of continuous improvement and employee engagement. She oversees the Human Resources team and their function to support business operations, help employees excel, and achieve their best potential. Natalie’s strategic vision and leadership have revolutionized HR practices at Closing the Gap, driving the adoption of modern best practices that enhance both organizational effectiveness and employee satisfaction.
Professional Experience
With a rich and diverse background in various industries, including technology, finance, and healthcare, Natalie brings a unique perspective that prioritizes business objectives and employee well-being. This diverse experience has honed her ability to find innovative HR solutions that meet the evolving needs of healthcare professionals and clients, ensuring that CTG remains competitive in today’s fast-paced world.
Natalie holds an HRPA designation, has completed a Bachelor’s degree from the University of the Philippines, and a Human Resources Management certificate from Humber College.
Passion
Outside of her professional endeavors, Natalie enjoys playing video games, walking her dog, and exploring the culinary scene with her family. These activities reinforce her belief in a holistic work-life balance, a principle she strives to promote in her professional life as well.
As Director of Finance, responsibilities are oversight of the full finance function including but not limited to the accounting and controllership functions, financial reporting, strategic finance, accounts receivable, accounts payable and payroll.
Professional Experience
Nav is a dynamic professional who has completed his Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto and is a designated CPA. Nav brings over 10 years of experience in various organizations leading controllership functions, supporting budget development, strategic business partnering and building strong, collaborative teams.
Passion
Nav enjoys working in Healthcare and supporting an organization that is truly dedicated to making a difference in patient’s lives.
Angela Brunet
As a tenured CTG staff member of 21 years, Angela’s clinical, committee, and leadership experiences position her well to support sustainability, growth, and development of business operations across the organization. In addition to Client Services, Angela supports the QRE, HR, and IT departments with special projects.
Professional Experience
A graduate of Queen’s University, Angela’s clinical experience as a homecare occupational therapist spanned the pediatric through geriatric populations. A drive for expanded knowledge and responsibility led to various leadership roles at CTG, most recently as Director of Client Services. Angela has devoted the entire 32 years of her career to the “homecare sector” of healthcare, firm in her belief that health is influenced by all aspects of life experience.
Passion
Finding solutions that promote safe health at home, that permit the ability to live your best life, and that allow one to find moments of joy in every day, inspire Angela to continue to support the development and delivery of homecare services to clients and caregivers.
Jo-Anne Desroches
Jo-Anne works across the organization ensuring excellence in care delivery, both in community and clinic settings. Working with staff at all levels, her responsibilities include engaging with staff, clients/families and partners while working on various quality improvement projects.
Professional Experience
A graduate of the University of Toronto, Jo-Anne is a physiotherapist with extensive experience in community care. She has been with Closing the Gap for over 12 years as a front-line therapist, professional practice leader, supervisor, manager and now director with the organization.
Passion
Jo-Anne’s focus is supporting clients as experts in their own healthcare, and as leaders of their own teams, all while promoting best practice and mentoring our fantastic frontline health providers.
David Heaton
David plans, directs and monitors the services provided by regional offices across Ontario. Working closely with staff at all levels of the organization, David oversees Closing the Gap’s physiotherapy clinics, mentors front-line management staff, develops new business initiatives, builds working relationships with health system leaders and supports CTG’s organizational strategy by tracking quality indicators.
Professional Experience
Joining Closing the Gap in 2011, David has paired a professional background in Physiotherapy with academic and experiential training in business administration, managerial accounting and project management. His career path began as a community care physiotherapist and took him throughout the health sector in progressive management and strategic leadership roles.
Passion
Client Services benefits from David’s roots in Community Care and his caring and compassionate leadership.
Dr. Samir K. Sinha
A Rhodes Scholar, Samir is a highly regarded clinician and international expert in the care of older adults. In 2021, he was appointed to serve as a member of the Government of Canada’s National Seniors Council and recently led the successful development of Canada’s new National Long-Term Care Services Standard.
Dan Carbin
At Santis, Dan provides strategic advice to boards and executives in the Canadian health care sector. His clients include Fortune 500 companies, leading national and provincial health care associations, broader public sector organizations, and a range of health charities. Dan is also director and past chair of the board at St. Jude Community Homes, a supportive housing provider for individuals living with mental health challenges. Dan has an MSc. (Distinction) from the London School of Economics and a BA (Hons.) from McGill University.
Gail Donner
Gail has held a number of government and community appointments: in 2014-15 she chaired the Expert Group on Home and Community Care appointed by the Minister of Health and Long Term Care to provide advice on how to achieve the Ministry’s vision of patient-centred, integrated, accountable home and community programs and services, and from 2016-18 Gail served as External Advisor to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care to help advance the home and community care agenda.
An active volunteer in her community, Gail is currently a member of the boards of AMS Healthcare and the Regional Geriatric Program of Toronto. Past volunteer activities include member of the Board of Trustees of the Hospital for Sick Children where she chaired the Quality Committee, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Change Foundation, member of the Governance Leadership Council, Ontario Hospital Association, and a volunteer in the Toronto Out of the Cold program.
Dr. Jonathan C. Abrams
Dr. Abrams is a Family Physician doing Home Based Palliative Care through Mount Sinai Hospital’s Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care. He has a BA in Biology from Yeshiva University, and an MPH from Columbia University’s School of Public Health. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto Medical School and then did his Family Medicine Residency at the University of Western Ontario.
He then spent two years doing a fellowship on the Pain and Palliative Care Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, before joining the Temmy Latner Centre program. He is also an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. In his spare time he enjoys art and design, and is an avid road cyclist, and has participated in several long distance charity cycling events.
Rheta Fanizza
Currently she is Baycrest’s Executive Vice President, Residential and Community Programs where she is responsible for overseeing the operations and growth of Baycrest’s residential and community-based initiatives. Rheta holds a B.Com and MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University.
Rheta’s passion for innovation and people-powered health care fuels her relentless pursuit of creative solutions to complex challenges.
Kevin Smith
Dr. Smith is a Professor, Institute for Medical Sciences, Department of Medicine, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME), Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.
Educated in Canada, the U.S., and the United Kingdom, Dr. Smith began his career in medical education, followed by leadership roles in university administration, academic hospitals, and health systems. He is professionally certified in Corporate Governance by the Institute of Corporate Directors and the Harvard Program in Effective Governance and completed the Wharton School CEO Program for Health Care Leadership.
Dr. Smith was deeply honoured to be appointed to the Order of Ontario, the province’s highest civilian honour. For his contributions to health care, he was made a Knight of St. Gregory by His Holiness The Pope. He has been the grateful recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Silver and Golden Jubilee Medals. In 2024, Dr. Smith was named one of Newsweek Magazine’s top hospital CEOs.
Dr. Smith has served previously in many roles including as former Chair, Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario; Chair, The Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Hospital Association, and as a frequent advisor to governments and the private sector.
John N. Lavis, PhD
John Lavis is relied on by policymakers and stakeholders in Canada and a broad range of countries internationally to harness research evidence, citizen values and stakeholder insights to strengthen health and social systems and get the right programs, services and products to the people who need them.
He co-chairs the Global Steering Group for the World Health Organization (WHO)-sponsored Evidence-Informed Policy Network (EVIPNet) and chairs the Partner Executive Group for the 14-country Partners in Evidence-driven Rapid Learning in Social Systems.
Bruce Squires
Formerly, Bruce was VP, Corporate Affairs at the Canadian Medical Association and CEO at the Newfoundland & Labrador Medical Association. Currently, he is Chair of the Board of Directors of Children’s Healthcare Canada and a board member with the Ontario College of Family Physicians. Bruce holds an MBA from Dalhousie University and is a doctoral candidate at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business.
Sophia Ikura
Mariana Catz
Mariana’s extensive experience includes leadership roles across the non-profit, public and private sectors in Canada and beyond. She served as Policy Advisor at the Ontario Health Ministry, Chief Information Officer at Academic Health Centers and Chief Advisor for eHealth at Health Canada. Mariana also brings a global perspective from her time at the World Health Organization in Geneva and as a partner at Accenture Inc. to Kids Help Phone.
Mariana is passionate about mentoring the next generation of leaders and giving back to community with a long history of volunteering and being a board member for charities. Originally from Argentina, Mariana — who came to Canada as a teen fleeing a military regime — is passionate about social justice, human rights and equity.
Dr. Nathan M. Stall
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was actively involved in research modelling long-term care home outbreaks and the factors associated with outbreaks occurring and the spread of COVID-19 throughout homes. He served as the Assistant Scientific Director of Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table and a Network Science Advisor for CanCOVID. His doctoral research was supported by the University of Toronto Department of Medicine’s Eliot Phillipson Clinician-Scientist Training Program and the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. He has been a staff geriatrician at Sinai Health since 2017, and is a clinician scientist and assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Stall attends on the inpatient Geriatric Medicine Consultation Service and on the Internal Medicine Clinical Teaching Units at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Donna Cripps
Donna has also been the CEO of the Hamilton Norfolk Haldimand Brant (HNHB) LHIN where she led an organization responsible for the planning, funding and integration of the local health care system and managing and delivering home and community care to more than 1.4 million people across Hamilton, Niagara, Haldimand, Brant, Burlington and Norfolk.
Donna held two key positions at Hamilton Health Sciences as President of St. Peter’s Hospital and Executive Lead Rehabilitation and Seniors’ Health. While her extensive experience in clinical practice and executive leadership has provided Donna with a thorough understanding of health care delivery from both an operational and strategic perspective, it is the people and their health care needs and stories that drive Donna to want to make our health care system better.
Donna has been actively involved in many regional and provincial initiatives, including Co Chair of the Behavioural Supports Ontario (BSO) Project Steering Committee, and of the Provincial Rehabilitative Care Alliance. Donna’s commitment to putting people first and to the ongoing pursuit of excellence in caring are her driving forces.