We are pleased to announce the appointment of experienced health executive Ray Messom as a Principal and Canadian Health & Ageing Practice Leader. Ray has more than 20 years of professional experience in Canada and Australia.

Having grown up in Ontario, Ray is excited to return to the great white north to serve Canadians and improve health outcomes coast to coast. Ray started his career with the Canadian Government in Ottawa before becoming a consultant, supporting health policy, regulatory reviews, program/system design, integrated care, quality improvement, digital innovation and change management projects across Canada. Most recently he had the privilege to contribute to Ontario’s Integrated Capacity and Health Human Resources Plan.

Over the past five years, Ray was CEO of WentWest, Western Sydney’s Primary Health Network, where he supported more than 6,000 medical staff, allied health, nurses and support staff across more than 700 private and not-for-profit organizations. Under Ray’s leadership, WestWest co-ordinated over A$1 billion of health service activity annually in the community and led major national primary care change programs in data, digital and analytics.

Prior to leading WentWest, Ray led the New South Wales Ministry of Health’s System Information & Analytics Branch in the System Purchasing and Performance Division. In this role he supported front-end ‘system management’ and acted as the critical interface with Local Health Districts, Specialty Health Networks and statewide shared services providers to continuously improve system performance.

Ray led data, analytics and digital improvements across 228 hospitals delivering annually more than 1.9 million hospital admissions, 2.8 million emergency department presentations, 15 million community or outpatient occasions of service and 220,000 elective surgeries. During his tenure major improvements were made to health system purchasing, performance, management and integration as well as patient experience and health equity.

In 2022, Ray was a finalist for Australian Not-for-Profit CEO of the Year. He is passionate about building engaged, multidisciplinary teams to solve the health sector’s most pressing challenges, particularly equitable access, system improvement and person-centred approaches.

“Nous was established on the principle of positive influence, the principle that has been the north star for my professional life,” Ray said.

“I am proud to be taking up this leadership role in Nous’ Health & Ageing Practice, joining a dedicated and passionate team across Australia, Canada and the UK. I am excited to connect our Canadian clients with Nous’ international partners and travel together to solve health’s most pressing challenges to improve health outcomes for Canadians.”

Tim Orton, the CEO and Managing Principal of Nous Group, said Ray’s appointment would bring world-class expertise to Nous’ health and ageing work in Canada.

“I am thrilled to welcome Ray to Nous to lead and strengthen our growing Canadian health practice. I am glad Ray is able to work with us in his native Canada, where I know he is highly respected. His extensive experience as an executive in public and private health organizations positions him to support Nous clients with their biggest challenges in healthcare.”

You can connect with Ray today on LinkedIn.