2020 Top 50 CEO Awards: Winner Profiles

Most business awards start with the bottom line: the more money a person or company makes, the higher their pedestal. This is not a typical business award program.

Sure, revenue is a big part of our selection process (solvency being rather essential to an organization’s continued operation), but this is Atlantic Canada and we demand more from our corporate leaders.

Since their launch in 1998, Atlantic Business Magazine’s Top 50 CEO awards have recognized leaders based on three main criteria: corporate growth over time (at least 36 months); personal and corporate commitment to the community through sponsorships and volunteer work; and a demonstrated ability to successfully navigate challenging circumstances. This last point has never been more relevant.

To say 2020 has been a difficult year is a masterful understatement. Some catastrophes were on the other side of the world, some were right here. Some were natural disasters and some were man-made. And then there was COVID-19, the disease that literally shut down the world.

While personal safety has been and must continue to be every sane-thinking individual’s top priority, none of us can afford to ignore fiscal reality. People need jobs. Organizations need revenue. Governments need economic activity. Fortunately for Atlantic Canada, we have leaders like our 2020 Top 50 CEO award winners: people who are determinedly finding creative solutions to keep themselves in operation, their employees working and their communities functioning.

When times are good, they are the leaders we want. In times like these, they are the leaders we need.

And the winners are…
Click the CEO’s name for a quick link to their profile

STARTUPS
JEREMY ANDREWS & ADAM KEATING
AMIT VIRMANI

CROWN CORPORATION OR POST-SECONDARY INSTITUTION
ALAA ABD-EL-AZIZ
LAUREL BROTEN
GAËTAN THOMAS
FLORIAN VILLAUMÉ

NON-PROFIT/NOT-FOR-PROFIT OR INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION
DOV BERCOVICI
JOYCE CARTER
JOHANNE GALLANT
CHERYL HICKMAN
STEPHEN MACDONALD
KRISTA ROSS
LARRY SHAW
MICHELLE SIMMS
ANDY TURNBULL

FOR-PROFIT WITH 1-50 EMPLOYEES
JOHN ATKINS
MITCH COBB
SAEED EL-DARAHALI
JUSTIN GHOSN
JILL GREEN
ASIF HASAN
BILL HENNESSEY
JOE HICKEY
HANS KRISTENSEN
ASHWIN KUTTY
DALLAS MERCER
GREG POIRIER
SAM SANNANDEJI
JENNY SMITH
JACQUI WINTER

FOR-PROFIT WITH 51-250 EMPLOYEES
MARK BEAL
CHARLENE BROPHY
LILIA FRASER
MICHAEL LEONARD
KEITH MCINTOSH
DEAN SHEA
KEN SHEA
JEFF SQUIRES
MIKE TIMANI
PATSY TREMBLETT
PAT WHALEN

FOR-PROFIT WITH 251+ EMPLOYEES
LEAH BOODY
LYDIA BUGDEN
BLAIR AND ROSALYN HYSLOP
LORI KENNEDY
ROGER KING
DENIS LAROCQUE
BARRY PERRY
LARRY PUDDISTER
VIVEK SOOD

See Alec Bruce and Stephanie Gough’s full Atlantic Business Magazine article HERE.