Considering one’s options, over and over again, is not only a CEO’s appointed task; it’s her occupational hazard. And when Whelan faced the truth about her own company’s straights in 2013, she took at least some comfort in the diversified nature of her operations – something she engineered almost organically. “I would say that the common ground among all of the operations is the value system, which comes from my own rural experience,” she explains. “In fact, it probably comes from thinking about those guys – they were mostly guys – who had the general store, and the ambulance service and whatever else they needed to run the town. One thing can suffer a bit, but chances are, the other things will keep you afloat.”

Of course, that model of entrepreneurship only works well for so long. A farmer who endures a countywide crop failure won’t survive on the proceeds of his five-and-dime if his patrons are also farmers. With this in mind, perhaps, Whelan started planting new seeds. During the last half of 2013, she embarked on an aggressive growth plan that encompassed all of Seafair’s operating branches, the purpose of which was to establish a coherent vision of the group’s future, with, as she says, “clearly articulated goals for how we are going to get there.”

The first, and hardest, order of business, however, was undertaking some necessary, if heartbreaking, triage at CareGivers. “We looked at our work and who we needed to do it, and for the first time in my career, we had to do layoffs,” she reports. “We chose to keep our programming team intact because they were so necessary and so difficult to replace. We laid off administrative roles. But in those roles were people whose skill sets might make it difficult for them to find other work. We offered every kind of support we could think of to help them transition. And we didn’t stop there. We planned for growth in other services that would be less affected by government cutbacks.”

The moves worked well enough to prevent further hemorrhaging, though they weren’t universally popular within the company. According to Whelan, some people refused to “buy into” the vision. One resigned on good terms; another, a “very senior” person “absolutely refused to even consider changing any business processes, and the whole discussion about strategic direction went very poorly. That employment relationship has been severed with a lot more acrimony.”

In both cases, however, she insists, “the right thing happened … for the good of the company, these things had to happen.”

In fact, as a result of these tough decisions and planning exercises, Seafair is, arguably, a more resilient company today than it was a year ago, better aligned to its opportunities. Revenue levels have all but recovered their pre-2013 vigour, and CareGivers, in particular, has just signed a new rolling agreement with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the source of its original travails. Indeed, in recent months, the home care service has opened two locations, hired back some of its staff, and submitted a bid to provide all residential child care placements in Newfoundland.

Seafair is also pursuing new acquisitions both domestically and in the United States. On the industrial side of the business, it has leased almost four acres of land in Argentia, near the Husky GBS build site, and acquired 10 acres of residential land for future rental development. As Whelan says, she and her various companies have come a long way in a short time.

“We currently have on the ‘hot stove’ two active acquisition opportunities in the home and community care side of the business, a planned hospitality development with an equal partner, and industrial building … So, the challenges have driven us to create opportunities… We have a much more robust and mature team of people to lead the development of these opportunities. We have the financing to handle the growth and we’ve taken on partners where taking on partners makes sense.”

To be honest, says Anne Whelan – entrepreneur, CEO, survivor of tribulations, victor of deals – the greatest accomplishment of her life, so far, has nothing to do with the health and wealth of the business to which she has devoted so many drops of sweat and tears. It’s important, yes, even vital to her sense of self-worth. But, as she says, nothing trumps the fact that “I have raised a lovely, kind and intelligent daughter who is now 21 years old and fi nishing her third year at Memorial University. There were a few times along the way when I wondered if I could even do that job, never mind do it well… Trying to be a good mom while trying to build a business and be self-reliant isn’t an easy task.”

In fact, it’s the personal relationships that she has managed to strike and nurture, thanks in no small measure to her business orbit, that seem to pique her interest most keenly these days. “I see leadership as an opportunity for service,” she says. “It is important to contribute to the community, to volunteer time and resources, to build a workplace culture where people are focused on making their own little corner of the world a bit better. To lead a company that does good for others while at the same time does well for itself is very gratifying.”

That tends to explain why she’s a member of no fewer than 12 business associations (including the St. John’s Board of Trade, Newfoundland and Labrador Oil and Gas Association and the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council) and an equal number of volunteer boards and committees. “The more you know, the more possibilities you see,” she says. “I would really like to fi nd a way to create a sustainable cultural industry in my hometown… I also have this crazy idea to create handcrafted specialty spirits – perhaps a gin made from wild, harvested botanicals. I think that might be my lifestyle business in 10 years or so.”

For now, at any rate, Whelan has her eyes trained on Seafair’s next phase – an extension of the process she began during her annus horribilis. Over the next fi ve years, she intends to make her company far less dependent on government work (less than 40 per cent of the business) and far better positioned to operate in the private pay markets of the United States. And, oh yes, “We will be almost double in revenue with a planned growth rate of 12 per cent per year, and our profi tability will exceed average rates of return for our industries.”

That’s not to say there won’t be tough years ahead. But she’s not complaining. In fact, when she thinks about the future, she might even be smiling.