From hospitals and provincial health systems to government programs that handle citizens’ personal information, many of the services Canadians depend on every day rest on secure technology. The five cyber leaders below protect healthcare, government services, citizen data, and infrastructure-related operations across British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. Their paths into the work are strikingly varied. One started as a system administrator for an RCMP detachment. Another built an innovation outpost for Atlantic Canada’s lottery corporation before becoming a deputy minister. A third began in security administration for British Columbia’s health and finance ministries more than 25 years ago.
Veronica Mustoe – National Vice President, Privacy & Security, Maximus Canada
Veronica Mustoe began in security and data access roles with British Columbia’s Ministry of Health and Ministry of Finance, handling access management, security administration, and investigations of security events. Over more than 15 years at Advanced Solutions, a DXC Technology company, she built its information security services and then served as chief privacy, security and compliance officer for a national technology services organization supporting government, healthcare, and regulated clients. She went on to lead privacy and security at Westland Insurance during a period of growth and acquisition. Mustoe joined Maximus Canada as national vice president of privacy and security in February 2023, managing its Canadian privacy and security teams, directing compliance across all Maximus projects, and leading a scope that includes cyber risk, third-party risk, and responsible AI governance. She believes public service providers can improve citizen experiences without cutting corners on privacy, security, or public trust. She holds an MBA from Royal Roads University and CISM, CISA, and CIPP/C certifications.
Beverly Ehlbeck – Director, Global Security Program Integration and Resilience, Worley
Beverly Ehlbeck spent six years as the RCMP detachment system administrator for the City of Nanaimo and worked in IT, administration, and statistical analysis roles with the RCMP. At the District of Sechelt, she moved from applications and systems analyst to manager of information technology and GIS, co-authoring a 2017 publication on municipal asset management and GIS. She joined Worley in 2021 as global workspace manager, then led global security engineering before becoming director of global security program integration and resilience in September 2024. Ehlbeck focuses on understanding risk and prioritizing what matters most so security supports a resilient business, and describes herself as a connector who brings people and perspectives together to solve the right problems. She is scheduled to speak at NKST Vancouver in November 2026.
Valérie Gamache-O’Leary – VP & CIO, Kingston Health Sciences Centre
Valérie Gamache-O’Leary began as an implementation director at Shared Medical Systems and spent more than two decades in information systems leadership at The Ottawa Hospital, rising to CIO. There she helped integrate information systems from five organizations following the hospital’s creation and served as program executive for Connecting Northern and Eastern Ontario. She joined Kingston Health Sciences Centre in 2016 as director of information management, became CIO in 2019, and was named vice president and CIO in April 2024. Her portfolio spans information systems, clinical informatics, cybersecurity, data analytics and AI, clinical engineering, privacy, and corporate risk, and she has played a leadership role in modernizing the hospital’s core technology and cybersecurity infrastructure and implementing the regional Lumeo health information system. She takes part in the East Region Digital Health Advisory Council, the Ontario Health Local Delivery Group East, and the Ontario Oracle Health Collaborative. She holds a BA from Mount Allison University and an MBA from the University of Ottawa.
Karine Dubé – Directrice générale de la sécurité de l’information et de la cybersécurité, Santé Québec
Karine Dubé began in IT service coordination at Université Laval and as an IT project manager at CGI before moving into IT audit at Industrielle Alliance and the Autorité des marchés financiers. At the AMF she spent more than seven years as a security information officer focused on governance, risk, and compliance. She went on to serve as CISO of Investissement Québec and as chief cybersecurity compliance and risk officer at Hydro-Québec. Dubé joined Santé Québec in November 2024 as director general of information security and cybersecurity, and is named as the organization’s representative for its technology certification office. She has served as corporate secretary on an ISACA advisory board since 2007.
Jennifer LaPlante – Deputy Minister, Cyber Security and Digital Solutions, Government of Nova Scotia
Jennifer LaPlante began in market research at Corporate Research Associates, Harris/Decima, and Rogers Communications. Over nearly nine years at Atlantic Lottery Corporation, she built its analytics function, directed $40 million to $50 million a year in IT capital projects, led IT strategy and governance, and established its Innovation Outpost, the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada. As executive director of DeepSense, she supported more than 250 companies in Canada’s ocean economy with applied AI, and as chief growth and investment officer at Canada’s Ocean Supercluster, she oversaw a $300 million national innovation portfolio. LaPlante became Nova Scotia’s Deputy Minister of Cyber Security and Digital Solutions in July 2025, leading a department responsible for digital government transformation, cybersecurity, and technology services, with a role in healthcare delivery. She was named one of DataIQ’s Top 100 most influential people in AI in 2021, co-founded Halifax’s Women in Machine Learning & Data Science chapter, and has served on boards including the Canadian Internet Registration Authority. She holds an MBA and an MSc in computing and data analytics.
Keeping Essential Services Secure
These five leaders protect very different parts of the services Canadians depend on. Gamache-O’Leary and Dubé help protect healthcare in Ontario and Quebec, at Kingston Health Sciences Centre and Santé Québec, while LaPlante leads cybersecurity and digital services for a provincial government. Mustoe leads privacy and security across Maximus Canada’s federal and provincial programs, and Ehlbeck brings public-sector roots to security resilience at a global organization. Together they show how secure technology underpins public trust.
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John Kevin Hao is a news and feature writer covering cybersecurity, technology, and business targeted for professional audiences.