Stephen Murphy

Senior Vice-President, Atlantic Provinces Division, BMO Bank of Montreal

Eying the Prize If entrepreneurial vision is a prerequisite for innovative leadership, then Stephen Murphy’s eyesight is 20:20, which should come as no surprise. Before his pater familias sold the enterprise, he imagined he’d take over his father’s string of smalltown taverns in Eastern Ontario. This, of course, was after his dream of being the next Jean Beliveau didn’t pan out. Deftly shifting gears, the younger Murphy joined BMO Bank of Montreal and quickly rose through the ranks to become, at age 34, a VP in central Alberta. By the time he took over the reins at the company’s Atlantic personal and commercial operations, he had earned a reputation as a creative problem-solver, driven to rescue underperforming people and workplaces from their own complacency. How’s that working out for him? “We have 950 employees serving 400,000 personal and 20,000 commercial banking customers at 80 locations across all Atlantic provinces.”

Rising to the Challenge In a world he describes as “fast, fuzzy and fluid”, Murphy (50) says his biggest accomplishment is his own resiliency, especially given the choppiness of financial markets and the head winds that many key sectors continue to face. “I work hard to stay on top of my game, to deliver results and lead myself and my team higher.”

Troy Northrup

Principal & CEO, East Point Inc./ShredGuard Inc.

Go Big or Go Home In his spare time, Saint John entrepreneur Troy Northrup likes to play the trombone and fly planes, which raises a question: When does he have spare time? Leading by example, he owns and operates one of the most diversified portfolios of businesses in the province – everything from commercial and residential property developments to confidential document-destruction services. He credits his success to his love of the chase and the lessons he learned at the elbow of his father, Don. All of which has put him in good staid to weather the recent economic downturn. His biggest accomplishment is probably the East Point Shopping complex in Saint John, now on track to become the largest of its kind in the province. “My father started our family business with just a few dollars and a belief that if you looked for opportunities and worked hard and long enough, then success would follow.” Turns out, father did know best.

A Triple-P Approach Despite his indefatigable optimism and startling work ethic, Mr. Northrup is keenly aware of the challenging times and the pressures on good leadership. Nevertheless, he says, where there is a will, there is a way. “I am a believer in the ‘triple P’ partnership approach: patience, persistence and perseverance.”

Sean O’Regan

President & CEO, O’Regan’s Automotive Group

Tuning the Engine Neither success nor great leadership are accidental. Both require a determination to do what’s best for the organization, a talent for putting the right people in place, an appetite for reality, the courage to follow your dreams, the discipline to make things happen and the fortitude to embrace constructive change. At least, that’s what Henry Cloud, Stephen Covey, an Jim Collins have said on the subject. When leadership experts talk, Sean O’Regan listens – and acts. Since working his way up the ranks of his family-founded automobile sales company (and proving himself every step of the way), Sean has been positioning O’Regan’s to be best in class and market share. Most recently, he invested in new technology to quantify lost sales enquiries. Then, he recruited the best business development consultant in North America to help them realize those opportunities. Results? Incremental sales are already up 10 per cent, with an annualized forecasted increase of $20 million in retail sales.

In the Genes Celebrity coaches aside, Sean says his greatest teacher was his father, who he describes as a clairvoyant-like visionary. “If business was a game of chess, h would not just see moves ahead, he would see games ahead.” Sadly, Paul O’Regan passed away this past March.

Donald Peters

President & CEO, Horizon Health Network

Innovation’s Life Blood Leadership, thy name may well be Donald Peters. It’s safe to say there’s never been a point in the career of this dedicated CEO when his “challenges” have been merely nominal. First, he managed to amalgamate four health authorities in New Brunswick into Horizon, which is now the largest of its kind in Atlantic Canada. Now, he’s bringing a whole new standard of managerial responsibility to the operation as the New Brunswick government tackles its massive annual deficit and long-term debt requirements. Partly as a result of these efforts, the Province has asked Horizon to be one of five key departments to adopt its new Performance Excellence Process. It’s been tough, but also rewarding. “This (Horizon’s three years of balanced budgets) has been done with essentially no layoffs to staff and minimal changes to service delivery.”

A Diet of Commitment Under the circumstances, what motivates Peters is clearly understandable. “Knowing that 13,000 staff, 1,000 physicians and 3,500 volunteers are looking to me for leadership is the greatest motivation any CEO could have. The fact that my leadership has a direct influence on the health services that we deliver to over 650,000 patients . . . certainly reinforces that motivation every day of the week.”

Stephen Plummer

Group President & CEO, I.M.P. Group International Inc.

Macro-manager With 3,700 employees working across a diverse range of sectors (aerospace, aviation, airline, healthcare, information technology, hospitality and property development), you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to conclude that keeping track of staff and business lines must be one of the most difficult parts of Stephen Plummer’s job. How does he engage and motivate all those people? How does he monitor those disparate operations? The challenge is further compounded by his global conglomerate’s need to improve productivity, reduce costs and compete on the international market with a rising Canadian dollar. Stephen “Solomon” Plummer, whose reversed initials could well stand for Problem Solver, is astutely utilizing a multi-pronged response: an aversion to micro-management (i.e. let your employees do their jobs); increased investments in innovation, tooling and facilities expansion to capture new market opportunities; and, extensive use of employee intranets and an online newsletter.

Far From Bored Though he’s been with the same company for 34 years, Stephen Plummer says his career has been as broad and multi-faceted as if he had worked with a dozen companies. “I’ve (watched) the company grow from $10 million in annual sales to over $700 million. The growth in size, scope and diversification of business units has provided a lifetime of successful business experiences.”

Christine Power

> President & CEO, Capital District Health Authority

Dollars and Sense Public perceptions to the contrary, Christine Power asserts that Nova Scotia has had an “abundance” of health care funding in recent years – increases of six to seven per cent annually, in fact. But with an insatiable demand for services, rising drug/technology costs and wage increases, it seemed that there were never enough resources to go around. So you can imagine her position when the provincial government instituted a zero per cent increase for 2011/12. Rather than cry foul, Power’s perspective was that the authority had enough resources to do its job – they just needed to spend more wisely. Under her deft leadership, and with input from physicians and staff, Capital Health realigned resources, ceased inefficient and/ or ineffective services, and closed an inpatient unit. Though the original plan called for a reduction of 87 people, ultimately only two were laid off (the rest were reduced through attrition). It was a double win for Power, who says job losses are the “things that keep (her) up at night.”

More to Come Glacial it may be, but change is coming to Nova Scotia’s health care system. Power is advocating a reduction in the number of health authorities, from 10 down to one – even if it means she herself becomes redundant.