Jean-Marie Poitras – with the economy in shambles following the Great Depression, Jean-Marie left the Quebec Business Academy after two years of study, and went to work for his father who had established an insurance agency in the early 1920’s. The insurance agency flourished under Jean-Marie’s leadership and he decided to incorporate the business in 1959 under his father’s name, J.E. Poitras. For the next five years, the agency took the lead in volume of business done with the Laurentian Insurance Company. Jean-Marie Poitras was also elected twice the president of the Association of the Insurance Brokers of Quebec. He took advantage of this forum to express his views on the professional nature of brokers and insurers. His strong sense of honesty and integrity, combined with his business acumen and expertise did not go unnoticed. In 1964 he was made technical advisor to the President of the Laurentian-Mutual Insurance Company, and in 1965 he took over the President’s chair. Jean-Marie’s belief that there must be a social dimension to insurance company activities was reflected in the Laurentian’s investment practices. Today the Laurentian Group offers a variety of financial services not only in Canada but also in the US.

Sir George Simpson, Governor-in-Chief of The Hudson’s Bay Company.

Simpson was born in the Scottish Highlands in the late 1700’s, and in 1809 he journeyed to London to work with his uncle Geddes Mackenzie Simpson, a sugar merchant and major investor in The Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC).

His skills interested his uncle’s partner Andrew Colville, who was also a high ranking HBC executive. Colvile encouraged Simpson to join the London office of the HBC, and the young man eventually became the Governor of the Northern Department of the company. He oversaw the merging of HBC and the North West Company, and sought to streamline the new enterprise by closing competing fur trade posts. He was an avid traveler and visited fur trade posts all across North America. A stern taskmaster, he pushed his traveling crewmen to extremes in order to move as quickly as possible from post to post.

He became Governor-in-Chief of the company in 1821, and was legendary for his hands-on approach to governing the tiny posts and settlements which eventually became Canada’s western provincial capitals and large cities.

His shrewdness, dedication to economical business practices, and active promotion of free enterprise, led to self-sufficiency among the settlements.

Simpson’s other business interests included real estate, banks, railroads and canals.

In 1841, he was knighted in recognition of his many accomplishments, including his tireless work building HBC, as well as assisting in Arctic exploration.

Upon his retirement, Simpson settled into residency at The Hudson’s Bay House in Lachine, Quebec, where he spent his time entertaining local society and playing host to visiting royalty.

Sir William Cornelius Van Horne pushed the Canadian Pacific Railway lines through to the west coast, and also developed the plans for its national hotel system.

Van Horne was born in Chicago, and began his railway career as a telegrapher at the age of 14, but his innate management skills soon led to rapid progression within U.S. regional railroads, and his hard-driving reputation brought him to the attention of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, at a time when it was building a railway from Montreal to the Pacific Coast. Persuaded by CPR to move north, the 38-year-old Van Horne arrived in Winnipeg in 1881, and was hired on as General Manager.

He had a natural genius for construction, and an intuitive grasp of engineering. Working in a state of constant financial crisis, he pushed the line westward, while at the same time developing plans for a chain of chateau-style hotels, as well as an ocean steamship line for Canadian Pacific.

However, completion of the railroad was his first priority.  Disregarding warnings that the mountains were impenetrable, Van Horne chose the entrance to Burrard Inlet as the railway’s Pacific terminus, and named it Vancouver. In November 1885 CPR’s last spike was driven home.

Van Horne was appointed President of CPR in 1888. Failing health dictated his retirement in 1899, although he assumed the titular role of Chairman of the Board and member of the Executive Committee until his full withdrawal in 1910, and retirement to his estate in New Brunswick. Even in retirement, he characteristically built a railroad in eastern Cuba and a Guatemalan line.

He was a trustee of McGill University and a Director or Officer of many trusts, urban transport companies, and industries in Canada, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, and Brazil.

In 1894 he was awarded the title of Honorary Knight Commander.

He has best been described as: “body and soul a Canadian Pacific man, a genius of transportation”.

Sir William Maxwell “Max” Aitken was born in Maple, Ontario in 1879. Raised in Newcastle, New Brunswick, he was the sixth in a family of ten children. A financer, political figure and newspaper magnate, Aitken got his first taste of the publishing industry at age 14 when he published his own newspaper, The Leader.

Upon moving to Halifax, Nova Scotia as a young man, Aitken met his future mentor and friend, John F. Stairs, who hired him and trained him in finance. Although Aitken had received very little formal schooling, he became general manager of Stairs’ Royal Securities Corporation in 1904, quickly establishing himself as a gifted dealmaker. Stairs died unexpectedly that same year, leaving Aitken control of the company that he would eventually sell in 1919.

Maxwell Aitken married Gladys Henderson Drury on January 29, 1906, with whom he would have three children. They moved to Montreal, the financial center of Canada at the time, where Aitken acquired a seat on the Montreal Stock Exchange and made his first million before the age of 30.

The family moved to England in 1910, at which time Aitken struck up a lucrative friendship with Bonar Law, the only Canadian to ever become Prime Minister of Great Britain. Max also befriended the likes of Winston Churchill and Lloyd George. Elected to England’s parliament, Aitken served until 1916. Knighted in 1911, he later was made a Baronet. When elevated to the peerage in 1917 Max took his title, First Baron Beaverbrook, from a stream called Beaver Brook that he swam in as a youth.

During World War I Aitken created the Canadian War Records Office in London, and ensured that Canada’s contributions to the War were printed in Canadian and British newspapers alike. Aitken also published a number of books on the topic; 1916’s Canada in Flanders heralds the achievements of Canadian soldiers on the battlefields.

He began building his publishing empire by acquiring the London Daily Express and Sunday Times, founding the Sunday Express in 1918. After World War II, the Daily Express became the largest selling newspaper in the world, with a circulation of 3,706,000. His great press domain was used to support his ideal of a greater British Empire.

Max Aitken was admired for his abounding energy and capacity for hard work. A generous benefactor to New Brunswick, he provided additions to the University of New Brunswick, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the Lord Beaverbrook Hotel (whose profits were donated to charity) and many other projects. His financial genius was demonstrated throughout his long and diverse career, and he remains a both a key and controversial figure in our nation’s history.

A.Deane Nesbitt, the pre-eminent creative financier who moulded Nesbitt Thomson and Co. into a major securities firm.

Montreal born, Deane graduated from McGill University in 1933 with an engineering degree. He abandoned engineering and chose a statistical career in his father’s investment company, Nesbitt Thomson and Co., a firm that financed hydro electric utilities.

Following a tour of duty with the Royal Canadian Air Force, Deane returned to Nesbitt Thomson. He progressed through the company and in 1947 was made a director. Seven years later he was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer where he remained for 25 years. In the late 1950’s while serving as President of the Nesbitt Thomson subsidiary, Power Corporation, Deane successfully arranged the entangled financing of the TransCanada Pipelines Project and other complex Canadian underwritings including British Columbia Electric Co. and Winnipeg Gas Co.

His early vision saw clearly that Canada’s financial survival depended on being able to compete globally. He used his uncanny knack for bringing together those who needed capital with those who had it. From his strong personality and grueling work habits came the initiative in 1968 that took Nesbitt Thomson into the arena of mergers and international banking.

Deane’s integrity in supporting business turned Nesbitt Thomson, a company that began as an energy specialist, into a fully integrated securities firm.

C.D Howe, professional engineer, entrepreneur and politician. He propelled Canada into a world class industrial nation.

Howe was born in Massachusetts and in 1907 graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He relocated to Canada to become Dalhousie University’s first professor of civil engineering. A brief stint in Winnipeg, as Chief Engineer with the Board of Grain Commissioners, preceded Howe’s move to Port Arthur, Ontario. It was there he established what would become a worldwide design engineering firm, C.D. Howe and Company.

In 1934, as a Member of Parliament, he served with Prime Minister MacKenzie King. Direct and abrasive, the “most unlikely” politician became known as the “Minister of Everything.” How was responsible for creating Canada’s first Crown corporations including: Canadian National Railways, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and, in 1937, Trans Canada Airlines. During World War II Howe surrounded himself with businessmen, dubbed “Howe’s boys,” and together they industrialized Canada to supply the Allies.

Howe ended his 23-year political career in 1957 when the TransCanada Pipeline debate brought down the Government. He moved to Montreal and accepted the position of Chairman, Ogilvie Flour Mills. His contribution to business continued through several directorships.

Howe died in 1970. He is remembered most as the man who, through his determination to get things done against all odds, systematically pulled Canada together.

Geoffrey Hutchence Wood celebrated his 15^th birthday on board a ship bound for Canada. Before he was 21, he had a taste of war, and a taste of selling. “I’d rather sell than eat.” he said. His first real business venture was the development and sale of the disposable paper cup in Canada.

In 1922 he got the biggest order of his career from Canada’s Parliament Buildings, and within two days opened an office at 28 Wellington Street East, Toronto as G.H. Wood and Company. Soon he realized he wasn’t selling just paper cups, he was selling preventions against germs festering in the common drinking glasses… he was selling “Sanitation for the Nation.” Paper cups soon found company with liquid soap, paper towels, dispensers, cleaning agents and so on. It was a logical progression.

Geoffrey knew that anything can be sold the first time. But only the best can be sold again. To build repeat sales required quality control and an investment in research development. He was the consummate salesman, the born promoter, and the man who knew instinctively how to sell.

George Gooderham, financier who built Gooderham & Worts Ltd. into the largest distilling firm in the world. Founder of the Manufacturers Life and Accident Insurance Company.

George was just two when he emigrated from England with his father William Gooderham, his uncle James Worts and their families. They settled in ‘Muddy York’ where the two brothers-in-law became flour millers. In an effort to use surplus grain more efficiently, the partners formed a distillery business, Gooderham and Worts Ltd.

George was brought into the business as a young boy to carry out tasks assigned by his father and uncle. He eventually assumed more and more responsibility and in 1881, two years prior to his father’s death, the 51 year old George took over the family business. As President, George combined sound money management with opportunity and launched Gooderham and Worts, flour millers and distillers, into an era of market expansion and productivity.

From his office in Toronto’s “Flat Iron” building, he invested capital in railways, highways and steamships and he built Toronto’s King Edward Hotel. George was President of the Canada Permanent Mortgage Corporation and he founded the Bank of Toronto. In 1887 he founded the Manufacturers Life and Accident Insurance Company and appointed, as President, his close friend Sir John A. MacDonald.

George Gooderham, man of industry, vision and determination played a vital role in early Canadian business.

Roy A. Jodrey founded Nova Scotia Power companies, The Minas Basin Pulp & Paper Company, and built a financial empire.

Maritime roots and wit permeated Roy Jodrey’s life. A grade school dropout, tough times instilled thrift and self reliance. Through text books and correspondence courses, he educated himself on the basics of business. At age 12, his first job was apple harvesting, and by the time he was 18, his own company was shipping apples to England.

In 1917, once again guided by a text book, he and a friend built a dam at Stivers Falls. By 1920, they had power production, and one year later, a pulpmill. The Avon River Power Company was formed soon after through a subsequent partnership. Jodrey ran the company, continued to harvest his orchards, and built an impressive investment portfolio.

Jodrey sold Avon River to the Nova Scotia Light and Power Company in 1929. He unfortunately invested his profits in the stock market just prior to the Great Crash, which all but destroyed the fortune he had spent 40 years building. What eventually saved him was The Minas Basin Pulp & Paper Co. he had founded in 1927, to which he later added timber rights, a pulp moulding plant, and a power dam.

Using every resource available to him, Jodrey had by the 1950’s amassed a financial empire and was serving 56 directorships. He is remembered mostly for his outstanding and generous contribution to the economic prosperity of Nova Scotia.

Thomas A. Russell, pioneered the Canadian automobile industry. President of CCM and Massey-Harris.

Born on a farm near Exeter, Ontario in 1887, Russell graduated from the University of Toronto as an honour student in political economy. While teaching at the university, the business world captured his imagination.

At 24, he was persuaded to manage the troubled Canada Cycle and Motor Company Limited (CCM). His vision soon moved from bicycles to a dream of building a Canadian car. It was 1905 when his first car emerged from the Russell Motor Car Company and by 1910 it was producing everything from buses to delivery and fire trucks. “Build up to a standard, not down to a price” was Russell’s motto.

During World War I, Russell retooled his company to produce supplies for the Allies. Ever mindful of his passion for cars, he entered a joint venture partnership with car maker Willys-Overland Limited and in 1915 became its President.

Amid the full force of the Depression, the Bank of Commerce persuaded Russell to assume the presidency of the financially crippled Massey-Harris Company. For 10 years Russell led the company. Through aggressive rebuilding, it regained strength and developed the revolutionary self propelled combine.

Russell believed every good citizen must have a “public soul.” He had an enormous tenacity and once he set his hand on something, he never gave up.

Antoine Turmel foresaw difficult times for independent grocers with the rise of the chain stores.

He and two associates purchased a small distributor, Denault Ltd., and soon thereafter offered to handle bulk purchases and develop private brands for the independents and thereby permit them to compete with the chains. Denault was destined to become the forerunner of one of the largest grocery wholesalers in Canada, Provigo Inc.

Antoine’s business credo included unhurried research, planning, testing and re-checking. He placed a high value on education and on hiring the best people. The thousands of Provigo employees would attest to his success on his goal to build a company of which people can be proud.