BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMER PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Christopher Szybbo CBI Health Group
C
hristopher Szybbo has solidly committed his personal and professional life to building CBI Health Group as a remarkable Canadian success story.
Chris started as a physiotherapist working at the Canadian Back Institute (CBI), a small company of 12 physiotherapy clinics. Shortly after starting, Chris accepted a chance to run a failing single clinic. Through determination, creativity and a total commitment to customers, the clinic transformed into a flagship operation. Chris rose through the ranks of CBI, turning around ailing sites, opening additional clinics and expanding services. In 1999 after the company was sold to an American health-care provider, Chris was promoted to president. CBI continued to expand but Chris believed he could capture more opportunities if CBI were an independent company and that his leaders could be engaged even more through direct company investment. It wasn’t easy, but after 14 months of negotiations, Chris – together with his team and sponsored by private equity – took ownership of the company he had been with for so many years. Today, he is an owner and CEO of CBI, now the CBI Health Group, a leading and national provider of rehabilitation and community health-care services with over 170 sites and more than 4, 800 staff. His vision remains compelling and a guiding focus – to coordinate an expanding network of healthcare practitioners and services to improve health-care access and outcomes in communities across Canada. “I am strategic, decisive and highly focused on what counts. Throughout my career I have been able to relate to those around me and create alignment and motivation to our goals,” Chris says. Although CBI operates a successful business model rich in operational features, Chris’ strategic focus is on its people and in shaping a high-performance culture. “Our industry success has been driven by aligning people and purpose and building a culture that displays genuine passion for care outcomes, fulfils commitments and understands that it is in doing handfuls of things really well over and over again that we create a high-value experience for patients and customers.” In a highly-regulated industry, CBI has led because it has remained highly responsive to its customers. “We look for ways to drive change and improve, and to create positive outcomes no matter what the challenges.” CBI is now poised to lead innovation in community health-care delivery in a wide range of health services.
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EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2013