Victoria Schmid

Victoria Schmid is the first Chief Executive Officer of SWITCH BC.

Originally incorporated as the BC Health Care Occupational Health and Safety Society, the team came together to develop the working name, SWITCH BC, which better represents the values and energy of the organization.  SWITCH BC’s governance model is unique in B.C. and in Canada with representatives of unions, employers, physicians, Ministry of Health, and WorkSafeBC on its board of directors, making consensus decisions to support positive change in healthcare workplaces.

Before joining SWITCH BC, Victoria was Vice President of Pandemic Planning and Executive Lead, Experience for Island Health where she led the COVID response and immunization efforts of 30,000 staff, medical staff, and volunteers to support a population of more than 860,000 people.

Victoria is a certified dietitian with a passion for change leadership. Early in her career at the Saskatoon Health Authority, Victoria was the provincial lead for safety and created a provincial safety alert system that brought staff safety and patient safety together. She supported the development of a provincial health safety management system (HSMS) that’s now implemented across Saskatchewan. Victoria is using those learnings to implement B.C.’s HSMS through SWITCH BC. (Learn more about the HSMS framework to improve health, safety and wellbeing for everyone working in healthcare in our “For you” section.) Victoria is passionate about psychological health and safety and believes it’s the foundation for all other safety work to be successful.

Victoria has a Master of Health Studies and Leadership and a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition.

Outside of work, Victoria is a mom, a coach, the chair of the United Way of Southern Vancouver Island (UWSVI) Board, and an early riser who listens to podcasts while her dog takes her for walks.