Andrew MacGillivray is a marketer at heart and a champion of the consumer with Level 5 leadership and principle-based decision making. He believes that good questions are more powerful than quick answers, that leadership is not about your personal success, and that good process and good execution trumps bravado.
As a marketer, Andy honed his skills with Nestle, the world’s leading food company. His experience as vice-president of marketing, and then as the leader of the coffee and beverage division, helped to build his strategic capabilities in very competitive, consumer driven sectors.
Shifting to leadership roles at Baxter Foods, a large family business, and then Gay Lea Foods, a leading Canadian dairy co-operative, Andy has been able to show the power of engaged people in the drive for change and growth.
With an MBA from York University and a BBA from St. Francis Xavier University he is a proponent of life-long learning, modelled after his 94 year old father who still studies art on a weekly basis.
Since his retirement from Gay Lea Foods in 2014 Andy has begun to explore a range of opportunities to give back to the community and contribute to local business including his roles as Advisory Board Chair of Moosehead Brewery, Board of Director at N.B. Power, Board Member of the Saint John Airport and several advisory and mentoring assignments.
Andy prefers to define his current life phase as “explorement” rather than “retirement” and beyond his business and community interests has a long list of personal projects that involve new learning and new travels.