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Canada's CEO Trusted Advisor Awards
Our dream at MacKay CEO Forums is to populate the world with inspiring leaders.
Canada's CEO Trusted Advisor Awards program recognizes the significant contribution that CEO Trusted Advisors make, in the leadership field, to the success of the Canadian business community.
Seeking Trusted Advisors
MacKay CEO Forums is seeking Canada's CEO Trusted Advisors in the field of Leadership. If you meet the criteria or know of other inspiring CEO/Executives, coaches and consultants, please nominate them by sending an email to Nancy MacKay, CEO & Founder by Friday, May 15, 2020.
Each winner will be profiled on our CEO EDGE Podcast show, as well as our website and in our monthly EDGE Newsletter. Winners will be honoured at our October 1, 2020 EDGE Summit in Toronto.
Founded by MacKay CEO Forums, Canada's CTA program runs in conjunction with our annual EDGE Summit and recognizes the country's most Inspiring CEO Trusted Advisors in the leadership field.
Once nominated, nominees are asked to make a written submission to the program. One winner in each category is chosen, for a total of five winners annually.
What are the award categories?
The awards recognize the country's most inspiring CTAs based on their extensive experience coaching/consulting to CEOs/Executives in five categories. There will be one CTA winner in each category:
Advisors to CEOs of Large Businesses (revenues $50 million to $1 billion+)
Advisors to CEOs of Medium Businesses (revenues $5 million to $50 million)
Advisors to CEOs/Business Owners of Small Businesses (revenues $250 thousand to $5 million)
Advisors to CEOs/Business Owners of Family Businesses (revenues $250 thousand to $1 billion+)
Advisors to Executives of Medium to Large Businesses (revenues $5 million to $1 Billion+)
What is the Eligibility Criteria?
Nominees must be solo practitioners and/or have an ownership stake in their businesses
Nominees must be coaches and/or consultants working directly with CEOs, Executives, or Business Owners in the field of leadership
Nominees must be based in Canada
Nominees must have had their own CEO coaching and/or consulting practice for a minimum of 3 years
MacKay CEO Forums' Forum Chairs are eligible for nomination
Direct competitors to MacKay CEO Forums are not eligible to win
Nominees must agree to have their name stand and be available to attend the EDGE Summit on October 1, 2020 in Toronto
Who votes on the winners?
Our CTA Awards Judging Panel will be made up of successful CTAs, CEOs/Executives/Business Owners/Board Members from across Canada who believe in the impact of external CEO Trusted Advisors.
Our 2019 CTA Awards Judging Panel: Paul Hollands (Board Chair A&W), Flavia Boffo (Principal Boffo Properties), Lance Secretan (CEO The Secretan Centre), Bob MacDonald (Board Chair Wakefield Canada), Kirk Dudtschak (EVP, Personal and Commercial Banking at RBC)
Our 2020 CTA Awards Judging Panel: TBC
How are winners announced and celebrated?
Winners will be announced by Friday, September 11, 2020 and featured on our CEO EDGE Podcast Show, on our website and in our monthly EDGE newsletter.
They will then be celebrated at the annual EDGE Summit on October 1, 2020 in Toronto. This is a 1-day event with 500 CEOs/Executives/Business Owners/Board Members of Canada's forward-thinking and results-oriented business leaders. It features high impact speakers, CEO EDGE Talks, and a full-day of peer learning with professionally led roundtable discussions led by MacKay CEO Forums Chairs throughout the day. The event concludes with a high energy cocktail party and networking event.
How are nominees selected?
Nominees are put forward by CEOs/Executives/Business Owners/Board Members and their coaching/consulting peers by Friday, May 15, 2020. Nominees will then be asked to provide a submission to the awards program by Friday June 26, 2020. Winners will be notified by Friday, September 11, 2020.
What is required of me if I am invited to submit?
If you are nominated, and choose to submit, you will need to complete a brief written submission that explores the following four categories:
Vision, Strategy and Inspiring Leadership (max 200 words)
How have you helped CEOs/Executives develop a vision, competitive strategy and execution plan that have enabled them to achieve their business goals and objectives. How have you helped them show up as inspiring leaders every day? What has been the impact of your work on them?
Cultural and People Development (max 200 words)
How have you helped CEOs/Executives create a culture that inspires team members towards a new level of growth and achievement? How have you helped them enhance and align the organizational culture which has helped attract, retain and developed a top talent executive and leadership team? What has been the impact of your work on them?
Innovation (max 200 words)
How have you developed unique or innovative approaches to be an Inspiring CEO/Executive Trusted Advisor? What has been the impact of your innovative approaches on CEOs/Executives?
Corporate Social Responsibility (max 200 words)
How have you demonstrated a passion for making a difference in your communities and operating your business in a socially responsible manner. What is your commitment to social good?
You will also need to provide the following supporting materials:
Three letters of support from CEO/Executive coaching/consulting clients
Your CV and a brief history of your company
What is the Nomination Process and Deadline?
Please note the nomination requirements:
Confidentiality of all information is guaranteed
You will not be able to edit information or answers once the nomination form is submitted
Nominators may submit nominations for more than one individual
Please do not submit multiple nominations for one individual
Self-nominations are accepted
Completed nominations, including supporting materials must be received by MCF by no later than 12 pm PDT on Friday June 26, 2020. No nominations will be accepted after this time.
What is required of me if I win?
As a participant, should you be successful, you would be required to attend the EDGE Summit being held on October 1, 2020 in Toronto. Your attendance at the summit will be complimentary. Winners are responsible for their own travel costs.
You will be presented with your award on-stage and have the opportunity to give a 1-minute speech to the attendees (over 500 CEOs, Executives and Business Owners).
Attendance at the Oct 1 EDGE Summit in Toronto is required if you are selected as a winner – please do not proceed with your submission unless you are able to attend to accept your award should you be selected as a winner.
How do I submit a nomination?
If you know inspiring CEO/Executive coaches and consultants, please nominate them by sending an email to Nancy MacKay (nancy@mackayceoforums.com) by Friday, May 15, 2020.
Our 2020 CTA Awards Judging Panel
Our CTA Awards Judging Panel is made up of successful CTAs, CEOs/Executives/Business Owners/Board Members from across Canada who believe in the impact of external CEO Trusted Advisors.
Katie Dudtschak
EVP, Personal and Commercial Banking, RBC
Katherine (Katie) Dudtschak leads RBC's eight personal and business regions in Canada.
This includes more than 20,000 advisors in branches and business centres, and industry-leading specialist teams such as Commercial Banking, Financial Planning, Investment and Retirement Planners and Mortgage Specialists. More than 10,000 of these advisors are also licensed through Royal Mutual Funds Inc.
Katie is responsible for setting and leading the execution of distribution strategies that enable our "digitally-enabled relationship bank" strategy, and deliver outstanding client loyalty and growth. For the past six years, Katie also had overall leadership responsibility for RBC's presence in the Caribbean, following her successful repositioning of the region's personal, business and corporate banking businesses. She brings more than 30 years of RBC experience and has held a variety of executive roles across the P&CB network and head office including Strategy, Human Resources, Distribution Strategy, Operations, Group Risk Management and Regional President.
Committed to community leadership, Katie is a member of the United Way Greater Toronto's Board of Trustees as well as their Campaign Cabinet, and past member of their Major Giving Cabinet. She was co-chair of RBC's 2016/17 United Way employee giving campaign. Katie is an Industry Director with the Mutual Fund Dealers Association Board of Directors. She is also past board member of RBC Financial (Caribbean) Limited, Lakehead University, Manitoba Business Council and Toronto Regional Immigrant Employment Council.
Katie holds an MBA from the University of Western Ontario, Canada – Richard Ivey School of Business and a Partners, Directors and Senior Officers certificate as well as an Institute-Certified Director (ICD.D) certificate from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
Rob Follows
CEO, STS Capital Partners
In founding (in 2003) a leading international Mergers & Acquisitions firm, STS Capital Partners, Rob combined his education, 10 years of entrepreneurial leadership and 15 years of international corporate experience with his passion for helping people live their vision.
STS focuses on helping mid-market entrepreneurs and family business owners on their path from Success to SignificanceTM through Selling to Strategics: transforming business success into personal significance by maximizing value for shareholders in the sale of their businesses to international strategic investors.
Rob is also the founding Chairman of Altruvest Charitable Services, a Canadian charity focused on improving the performance of charitable organizations by providing training and tools to enhance the governance of charitable boards.
Rob has held various leadership roles with the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO), including being former Chair of the Global Deal Network and Founding Chair of the Executive Committee of the Social Enterprise Networks. Rob has also been recognized with the Top 40 Under 40 business award for creating 1,000 new jobs in Canada, as well as founding Altruvest.
In his personal life, Rob is an extreme adventurer and has climbed the Seven Summits, skied the North and South Poles, completed the 250km Gobi Desert Ultra-Marathon and 110-mile Trans Rockies Challenge. He has also meditated with Tibetan monks in Nepal and Bhutan.
Joe Jackman
President, ALMAG Aluminum
Joe is the President of both Almag Aluminum and Dependable Anodizing.
Almag Aluminum is a custom aluminum extruder, operating from plants in Brampton ON and Ardmore AL. Almag has built a reputation as an industry leader in extruding high-visual, tight tolerance, thin-walled, and complex aluminum extrusions. Almag has achieved the gold standard as one of Canada's Best Managed Companies.
Dependable Anodizing is one of Canada's largest anodizing companies. They specialize in providing anodized coatings on aluminum extrusions, sheets, formed panels, fabricated parts and aluminum castings.
The Almag Group includes over 470 employees and serves customers all over North America. Joe has been with the Almag Group for over 16 years and has held the positions of Territory Manager, VP Sales & Marketing and General Manager. As President, he is responsible for leading the company's strategic direction and driving its continued growth and success.
Joe also has many years of experience in the banking industry as well as significant experience in sales, project management and change management. He has a keen passion-for-progress and desire to find solutions. He thrives on challenges and helping people achieve their highest potential.
Joe is a member of the Board of Directors for the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) as well as a member of both the AEC-Academic Engagement Team and the AEC Marketing Team.
Jeff King
Chief Operating and Corporate Development Officer, Socan
Jeff King is the Chief Operating and Corporate Development Officer of SOCAN.
SOCAN administers the performing and reproduction rights for millions of songwriters, music publishers, composers and visual artists. Additionally, SOCAN subsidiaries in Toronto, Seattle and New York provide back-office and content fulfillment services to the music ecosystem.
Jeff has held a number of senior positions with the firm since joining in 2001 and has been COO since 2011. In his role, he is responsible for strategy, licensing, royalty distribution, information technology and corporate planning.
Jeff has been a frequent keynote speaker on topics relating to copyright, technology and innovation. He was honoured as Canada's 2019 COO of the Year by M&A Today and is a Platinum Record Award Winner for his contributions to songwriting.
Sue Matheson
Founder, Solus Consulting
As a sole practitioner of Solus Consulting since 2004, Sue has prided herself on her honest and authentic approach with her clients.
She "tells it like it is" and her clients value her for that. In 2005 she was invited by John Furlong to facilitate the development of the Strategic Plan for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and continued to work with him and his Executive Team for the next five years leading up to the Olympics.
Sue's long client list includes companies with highly recognizable brands such as MEC, Freybe Gourmet Foods, A&W, and Hootsuite. Her work encompasses a broad range of organizational development activities including strategic renewal to leadership and team development, change implementation and culture evolution. Sue's "value add" to her clients are being able to connect the dots across all these areas to help ensure organizational alignment around priorities and goals.
In 2013 she partnered with Nancy MacKay of MacKay CEO Forums to become a Forum Chair. After a year she was up to six forum groups and hasn't looked back. She is currently chairing the largest number of CEOs and Executives in the MacKay network and in January of 2019 became one of the first Chairs at MacKay with the "Master Certified Forum Chair" designation.
More recently Sue has partnered with Erin Sills and Sheila Bouman to bring a new leadership and team development firm – High Impact Lab – to life. They believe that applied leadership and team development is the only way to truly grow leadership competencies. They are currently partnering with several companies to transform leadership and rehumanize the workplace.
Partner, Yellow Point Equity Partners
David is a Partner of Yellow Point. He serves on the board or as an officer of CSP, Edo Japan, Foley's and CAS. He holds a JD/MBA from the University of British Columbia and a B.Sc from McGill.
In the community, David volunteers as a director of the North Shore Community Foundation, a group that funds charitable initiatives in Vancouver's north shore. He previously contributed to the Vancouver Board of Trade as a committee representative, and is a former director of the GI Society. Other initiatives include volunteering with the Vancouver General Hospital and the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
David has three young children whose burgeoning interest in sports keeps him very busy on weekends. He is a competitive squash player, an enthusiastic swimmer and regular bicycle commuter. He enjoys reading about business and history and is passionate about supporting executives in taking their companies to new heights.