CANADA'S MOST ADMIRED - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Business Leader
- Chief Corporate Officer at Cactus Club Cafe
Anna Grolle is Chief Corporate Officer at Cactus Club Cafe, where she is a driving force in developing the
Grolle is a strong business leader, a self-proclaimed soccer mom and proud wife who lives in
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
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- Vice - President
- Vice - President, People and Culture, Corus Entertainment Inc
Bianca Williamson is Vice-President, People and Culture at Corus. She leads the business partner and talent attraction teams in their strategic priority of creating a great place to work - a place where there is a strong, inclusive culture, and where people are aligned, equipped, and inspired to do the best work of their careers. Bianca has over twenty-five years of diverse business experience which includes building, shaping and transforming organizations in start-up, turn around and growth environments. Prior to joining Corus, Bianca has held positions with Shaw Media, CanWest, National Post and Hogg Robinson Group.
Bianca recently completed a five-year term on the Board of Directors for the Toronto chapter of Women in Film and Television. She is a graduate of McMaster University with a Bachelor of Arts degree and has an HRMC from the University of Toronto.
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- Vice President, Communications, Mattamy Asset Management
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- Officer Role With Definity
- SVP, Chief People & Culture Officer, Definity
An outstanding human resources leader, with 30 years of experience leading HR, Brigid has spent her career working with some iconic Canadian brands, such as WestJet as Executive Vice President, People and Culture, Tim Hortons where her she spent 10 years as Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Continuous Improvement and Canadian Tire Corporation, where she led Talent Development and Succession. In her role of CHRO, she played a critical role preparing two organizations in their journey to becoming public companies through their IPO's - Tim Hortons and Definity. Brigid has also worked with Honeywell International and General Electric and her roles have brought her to a number of locations both in Canada and across the United States.
In her SVP, Chief People & Culture Officer role with Definity, Brigid has accountability for all aspects of the People Strategy, the overall Change Management strategy and deploying a consistent approach across all functional areas that involve changes to business processes, technology, structure, training, culture, people and communications. She is the current Chair of the General Insurance HR Group which is made up of her peers from Insurance Companies across Canada and was the inaugural Chair of our Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Committee that is made up of business Leaders across Definity.
Brigid is a passionate advocate for women in leadership. She served for over five years as the Executive Chair of the Women's Foodservice Forum in Canada, an organization committed to developing women leaders in the industry. Brigid is a highly respected leader who thinks business first and adapts and challenges her function to drive business outcomes. She is courageous, empathetic, and leads by example. Brigid also pushes the envelope and encourages discussion and debate to drive better solutions. Brigid holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Commerce and Economics, as well as a Master's degree in Industrial Relations, both from the University of Toronto. Brigid took a Co-op program for three years in Toronto which initially got her interested in Human Resources. A proud mother of three, she's inspired by them, by courageous leadership, and her Immigrant parents' example of grit and determination.
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- VP Human Resources & Change Management, Cadillac Fairview
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- President and CEO, Trillium Health Partners Foundation
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- Senior Manager, Employee Engagement, Ledcor Industries Inc
Chantal Ounsworth is a trusted and experienced Human Resources leader with over 20 years of experience across a diverse sector of businesses. Chantal is the Senior Manager, Employee Engagement with the Ledcor Group of Companies. Chantal has extensive experience in learning and human development and uses a creative and systemic approach to solve complex challenges in organizational performance.
At Ledcor, inclusion is a shared responsibility, and an inclusive environment ensures Ledcor's ability to attract and retain a diverse workforce. With a passion for connecting human potential and growth, Chantal leads and supports employee engagement and develops creative solutions for organizational needs to maximize operational performance and business outcomes. Chantal is dedicated to improving the employee experience by connecting employees to their work while preserving the human connection and sense of community we all need to feel to belong at work.
Chantal graduated from the University of Regina with a Bachelor of Education before pursuing a Master of Education from the University of Saskatchewan. She is also a Certified Professional in Talent Development (CPTD), holding the designation from the Association for Talent Development. When she's not working, Chantal enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, and volunteering in her community.
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- Chief Talent Officer & Vice President, Communications, Crombie
- Crombie 's Chief Talent Officer and Vice President, Communications
Cheryl Fraser is Crombie's Chief Talent Officer and Vice President, Communications, joining Crombie in 2012. Prior to joining Crombie, Ms. Fraser held senior executive roles in the federal public service in the Canada Revenue Agency, Correctional Service of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat and Fisheries and Oceans. Ms. Fraser serves as Chair of the Atlantic Economic Council Board and Chair of Dalhousie University's Board of Governors. Previously, Cheryl served as Board Director of Wyth Financial (Concentra Bank), the Mental Health Commission of Canada, the Aberdeen Health Foundation, and the YMCA of Pictou County.
Ms. Fraser is a graduate of ICD-Rotman, Directors Education Program, graduate of the London School of Economics certificate program in Inclusive Leadership through Behavioral Science and holds a Master of Environmental Studies and a Bachelor of Science from Dalhousie University. To celebrate her exceptional career accomplishments, she received the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 and was named one of the Globe & Mail's Report on Business Top 50 Executives in 2021.
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- Manager of People & Culture, Helcim Inc
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- Vice President People & Culture and Organizational Effectiveness - Canadian Mental Health Association, York South Simcoe
- Vice President People & Culture and Organizational Effectiveness, Canadian Mental Health Association
Chris has a broad suite of executive human resources expertise, including labour relations, occupational health, and safety, pay equity, recruitment and retention, legal compliance wellness, compensation administration, and mediation.
Prior to joining CMHA, Chris held the position of VP, Employee Experience and CHRO at Southlake Regional Health Centre for over four years. He also spent three years as Chief Human Resource Officer and Senior Director at Orillia's Soldier's Memorial Hospitals, as well as Vice President of Human Resources at Sun Country health Region in Saskatchewan, where he was responsible for all aspects of the Human Resources portfolio across 28 healthcare facilities.
Chris holds the Certified Human Resources Executive designation (CHRE), the highest designation for Human Resources professional, a Master of Arts in Work and Society, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Labour Studies and Sociology.
He is also a part-time professor teaching business and management at Georgina College in Barrie.
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- Head of Human Resources, FISPAN
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- Senior Manager
- Senior Manager, HRBP, Hershey Canada Inc
Cleta Louzado is Senior Manager, HRBP for Hershey Canada, supporting the Commercial and Corporate organization and representing Human Resources on the Hershey Canada leadership team. In this role she is responsible for leading the design and implementation of key people strategies for the organization.
Louzado joined the Hershey company 3 years ago and has been at the forefront of HR process transformation.
Louzado's career entails over 15 years of HR Generalist experience in various industries including Investment Banking, Public Accounting, Lighting Products, Security Solutions, and Facilities Management. Immediately prior to joining Hershey, Louzado spent over 3 years as Stanley Black & Decker where she was the HR Lead supporting the Stanley Security division, National Client Group with 21 branches across Canada. Prior to that, Louzado worked at Osram Ltd, and BDO Canada LLP.
Louzado has supported a full spectrum of Human Resources programs, services, and functions with emphasis on employee engagement and employee retention and is skilled at managing employee relations, corporate policies & benefits, mergers and acquisitions, industrial relations with several unions, and training and development programs.
Louzado earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree, Business Information Systems from Toronto Metropolitan University and is a Certified Human Resources Leader with the HRPA.
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- President, Scott Construction
- Scott Construction in 2005 As a Project Manager
Darin Hughes joined Scott Construction in 2005 as a Project Manager, with a Bachelor's of Science in Construction Management and 5 years' experience in the Chicago construction industry. By 2011 he was promoted to Project Director and by 2014 he was already the company's Executive Vice President, overseeing all of Scott's operations in both BC and Alberta. In 2017, Darin was identified by John Scott as the ideal candidate to fill his shoes as President of the company that John had founded in 1984.
In his role as President, Scott Construction, Darin leads the company's strategic planning for BC, Ontario, and Alberta. He regularly provides his expertise for local, provincial and national initiatives that serve to improve the construction industry for the work force as well as clients, including developers, owners, municipalities, and more. Darin also provides senior leadership and strategic planning for the Buildings Division of JV Driver Group, with four CM/GC firms in BC, Alberta, and Ontario, and one in Arizona, USA.
With an obvious talent for strategic corporate growth and leadership skills, Darin is leading the company through its most dynamic phase to date, strategically selecting the greatest opportunities for the company's current skills base and developing the talents of Scott staff to meet the needs of a diverse and evolving marketplace. Darin remains firmly committed to maintaining the company's foundation of growth built on trust. His steadfast believe in putting people first has created a culture of success at Scott, which is demonstrated not only by the success of our project delivery, but also in the long tenures of our staff and engagement in the work we do.
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- Senior Vice President and Chief Talent Officer, Goeasy Ltd
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- Chief Human Resources Officer, BlueShore Financial
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- Vice Chair - Canada 's Most Admired Corporate Cultures and Most Admired CEO, CEO and Plan Manager, CAAT Pension Plan
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- Director Emeritus
- Member of the Board of Advisors
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- CEO
- President
- President and CEO of Crombie REIT
Donald E. Clow has been President and CEO of Crombie REIT since 2009. Crombie REIT is a Real Estate Investment Trust that invests in real estate that enriches local communities and enables long-term sustainable growth. As one of the country's leading owners, operators, and developers of quality real estate, Crombie's portfolio primarily includes grocery-anchored retail, retail-related industrial, and mixed-use residential properties in Canada's top urban and suburban markets. Crombie currently owns a portfolio of 290 income-producing properties comprising approximately 18.3 million square feet with a fair value of approximately $5.9 billion and a market capitalization of approximately $2.6 billion. Additionally, Crombie has a mixed-use development pipeline of approximately $5.0 to $6.8 billion. Crombie's culture is upheld by employee-defined guiding values: care passionately, outperform expectations, embody integrity, deliver excellence together, and empower one another. This culture and committed team have resulted in several annual Top Small and Medium Employer awards in the last five years.
Prior to joining Crombie REIT, Mr. Clow held the position of President, ECL Developments Ltd, the real estate development subsidiary of Empire Company Ltd. Before Empire he was President of Southwest Properties Ltd., a residential and commercial real estate development company in Halifax.
Mr. Clow graduated from Acadia University with a BBA, earned his CA designation with KPMG and was designated a Fellow Chartered Accountant in 2002. In addition to leadership programs at the Harvard Business School and the Ivey School of Business, he is a graduate of the DEP at the Rotman School of Business and a member of WPO, CEO and the Business Council of Canada. Mr. Clow has been inducted into Atlantic Canada's Top 50 CEOs Hall of Fame. Mr. Clow was a member of Acadia University's Board of Governors from 2012 to 2021 and is a Director on the Board of the QEII Health Sciences Centre Foundation in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
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- President and CEO of Fairview Parkwood Communities
Elaine currently serves as the President and CEO of Fairview Parkwood Communities in Cambridge and Waterloo, respectively. Both are non-profit organizations. Her previous roles were in the private sector, serving as President of peopleCare Inc. and in progressive roles with Schlegel Villages and the Mennonite Savings and Credit Union (Kindred).
Elaine has a high-level vantage point as a representative and voice for Long-Term Care and Retirement Housing at several tables, including two Ontario Health Team tables (Cambridge-North Dumfries and KW4). During the pandemic, she contributed to the Waterloo Wellington Health System Response Team and Waterloo Region Health Sector Control Group.
Elaine earned her MA in Leadership at the University of Guelph where she became a sessional professor, teaching a course in Retirement Senior Living.
As an informed and committed advocate for LTC, Elaine's experience allows her to appreciate the best of for-profit and non-profit worlds. She believes there is a catalyst for significant change to do things better, smarter and safer within a financially responsible framework to serve retired older adults of modest, middle and comfortable financial means.
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- Founder and Principal, Ultra Shine Group
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- Chief Operating Officer, Jan Kelley
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- Chief Operating Officer of the McGill University Health Centre Foundation
- Chief Operating Officer, McGill University Health Centre Foundation
Harris Poulis is Chief Operating Officer of the McGill University Health Centre Foundation, the main fundraising arm of the McGill University Health Centre hospital.
Harris has been leading the transformation of the MUHC Foundation as it continues to build a strong and progressive corporate culture in the world of philanthropy. He also spearheaded the Foundation's successful accreditation under the Imagine Canada Standards Program which benchmarks excellence and leadership in five key areas: governance, financial accountability and transparency, fundraising, staff management, and volunteer management.
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- Senior Vice President, People & Culture, Nicola Wealth
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- SVP, People, Culture & Technology, Capital Power
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- President & CEO, Meridian
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- Managing Director
- Member of the Senior Team
- Senior Partner
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- Chief Human Resources Officer, Fengate
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- Director, People & Culture, Entuitive
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- Chief People & Culture Officer, Kognitiv
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- Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Optimus SBR
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- Founder and CEO, POD Marketing Inc
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- Member of the Senior Team
- Director, Finance and Corporate Services
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- Chief People & Culture Officer, Compass Group Canada
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- Member of the Senior Team
- Senior Director, Marketing
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- Member of the Senior Team
- Managing Director, Waterstone Culture Institute
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- Chief Executive Officer, Second Harvest
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- Member of the Senior Team
- Managing Director, Executive Search
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- SVP Marketing & Communications, GreenShield
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- Canuck Place Children 's Hospice, Chief Executive Officer ( Retired ) View Profile
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- Entrepreneurial Talent Management, View Profile
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- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Senior Team
- President
- Member of the Young Presidents Organization
- Member of Young Presidents' Organization
Marty Parker is president and chief executive officer of Waterstone Human Capital. Founded in 2003, Waterstone is a leading cultural talent management firm that offers retained executive search specializing in recruiting for fit, culture change and transformation services, leadership development, succession planning, cultural and engagement measurement, and advisory consulting for entrepreneurial-minded, high growth organizations across Canada and the United States.
In 2005, Marty founded Canada's Most Admired Corporate Cultures, an annual program that recognizes best-in-class Canadian organizations for having a culture that has helped them enhance performance and sustain a competitive advantage. In 2014, the program expanded to include Canada's Most Admired CEO.
Marty is considered a global leader and expert on human capital and corporate culture. He is a frequent commentator and keynote speaker on issues surrounding leadership and organizational culture. He is the author of Culture Connection: How Developing a Winning Culture Will Give Your Organization a Competitive Advantage (McGraw-Hill, 2012) and The Culturepreneur: How High Performance Leaders Craft Culture as Competitive Advantage (Page Two, 2021).
Marty is a very active member of Young Presidents' Organization (YPO), in the Great Lakes Ontario and Miami-Fort Lauderdale Integrated chapters. He is a member of the YPO Canada Region executive as mentorship chair, and is the former chapter chair, learning chair, network chair, membership chair, forum chair and current engagement chair for YPO Great Lakes Ontario.
Marty holds a bachelor of arts with honours, as well as a master of science degree in marketing from the University of Guelph. He and his wife, Tanya, are the parents of five children and they currently split their time between live in Mississauga and Huntsville, Ontario, and Delray Beach, Florida.
A serial entrepreneur, Marty loves sports, coaching, fitness, food and wine, reading, and personal and professional development.
Marty is considered a global leader and expert on human capital and corporate culture. He is available to speak on a wide variety of topics including:
Corporate leadership
Culture transformation
Leveraging corporate culture to drive performance
Putting culture at the centre of strategy to drive results
How high performance leaders craft culture as competitive advantage
Leveraging corporate culture as competitive advantage in the new working world
The benefits of being a culturepreneur
The five attributes of a culturepreneur
Trends and best practices in recruitment and retention
Marty, a leading executive human capital and executive search professional, conducts senior level searches across a variety of industries around the globe. Working with a diverse group of global organizations and leaders, he supports many entrepreneurial leaders in an advisory capacity on a variety of human capital issues where the power of culture can align human capital and human capital systems to drive performance. Marty is Canada's leading expert on issues surrounding corporate culture, leadership and executive search. He has provided expert commentary for CNBC, the National Post, Canadian Business and Profit, and has appeared on Canada AM, BNN and CP24.
Marty is the author of Culture Connection: How Developing a Winning Culture Will Give Your Organization a Competitive Advantage, published in 2011 by McGraw-Hill Ryerson. Culture Connection highlights how a selection of global organizations utilize their culture to drive exceptional business performance and sustain a competitive advantage. He also writes a monthly digital newsletter, Culture Connection, which draws the link between how to use culture as competitive advantage to drive performance.
Marty founded Waterstone Human Capital in 2003. Waterstone's purpose is to build great organizations by aligning human capital and organizational culture to drive higher performance. Under Marty's leadership, Waterstone has become one of the most progressive cultural talent management firms that identifies, articulates and measures corporate culture, recruits for fit and aligns corporate culture to drive higher levels of performance through its consulting and advisory services. In 2015, Waterstone launched the Waterstone Culture Dashboard, a ten minute team member survey that both defines and articulates corporate culture and benchmarks it against best in class organizations. Marty is also the founder of The Canadian Corporate Culture Study and the Canada's 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures program. Founded in 2004, the program annually recognizes best-in-class Canadian organizations for having a culture that has helped them enhance performance and sustain a competitive advantage.
Formerly, Marty was managing director and partner with The Caldwell Partners International, and was executive vice-president of The CCL Group, a leading marketing communications group of companies. His earlier career was with Johnson & Johnson and Labatt Breweries, where he held progressively senior sales and marketing positions.
Marty is a very active member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), having memberships in both the Maple Leaf and Great Lakes Ontario chapters. He is the current education chair and the former Chapter Chair for YPO Great Lakes Ontario. He also sits on the Canadian Advisory Board for CLG, a global leader of behaviour-based strategy execution and performance improvement consulting.
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- Chief People & Culture Office, Security Compass
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- Co - Founder, Jarvis Consulting Group
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- CEO and Partner, Empresario Capital Partners
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- Founder and CEO, Paramount Fine Foods
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- Vice - President, Strategy & Corporate Communications, Nordia
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- Chief Human Resources Officer, Metrolinx
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- Senior Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness and Rewards, OpenText
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- Director of People and Culture, North America, Vention
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- Senior Director, Human Resources Operations, Arthritis Society Canada
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- Chief Strategy Officer, Jan Kelley
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- Senior Director, Squad & Culture, SmartSweets
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Chairman and CEO, CCL Group Inc
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- Vice - President, People & Culture
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- Senior Director Culture & Employee Experience, SE Health
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- Founder, President and CEO of EStruxture Data Centers
Todd Coleman is the Founder, President and CEO of eStruxture Data Centers. Todd brings more than 25 years experience in the IT, data center and telecommunications industries. Previously, Todd was the Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of Cologix. He has also held several senior positions at Level 3 Communications, a global telecommunications company, including Senior Vice President of Data Centers, Senior Vice President of Media Operations, and President of Level 3 Communications Europe. Todd holds a juris doctorate and a bachelor's degree in computer information systems.
Todd is a sought-after industry speaker and an advocate of sustainable digital infrastructure ecosystems, as well as DE&I. At the same time, Todd is an accomplished race car driver, having competed in over 65 races in the last 3 years. When he is not behind the wheel of eStruxture or his race car, he dedicates his time to his family and charity events for organizations such as the Missing Children's Network.
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- Acting Chief Executive Officer
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- Director, Organizational Development, Questrade