Age: 36
Job Title: President and CEO, Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation
In the mid-2000s, Mark Korthuis was an emerging soccer star. He was named the top player in the Canada West conference. His toughness was never in question; in 2006, he even tried to play with a torn groin.
He earned the chance to trial for Czech side FC Slovan Liberec, and it all imploded. The fear of failure got to him.
“My levels of anxiety about not being sufficient, they were in the Champions League (pro soccer’s biggest competition) in 2005, and I just sort of sabotaged myself there,” recalls Korthuis. “I was always very introspective about that.”
There is also a history of addiction and mental illness in his family; his cousin, who he describes as “his best friend growing up,” died of a fentanyl overdose; his uncle died from complications from alcoholism.
After soccer, Korthuis became more invested in the charitable sector, and used his own journey with mental health in his quest to help others. He took over the Mental Health Foundation in 2016. Last month, he was named president and CEO of the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation.
“I wanted to explore myself as an individual, because I thought I had potential to do good in the world. I’m not a psychologist, I’m not a psychiatrist, but there were a lot of good synergies between myself and the hiring board. I’ve been thinking about these things in my personal life for 25 years.”
This article appears in the November 2020 issue of Edify
