After nearly a decade at the helm of the organization, HIROC’s CEO Catherine Gaulton has shared her intention to retire in the late Fall - Early Winter 2026 timeframe or later if this is required to smoothly transition to a new CEO.
Over the course of her remarkable career in healthcare, law, and insurance, Catherine has remained focused on one key piece: it’s the people who make a difference.
“The Board is overwhelmingly grateful for Catherine’s leadership during her tenure at HIROC,” said Dr. David Pichora, HIROC Board Chair and President and CEO at Kingston Health Sciences Centre.
Dr. Pichora added, “HIROC is well-positioned to continue on its path of growth, financial sustainability and acute responsiveness to what best serves our Subscribers. Catherine’s tireless commitment to a safer healthcare system, coupled with the fact HIROC remains the go-to provider and largest liability insurer in the nation is a true testament to her legacy. But what’s even more evident, is that under Catherine’s leadership, the community is fully aware how HIROC has healthcare’s back.”
While juggling the many priorities of an ever-evolving healthcare system and its insurance and risk needs, Catherine also delivered on growing HIROC’s footprint across Canada, in large part due to her emphasis on relationships and what healthcare organizations need from their partner in insurance, risk and patient safety.
Over the last 10 years, HIROC has risen to the needs of the healthcare sector to be there for healthcare organizations when they need it most. During the pandemic, this level of support was most acutely felt by organizations who were unable to find coverage in the traditional market. But HIROC and Catherine responded to the call.
At home at HIROC, Catherine maintained a focus on staff – growing each and every staff member and building leadership capacity. Even as the organization grew quickly, Catherine remained steadfast in meeting with each HIROC staff member one-on-one at least annually to ensure staff felt connected to the organization and its strategy.
It’s these things that Catherine championed, big and small, that ensured HIROC remained a Top GTA Employer for the last 10 years.
And we could not be more grateful for the impact that Catherine has had on all of us.
While she’s not going anywhere just yet, we wish her the best as she plans her next steps. We know she has way too much energy to fully retire and so we expect to continue to see her having a continued impact on our health, legal and insurance systems.
HIROC’s Board of Directors has announced today they are working closely with Odgers to kick-start the recruitment for HIROC’s next CEO.
During this time, Team HIROC, the senior leadership team and HIROC’s Board of Directors, along with Catherine will remain laser focused on actioning HIROC’s latest Strategic Plan – the Art of Safety.
HIROC Subscribers and the healthcare community can continue to reach out to Catherine and her team for any insurance, risk and safety, and claims needs – We are here for you!
We’ll be keeping the community updated on Catherine’s retirement date, recruitment process and transition plans.
Questions? Reach out to [email protected].
