Bert Frizzell

CEO, The Shaw Group Limited

Mediocrity is not an option After 150 years in business, as of 2011, Halifax’s Shaw Group of Companies might be tempted to rest on its laurels. After all, the company is a leading materials manufacturer and community developer in Atlantic Canada with the kind of brand-name recognition that spells comfort. But CEO Bert Frizzell, who has risen through the ranks since he arrived as a university graduate in 1974, isn’t one to cool his heels. “One of the most difficult challenges has been finding ways to grow the company in the climate of a very slow economic recovery,” he says. His response has been to invest in lean manufacturing techniques and Six Sigma training for senior management. So far, the results are impressive. On aggregate, the company has improved its competitive position and grown sales in each of the past three years. Says Mr. Frizzell with justifiable pride: “In our last fiscal year, we grew by 11 per cent.”

Foundations of the Future Still, nothing is forever, and Mr. Frizzell has plans for significant change. For one thing, “our geographic reach will expand.” For another, “I will have transitioned the company’s leadership to a new CEO in the next year.”

Greer Hunt

President, Hunt’s Transport Ltd./Hunt’s Kuka Transport Ltd.

The Road Less Travelled It’s been 30 years since Greer Hunt first sat behind the wheel, starting as the lone operator of a single truck in 1982. Since then – with the support of his wife/business partner – he’s followed opportunity along myriad highways and bi-ways, gearing up for Hibernia, Voisey’s Bay and, most recently, Long Harbour. A deft navigator, he’s cannily found alternate routes around any roadblocks that threatened to slow his transport company down. If a potential contract exceeded his carrying capacity, he increased torque through joint venture partnerships. And when Marine Atlantic fares and crossings became both too expensive and too inconvenient, he initiated his own barge shipments across the Atlantic. His fleet has come a long way in the last three decades: the former trucking company is now a global transportation and logistics organization, backed by project management, site and safety supervision, warehousing and multiple partnered companies. Greer Hunt, however, asserts that he’s still picking up speed.

Life is a Journey A veteran road warrior, Hunt has never been without a compass. “Growing up, I dreamed of following in my father’s footsteps, of owning my own company and being a successful entrepreneur, and a community-minded citizen – just as he was. He was my role model, my inspiration.”

Captain Sidney Hynes

Executive Chairman, Oceanex Inc.

Captain’s Log He’s as courageous as Kidd, as bold as Blackbeard and as daring as Roberts – with a talent for gathering wealth to boot – but respected Master Mariner Sid Hynes is no privateer. He’s actually more of a James T. Kirk than a Long John Silver. Like the fictional T.V. commander, Hynes has made a career of sailing uncharted waters. Whether he was initiating a training program for displaced Newfoundland fishermen, negotiating the only known 25-year labour agreement for the Hibernia shuttle tankers, conducting sea trials for the first Polar 10 class icebreaker, or pulling together $200 million in financing to purchase container-shipping company Oceanex, Hynes has an enviable record for landing his goals. And the bigger the storm, the more eager he is to meet it head on. “Whether it relates to daily business decisions or complex negotiations, I very much enjoy the challenges I face at work each day,” notes this intrepid entrepreneur. There’s only one challenge that he’s ever walked away from: early retirement.

Talk or Walk Better think twice before rebelling against Captain Hynes’s authority. Though his first response to mutinous swabbies is to give them an opportunity to present a rational explanation for their actions, Skipper Sid say he’s had to “make difficult decisions” before, and he’ll do it again if the situation warrants it.

Victoria Kaminski

President & CEO, Eastern Regional Integrated Health Authority

Born to be in Healthcare When she was five, Vicki Kaminski wanted to be a nurse – or a teacher. While those were two of a limited number of careers open to women back in the 1950s, Kaminski says her profession has been anything but limiting. Since her first shift through her transition to critical care and then into administration, she has been offered numerous opportunities for professional development, participated in (and led) numerous provincial health initiatives, and has helped shape health policy across the country. She currently oversees the delivery of health services to more than two-thirds of Newfoundland’s provincial population where she also manages 13,000 employees and an annual budget of approximately $ 1.2 billion. One thing that hasn’t changed since that first nursing rotation is her motivation: “the safe, efficient and effective delivery of health care remains my first priority.”

Healthy Prognosis Health care demands are rising even as governments need to control spending, but Kaminski believes the two solitudes aren’t as far apart as they first appear. “In my previous job, I took an organization that was in a large fiscal deficit to a balanced position within three years with no layoffs or service cuts. That work is replicable and is underway here.”

Dianne Kelderman

President & CEO, Atlantic Economics/Nova Scotia Co-operative & Credit Union Council

Type ‘A’ all the Way As someone who loves the pursuit of opportunity, who thrills to take on more than anyone thinks she can handle (“get out of my way and watch it happen”) and who actually enjoys burning the candle at both ends, Dianne Kelderman is living her dream. Her current managerial todo list encompasses a broad range of interests: six separate business entities with assets and projects over $55 million: a $40-million small business financing program for Nova Scotia’s credit unions; Canada’s first and only online health care clinic; a $2-million equity investment fund; and, responsibility for innovation with Nova Scotia’s co-operatives an credit unions. She credits her multitasking success to the many people who taught her to believe in herself, her “superior” teams of employees, and the power of higher education: she has two undergraduate degrees, two master degrees and studied at Harvard Business School.

Power of Persistence Donald Trump once said that persistence is the difference between success and failure. Dianne Kelderman demonstrated the veracity of those words this past year when she launched her online health care clinic (www.healthconnex.ca). From corporate acquisition and technology upgrades to lobby efforts and capital investments, she was as persistent, she says, as “a dog with a bone.”

Steven Kelley

President & CEO, Charlottetown Metal Products Ltd.

The World Beckons Some people have luck; others make their own. Steven Kelley belongs in the latter camp. The president of Charlottetown Metal Products Ltd. (CMP), which manufactures, services and installs stainless steel food processing equipment for customers both near and far, began his career as a full-time waiter with no advanced education. He earned a degree in finance through part-time studies, landed a job at a bank in Toronto, obtained a CGA designation, quit, then snagged a law degree before, finally, buying CMP in 2007. “I have never let a lack of knowledge or experience hold me back,” he says. “Basic business principles, common sense and good communications skills will take you a long way.” He must be right, for CMP has sold and installed its equipment on every continent. Last year, more than 90 per cent of its sales derived from sources outside Atlantic Canada.

No Borders Here While many firms are struggling with tough times, Mr. Kelley’s outlook is determinedly sunny. “The last year has been all positive. Growth was over 50 per cent. Profit was strong. A whole lot of fun for the whole company.” What gets him up in the morning? “The beauty of management.”