Peter C. Godsoe was born and raised in Toronto, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto, a Chartered Accountant’s designation at Price Waterhouse, and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

He joined the Bank of Nova Scotia in 1966 as a teller, and successive promotions saw him in positions of increasing responsibility in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and New York, until in 1982 he was appointed a Director and Vice Chairman of the Board.

He was elevated to the role of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer in 1995, and also held positions on the boards of multiple corporations including Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, ONEX Corp., and Sobeys Inc.

Godsoe was also the Chancellor of the University of Western Ontario from 1999 to 2000.

He has received honorary degrees from University of King’s College (1993), Concordia University (1995), the University of Western Ontario (2001), and Dalhousie University (2004).

In 2001 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada, and in 2004 he was made an Honorary Commander of the Order of Jamaica.

With globalization and public service as the cornerstones of his philosophy, Mr. Godsoe’s career exemplifies a true balance between leadership, family, community, and the importance of people.

Cedric Ritchie has been hailed by the Financial Post as one of the country’s top bankers, rising from clerk to Chairman during his 50-year career with the Bank of Nova Scotia.

Born in Upper Kent, New Brunswick in 1927, Ritchie possessed only a high school education when he joined the bank in 1945. Over the next 15 years, he progressed from a teller in Bath, New Brunswick to Chief Accountant at the bank’s Toronto branch. Less than a decade later he was appointed Chief General Manager, and in 1972 was named President and CEO. Ritchie became Chairman of the Bank of Nova Scotia in December of 1974. Throughout his career Ritchie led the bank to increased profitability, and retired as Chairman and CEO in 1995.

Ritchie has held positions on the boards of several organizations, including: Chairman of the Phillipes Council, Director of The Canada Life Assurance Company, Director of Canadian National Railway, and Director of Mercedes-Benz Canada Inc.

Cedric Ritchie also holds several awards and designations. He was named the Western Business School of Toronto’s 1993 Business Leader of the Year and the Harvard Business Club of Toronto’s 1993 Business Man of the Year. Ritchie has received honorary degrees from Dalhousie University, Mount Allison University, Queen’s University, St. Francis Xavier University, and the University of New Brunswick. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1981, in recognition of “his wide knowledge of banking and commerce.”

Guy Saint-Pierre.  A native of Windsor Mills, Quebec, Guy Saint-Pierre became the personification of business acumen and industry leadership.

In 1959, he began his career as an Officer of the Royal Canadian Engineers, and five years later advanced to become Director of Imes Inc.

From the mid-1960s to the late 1980s, he continued along a successful path of professional development. During this period he was President and CEO of Ogilvie Mills Limited, and also twice served as a Minister in the Quebec Government.

In 1989, Mr. Saint-Pierre joined SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. as President and CEO, and was appointed as Chairman in 1996.

He served as Director of several major Canadian corporations, including the Royal Bank of Canada, General Motors of Canada Ltd., Alcan Aluminum Ltd., and BCE Inc. He also served as Director of the Conference Board of Canada, the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal, the Business Council on National Issues, and the Engineering Institute of Canada. In 1995, he was designated International Executive of the Year by the Canadian Council for International Business.

In 1994, Financial Post Magazine named him CEO of the Year. He was also received the Sir John Kennedy Medal, was awarded a Gold Medalist, Canadian Council of Professional Engineers.

In 1992 was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada, and was promoted to Companion in 2002.

J.E. (Ted) Newall was born in Holden, Alberta and raised in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. A leading oil and manufacturing executive, Newall’s distinguished career is marked by outstanding achievement.

Ted began work for DuPont Canada in 1957, starting out in internal sales. In 1958, he received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University in Saskatchewan. For twenty years, Ted Newall advanced through the company, taking the helm in 1979 as Chairman, President and CEO of DuPont Canada and all non-U.S. operations.

From DuPont, Newall went on to become President and CEO of NOVA Corporation in 1991. He successfully oversaw the amalgamation of NOVA Corporation and Trans-Canada Pipeline, arguably the largest merger in Canadian history.

Throughout his extensive career, he has served as director of many large corporations, including Alcan Aluminum Ltd., BCE Inc., Bell Canada Ltd., Canadian Pacific Ltd., Maple Leaf Foods Inc. and Royal Bank of Canada. Newall holds several awards and distinctions, including winner of the 1998 APEGGA Award for International Business Executive of the Year and 1993 CEO of the Year as decided by Financial Post Magazine, Canada Post and Caldwell Partners. He also holds several honourary degrees.

Ted Newall was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1993, in recognition not only of his business successes but his philanthropic ones as well. Ted has been a consistent supporter of his community, co-founding the United Way of Calgary’s Children’s Initiative and sitting on the University of Calgary’s Board of Governors.

Ted Newall and his wife Margaret have three children and eight grandchildren, and continue to be active supporters in their community.

John Roth stood as a powerful Canadian voice in the global wireless communications industry as a driving force within Nortel Networks for more than thirty years.

Beginning as a design engineer, he progressed through a number of internal positions within Nortel and quickly advanced to the executive level.  In 1993, he was appointed as President of Nortel Networks, North America.  Later, as President of the Wireless Network organization, Roth played an integral role in establishing Nortel’s wireless services, and also held the position of President and CEO of Northern Telecom.

Under Roth’s control, Nortel became the leading engine of Canada’s 1990s high-tech boom, and was the most important stock traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange, as well as one of Canada’s leading employers.

Roth also served as Chair of the Premier of Ontario’s Advisory Board for the Access to Opportunities Program (ATOP), a member of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Board on Science and Technology, and sat on the Business Council on National Issues’ Policy Committee.

He was named as Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year by an advisory board of business leaders and academics, and in 1998 had the honour of receiving the Emerging Markets CEO of the Year Award.

He also received the New York Hall of Science Distinguished Leadership Award for the Application of Technology to Telecommunications and Education.

Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for London

Sir Adam Beck was born in 1857 in Baden, Ontario to German immigrants Jacob Beck and Charlotte Hespler. A true visionary and leader, Beck was instrumental in bringing hydro-electricity to the people of Ontario. He became a wealthy and influential civic business leader, as well as a respected politician.

Working as a teenager in his father’s foundry, Adam later established a cigar-box manufacturing company with his brother William. He moved the company from Galt (now Cambridge, Ontario) to London, Ontario in 1885, where it soon flourished.

Beck was elected mayor of London in 1902, and a few months later was also elected to the Ontario legislature as the Conservative member from the London riding. He was re-elected mayor in 1903 and 1904 while simultaneously serving as a member of the provincial legislature (which is no longer permitted). Already a wealthy man, Beck donated his salary to charity while serving as mayor.

In 1903, Mr. Beck joined a 21-member committee that would form and operate Ontario Hydro. Two years later, he became the unofficial Minister of Power, chairing a board of enquiry on the matter of private vs. public electricity grids. An early advocate of publicly owned electricity grids, Beck opposed the privately owned companies he felt did not serve the needs of the public adequately, and put forth the slogan, “dona naturae pro populo sunt” (Latin for “the gifts of nature are for the public”).

In 1906, the legislature passed a bill introduced by Beck, officially creating the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, the first publicly-owned utility in the world. Beck was promptly elected as Chairman, and went on to oversee the first production of hydroelectricity in the province of Ontario. On October 11, 1910, Beck held the first ceremonial “switch-on” in Berlin (now Kitchener). Pressing a switch, Beck stood back as a street sign that announced “For the People” lit up and the town cheered.

Donating admirably to a number of causes, Beck was particularly supportive of the medical community. In 1900, he founded the London Health Association, which would later develop into the University and Victoria Hospitals. Having married his wife Lilian in 1898, their daughter Marion was diagnosed at a young age with tuberculosis. Her condition prompted him to found the Queen Alexandra Sanitorium in 1910, a medical facility for long-term illness that was quite advanced for its time.

In 1914 he was knighted by the King of England, earning him the nickname “The Power Knight.” While he passed away in 1925, we can remember and be thankful for Sir Adam Beck’s legacy every time we flick a switch.

Gerald Heffernan is a world leader in the development and successful adaptation of new technologies to the steel manufacturing industry. Trained as a metallurgical engineer at the University of Toronto, Heffernan pioneered the efficient self-contained steel production facilities known as a “mini-mills,” which now account for 200 million tons of the world’s 700 million ton steel output.

In the spirit of true engineering entrepreneurship, Gerald Heffernan has used his technological expertise to establish six steel mills based on advanced electric arc furnaces and continuous casting technology. He also built an industry-leading Canadian steel-making company, Co-Steel, which has employed more than three thousand people in three countries.

Throughout his career, Heffernan has placed both his business and scientific talents at the disposal of his country.  He served as a Director of the Business Council on National Issues, a Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, a member of the Ontario government Committee on Government Productivity, and a member of the federal government’s Neilson Commission.

Heffernan has served as Chairman of Texas Industries, Inc., as an active Director and Shareholder of Clairvest Group, NRI Industries, and Cesaroni Technology, as Vice-Chairman of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and as President of G.R. Heffernan & Associates Ltd.

Gerald Heffernan holds several awards and designations, including the AIME Benjamin E. Fairless Award for leadership in new design and steel-making techniques, the APEO Gold Medal, Officer of the Order of Canada, and the U.K.’s Institute of Metals Bessemer Gold Medal for technological innovation in the steel industry. He belongs to the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame, and was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1987. He is recognized as a highly skilled engineer and scientist.

Pierre Péladeau is a graduate of the Université de Montréal, and is best known as the founder of Canadian media company Quebecor Inc. Péladeauu bought his first newspaper, Le Journal de Rosemont, in 1950 with $1,500 borrowed from his mother. Three years later he acquired his first printing press. In 1964, Péladeau launched le Journal de Montréal, which became the highest circulation French daily in North America. Two years later he launched le Journal de Quebec, and in 1985 he amalgamated his various businesses under the name Quebecor.

In 1987, Quebecor secured Donohue Inc., one of Quebec’s largest pulp and paper companies. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, Quebecor multiplied its acquisitions in the printing industry. With the acquisition of World Color Press in 1999, Quebecor became the world’s premier commercial printer.

Through its subsidiary, Communications Quebecor Inc., the company publishes, distributes and retails books, magazines and recorded music. With the acquisition of the TQS network in 1997, Quebecor became active in broadcasting and new-media as well.

Over the years, Quebecor acquired or established a number of weekly news publications and distributors. In 1999, the purchase of Sun Media Corporation made Quebecor the second largest newspaper group in Canada. The company’s revenue exceeded 11 billion dollars, and Quebecor employed over 60,000 employees worldwide.

In addition to his thriving company, Péladeau remained a proud supporter of the arts. He was a founder of the Pavillon des Arts in Sainte-Ade¨le, and Chairman of the Montréal Metropolitan Orchestra.  He donated one million dollars to the Université du Québec é  Montréal’s efforts to build the Centre Pierre-Péladeau, dedicated to music and performing arts.

Pierre Péladeau also chaired and/or directed a number of organizations for the rehabilitation of alcoholics, including Pavillon Pierre Péladeau, La Maisonnee de Laval and l’Auberge du Nouveau Chemin. He was active with the Centre Immaculée-Conception, the Magnetothèque (as an honorary chairman), as well as many other worthy causes. In 1996, Péladeau made a one million dollar donation to the victims of the disastrous Saguenay-Lac St-Jean floods. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1987, and an Officer of the National Order of Quebec in 1989.

Purdy Crawford is a native of Five Islands, Nova Scotia and the former non-executive Chairman of Imasco Limited, C.T. Financial Services Inc., and Canada Trustco Mortgage Company. A graduate of Mount Allison University, Dalhousie Law School and Harvard Law School, Crawford is currently Counsel at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, practicing primarily in the corporate/commercial area. He also continues to serve as the non-executive Chairman of AT&T Canada.

Crawford joined Imasco Limited in 1985, and in 1987 was named Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. He retired as Chief Executive Officer in 1995, but continued serving as non-executive Chairman until the sale of Imasco in February 2000.

In both Canada and the United States, Purdy Crawford has sat on the boards of several large public companies. He was Chancellor of Mount Allison University, where the Purdy Crawford Teaching Centre was named in his honour. In addition, Crawford is well known as an active fundraiser for several charities, especially for Centraide’s 1,2,3 GO! project for early childhood development.

Crawford’s contributions have been recognized by a number of organizations. In 1995 he was awarded the United Way Canada Volunteerism Award for outstanding contributions to Canadian society. He received the Friend of Education Award from the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education in 1996. That same year he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, and was later promoted to a Companion of the Order in 2007. In 1997 he was inducted into Junior Achievement’s Nova Scotia Business Hall of Fame, and was honoured with a Fellowship in the Institute of Corporate Directors in 1999.

Purdy Crawford is known for his integrity and commitment to worthy causes. He continues to be an active and valuable member of his community.

On August 12, 2014 the Canadian Business Hall of Fame and Junior Achievement of Canada bid farewell to Mr. Crawford. He was a dear friend incredible supporter and ambassabor of Junior Achievement of Canada. His long history with the organization includes founding the Junior Achievement of Canada Foundation as one of three original directors and serving on its board for almost ten years.

Conrad M. Black was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1944, to a wealthy family originally from Winnipeg. For a time, Black was the third largest newspaper magnate in the world. As Chairman and CEO of Hollinger Inc. and Hollinger International Inc., he controlled more than 400 newspapers with a combined circulation of over 13 million.

Black bought his first newspaper, the Eastern Townships Advertiser, in 1966 when he was still a student. With friends David Radler and Peter G. White, Black formed Sterling Newspapers Limited in 1971, a holding company that went on to acquire a number of small Canadian regional newspapers. In 1978, Black acquired control of Argus Corporation and restructured the company, consolidating its assets into Hollinger Inc. After several years of international expansion, the takeover of Southam newspapers and the purchase of the Financial Post, Black launched Canada’s National Post in 1998.

In addition to his involvement with the Hollinger Inc., Conrad Black has acted as director of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Edperbrascan Limited, and Sotheby’s Holdings Inc. He has been a member of the Chairman’s Council of the Americas Society, the Trilateral Commission, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the Steering Committee, Bilderberg Meetings. He was also once a Patron of the Malcolm Muggeridge Foundation.

As Chairman and Founder of The Jean Coutu Group (PJC) Inc, Jean Coutu controls one of Canada’s largest and most powerful pharmaceutical retail chains.

Born in Montreal, Quebec, in 1927, Coutu studied medicine and then pharmacy at the University of Montreal. After graduating, Coutu worked for a cousin who had his own pharmacy and by 1959 the two were partners in three pharmacies.

In 1960, Coutu sold his interest to his cousin and used the proceeds to open his own store. Always sensitive to new trends, Coutu capitalized on the changing perception of drug pricing to open Quebec’s first discount pharmacy. By the end of the 1970’s Coutu’s concept of a discount drug store had become the norm in Quebec.

In 1969, Coutu capitalized on the growing popularity of his stores to start one of Quebec’s first pharmacy franchise operations. Since then his company has grown to become a leader in several regional markets including: Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and the North Eastern United States.

In addition to his involvement with The Jean Coutu Group, Mr. Coutu is the Founder of the Marcelle & Jean Coutu Foundation. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and was named to the Order National du Québec in January 1993. He has also received numerous awards for public service and business excellence.

A spirited entrepreneur and humanitarian, Mr. Coutu’s mantra is, “Take care of the details and the rest will follow.”