From coding to healthcare, Gregory Marr, CHE, discusses why he made the switch

Meet Gregory Marr: After graduating from high school, Gregory pursued his studies in computer engineering. He worked in that field for a few summers and quickly realized this was not what he envisioned himself doing for the rest of his life. He wanted something different, allowing him to give back to his community which resulted in pursuing a career in healthcare.  
 
He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Psychology with an Honours in Neuroscience from the University of Victoria and proceeded to complete his masters at the University of British Columbia in Health Administration. During this timeframe, his first job in healthcare was in a group home. During that time, he delivered care to adults with a variety of development disabilities in a community setting. Working with families and helping others provided him with a much greater sense of empathy, connection and accomplishment compared to his previous life as a programmer.  
  
Gregory is continuously amazed at the strength that healthcare teams possess and how they all share a common goal. – Making a difference. One of his greatest accomplishments thus far in his career has been responding to patient care during the wild fires that took place in BC back in 2018. During that summer, hundreds of people were evacuated from neighbouring communities into facilities and pop-up centres in Northern BC. People with a variety of care and support requirements literally left with the clothes on their backs and were warmly received by people and settled quite quickly. Teams stepped up with a “be our guest” attitude and it was heartwarming to see the response. 
 
Gregory first heard of the College when completing his masters. He decided to get involved to better establish his professional network in order to connect with other leaders. He restarted the Northern Chapter and served as the Chair for the Northern BC Chapter for approximately three years. In addition, Greg has actively participated on the BC Health Leaders Conference Committee for two terms and is currently serving as co-chair for the conference committee. “Serving as Chapter chair has been an amazing experience. I really enjoy going to the national event conferences”. He also enjoys attending the BC Health Leader Conference and has found the professional networking to be very beneficial for his personal growth. 
 
Prior to joining the College, when Gregory made the switch from the private sector to the public sector, his catchphrase was “difference maker”. He would include this saying on top of his resume as an eye-catching phrase and this was a motto that he liked to live by. Ironically, he would later join CCHL who strongly believes in helping and creating difference makers in order to better the Canadian healthcare system. Years later, this phrase “making a difference” still resonates. 
 
Gregory has demonstrated exceptional leadership and commitment to his own personal leadership development and to the Canadian College in supporting activities at a national, provincial, and local level. He was awarded the CCHL Chapter Award for Distinguished Service for the British Columbia Interior Chapter in 2020.