Jennifer Gillivan
1. You are iconic. As a pre-eminent Canadian CEO/Leader you have been lauded and applauded in many different realms. Please share a bit about yourself and the achievements you cherish the most.
Thank you for the compliment, but I certainly do not see myself as iconic. I see myself as a very passionate woman who has the honour of leading one of the best teams in the social profit business. We are on a mission to create better and equal healthcare and outcomes for children and women, both in our local region and across the country. Almost my first memory is one of not understanding why I had to be treated differently than the boys and why there was one standard for me as a female and another for the males in my life. That curiosity about why things had to be different propelled me most of my life to stand up for and with women and children in society. Also, I can remember growing up in Dublin, Ireland, and at the young age of three, there is a photo of me. I have a clear memory of speaking to a crowd of people in my home. I have loved being a speaker, sharing ideas and knowledge and propelling others to feel as passionate as I do. When I stand on a stage, place my hands on a podium and look out at the crowd and feel that I have come home. I have no idea why, but it is one of the most comfortable places for me to be in life and when I can talk about subjects that I am passionate about it really doesn’t get any better for me.
I grew up in Dublin, Ireland and immigrated to Canada in 1982. I have lived from the West Coast in Vancouver and all the way to the East Coast in Halifax, a place that we now call home. I have worked with the CBC across this great country and looking back now, I call my experience with the CBC my masterclass in understanding and becoming a true Canadian. I love Canada, what it stands for, and the potential that is yet to be realized. I know my life would be different if I had lived back in Ireland and I am grateful every day for the opportunities I have had in Canada. We can never take this country for granted, we must always strive to work together to continue to strengthen our resolve to treat everyone with dignity and care, especially our women and children.
As President and CEO of the IWK Foundation, I get to work with some amazing people, and together, we are on a mission to revolutionize health care and research for women and children in the Maritime region and beyond. As Past Chair and founding member of Canada’s Children’s Hospital Foundations(CCHF), I had the privilege of working with some amazing leaders and institutions across this country to further support our mission of the best possible healthcare and outcomes for children. CCHF is the largest funder of children’s healthcare next to the government in Canada. I am now embarking on pursing equality for women’s health and research and the IWK Foundation has now joined the Women’s Health Collective Canada (WHCC), and we will be embarking on a new campaign both locally and nationally. Additionally, we have joined MenoGlobal an international alliance for women’s health equality specifically centered around menopause. We have signed on to the European Institute of Women’s Health’s Manifesto for women’s health and equity and I will be joining Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) as a member on their Institute Advisory Board for women and gender health equity in January 2025. I plan on delivering speeches on this topic, being a part of a podcast series and working towards educating and inspiring advocacy for more equality in the years to come. I have been very fortunate to receive many different awards both locally and nationally and while I am truly honoured to me these awards would not have been possible without the amazing team I am lucky to work with and so I honour my colleagues and team.
2. What are the key challenges you have faced and how did you address them?
The key challenge I face as a woman leader is the biases that are so baked into society. Really well-intentioned men and women do not realize they are part of the problem because it has always been that way. I think differently and I have always had the ability to see well into the future on issues and projects. So, being entrepreneurial is a great space for me, but that desire and way of thinking doesn’t always play well when an organization is stuck in their ways or you come up against a system that refuses to try new ways of being, doing and thinking.
My time at the CBC was a real training ground and because of the creative nature of the work they did and the diversity of the country, I was able to try out concepts, ideas and be creative and I will always be thankful to the CBC and the leaders who believed in me and enabled me to grow as a person and as an executive. I addressed some of these challenges by making sure that if I was going to work hard, which is a part of my DNA, then it better be on something I truly cared about. Lining up my values is key to my overall success. When your values guide you and you are very clear, things may or may not work out, but usually wherever you land it is the right place because you are guided by those values from the beginning.
I am a natural storyteller. I love to speak to people and bring people along on an idea or concept, but being good in these traits only works when I come from an authentic place when I truly believe in what I am selling and promoting. That is why my work as a leader helping children and women is so aligned to my values and to me as a person. I can give it my all because my only agenda is to help these populations and to make real and lasting impact and change for good. One of my biggest lessons came from a very hurtful time in my career when I was being maligned because another leader was insecure and saw me as a competition. I could have taken a different stand, but I talked to a female leader I truly admired, and she said if you can find a way to truly forgive this person even though they are in the wrong you will take all your power back. I did that and it was such a great lesson to learn early on in my career. Often when faced with an injustice or challenging person, I will find a way to still stand up for myself and take my power back. As I write these words to you, I am still reeling from the US election results and how hard it is to be a female leader in this world. There is a double standard that still applies. It is heartbreaking what our sisters in the US are going through, especially with some of these draconian laws and I fear it will only get worse in the next few years. I am determined to help women and fight for equality at every level, not just for us now, but for the next generations following us. Our very future is at stake. We can never be complacent, we must always be vigilant and on guard and look for support from both men and women in order to achieve more equality.
3. You have been a catalytic force in your Advocacy for Children and Women. Successful Advocacy is an art and a science. Please share your insights and key learnings from your resounding success.
One can only be seen as a successful catalyst and leader if you have great people who follow and support you. I have been able to attract and retain some amazing people with phenomenal talent and they work with me and alongside me to help push for the changes we have been able to achieve. As a leader, it is important you understand what type of leader you are because no one is good at everything. It is key that you understand what you are not good at and make sure you have great leaders adapt to those skills around you, and you empower them and recognize them for these skills.
The science part would be having great research, connections and a team that sets up the facts and the art is taking those facts and turning them into a story that people want to hear but are willing to be moved by and called to action. I love public speaking, I love telling the stories of areas of life that I feel are so important and changing people in the telling of that story to feel compelled to action, when you can do that, it is pure magic. I have been truly humbled at the generosity of people specifically in Atlantic Canada but also across this great country. There is so much good in this world, so much kindness and a willingness to give time and resources to help humankind. The work we do in the social profit space enables us to come in touch with some amazing people who truly inspire us all to keep going, to keep moving the dial to make things the best they can be. I am a believer in big dreams, I always want to build the best, the first in the world or the first time something has happened, I don’t play small I never have, and I never will.
4. Tell us about your current initiatives, particularly the Women’s Health Force. Are you hopeful that our daughters and granddaughters will experience health equity in their lifetimes?
Women’s health and research that informs healthcare is going through a renaissance. After every pandemic, the world has seen disruption, a rebirth, or a renaissance in various genres. The single largest unconscious bias in the world is that the medical system, the training of doctors and other disciplines within the medical system is based on the male as the standard norm. That means if things work for the male, then it should be ok for the female, and what we know is that simply isn’t the case. Most research has been conducted through this bias assuming from the start using male mice etc. that it would also suffice for the female. Over 75% of all negative drug reactions happen with females, over 80% of all autoimmune diseases are female and 70% of all chronic pain issues are with females. Women are living in a world that has not be designed for them and worse using a medical system that is not built for their bodies. In 2024 I heard one women’s story of going to her doctor and he said he didn’t believe in pre-menopause and that menopause while it happens isn’t that big a deal and you just have to get through it. Seriously? Trillions of dollars are lost alone in the world economy due to menopause, according to the MacKenzie report from the most recent DAVOS conference.
Women are done, we are done making do, only good enough or worse being misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all. A revolution is happening around the world, and I say it is on the level of the Suffragette movement. My team and I are working hard to launch a new campaign and movement here locally on the East Coast as well as at the same time working nationally and internationally on various boards and working groups to mobilize and be a part of this movement and change. I say at the end of every speech we need to inform and educate women, then become advocates for each other and for this necessary change, then mobilize to push for change be it volunteering, hosting, informing, donating, and pushing our local and national governments to change and once we mobilize from a place of knowledge and experience, we push to equalize. The reason I am so passionate is I want to leave a better world for my daughters and grandchildren and if you don’t have your health, you can’t attain other areas of equality so that is why I am focused on women’s health. I will speak with any size crowd, I intend to inform and work with my team to empower, engage and enrage women and progressive men to push for real systemic change. I say this unconscious bias is as big a threat as climate change to the survival of the planet, without healthy strong women we will not have a future. As the wise Dala Lama said it will be the Western Woman who will save the world!
5. You are a Communications Guru. The nonprofit sector has struggled to be recognized by Canadians as an economic and social force that contributes to their well-being. Many of us have endeavoured to motivate print and digital media to spotlight the vast sector and its achievements, with limited success. How do we motivate varied media to profile our Sector and the stories of our heroic front liners pro bono?
Authenticity can’t be denied, explained, or ignored. So, getting any message out that will resonate regardless of the platform with desired populations requires, first and foremost, authenticity. Tapping into the idea that you have to give people something that they didn’t even know they needed. What I mean is right now when I tell women facts about their medical journey and the bias in the medical system and how that directly affects them, they are totally invested in hearing more and wanting to be a part of the change that ultimately changes their lives. Similarly, other non-profits have to really focus their messaging on their desired audience, not just general messaging, and you can’t only communicate when you want something like a donation.
I remember when the Pandemic was upon us all, most non-profits continued to ask for their annual donations. We didn’t and instead we called as many donors as we could and just said we wanted to check in with them, to make sure they were all right and to thank them for their support in the past. We not only survived the crisis of the Pandemic we thrived coming out of it. The other big factor for a non-profit is the most important asset you have next to your donors is your people, taking care of your people has to be front and center. We made a pledge when we went through the Pandemic that we were going to keep everyone safe, we would not eliminate jobs, and we would come out of the situation stronger than we went into it and we achieved all three goals. We also experienced wildfires right at the time our biggest fundraiser The Telethon was supposed to happen, we pulled the event with only days to go because it was the right thing to do and while very hard to do the community respected us even more. When we came out later in the year with a much more paired down version of Telethon it didn’t matter the community rewarded us with the highest, we had raised that year. Authenticity, loyalty and doing the right thing even when hard as opposed to things right is the key. Our people on the team are the magic that makes it all work and that comes through in your authentic way you communicate.
The non-profit sector is literally in the billions of dollars, we are one of the largest employers in the country and together with our generous donors we achieve amazing accomplishments, support research and innovation and be there as a support for communities who need help. Canada would not be a prosperous or as successful without the non-profit sector thriving and innovating as our society changes over time. Non-profits have a treasure trove of stories, we must ensure that we are amazing story tellers, because when you tell, write or present a great story, humans love it, you get their attention even the media. In a world of social media, of non-truths and mis represented facts it is even more important now that we have a strong independent media and that we as leaders of our organizations speak from positions of facts, telling stories of human beings of reality and inspire others to be their better selves. We have a huge responsibility even more now than ever before to contribute to the betterment of society, to collaborate and connect each other so we all help each other thrive not just survive.
For me personally, working on behalf of children and women grounds me; when I speak to the patients we help, talk to their families, and learn from their care providers, I see the best of humanity, courage, strength and grace every single day. It is the kids and women that we help that motivate me on the challenging days, that empowers me to keep going, and to inspire others to join us on this mission. I don’t use the word mission lightly, I truly believe that my team and our generous community of volunteers and philanthropists are on a mission and what nobler a cause worthy of all the hard work we do than lifting up women and children in our society, it just doesn’t get any better than that and this work is the greatest work of my lifetime and I feel privileged to have the opportunity to serve.