Leading by example with a $10-million donation to the Campaign to Create Tomorrow

When Rob Ashe first began volunteering with the Civic Foundation back in 1995, he and his wife, Sandra Herrick, never could have imagined they would be part of a vision to transform healthcare for generations to come.  

Now, with their donation of $10 million to The Ottawa Hospital, they hope to have an early and direct impact on the success of the most ambitious fundraising campaign in Ottawa’s history. 

The $500-million Campaign to Create Tomorrow sets in motion a vision to transform how the world delivers healthcare — by building the most technologically advanced hospital in Canada and taking groundbreaking research and innovation to unprecedented heights.  

This incredible donation is part of the $216 million raised to date. 

Rob and Sandra have been long-time supporters of the Ottawa community, actively supporting the YMCA, the Boys and Girls Club, the Dom Herrick Entrepreneur in Residence at the Telfer School of Management, and various mental health initiatives. So it was an easy decision to support the Campaign to Create Tomorrow — both through Rob’s role on the campaign executive and through their donation — knowing it will attract a new cohort of healthcare experts to Ottawa and ultimately strengthen critical services like acute mental health care.

From his time at Cognos and IBM to joining the board at Shopify, Rob knows better than most the importance of investing in people. With their gift, Rob and Sandra are making a significant investment in the people of The Ottawa Hospital – some of the brightest minds from around the world.  And in turn, this investment will help benefit countless people in their community.