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Dr. Richard Florizone
President & Vice-Chancellor
Dalhousie University
“Management is figuring the way to climb the ladder. Leadership is making sure the ladder is against the right wall.”
Richard Florizone is a “3Rs” kind of guy. No, it’s not “writing, reading and ‘rithmatic” that preoccupies the Ph.D. in physics from MIT, who also spends time as a board member of Innovacorp, the Atlantic Institute of Market Studies and the Waterloo Institute of Nanotechnology. It’s “recruiting and training”, “research strength”, and “returns to society”. As he says, “These are priority areas in our strategic plan.”
Tried, tested, true During the social media frenzy that followed the now infamous Dentistry Facebook scandal, Florizone never deviated from his goal: a just process that was consistent with the law, with university policy and the rights of everyone affected. In the aftermath of the immediate response, he remains focused on addressing both the specifics of this particular case as well as the broader issue of doing whatever is necessary to foster a respectful, inclusive university environment.
Abracadabra Richard says that the best way to motivate others is to match their passions to an objective. “That’s when the real magic happens.”
Dr. Andrew Furey
President & CEO
Team Broken Earth
“If we cannot experiment and change who we are to meet the needs of those less fortunate, then we risk becoming stale and that will be the ultimate failure.”
For St. John’s-based Andrew Furey, M.D., everything changed in 2010. Having witnessed the devastation in Port au Prince, Haiti following the earthquake there, he founded Team Broken Earth. Since then, he has completed 21 volunteer medical missions to that Island nation, and overseen the expansion of his organization from three to 500 volunteers from across Canada.
Stepping up When you’re an orthopedic surgeon who voluntarily provides transformative procedures for impoverished people, there’s no shortage of life-altering experiences. In Andrew Furey’s case, the death of an 18-year-old girl because there weren’t enough blood products for a transfusion was a personal call to action. “It made me think: if we do not try and change this situation, who will?”
All together As if coordinating a team of Canadian health care professionals wasn’t enough, Dr. Furey is now working to foster a more collegial environment among his Haitian peers. After discovering that surgeons there rarely collaborate, he organized a National Trauma symposium — a three-day event attended by over 90 per cent of Haiti’s orthopedic providers.
Jennifer Gillivan
President & CEO
IWK Foundation
“If you truly empower your team, then you have to be able to follow them and set them up to take risks and chances in order to achieve extraordinary results.”
The head of the IWK Foundation leads a staff of 30, a Board of Trustees, and raises at least $17 million annually for her worthy cause. This talented multitasker is in the final stages of completing the first Atlantic Canadian private healthcare campaign worth more than $50 million.
Social entrepreneurship Jennifer says winning the 2014 RBC Women of Influence Entrepreneur Award was a clear sign that IWK is an atypical nonprofit. How so? For starters, she and her team are developing a set of Key Performance Indicators for donors (an industry first). They are also expanding westward, working on a social innovation fund, exploring new marketing options, and creating fundraising opportunities via data analysis. “There are many worthwhile causes in our community,” she says, “and the competition is fierce.”
No hidden agendas The glass wall in her office is a physical reminder of Jennifer’s belief in open communication. “I only want one thing: for us to succeed as a team. When we succeed, our community succeeds.”
John Griffin
President & General Manager
W.P. Griffin Inc.
“New customers, new products and new technologies… we like to keep moving forward.”
With the help of his brother Peter, John Griffin continues to grow the P.E.I. potato farming and packaging business their father started in 1947. Today, their products are sold in supermarkets across the country, the Eastern United States and some international markets. And, their food service customers include GFS Gordon’s Food Services and The Keg restaurant chain in Eastern Canada. No small potatoes here — unless that’s what you’re looking for.
Growing new ideas When it comes to motivating employees, John is a farming iconoclast. He takes staff suggestions seriously and moves to implement their ideas as quickly as possible. “The team solution concept usually produces the best answers. We all have good ideas, but no one is always right.”
Seeding the next generation Over his years tilling the soil, John has spent whatever time he can contributing to his industry, most recently as an executive member of the World Potato Congress. “I have had opportunities to see business in different parts of the world and to give back to the agriculture industry,” he says.
Michael Hanrahan
President & CEO
Petroforma Laboratories
“A leader must pay attention to the smallest details as they are indicators of how the larger operation is functioning.”
Menial tasks sometimes come with the title of CEO. Just ask Michael Hanrahan. After years with the Irving organization of Saint John, he now heads a hightech company in St. John’s that provides careers for handfuls of scientists and competes with the big boys in the global business of specialized laboratory services. None of which stops him from personally undertaking “plumbing, snow shoveling, pantry stocking and running errands.”
Crafting trust from expertise As a leader, Michael measures his success by the degree of faith he earns. Specifically, he says, “we have clients who trust us to provide them with confirmation that the million tonnes of seafood they plan to ship to Asia pose no health risks or that an offshore reservoir formation has a minimum production pressure of 1200 psi.”
Being the calm in a storm Says Michael: “Smaller companies generally have fewer people doing more things with less resources than a publicly traded competitor. Leadership is about providing the calming presence needed to do the right thing.”
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