Karen Riddell (BScN 1989) always knew she wanted to help people. With 35 years of health-care experience spanning regions and roles, from frontline nursing to senior leadership, she has been able to do just that.

Riddell, who is now serving as the acting president and CEO and chief nursing executive at Windsor Regional Hospital, said she considered several careers, including dental hygiene, marine biology, and veterinary medicine, before choosing to follow in the footsteps of her grandmother and pursue nursing.

“One of the things that I liked about nursing was you could have a lot of career opportunities, and it didn’t lock you into one geographic area or one particular job,” she said. “There were a lot of different things that you could do throughout your career.”

After graduating from the University of Windsor with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Riddell worked as a nurse in Michigan before moving to northern Ontario and then British Columbia, where she gained her first administrative experience in health care.

“When I first graduated, I had no interest in becoming an administrator or a manager. I really loved bedside nursing,” she said. “But while I was on the west coast, I was working on a brand-new unit and a lot of the staff were very junior. By that point, I had only been working for about five years myself, but I saw some gaps and supports that were available.”

She worked on developing educational resources for staff over a few months, and from there Riddell moved into the position of clinical educator and resource nurse for the hospital where she was working.

She moved back to Windsor, where she returned to work as a frontline nurse before advancing into management at Windsor Regional. She held the roles of chief nursing executive and vice-president before taking on her current position as acting president and CEO.

Riddell is the first woman and nurse to hold the top job at the hospital.

“I think it’s a really neat thing that there are more and more women becoming CEOs,” she shared. “When you look at health care in general, about 90 per cent of the workforce is female, but a much smaller percentage in leadership is female, so it’s nice to see that balancing more. I believe now more than 50 per cent of the CEOs in Ontario are women, which is a great thing from an equity and nursing perspective.”

She added, “Having someone with a health care background in leadership brings a unique perspective to the role.”

With experience at various hospitals and in different roles, Riddell said she values the insights she has gained from working with other practitioners. From a management perspective, she always considers what is important to frontline workers and patients, and how each decision will impact them.

“We always strive to do the best that we can. Of course, there are constraints in our system, but we do the best we can with the resources that we have. It is a huge challenge, and I think understanding how we can work better with our frontline because really, they’re the key to delivering the best care possible,” she said.

One of the biggest takeaways from her extensive career, Riddell said, is to “never say never” and to embrace new challenges.

“I feel very lucky in my chosen career. I’ve worked with amazing people and continue to work with amazing people in my career, and I couldn’t recommend a better profession, whether it’s nursing, specifically, or just health care in general,” Riddell noted. “It’s incredibly hard, but it’s incredibly rewarding.”

Alumni Week opens today with the Black Alumni Weekend and continue Saturday with the Lancer football game and tailgate party. Find a full schedule of Alumni Week activities.