HAMILTON May 19, 2015: Event organizers today announced that Rod Phillips, a prominent Canadian business leader and chair of the not for profit organization CivicAction, will be a featured luncheon speaker at the inaugural Hamilton and Burlington Bay Area Economic Summit on June 2 at Royal Botanical Gardens.

“Mr. Phillips brings a wealth of leadership experience gained in the private, public and charitable sectors to our conversation on regional development,” said summit spokesperson Keanin Loomis, CEO of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce. “He’ll talk about new models in intercity collaboration and draw on learnings from the recent CivicAction Bootcamp that helped establish a change agenda for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.”

CivicAction brings together community leadership on a regional basis to help tackle the complex urban issues of our day.

Mr. Phillips’ will share the luncheon program with The Honourable Charles Sousa, Ontario Minister of Finance.

Said Loomis: “We’re eager to benefit from the ideas and insights of these two exceptional leaders.”

The Bay Area Economic Summit is an inaugural gathering of these two communities being co-hosted by the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and Burlington Chamber of Commerce.

To register, visit BayAreaSummit.ca or call 905-522-1151 x 100.

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For more information please contact:

Huzaifa Saeed, Policy & Research Analyst, Hamilton Chamber of Commerce

T: 905-522-1151 ext: 230 | h.saeed@hamiltonchamber.ca | C: 905-220-3030

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ROD PHILLIPS BIO

Rod Phillips is Chair of the Board of Directors of Postmedia Canada Corp and its subsidiary Postmedia Network, the largest publisher by circulation of paid English-language daily newspapers in Canada, representing some of this country’s oldest and best known media brands. Reaching millions of Canadians every week, Postmedia Network engages readers and offers advertisers and marketers integrated solutions to effectively reach target audiences through a variety of print, online, digital, and mobile platforms.

From 2011 to 2014 Mr. Phillips was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG). OLG is the provincial agency responsible for province-wide lottery games and gaming facilities. OLG and its contract management companies employ nearly 17,000 people and are responsible for 24 gaming sites and the sale of lottery products at over 9,800 retail locations. In 2013, the OLG delivered a record $2 billion profit to the Province of Ontario on revenues of $6.8 billion. Mr. Phillips was the driver behind the OLG’s modernization initiative which is transforming the way lottery and gaming operate in Ontario.

Prior to leading OLG, Mr. Phillips was President and Chief Executive Officer for eight years of Shepell.fgi, one of North America’s leading providers of workplace health and productivity solutions. Under Mr. Phillips’ leadership, the company went through an ownership transition and acquired four companies including its largest competitor. Shepell grew to dominate the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) landscape and expanded into related verticals before being sold to Morneau Sobeco (TSX:MSI) generating a 6.6x return for investors and substantial wealth for the management team.

Before joining Shepell.fgi, Rod was Chief of Staff to Mayor Mel Lastman during his first term as the leader of the newly amalgamated City of Toronto from 1997 to 2000. Rod was previously head of the Goodmans Venture Group and was a Principal with KPMG Consulting. He also served as the senior advisor to the Honourable Elizabeth Witmer, Ontario’s Minister of Labour.

In the not for profit arena, Mr. Phillips is Chair of CivicAction and Chair of the TELUS Toronto Community Board and a member of the board of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Previously he was the founding Chair of CAMH’s Transforming Lives Gala and a member of the Boards of the Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation, the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Mental Health and Addiction, the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons, Bridgepoint Hospital, the Toronto Community Foundation and is a Past President of the Canadian Club of Toronto.

Mr. Phillips is a recipient of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award and, in 2005, and was selected as one of the “Best of the Best” on the 10th Anniversary of the program. Along with his investment partners, he won the 2009 Canadian Venture Capital Association Deal of the Year award in the Private Equity category. He is currently the Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of 32 Combat Engineer Regiment based in Toronto.

Mr. Phillips is a graduate of the MBA program at Wilfrid Laurier University and holds an Honours BA in Political Science and English from Western University. He completed the Directors Education Program at the Rotman School of Management and holds the Institute of Corporate Directors designation ICD.D.

 

 

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