George Cope is leading the transformation of Bell, Canada’s largest communications company, into the nation’s broadband leader with a strategy of unparalleled investment in advanced networks, innovative communications and media services, and an improved customer experience.

Recognized as Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year for 2015, Mr. Cope has earned a reputation as a strategic leader and builder of high-performance teams in public-company chief executive roles over the past 30 years.

When asked what makes a great leader, Mr. Cope said, “Recognizing the talents and ability of people who are not the same as you is what actually creates a great team, a successful operation, and ultimately…a great company.”

Appointed President and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada in July 2008, Mr. Cope also led the launch of the Bell Let’s Talk initiative, the largest-ever corporate commitment to Canadian mental health and now one of the country’s most prominent community investment campaigns.

“The Bell team put our name behind the mental health cause because eliminating the stigma is the first step in driving action. Bell Let’s Talk has helped spark a much-needed national conversation, driving awareness and engagement in mental health while also supporting new initiatives in care and access, research and the workplace.”

A graduate of the Ivey School of Business at Western University (HBA ’84), Mr. Cope was named Ivey Business Leader of the Year in 2013 and serves on the school’s advisory board. He has been awarded honourary doctorates by his alma mater and the University of Windsor, was Chair of United Way Toronto’s record-breaking 2013 campaign, received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for his work on Bell Let’s Talk, and was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2014. He serves as a Director for the Bank of Montreal.

Ian Telfer has been a transformative force in the international mining industry for more than 35 years. A chartered accountant by training, the entrepreneur, financier, mine builder, and industry innovator has founded numerous companies with assets throughout the Americas, Asia, and Australia including TVX Gold, NewGold, Silver Wheaton (now Wheaton Precious Metals) and Goldcorp. Mr. Telfer is also credited with inventing the metal streaming business, which is now comprised of several multi billion-dollar companies.

“I like creating companies because they provide opportunities for people. By providing jobs, incomes and career paths, people have a chance to create their own success, to see how far they can go. An organization like Goldcorp creates that opportunity for a large number of people, and that’s what drives me.”

Seventeen years ago, Mr. Telfer founded Goldcorp’s predecessor, Wheaton River Minerals. He has served as Goldcorp’s chief executive officer and later as Chairman, rapidly growing the company from six employees to become one of the world’s premier senior gold producers, which now employs almost 20,000 people.

Mr. Telfer’s personal commitment to giving back is also a deeply embedded core value at Goldcorp, which has donated over $100 million to health, education, and the arts in the communities in which it operates. In 2007 he personally donated $25 million to what is now known as the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa. At the time, it was the largest single gift ever given to a Canadian business school.

In 2007 he received the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He served as Chairman of the World Gold Council from 2009 to 2013 and was named one of Canada’s top 25 most powerful business people by Canadian Business Magazine in 2013.

In 2015 he was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame and in 2016 he was honoured as a Laureate of the British Columbia Business Hall of Fame.

Monique Leroux has always been a trailblazer. As CEO of the Desjardins Group (2008-2016), she was the first woman to head a major Canadian financial-services organization — having already been among the first female partners at what is now Ernst and Young.

She credits her success to the people she surrounds herself with. “It’s a lot about people — having the opportunity to work with people, learn with people and help people. I define myself as a real people person. This is a fundamental part of who I am,” she says, adding “I’ve had the privilege of working with outstanding professionals who believed in their respective teams and were passionate about training and developing talented young people.”

While maintaining her busy professional life as Chair of the Board of Investissement Québec and Vice-Chairman of Fiera Holdings Inc., Ms. Leroux lends her time and support to a host of not-for-profit organizations, with a particular focus on education and youth. “I hope to leverage some of my experience as a mentor and contribute to society, to the development of people and our communities.”

She remains very active in business and professional circles as well. For instance, Ms. Leroux was appointed to the Canada-United States Council for the Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders by the Prime Minister of Canada in 2017, and served as co-chair of the 2018 ‘B7’ Summit in Quebec City.

Monique’s contributions and achievements have been recognized with numerous honours and awards, which include being named 2014 CEO of the Year by Les Affaires and a recipient of the Woodrow Wilson Award for Contribution to Canadian Society. She is a Member of the Order of Canada, an Officer of the Ordre national du Québec, a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur (France), and holds honorary doctorates from eight Canadian universities.

Now Ms. Leroux adds the Canadian Business Hall of Fame to her list of achievements.

Robert J. Deluce believes, “whatever you take on, you need to be pretty passionate about it,” and he certainly inherited his parents’ love, passion, and drive for aviation. He is part of a decades-long Canadian aviation legacy that began when his parents started White River Air Services Limited in 1951. He trained at the Toronto Island Airport, obtaining his commercial pilots license in 1968 at the age 18.

In 2006, Mr. Deluce became the founder, president and CEO of Porter Airlines. With its signature “Flying Refined” branding, he helped to re-define the customer experience of air travel, earning Porter the Condé Nast Traveler Top Small Airline in the World designation in 2013.

He is a member of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame, and is recognized as one of Canada’s most knowledgeable and respected airline owners and operators. His involvement in the aviation industry includes leadership positions at White River Air Services, norOntair, Austin Airways, Air Creebec, Air Ontario, Air Manitoba, Air Alliance, and Canada 3000.

Mr. Deluce has been involved over many years with Toronto’s Covenant House, Mount Sinai Hospital, and the Junior Economic Club of Canada.

“On our part, particularly with Porter, we try to support the communities that we’re providing service to. There’s always a multitude of different ways in which you can do that, but generally, we try to pick causes and endeavors that are fairly aligned with our own values, and our brand.”

His leadership has been recognized through a number of awards, including the E&Y Ontario Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year, the Canadian Marketing Association Marketer of the Year, and the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (Entrepreneur of the Year). He is also a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his significant contribution to Canadians.

Alain Bouchard launched his first convenience store in Québec in 1980. That venture evolved into Alimentation Couche-Tard, a network that comprises over 12,000 stores and employs approximately 125,000 people. Mr. Bouchard was President and Chief Executive Officer of the company from its inception to 2014. He remains active as Executive Chairman of the Board. In that role, he mentors the next generation of leaders, and focuses on strategic initiatives. Mr. Bouchard has also served on the board of CGI Group Inc. since 2013. Through growth and acquisitions, Mr. Bouchard made Couche-Tard the leader in the Canadian convenience store industry. In the U.S., it is the largest independent convenience store operator in terms of number of company-operated stores. Couche-Tard also has a strong presence in Europe, in both convenience store and transportation fuel retail. That includes operations in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark), the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Ireland and Poland. Under licensing agreements, more than 1,500 stores are operated under the Circle K banner in another 13 countries and territories worldwide. Mr. Bouchard is an Officier de l’Ordre national du Québec, the province’s highest honour. With his wife, he created the Sandra and Alain Bouchard Foundation, devoted to people living with an intellectual disability, as well as to strengthening the arts and culture.

Clayton H. Riddell is the Executive Chairman of Paramount Resources Ltd. The independent energy company explores for and develops natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids in Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Riddell began his career with Chevron. Through exploration and development in northeastern Alberta, financed by joint venture partners, he established Paramount Resources in 1978. Its model was conducting operations beyond the ends of pipelines. That remains, with activities including the Athabasca Oil Sands and the Cameron Hills, Liard and Colville Lake areas of the NWT.

Paramount has spun off Paramount Energy Trust (now Perpetual Energy Inc.), Trilogy Energy Trust (now Trilogy Energy Corp.), and MGM Energy Corp. (focused on hydrocarbon resources in the Mackenzie Valley and Mackenzie Delta).

Mr. Riddell was President of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists and Chair of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. He created an endowment for the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources at University of Manitoba. He also funded the creation of Carleton University’s Clayton H. Riddell Graduate Program in Political Management.

He is a member of the Calgary Business Hall of Fame and the Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame, and the Order of Canada (Officer).

Nancy Southern is Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer of ATCO Ltd., and Chair & Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Utilities Limited, an ATCO company. ATCO is a diversified global corporation, delivering business services and solutions in structures and logistics, electricity, pipelines and liquids, and retail energy.

Ms. Southern serves as Executive Vice President of Spruce Meadows, and is a founding director of AKITA Drilling Ltd., a director of Sentgraf Enterprises Limited, and an honourary director of the BMO Financial Group. Ms. Southern is also on the Rideau Hall Foundation Board of Directors.

She is a member of the Business Council of Canada, U.S. Business Council, American Society of Corporate Executives, C.D. Howe Institute, and Trilateral Commission. As part of the Premier’s Advisory Committee on the Economy, she supports Alberta’s business growth and diversification.

Previously, she served on the federal government’s Economic Advisory Council and Global Markets Action Plan Advisory Council. By request of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ms. Southern joined 100 global leaders for the G7 Forum for Dialogue with Women.

Ms. Southern earned the Fraser Institute’s T. Patrick Boyle Founder’s Award for her entrepreneurial achievements, and the Peter Lougheed Award for Leadership in Public Policy from Canada’s Public Policy Forum. Alberta Venture named her Business Person of the Year, and Fortune named her as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business.

Thomas (Tom) Jenkins is Chair of the Board of OpenText Corporation of Waterloo, Canada’s largest software company. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of OpenText from 1994 to 2005, and as Executive Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer from 2005 to 2013.

Mr. Jenkins is Chair of the National Research Council and 10th Chancellor of the University of Waterloo. He is Co-Chair of the Business Higher Education Roundtable (BHER) as well as the Advisory Council for the Governor General of Canada Innovation Awards Program.

Mr. Jenkins serves on the boards of Manulife Financial Corporation, Thomson Reuters Inc., and TransAlta Corporation. He is a director of the Business Council of Canada and the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.

Mr. Jenkins has been recognized many times for his contributions to education and innovation in Canada, recently receiving the Next Canada Spotlight Award for lifetime achievement for innovation. Mr. Jenkins is an officer of the Order of Canada (OC).

Mr. Jenkins is the author or co-author of ten widely read books on the Internet, publishing most recently Digital Financial Services: The Greatest Revolution Since Minted Money and e-Government or out of Government.

Frank J. Hasenfratz is founder and Chairman of the Board of Linamar Corporation, based in Guelph, Ontario.

He was born in Hungary in 1935, and attended trade and engineering technical schools, while working as a toolmaker and machinist. Mr. Hasenfratz immigrated to Canada in 1957 and was a supervisor at a metal parts company until he formed Linamar in 1966.

With his vision, Linamar became a world leader in designing, developing and producing highly-engineered products. Today, Linamar is a diversified global manufacturing company. The company has operating segments serving the vehicle market (powertrain/driveline) and industrial market (machining and assembly, forging, light metal casting, skyjack).

Linamar has more than 19,500 employees in 48 manufacturing locations, five R&D centers and 15 sales offices in 14 countries, and generates annual sales of $4.2 billion.

Mr. Hasenfratz is member of the Order of Canada, and of the Canadian Manufacturers Hall of Fame. He has also been honoured with the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit by the Republic of Hungary

He served as President of Linamar until 1999 and CEO until 2002, succeeded in both posts by his daughter Linda. As Chairman, Mr. Hasenfratz continues to focus on productivity improvements and strategic decisions within the company.

Gordon Nixon was chief executive officer of Royal Bank of Canada from 2001-2014. Mr. Nixon is a director of George Weston Limited, Bell Canada Enterprises, BlackRock Inc. and he sits on the advisory board of KingSett Capital. Mr. Nixon is chairman of MaRS, the Queen’s University Capital Campaign, a director of the Art Gallery of Ontario and has served as a director of a number of organizations in health care and education and is a past chair of the United Way of Greater Toronto.

Throughout his career he has been recognized with many honours including twice being included on Barron’s list of the World’s Best CEO’s, and was on Bloomberg’s list of the World’s 50 Most Influential People.

Mr. Nixon has been awarded the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario and has Honorary Doctorates of Law from Queen’s University and Dalhousie University.

Linda Hasenfratz is the Chief Executive Officer of Linamar Corporation. The global manufacturing company, based in Guelph, Ontario, produces highly-engineered products for the vehicle and industrial markets.

Ms. Hasenfratz joined Linamar, the company her father Frank founded, in 1990. She worked her way up from the ground floor, experiencing everything from running a machine to operations management.

Since becoming CEO in 2002, Ms. Hasenfratz has grown the company from $800 million in sales to a $4.3 billion enterprise.

She has served on several industry and corporate boards, including CIBC, the North American Competitiveness Council, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, and the Original Equipment Suppliers Association. In addition, she has been a strong advocate for women’s progress in business, through her work with Catalyst Canada and the Women on Boards Advisory Council.

Ms. Hasenfratz supports the community through her role on the board of the Royal Ontario Museum, and as the inaugural chair of Guelph General Hospital’s Philanthropy Leadership Cabinet.

For her contributions to Canadian business, Ms. Hasenfratz has received honourary degrees from Ryerson University and Wilfrid Laurier University, the International Distinguished Entrepreneur Award from the Asper School of Business at the University of Winnipeg, and the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Ernst & Young.