Alex MacBeathAlex A. MacBeath is an Executive Partner and CEO of.docx

Alex MacBeath
Alex A. MacBeath is an Executive Partner and CEO of Grant
Thornton, LLP. He has former and current association with a
wide range of community and non-profit organizations such as
the United Way ( Campaign Chair and Chair, Living Out Loud
Speaker Series); Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada; Hamilton
Art Gallery; Founding Chair and Host, 1995-2000, Grant
Thornton Canadian Authors; Series, the Canadian Childrens
Authors; Series, the CANSCAIP Collection; Board of Managers,
First Presbyterian Church.
Company Profile
· Company: Grant Thornton, LLP
· Size: Large
· Industry: Accounting
· Business Activity: Professional, scientific and technical
activities
· Type of Entity: Private Company
· Number of Employees: 500 to 10,000
· Country: Canada
· Headquarters: Toronto, ON
· Yearly Revenue: Greater than $25 million
1. Can you provide a brief history of Grant Thorton. When it
started and by whom?
Grant Thorton started in Atlantic Canada. It was formed in 1939
in Halifax and it was a sole practitioner that began the firm,
Harvey Doane. At that time was known as H.R. Doane and
Company. From the initial base in Halifax it expanded across
Atlantic Canada, initially, through a series of mergers and the
opening of new offices to respond to opportunities in different
parts of Atlantic Canada and to the needs of clients as they
expanded through Atlantic Canada. As it moved into the sixties
and seventies it began to expand into Ontario and eventually the
West, mainly through a series of mergers with local firms. That
created a presence in Western Canada and Ontario building on

the strong base that we had in Atlantic Canada at that time.
There were two major events in the eighties and the nineties
that helped create the firm that we have today and really built
on the early success that Harvey Doane started. The first was in
1981 when we associated with a firm in Quebec, the largest firm
in Quebec, called Robichaud Martin St. Pierre. That created a
firm that had a presence in every part of the country. In 1991
we did another merger with a firm called Panel Kerr
McGillivary. Panel Kerr McGillivery had a very strong presence
in Western Canada and in Ontario but not in the East nor in
Quebec so it was a very complementary merger. It created the
firm we have today, with a presence across the country and in
all the major markets of the country. In 1981, at the same time
we associated with the firm in Quebec, we joined a new
international organization called Grant Thorton. Grant Thorton
was created at that time and we were the third member firm to
join the international organization and in fact are the third
largest member firm of the international organization.
2. What were the original motivations for the formation of the
firm?
If I were to look at the motivators that drove Harvey Doane or
created some of the early successes, certainly one was
recognition that we were a professional services firm. In terms
of providing strong professional services, maintenance of high
standards was critical. The second was attention to client
service and meeting the needs of clients. By building the
capacity in the firm that some clients needed really drove some
of the expansion. As client needs expanded both nationally and
internationally the firm expanded to accommodate and meet
those needs. There was a need to develop, expand and grow the
firm so that there would be the critical mass of capacity and
capability as client needs expanded and became greater. The key
successes over this whole period of time and why a firm that
started as a sole practitioner in Halifax in 1939 is today a
national firm and a major player in this profession nationally I

think a first would be high standards. As well, remembering that
the foundation of any professional services firm is high
standards, independence and objectivity. The second would be a
focus on client service and recognition. You are always striving
to meet client needs and recognizing that those needs are always
going to change over time and recognizing that you need to
change to meet those changing needs. Finally, a real focus on
people. We are a professional service firm. We provide
professional advice through CAs and other professionals. You
need to be able to provide them an opportunity to grow
professionally, to grow their career. You need to provide the
professional development opportunities and the professional
development support that they need to grow professionally and
continue to meet the needs of their clients. So those would be
the successes I think if you look back over the sixty-five years
that we have been in this country.
3. How would you describe the culture of Grant Thorton?
I think the culture of Grant Thorton is different than some
firms. It is very open. First of all, all information is shared
including incomes of partners and things like that. Some firms
have a very closed type of culture where not much is shared
with the partners. I think in our firm, the culture is very
collaborative. We work very closely together. There are client
service teams that focus on working with clients. If you think
about the client, there is a relationship partner that maintains
the contact with a client. We try to bring in all the other
specialist and resources that we have to bear on that client. So
we do work very collaboratively. We build within the firm,
communities of practice so people practicing in different areas
and different sectors work very closely together. It is a culture
of equality and each partner has one vote. It is not based around
seniority. It is not based around income. If you are a partner,
you are a partner. A new partner who has just become an equity
partner has just the same vote as I do as CEO. Finally I think it
is a collegial culture. We, as partners, and there are 180 of us,
genuinely like each other. When we assess a new partner who

we may want to admit to the firm, the question that is often
asked is will he or she fit? Is he or she a Grant Thornton
partner? I think that reflects the style, the nature and the culture
that we have built over the years. There is no question that it is
one of our strengths.
4. Are you trying to change the culture of Grant Thornton? If
so, how is it going?
We are currently guiding the firm through some fairly
significant changes. Some of the changes are culturally based
and are really trying to alter how we think about the practice
and the firm. I would like to describe the change as one starting
with a series of individual partners with practices they have
built up over the years. Moving from a firm which is a
compellation of 200 practices to a practice managed by 200
partners is a very difficult, major cultural shift. What it is
trying to do is take our professionals and partners and put them
to the highest and best use and have them focus on clients in
areas of practice where they have a real expertise. This allows
the clients to have access to the best resources of the firm. Not
a 360 degree partner who is knowledgeable in a whole series of
areas, but rather a 360 degree firm to which the client has
access and from which we have a number of professionals
delivering the service. So it is an open, collaborative, collegial
type of culture.
5. Grant Thorton is a professional services firm. How is it
structured differently than the traditional corporation?
Professional services firms are really unique forms of
organization. If you think about a partnership, the partners are
the owners, the partners are the managers and the partners are
the producers of work. It is almost as if all the shareholders of a
corporate entity show up for work everyday and they make the
decisions and they decide what they are going to do. It is in that
sense that the partner represents and takes on a number of
different rolls. For someone in my role or someone else in a
formal leadership role there is not a lot of authority. Indeed, it
is a role without authority so you lead and you manage through

influence not through the position itself. You do not have a
corporate structure or style or role that gives you power. It
comes through influence. If you have a partnership where the
owners are there everyday working on par with the management
of the firm it does make change on one hand difficult because
you really need to get the active buy in of the partnership. On
the other hand when you do get that buy in there is a
tremendous opportunity to leverage the power of the partners.
Once they accept and buy into the change and agree about what
you want to do or where the firm is going to go, then the
leverage that they bring is really quite phenomenal. It allows
you to move ahead with change more quickly then you might in
a corporate environment.
6. How does the partnership govern itself?
How do you govern and manage a firm where there are 200
partners or 180 partners, all of whom are owners? Let me speak
about that on perhaps two different levels. First, at the
governance level, we have a policy board. Our Board of
Directors is comprised of twelve partners who represent
partners from across the firm. They are elected by the partners
themselves and they are there for three year terms so there are
four new partners that come onto the board every year. That
board has two fundamental roles. One role is as a representative
of the partners. A second is to develop the vision and the
strategy for the firm itself. Sometimes those are a bit
conflicting as it also has responsibility in the partnership
agreement for the allocation of income among partners. In terms
of the day to day management of the firm we have a
management team and a management committee which is
comprised of seven partners who are fulltime in administrative
roles. There are a variety of roles that they take on. At the
practice level we now have fifteen profit centers. We also have
forty-four locations but they are grouped or clustered into about
fifteen reporting centers. That is where the practice is managed.
Some of those office clusters are large and there may be a
management committee within that office. Some are smaller and

all the partners are involved in the day to day management. The
one thing that we are now doing, over the last two or three
years, is introducing professional management into the firm. So
we now have a number of professional HR managers in the firm.
We also have a number of professional business development
people in the firm and professional finance and administration
people. This brings that expertise into the firm and at the same
time allows our partners to put themselves at their highest and
best use which is really client service. This has been a major
cultural change within the firm and a change of how we manage
the firm. One of the things you are always trying to do in a
professional services firm like ours, which has offices and
locations all across the country, (partners located across the
country) is to find a balance between those offices and
practices. They have a lot of local office autonomy and are
close to the market so they can respond to the local market
needs. Those at the far extreme have a more corporate style,
where you have a national strategy, and national services which
you deliver through a series of offices. So you are trying to find
that middle point where you balance the local office autonomy
with a local presence and a national strategy that you can
translate to all your offices across the firm. The best way I can
describe that and how I term it is "strategic consistency" and
"operational flexibility". That is what we strive for on a regular
basis within the firm.
7. What is the role of a senior partner, a junior partner and a
principle?
A senior partner is who we would term an equity partner. That
is the real owner of the firm. As I mentioned before, each
owner, each partner, has one vote. They may not receive the
same income but in terms of equity or voting power they are
one. That position has the risks and rewards of ownership - Risk
if their results are lower, risk around claims, risk around
litigation, but with the rewards of distributive income. When the
firm does well then the owners and the partners do well. To
look at the role of an equity partner what we did about three

years ago was articulate the role, the expectation or the
competencies of a partner in a document we call the vision
partner document. I could summarize that in perhaps the three
roles of an equity partner or a partner in our firm. First would
be a preferred advisor to clients. They have the business partner
relationship with the client. They have knowledge of the
industry or sector that they bring to the client. They have a
technical competence that they bring to the client, and they
deliver the services. Second you have the entrepreneurial co-
owner. That is someone who acts in an entrepreneurial manner
to build the business. Who helps to build the practice, who
helps to build a profitable practice in their area and who is
highly effective in a personnel and communication role. So that
is what we would we look for in a partner. A junior partner is
someone who has been admitted from a senior staff level to
partnership with the full expectations that they will become an
equity partner. This is an opportunity for them to grow into the
partner role and that is normally about a three year period at
which point they are admitted as an equity partner. We have a
third position which is a principal. This is a senior practitioner
who is usually based in a local office and who has a more local
office perspective. You might term the occupant of the position,
a local office partner. They would be very strong leaders but
usually fill a specific role and perhaps do not have the national
scope that you would expect of an equity partner.
8. How does an accountant become a partner in your firm?
In terms of the admission process what we look for is an
individual who has the ability or capability to achieve the
expectations that we have set out in the vision partner
document. It starts with a good knowledge of who the senior
staff are that have this capability. We have, in the firm, a
leadership development program or leadership development
initiative. All senior staff who are within three to four years of
being eligible for partnership enter the leadership program so
we have a chance to work with them over that period of time.
When they are ready to be nominated, usually seven, eight or

maybe nine years after their gaining their CA, their office or
business unit will nominate them. There is a panel of six
partners and myself that interview them. It is really to test their
readiness, to test whether they are at the point that they are
capable of being a partner. Then there is an approval of the
board. In our firm all partners get to vote on the new admissions
to the partnership, so there is a partnership vote. This is on one
hand an informal process of getting to know the senior staff.
Who is capable of working with them to develop their skills so
that they are ready to join the partnership. Then there is a
formal part which revolves around the process itself.
9. How would you describe your leadership style?
I would describe myself as open. I would describe myself as
collaborative, but I would suggest that I am firmly in control of
the vision. I would suggest my strengths lie in establishing a
vision, communicating that message and communicating that
vision constantly and consistently throughout the organization. I
would suggest what someone in my role needs to be able to do
is see the firm today, see the firm in five years time or ten years
time and then connect those two. As well develop the strategies
and initiatives to accomplish that. Where my weakness would be
is in the details of executing specific strategies. I see myself as
the guardian of the vision and work towards accomplishing that.
I have surrounded myself with a very strong management team
in which I have a lot of confidence. I delegate a lot of authority
to them and I expect a lot of them. I work with them and hold
them accountable to deliver on the specific initiatives and
specific responsibilities that they may have. There is I think a
difference between establishing and realizing a vision and
establishing and realizing a strategy or a specific initiative. If
you have a strategy or specific initiative it is really important to
have a clear action plan, clear accountabilities and
responsibilities, timelines, and measurable goals. When you are
establishing, communicating and working towards a vision, I
think it needs to be articulated very clearly, in broad terms and
communicated on a consistent basis. There are often many,

many details that are missing, so what I try to do is establish a
framework. Ensure that working with the people, the specific
management team and all our partners and let it be shaped by
the owners of the practice. My role is to ensure that the
initiative and strategies are within the framework and all
employees are working to achieve the vision that we have
established.
10. What are some of the most important values that influence
your actions on a daily basis?
I think first of all if you look at our value statement it talks
about honesty and integrity. It talks about trust and respect. It
talks about continuous improvement. Those are very much
fundamental to how I think and very fundamental to my role. I
think when you are in a partnership it is incredibly important to
recognize this and have a core value of fairness. As well
balance the interests of the individual partners and balance the
interest of the partnership itself. When you are making
decisions you fall back to what is right for the organization.
What is right for the individual partners that make up that
organization and at the same time what is right for the
collective organization as a whole. And when you fall back to
thinking of your role of leading a professional services firm,
you need to balance those interests. You always ask yourself
what is right for the partners and what do partners need to know
when you are thinking in terms of communication. I think those
are the values that are part of how I lead and I think that it is
also part of what is important in a professional service firm or a
partnership.
11. Are any structural changes being considered within your
company?
If you look at the governance side, we have not gone through
any significant changes in governance over the last ten years.
Although I am in the process now of reviewing our governance
structure because the board, which is comprised of twelve
members, has two fundamentally different mandates or two
fundamentally different responsibilities. The first is as a

representative of the partners, dealing with partnership matters,
the partnership agreement itself, partner compensation, partner
admission and withdrawals. The second major mandate or
responsibility is the strategy or the vision for the firm itself.
The long term vision involves looking at or responding to,
changes that are going on in the market place. Changes that are
going on in the competitive environment, and changes in the
professional regulatory environment. Those are very different
perspectives and I think that sometimes they can be in conflict.
What is in the best interest of a partner in a particular location
may not in the end be in the best interest of the firm as a whole
when taking a long-term view. It is important to be able to
reconcile those two very different roles and very different
mandates. We are looking now and I have just presented a paper
to our board suggesting some changes in the structure that
would still allow governance by the partners while fulfilling
both of those mandates. And at the same time, I think something
we have not done, but do need to do very quickly is add some
outside directors to our board to bring a market perspective, to
bring a perspective from the environment in which we practice,
to assist us as we try to establish and realize the vision for the
firm.
12. How does Grant Thornton differentiate itself in the
Canadian professional services market?
I think we are able to differentiate ourselves in a number of
ways. If you were to look at the professional services market or
the accounting firms in Canada there are six national firms with
a presence across the country. There are what you commonly
refer to as the Big Four and there are ourselves and a firm
called BDO Dunwoody. There are also, of course, a number of
regional firms and a number of local firms. We are the fifth
largest firm in Canada but we are the largest firm that focuses
on dealing with entrepreneurial people and entrepreneurial
organizations. That is a differentiator in that it is where our
services are developed. The expertise we have in the firm is
focused on that part of the market. I think we also differentiate

ourselves as being the preferred advisor to clients. It is a lot
more than compliance and development of financial statements,
compliance in tax return preparation and compliance in other
areas. Really, we position ourselves with the client at the
strategic level so that we can provide the range of advisory
services that they need. If you were to look at many of our
clients, they are very strong. They are entrepreneurial, and they
are growing companies. They often do not have the
infustructure internally to deal with the issues that they must
deal with on a day to day basis. We are able to add a lot of the
professional expertise that they may not have internally. So we
really need to understand what their strategy is, and what their
direction is. We have developed a lot of diagnostic tools to
assist us and the client in assessing what their needs are. I think
thirdly we would differentiate ourselves in the accessibility to
senior resources. A client of Grant Thornton has access to
senior staff, access to partners, and access to a breath of
capability in the firm. Fourthly I think we differentiate
ourselves in the local presences that we have in many markets
across the country, combine that with a national firm’s
resources and the international network. We have the capacity
and capability, so local presence, but national and international
capability.
13. How do professionals in your firm transfer and share
knowledge in different geographically dispersed offices?
We have, first of all, a very collaborative culture and that
certainly facilitates a sharing of knowledge. We have an
intranet within the firm so we have been able to establish
communities of practice. We have shared workspaces which
allow groups working on a specific client, within an industry, or
within a sector, to collaborate. We are in the process of
expanding that. There will be a shared workspace with our
clients where we can collaborate on the work we are doing for a
specific client, offering them access to a lot of the resources
and knowledge that we have in the firm. So I think we are using
technology quite effectively to be able to share it across the

firm. A big part of our practice is obviously audit. We have a
common audit methodology that every office and every
practitioner in the firm uses. That allows us to share this
knowledge across the firm. We can do a file in Halifax. All our
files are electronic, so it can be developed in Halifax and
reviewed by an expert in Vancouver or some other part of the
country.
14. What alliances does Grant Thorton have internationally?
What value does this alliance add?
We are a member of Grant Thorton International. It is an
international member organization. I think there are 106
countries around the world in which there is a member firm. All
are independent member firms so we are totally autonomous
here in Canada. What it does provide in terms of value is, first
of all, an international network. There is an ability to refer
clients if they have needs or operations in another country. The
sharing of best practices with some of our colleagues in
different parts of the world, so we have the international
network. Second is the ability to develop a leading edge audit
methodology that member firms themselves would not have
been able to develop. The cost of development is high but it is
something which is required to be used by all firms. It allows
the sharing of best practices. It allows very easy collaboration if
we have a client that has operations in a number of different
countries. Representatives of Grant Thorton, in another country,
would be able to do the audit work using the same methodology
that we have. I think there is value in the opportunity for staff
secondments and work opportunities. There are long term
secondment opportunities in different countries and there are
short term work experiences. We had, in 2004, between thirty
and forty of our staff in the United States working on projects
for four to eight week time frames. That allowed them to gain
real experience and also bring that knowledge back to the firm.
Last is the value, internationally, of developing the Grant
Thorton brand which is becoming very well recognized around
the world.

15. How has the internet affected the operations of Grant
Thorton?
I think first of all clients are much more knowledgeable of what
their needs are, much more knowledgeable of the alternatives
that are available to them. It allows them to do much more
research. I think there is certainly a much greater ability to
share knowledge within the firm and to share knowledge with
our clients. I think it has provided an opportunity to work much
more closely with our clients on an ongoing basis. Certainly it
has provided a lot opportunity for our people to do research. It
has had a profound impact. I think we are doing some things
with technology, with the internet, and with our intranet, that
are at the front end of knowledge sharing in professional
services firms in this country.
16. What is the business model of Grant Thornton or how does
it make money?
Professional services firms are on one hand, a very simple
business, and on the other hand, a very complex business. I
think it really comes down to a number of key elements or key
metrics. The first is the leverage that you can obtain and we are
not at the point or have any aspirations to achieve the leverage
that some of the larger firms have. The second is the number of
staff to a partner that you have within a practice area and the
size of a fee base that an individual partner or senior
professional will carry. That is a balance between having a fee
base that allows for a profitable leverage practice. At the same
time as insuring that that practitioner is able to maintain contact
with the clients and be accessible to the clients. That is one of
the ways we differentiate ourselves in the market. Third, we sell
time. We sell hours. What is the recovery rate per hour? What is
the quality of our practice? What are we able to charge for the
capability and the services that we have? So it is important that
our professionals are very strong, are very well trained with a
depth of capability and have access to a breadth of resources
within the firm. That capability and that time has to be put to
the highest and best use. Our professionals always have a choice

to do work from which they can recover a certain amount per
hour or a higher amount per hour. So the combination of
leverage, the size of the fee base that a partner is carrying and
the overall recovery rate that you can receive from that work is
what creates a successful business model.
Pierre Lafontaine
Pierre Lafontaine, started his coaching career in 1976 as
Assistant Coach for the Pointe-Claire Swim Club. On April 18,
2005, Pierre joined Swimming Canada as CEO. Pierre has
contributed to the advancement and success of swimming
throughout his coaching profession. His career spans two
continents, where he held Head Coach and Assistant Coach
positions in Montreal (Quebec), Calgary (Alberta), Altanta
(Georgia), Phoenix (Arizona) and Canberra (Australia). Most
recently as Head Coach at the Australian Institute of Sport
(AIS), Pierre led 4 swimmers from the AIS to podium results at
the 2004 Olympics. Previously, as Head Coach of the Phoenix
Swim Club in Arizona, he led his swimmers to 8 medal victories
at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
Company Profile
Company: Swimming Canada
Size: Medium
Industry: Amateur Sports
Business Activity: Arts,entertainment and recreation
Type of Entity: Not-For-Profit
Number of Employees: 25 to 500
Country: Canada
Headquarters: Ottawa, Ontario
Yearly Revenue: $1 million to $25 million
1. Can you provide a brief history of the organization along
with key recent milestones?
My name is Pierre Lafontaine, I am the CEO and National

Coach for Swimming Natation Canada, based out of Ottawa and
I have been involved with the corporation now or the
association for now eight months and probably one of the
exciting things that happened at Swimming Canada Natation is
the at the world championship in 2005 in Montreal in July we
won five medals which was fantastic. But, it was following a
terrible 2004 Olympics so I think what is happening now is
people are starting to be able to feel that they can move forward
and Canadian kids can win and that is what I think is a nice
forward movement.
2. How would you describe your leadership style?
About empowering as many people in the ability to succeed in
every way whether it is the nutritionist, the coaches, even the
kids that do not win, having the ability for them to feel like they
are part of a winning team. So, it is tough for everybody to win
but it is for everybody to feel like they have got a role in it, not
any different then the school district or anything. Everybody
can be part of the winning team.
3. What are your thoughts on swimming and its connection to
Canada ?
You know in Canada everybody has got to swim because we
have got millions and millions of lakes so I do think that every
family think of swimming as something they need to do for
safety. And so whereas if you think of Hockey in Canada you
think of the NHL, swimming you think of it as being a survival
thing and then from there it is for me to sell that you could do
more. You could be on a swim team, you could do triathlon, you
could do diving, and so, number one, I think everybody feels
that they need to swim, parents want to give their kids
swimming lessons, after that you get into school, it is grabbing
these kids and making them come into the swimming team role
instead of soccer.
4. What was the state of affairs at Swimming Canada prior to
your arrival as CEO?

Probably believing that we can do it. Swimming Canada, there
is a big difference between swimming Canada and Canadian
swimming. Swimming Canada is the organization that kind of
runs the show or sets the goal but Canadian swimming is the
family, it is the clubs, it is the universities, it is the swimming
lessons providers, it is the mom and dads that put their kids in
the sports and dream that maybe you can make it to the
Olympics. So, Swimming Canada I think was in the business of
trying to dictate roles and responsibility and the change has
really been more to convince people that we are in the service
business, we are about empowering clubs and coaches so they
could do their job better, not for us to tell them how to do it but
for us to give them the tools to be able to do what they gotta do.
5. Your role may be described as that of an agent for change.
Can you describe the initiative, or turnaround, that you fostered
and led at Swimming Canada?
I think there has been a lot more team approach so instead of
having ten provinces that do there own little thing, instead of
having 350 coaches that do their own thing, I do a lot more of
bringing people together, I do a lot more of consultation with
groups, it takes a lot more of my time but I think a lot more
people feel like they are part of decision making and they feel
they are part of the forward movement so for example when we
talk about I really feel we need to develop the university
program, well I have probably gotten the best ten coaches in
university and got together through a bunch of meetings and
when I talk about developing clubs I have gone with some of the
best club coaches and some of the worst club coaches and I say,
All right, what do you need? What do you need for us to help
you so you can do what you do best? Which is try to win.
6. What are the overall objectives of this initiative?
Make people proud that they can stand up on the block and
compete with anybody else in the world. That is really
important because feeling like you are empowered and feeling

like you belong is really important quality in life and so if you
feel like you belong to the world of international sports, that
will stay with you for rest of your life. But if you feel you are
international level and you do not feel like you are as good you
are carrying this for along you are feeling going, ah man, I
could not do it and this and that. I think that feeling of being
able to do it, to me is really important.
7. How will Swimming Canada's objectives be implemented at
the level of community swim clubs?
It starts for us setting the goals so one of the things we talked
about was all right, what do we need? Well the first thing we
need is to find ways for clubs to grow. We need find ways for
club to be structured so they do not have to reinvent the wheels
every year. We are going to be doing all sorts of things such as
improving the coaching education, we are going to do a lot more
work into providing clubs with tools and equipment, not
equipment in terms of weight room but in terms of material like
posters and this and that to be able to serve their constituent
which is the swimmers and the families better. We are going to
do a lot more work at educating the parents and the parents
board in how to run clubs and we are going to set target testing
protocol around the country so that everybody basically like a
national exam, everybody knows where they are compared to
everybody else and have levels of progression and levels of the
word is, of success.
8. What were the most important barriers, both internal and
external to Swimming Canada, that you faced while leading the
initiative?
Changing peoples mindset, making people look at other ways to
do the same thing, making more and more, it is hard to make
people feel like their part of something if they are not sold to it
so selling the dream I think is another challenge. You know, I

am by myself running around this huge country probably the
size of the country as one, even the economic reality of
different parts of the country can also be a challenge. City of
Toronto has not built a new facility in twenty five years. In
Montreal they are building pools right left and center. The
provincial governments in Quebec and BC are great supporters
of amateur sports, other province do not even give them lip
service, they charge to much, they put road blocks to, what
about opening every gym in the schools from three to six at
night to allow schools to do after school sports, badminton
teams. So, I think these are the the roadblocks that I see, it is
just a matter of me having to take the time to convince people
now that is all.
9. What were the most important features, both internal and
external to Swimming Canada, that helped facilitate your
leadership of this initiative?
The swimmers are great ambassadors to be great people, they
are good, they are clean, it is a healthy living, it is not an
aggressive sport, it is a sport for life you could start swimming
at three and still swim at ninety-nine, you could do it
competitively or just enjoyable. And swimming allows you to
do all sorts of other things, you could go water skiing, you
could go to a friends house, but also you could compete in
triathlon, you could be lifeguard, swimmers make great athletes
for rowing, high school and grade school track and field
coaches love swimmers because they can run forever. And so,
these are all great qualities that swimmers have that are an asset
for us.
10. For various reasons, the outsourcing of organizational or
business functions has become popular with the corporate
sector. How is the phenomenon affecting Swimming Canada?
For us it is not a matter of contracting it is a matter of, because
I look at contract as being not part of the family. I think to me it
is more I need, I do need a huge amount of people around the

country to feel part of this organization and I do need a huge
amount of people doing work all over the place. For example, I
will give you an example of universities. My dream would be in
sports that we have thirty universities; we give them thirty in a
physiology department, we give each university one target. For
example, University of Calgary, develop the best protocol for
altitude training in the country. University of Toronto, do
research on the effect of lack of sleep and performance.
Wolfville, the effect of cold through training and all of a sudden
you would have an entity that would take and really push the
limit of knowledge around the world. To do that, I have to
empower them enough to make them feel their part of a bigger
picture and same thing for high school teams. Could you
imagine if every high school swimmers or coaches feel like they
are helping promoting international swimming? And so if they
have kid who is a good swimmer and they say, all right, you
move there and you try to do it. So, outsourcing to me is
empowering. To do that though the amount of communication is
huge and communication in an organization like mine is gotta
be one of the key success.
11. In the context of competitive swimming and the operations
of Swimming Canada, where do new ideas come from?
Looking at other sports, looking at other fields, looking at how
do you make a swim meet not a swim meet anymore, make it an
event? Well, you go see soccer tournaments. How do you make
a conference not just be another conference? You bring business
people to come and talk to coaches. So, I think the swimming
world is pretty set in one way and I think we need to start
adding things to it that will make things happen. You know, to
me, in a community like this and you have a swim team, you go
okay, the month of August, everybody trains in triathlon. And

we find a huge triathlon middle of September. One of the things
I would like to do as one for example in Canada, is every
swimmer in the country runs the Terry Fox Run and make it a
goal for the country so we could have cross training and use
things like this and like I mentioned earlier in a different
conversation, that maybe swimmers could row six weeks of the
year? Maybe rowers could swim six weeks a year. So, start
thinking outside there is only one way to do things, there is
many ways to do things.
12. How has the Internet affected the operations of Swimming
Canada?
It allows me to stay in touch with more people, it allows me to
pass my message a lot more, but the issue with the internet in
terms of communication is that if it’s not up to date all the time
then it becomes actually a problem. And so that means you have
to have somebody that’s very earmarked at making, whether it’s
a little club with a website, or for me at Swimming Canada I’ve
got a make sure that the info out there is perfect. I keep
thinking, I’d love to have something like a website for all
aquatics in the country and you go 1-800 like an 800 number, 1-
800-swimsafe, or swimming website and from there you get to
boating safety, to swimming, to water polo, to diving. I have
one website to mom and dad look at, all the swimming lessons
in the country and you can register under one umbrella. And
same for 1-800 website, you could phone and say, "I’m in
Toronto, I live in Oakville, I’m looking for a place to sign up
my kid for swimming. Where do I go?" So, I think these are the
drawings of the bigger way to communicate but also puts a lot
of pressure on making sure that your organization is up to date
daily.
13. What are the major trends affecting Swimming Canada?
It is really pushing our thoughts on how fast we have got to
move. I mean, if we want to start being competitive again we
just need to move faster then everybody else in the world. So,

this little dream about those universities, these little dreams of
getting corporation with their strength, not their money but their
knowledge, to come onboard with us to push. I was just reading
last week on the luge the skate on the luge and the technology
to make the allow to make the skate so fast is, and so I would
like to have groups of people to make it so we are not always
two years behind. I was just showing my staff just before I left
Australia designed a new pool it is probably the most advanced
pool in the world. You know, with force plates in the wall and
so on so forth and one of my coaches comment was well,here
we go, we are behind again already. Why dont we try to get
somebody in Canada to build even better then that! So, I think
that is what it is. It is not just doing something, but doing it
better and faster then other people, and really I keep going back
to this word of urgency. Having the urgency to find new ways to
do things and not just keep doing the same things over and over
again. You get the same results.
14. What are the most significant uncertainties that Swimming
Canada must contend with?
If I could have a plan that is well scheduled and well organized
then I would not be hoping that the kids come through. So, if it
is for me to design and build a structure that would allow the
kids to come from the cradle to the gold medal and for them to
see the pathways but also our budget is four or five times less
then the Australians, twenty-five times less then the Americans,
six times less then the English, so budget is one. I do not want
to say, oh boo-boo I do not have enough money, but it blocks us
from doing certain things, but I think Sports Canada are moving
forward now they are giving us budgets two years ahead instead
of one year ahead so there are some very positive moves there is
no question about it. Even with the new government here with
his language on supporting amateur sports by adding a bit more
money, by giving tax breaks to families who are putting kids
through sports, these are all great things and maybe it is the
right time because the issue of obesity but language of sports

again in this country is back like it was in the seventies.
15. What common characteristics do successful national swim
programs share?
The organization itself has a vision and goal and they aim at
that goal daily. The goal is not, oh, we would love that! The
goal is, this is where we are going and regardless of what
happens that is where we are going. And they will go get the
people that fit and will work towards that goal, and even the
great swim clubs, the great swim clubs that are still great forty
or fifty years later is because they have a goal and they make it
happen. They do not say, we do not have enough money to hire
a good coach, we do not, they say, you know what? We want to
be the best in Nova Scotia, the best in Canada, we have got to
do what we have got to do to do it. And then lift your sleeve up
and let us make it happen.
16. Research suggests that competitive analysis is the
cornerstone of effective strategy formulation and
implementation. Are there key areas/issues within the world of
competitive swimming that appear to be blind spots for those
charged with conducti...
I do think that even within our own organization in Canada that
there is so little best practice that we should just take the fifty
sports that we have in Canada and just sit down and talk about,
what is the best tool for communication? What is the best tool
for marketing? What is the best tool for long term athlete
development? What is the best way to recruit kids?And so, I
think yes there is lots of great things to learn from outside, but
we are not even doing it from inside yet. And so, and even
within a community like here, I would say, lets go and find out
the best sport, what they do, and how they recruit kids and so on
and I think just that alone, and that does not take anymore
money it just takes people to talk and we just need a catalyst of
making things happen. So, for example one of the things that I
did is we studied women in coaching. There are not a lot of

women in coaching, so, for Christmas and after in January we
basically went through every NS, and said, all right, what do
you guys do?And we put together a whole package so that
everybody in the country that deals with coaching would know
what everybody else was doing so that they could use what
works for them. Took me two months, two me, maybe it should
be done by somebody else but I wanted it, I wanted to improve
our women coaches, so I say, I am just going to do it!
Henry Demone
Henry was born in High Liners home town, Lunenburg, NS, in
1954. A mathematician by academic training, Henry joined the
Company (then National Sea Products), in 1977, soon taking
over management of international sales. In 1980, he left
National Sea to serve as Managing Director of a French
subsidiary of Franz Witte AB, a Swedish food company and
division of Volvo. Returning to National Sea in 1984 as Vice
President, International, Henry was appointed President and
Chief Operating Officer of the Company in 1989. At the
Company's Annual Meeting in 1992, he was appointed President
and Chief Executive Officer. Henry has charted High Liner
through a decade of rapid change. From its roots as a fishing
company, Henry has lead the transformation of the Company to
a food processor and marketer of high quality seafood and
frozen pasta. He is a member and former Chairman of the
Atlantic Canada Chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization,
and is a director of Dover Industries Limited and the Food and
Consumer Products Manufacturers of Canada.
Company Profile
· Company: High Liner Foods Ltd.
· Size: Medium
· Industry: Seafood
· Business Activity: Manufacturing
· Type of Entity: Public Corporation

· Number of Employees: 25 to 500
· Country: Canada
· Headquarters: Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
· Yearly Revenue: Greater than $25 million
1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your career path
to date?
I'm Henry Demone; I'm president and CEO of High Liner Foods.
I've spent my career in the seafood business when I graduated
from Acadia, took my Masters at Dal, then started off working
for National Sea Products, spent four years working for a
Swedish company, part of it in Canada and part of it in Europe.
And then came back to National Sea and stayed there through
the last 20 years.
2. What does your company do and why is it unique?
High Liner Foods is the leading value added frozen seafood
supplier in North America. What makes us unique is that unlike
most seafood companies we have a market focus; we're focused
on consumers and customers. We deal with all the big customers
in North America and we provide them with value added
products, strong brands, and we remove some of the
complexities of the seafood business which has a very complex,
global supply chain with many different species and many
different origins.
3. What is the business model of your company?
Our business model is really to be a market leader in all of the
key sales channels in North America. By having the leading
brand, doing unique value added products, getting critical mass
so that our procurement department can buy cheaper than our
competitors.
4. Who are the customers of your company and what customer
needs do your products or services satisfy?
We deal with all of the big customers in North America,
whether they're retail, food service, or club stores. Whether
they're US or Canadian. The retail customers would be people
like Walmart, Loblaws, Sobeys. Food service customers would

be people like Sysco, Gordon Food Service, US Food Service.
The club store customers would be people like Costco, Sam's
Club, or BJ's in the US. What we do for our customers is we
remove the complexities from the seafood supply chain. The
seafood business is a very global and complex business. If you
think about the chicken business you're essentially dealing with
one species. If you think about the seafood business, High Liner
buys 30 species from 20 countries and that's a complexity that
we understand. But it's a complexity that many buyers and big
customers, particularly the largest ones, are not prepared to deal
with. If you take a buyer in a big retail chain, they may have
been transferred from health and beauty aids and may stay in
frozen foods for 2-3 years so they need good suppliers who can
deliver in the frozen seafood category with the same reliability
as their health and beauty aid suppliers. So, we at High Liner
provide that and we provide it across the market in North
America.
5. Can you describe the flow of activities that define the value
chain for company?
Let me do it in two ways. The first way would be product
development. When we develop products it usually comes from
the consumer needs in retail or the operator needs in food
service; the operator being the person who runs the restaurant or
the away from home eating establishment, it could be a cafeteria
in a business or in a hospital or something. So, we do market
research with those people, we try to understand their needs,
then we develop products that meet those needs and go out into
the world, source the raw materials, bring them back into
Canada or the United States, produce the value added products
in one of our plants, and then ship them to our customer base
across North America. That's from a product development point
of view. From a day-to-day business point of view, it starts with
a sales forecast and this is a very important function within
High Liner Foods. We spend a lot of time trying to predict what
demand will be three to six months from now. And that's critical
because we want to have the right level of inventory. If you

have too much inventory that impacts the balance sheet and our
returns, if you have too little inventory you're going to have bad
customer service and that's unacceptable. So we start with the
sales forecast which then goes into a planning system and
generates a plan for production line time, a plan for packaging
needs, a plan for ingredient needs, our procurement people then
go out to our suppliers and source the raw materials and
ingredients and packaging that they need and then we produce,
to inventory, aiming to turn our inventory five times a year.
And then ship to our customers with a high degree of reliability,
meaning 98.5% on time delivery and 98.5% case-fill rate.
6. What are some of the performance metrics that your company
uses to judge its success?
Market share is important. Then looking at other customer focus
metrics, on time delivery, case-fill rate. Then we look at the
ratio of consumer marketing to trade marketing; that's a measure
of, you know, are we supporting our brands, are we providing
the right level of marketing support. Then we look at waste and
productivity in our plants, pounds per person hour, down times,
scrap, these different operating metrics. Then on the
procurement side, we look at purchase price compared to the
price in the business plan. Then on an overall basis we tend to
look at return on equity and return on capital employed, in
terms of efficiency, and we also measure EBITDA margins,
earnings before interest, taxes, amortization and depreciation.
7. How would you define the Atlantic Gateway?
The transportation system, both marine, land-based, as well as
air transport, to and from Atlantic Canada it really is, its
objective is the efficient movement of people and goods to and
from the region.
8. Why did you get involved?
Atlantic Canada has lots of challenges currently, we have
demographic challenges, the local markets are small, to be
successful in Atlantic Canada at a minimum you have to sell
nationally, if not in North America or internationally. So,
having successful transportation links is critical for us; it's

critical for us and it's critical for the local economy. So, it's a
critical success factor for the region, it's a critical success
factor for High Liner Foods. And then I also looked at the
current environment, if you go back a year, we were in the
middle of a very bad recession, the government was talking
about stimulus spending and probably a one time opportunity to
access capital funding to improve the Gateway and it was
importuned to me that this was invested strategically, and that a
generation from now when people look at the transportation
infrastructure that people would say, "Wow, they sure did a
good job in 2010-2011 with this money that was available and
thank goodness they invested where they did," as opposed to if
we invest the money for political purposes and don't think
strategically, it could have very serious negative consequences
and we could pass on a great opportunity.
9. What are the three main issues or challenges for the Atlantic
Gateway?
First of all, the port of Halifax is well under capacity, and there
are a number of issues with the port of Halifax. First of all, in
the short term, there's been big investment in US east coast
ports, in the New York area, as well as farther south in
Savannah and, I believe, New Port News; these ports are closer
to major population centres so it's tough for shipping line to call
on Halifax and be competitive to Forward Freight, to those big
east coast markets. I think we have a better chance of being
competitive in, kind of, the industrial heartland whether,
Southern Ontario plus Michigan, Illinois, Western Ohio, but
even there, there are some challenges. The rail service from
Halifax to those markets is acceptable given the volume of
freight we have, but if you are a customer in those areas, would
you rather bring your cargo in through Halifax and depend on
CN with one train a day or would you rather bring in through an
east coast port and have more dependable rail service. So, I
think that the land based component is a big challenge. And
then the third challenge, I think, is a political challenge, you
know, while we have Halifax, which is a great port, that's well

under capacity for some reason and I'm not quite sure, I mean, I
look at this as a businessman and say, "Why would they ever
come up with this business model?" But, when you have other
ports in Nova Scotia saying, well lets compete with Halifax and,
again, as a businessman, and someone who is forced to think
things through strategically, I mean, that would be the silliest
thing we could do. I mean, we have a great port in Halifax, lets
figure out how to use it and make it efficient, as opposed to
divide our efforts and have two or three ports that are well
under capacity instead of just one.
10. What role does your business play in the Atlantic Gateway?
We are a net importer, we bring in about 1500 containers a year,
mainly raw materials, and some finished goods for our plants in
Eastern Canada and for distribution in our Canadian sales and
marketing network. So, our main role is to be an importer and
it's important to have importers because you need a balance of
trade; when you have an imbalance of trade that's a problem for
the shippers and, generally, Eastern Canada is export oriented
whether it's seafood products or blueberries or french fries, it
tends to be an export oriented area because the local market is
so small.
11. How would you define success or measure results?
Success for me will be, is do we have a transportation
infrastructure which is economically viable, and which serves
not just Halifax but serves the people of Atlantic Canada to
move people and goods to and from the world; that's the
definition for me. You know, I don't think we should get into
subsidizing operations that aren't economically viable because
at a point in time the subsidies will be pulled and it won't last. I
mean, I think we need to, we need infrastructure which is
economically self-sustaining, and serves the people of Atlantic
Canada whether it's import or export.
12. What is the key thing or contribution the Atlantic Gateway
Advisory Council can have on this initiative?
The people who sit on the Gateway tend to be senior executives
from leading companies in the region. They are big users of the

Gateway, first of all, and I think, secondly, they can provide the
politicians with some useful feedback. You know, it's the job of
a politician to get reelected, to a certain extent, I know they
have other responsibilities but that's in the back of their mind
and I think that politicians can come under political pressure to
make investments that wouldn't fit with my earlier definition of
success meaning a competitive transportation infrastructure. So,
the Gateway is a group that can say look, I know this may be
politically popular but it just doesn't make sense to invest tax
payers' money in the following area.
13. From your perspective, are there new careers in trade and
transportation that individuals need to train for?
Transportation and logistics is a very dynamic field; it's critical
to the success of most businesses, particularly a business like
High Liner Foods which is in the frozen food business. And I
think that technology is evolving, customer needs are evolving,
the current hot-button topic is traceability. So, High Liner
Foods today has, first of all, we're acquired by US bioterrorism
laws that we can trace one step forward and one step back. But
we can do more than that. We can trace our seafood raw
material back to the source, we can trace our finished goods out
to the last point of distribution before the consumer buys it or
consumes it, that could be the restaurant of the supermarket.
But now people, and nobody can do this yet, but people are
talking about full pedigree distribution where you scan the
barcode on a product and it says that the seafood came from
Norway and the packaging came from and not just Norway but
this vessel, caught on this date, the packaging came from
Maritime Paper Products in Dartmouth, the breading came from
Griffith Labs in Toronto and, furthermore, the wheat in the
breading came from Manitoba, the cooking oil came from
wherever; there's a big push for traceability right now and I
think there will be a lot of interesting career options there. And
these are skilled, high-tech jobs, clearly you need a big system's
infrastructure to provide this full pedigree, traceability and that
will develop in the next five to ten years.

14. If you were granted three Atlantic Gateway wishes, what
would they be and why?
Invest our money wisely and resist the urge to make politically
expedient investments. That we end up with an efficient
transportation infrastructure for the people of Atlantic Canada.
And that the people and the businesses in Atlantic Canada take
advantage of this to grow their market share around the world.
15. What are the three key policy issues that need to be
addressed to make the Atlantic Gateway more competitive?
The biggest competitor to Halifax is probably Montreal and the
government is very much in user pay mode which is fine.
However, I believe that the ships going to Montreal in the
winter months are provided with tax payer funded ice-breaking
which amounts to an enormous subsidy and, you know, if the
government is in user pay mode, then the port of Montreal or
the people using the port of Montreal, it needs to cover the cost
for that. But right now the users need to pay for the extra
distance from Montreal to Halifax, whether it's by road or rail,
but the government is paying for the ice breaking which makes
the port of Montreal viable for the winter months. I think there's
a fundamental inequity there; I haven't looked into it enough to
understand why but I think that's one area that needs to be
investigated.

Alex MacBeathAlex A. MacBeath is an Executive Partner and CEO of.docx

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Alex MacBeathAlex A. MacBeath is an Executive Partner and CEO of.docx

Similar to Alex MacBeathAlex A. MacBeath is an Executive Partner and CEO of.docx (13)

More from galerussel59292

More from galerussel59292 (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Alex MacBeathAlex A. MacBeath is an Executive Partner and CEO of.docx