TORONTO, March 26, 2013 /CNW/ - Centric Health Corporation ("Centric Health" or "the Company") (TSX: CHH), Canada's leading diversified healthcare company, today announced the appointment of Mr. Jim Black as Chief Information Officer, effective April 8, 2013.

"We are thrilled to have someone of Mr. Black's calibre join the senior management team at Centric Health," said David Cutler, President and Chief Executive Officer, Centric Health Corporation. "Mr. Black brings to Centric extensive experience building and overseeing robust IT infrastructures and leading IT teams at large, multi-unit organizations.  Establishing the appropriate systems, structure and processes at Centric is essential to extracting the value from our strategy, and IT has a critical role in this regard.  We look forward to Mr. Black's vision and leadership in transforming our IT infrastructure to support collaboration across our organization and importantly further differentiate Centric through seamless innovative platforms that improve efficiencies, communication and ultimately, the patient experience."

Mr. Black was previously Chief Information Officer and Executive Committee member at BCE-owned The Source, a retailer and wholesaler of consumer electronics products and services through more than 700 corporate and dealer-owned stores across Canada and multiple e-commerce channels. As CIO of The Source, Mr. Black had executive responsibility for all aspects of Information Technology, including its role in business transformation and facilitation of corporate strategy.  He led the company's multi-year initiative to transform its Merchandise and Supply Chain departments to drive significant efficiencies and margin improvement.  Prior thereto, Mr. Black was Vice President, Global IT Operations at MDS Inc., a publicly traded, multi-unit global life sciences company with 40 sites in 23 countries with more than $1 billion in annual revenue during his tenure.   At MDS Inc., Mr. Black was responsible for the company's global IT infrastructure and led the information technology transitions during its company-wide restructuring.  Mr. Black has also held various information technology management roles of increasing responsibility at Hudson's Bay Company, Canada's second largest retailer, and global auditing, tax and advisory firm, Ernst  & Young.  Mr. Black holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree from the University of Alberta and a Masters of Business Administration from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

Mr. Cutler added, "With the addition of Mr. Black, and the appointments of Mr. Chris Dennis as COO and Mr. Daniel Gagnon as CFO, we have a proven and experienced senior team to drive the integration, cross pollination and top line initiatives to execute on the Centric Health strategy.  The strength of our corporate team is complemented by proven leaders with successful, extensive track records at each of our business segments and the thousands of healthcare providers delivering the highest quality of service and care every day."

About Centric Health

Centric Health's vision is to be Canada's premier healthcare company, providing innovative solutions centered on patients and healthcare professionals. As a diversified healthcare company with investments in several niche service areas, Centric Health currently has operations in medical assessments, disability and rehabilitation management, physiotherapy and surgical centres, homecare, specialty pharmacy and wellness and prevention. With knowledge and experience of healthcare delivery in international markets and extensive and trusted relationships with payers, physicians, and government agencies, Centric Health is pursuing expansion opportunities into other healthcare sectors to create value for all stakeholders with an unwavering commitment to the highest quality of care. Centric Health is listed on the TSX under the symbol CHH. For further information, please visit www.centrichealth.ca.

This press release contains statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation.  These forward-looking statements include, among others, statements regarding business strategy, plans and other expectations, beliefs, goals, objectives, information and statements about possible future events. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and assumptions that involve a number of risks, which could cause actual results to vary and in some instances to differ materially from those anticipated by Centric Health and described in the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. No assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur or, if any of them do so, what benefits Centric Health will derive there-from.

SOURCE: Centric Health Corporation