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Cory Bell
President
Lindsay Construction
“You rarely become a great leader by telling people what to do. You become a great leader by inspiring people to want to do what is expected
of them.”
Cory joined this Dartmouth-based construction firm in 1999 as a site engineer. By 2008 he was the company’s president. Under his leadership, revenues have jumped to $150 million from $60 million, the company has re-established a presence in New Brunswick, and entered the Newfoundland and Labrador marketplace.
The vision thing Cory believes that to be an effective leader you must have a vision for your company and the ability to help your team embrace it. “I spend a great deal of my time ensuring that everyone understands both where we are headed as a company and how they fit in,” he says.
It’s good to give back Bell is adamant that leaders must give back to the industry they operate in. He’s on the Board of Directors for the Construction Association of Nova Scotia. He was also on the advisory panel that shaped the new direction for apprenticeship in Nova Scotia. “I believe that the future of our industry relies on a better apprenticeship program in Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada,” says Cory.
Carolyn Booth
Senior Vice President, Atlantic Provinces Division, Personal and Commercial Banking, BMO Bank of Montreal
“Leadership is about building communities of thought and action, driving new ways of thinking, seeing, communicating and collaborating.”
As BMO’s senior v.p., always ready to help the business sector, Carolyn Booth is a happy banker of possibility. She leads one of the nation’s largest financial institution’s personal and commercial business operations in Atlantic Canada, and is focused on ensuring an exceptional customer experience through a network of 85 branches.
Motivationally speaking Carolyn doesn’t dictate; rather, she nurtures and encourages the best in her employees, invariably with a mind to invent and sustain productive relationships. As she says: “Pay attention to the ratio of positive and negative feedback. Engage others in decisions. Allow people to be heard. Value yourself, value others.”
The moral is the morale It’s safe to say that “values” define Carolyn’s life — both in and out of the office. She’s a member of the International Women’s Forum, and assisted with the Atlantic launch of the Women’s President Organization and Grow Your Biz through BMO’s national sponsorship program. “Leadership occurs when someone takes ownership and responsibility,” she says, “and sees it through.”
Don Bureaux
President & CEO
Nova Scotia Community College
“I believe in surrounding yourself with smarter, more educated, more experienced individuals willing to give you opposing views when necessary.”
Don Bureaux’s singular preoccupation as the Nova Scotia Community College’s effective Headmaster has been to ensure that the institution continues to be an incubator of innovation. Since assuming the top job at NSCC four years ago, he makes a point of asking every graduate of the school, at convocation, “What’s next”?
Be true to your school Don adheres to the “mirror versus window” metaphor of leadership. In other words, focus on what you can do rather than rely on others to do it for you. He has also adopted a shared leadership philosophy, encouraging those around him to assume leadership roles regardless of their titles.
Success is not academic To better understand the students he serves, in 2014 Don went undercover as a student at NSCC. Inspired by the stories he heard, he says the experience gave him an unbiased and direct connection with the diversity of learners. Across all ages and circumstances, a common theme emerged: a belief that higher education helps people pursue their passion and reinvent their future.
Damian K. Byrne
CEO & President
Landmark Hospitality Group
“Success is the best result of hard work – by giving my best effort, being patient and humble, and receiving peer respect.”
Damian K. Byrne operates a diversified suite of companies that caters to the tastes of the high and low, the well-to-do and the merely well-intentioned, alike. This CEO’s portfolio includes Ryan Duffy’s restaurants in Halifax and Saint John, and the Split Crow pubs in Halifax, Truro and Antigonish, NS.
All in the family Damian credits his father Michael Byrne for giving him his business brio. Indeed, being immersed in a daily, entrepreneurial culture from a tender age taught him the ropes and gave him the drive to succeed on his own: “Dad was a stickler for details, and he was incredibly creative.”
Honest effort is the best policy For Damian, leadership means discovering the best in every prospective employee. Give everyone the rope to swing as high as he or she can, and you have a recipe for productive business returns. In this regard, he says, “I first look to honesty and integrity.” After this, he says, trust and autonomy are the simple, happy results of hospitable authority.
Dr. H.E.A. (Eddy) Campbell
President & Vice-Chancellor, University of New Brunswick
“The university is a marketplace of ideas; as such, we encourage our students to be critical thinkers and question authority.”
Six years into his tenure as president of UNB, Eddy Campbell remains a troubadour of tutelage. He has led a strategic plan designed to bolster research and entrepreneurial ventures, such as the Pond- Deshpande Centre — a major addition “to the university’s capacity to support innovation.”
By the book Believing that true leadership requires honesty, integrity and strong personal values, Eddy’s unofficial role models include corporate luminaries such as Allison McCain, Kathy McCain, Richard Currie, Desh Deshpande and Gerry Pond. He says that they and the students he serves motivate him “to leverage UNB’s resources for the benefit of Atlantic Canada, most notably in terms of entrepreneurial know-how and talent acquisition and retention.”
Proof is in the academic pudding What matters most to this CEO is the condition of the minds his institution produces. And for this reason, he’s deadly serious about the standards he employs to measure his own success: “It’s when I see tangible results from the university’s mission to maximize the human potential of our province, our region, and our country.”
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