Board of Directors
- Sam Grippo, Chairman
- Jonathon J.L. Kennedy, President & Chief Executive Officer
- Bruce Aunger CA, Director
- John S. Burns Q.C., Director
- Brian Hayward, Director
- S. Christopher Heming, Director
- Geoffrey L. Scott, Director
- Orest Smysnuik CA, Chief Financial Officer
Sam Grippo is Chairman of Glacier Media Group and has a wealth of experience in Canada’s printing and publishing industries. A graduate of the University of British Columbia, Mr. Grippo worked with Arthur Andersen & Co. before founding the Madison Group of Companies in 1976 with a portfolio of real estate investments and the acquisition of Armature Electric Co.
Mr. Grippo and his partners built Madison into a large diversified company with operations in printing & publishing, real estate, service & distribution of industrial products, telecommunications and a variety of other investments.
As Chairman of Glacier, Mr. Grippo has overseen the growth of Glacier into a diversified, publicly-traded media company. He continues to focus on driving investment in quality products and talented staff, and in the maintenance of a consistent and high annual return on investment through long-term growth strategies.
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Jonathon J.L. Kennedy, President & Chief Executive Officer
Jonathon Kennedy is President and Chief Executive Office of Glacier Media Group. A graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Business School, Mr. Kennedy began his career as an associate in corporate finance at ScotiaMcLeod in Toronto, where he was involved in a variety of mergers and acquisition transactions, public financings, private placements and other corporate finance activities. He left ScotiaMcLeod in 1989 to work as a political advisor and community liaison for the Honourable Robert Nixon, Treasurer and Minister of Economics for the Government of Ontario.
Following his graduation from Harvard Business School’s MBA program in 1992, Mr. Kennedy was recruited by Southam Inc. with initial responsibility for a range of turnaround projects at various Southam-owned newspaper operations, including Pacific Press. In his last two years at Southam, Mr. Kennedy was Director of Strategy & Development for Pacific Press, then Vice-President of Marketing for Pacific Press. Pacific Press subsequently became a division of CanWest Global Communications Inc., publishers of The Vancouver Sun and The Province.
Mr. Kennedy joined Madison Pacific Properties in 1997 and was named President and CEO of Glacier in 1998.
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Bruce Aunger CA, Director
Bruce Aunger is a director of Glacier Media Group and Chair of its Audit Committee. A chartered accountant and graduate of Simon Fraser University, Mr. Aunger is Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of Madison Pacific Properties. Previously, Mr. Aunger worked with Arthur Andersen & Co. as a partner specializing in taxation financing and related matters and was in charge of the Vancouver mergers & acquisitions practice. He advised a wide variety of major Canadian and international clients. Mr. Aunger joined Madison in 1988 and is responsible for all corporate finance functions. In his role as Executive Vice President, Mr. Aunger plays an integral part in developing and executing business and investment strategies of the Madison Group.
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John S. Burns Q.C., Director
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Brian Hayward, Director
Brian Hayward is President of Aldare Resources, a business consultancy that provides governance, commercial mediation and business advisory services. From 1991 until 2007, he was CEO of publicly traded Agricore United, the largest farm services agribusiness in Western Canada, with sales of about $5 billion. Mr. Hayward serves on a number of crown, public and private company boards, including Glacier Media Inc., Ridley Inc., Wellington West Holdings Inc., Princess Auto, the Intercontinental Commodity Exchange (Canada) and the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC). As a Director he has served or currently serves as Board Chair, Committee Chair and member of various Audit, Human Resources, Governance, and Special Committees. He also has provided leadership to many non-profit organizations, including the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, The Conference Board of Canada and the Arthritis Society. Mr. Hayward holds an MSc degree in agriculture economics from McGill University, is a certified commercial mediator, and as a graduate of the Director's College of McMaster University's Degroote School of Business, is a Chartered Corporate Director. For more information, visit www.aldareresources.ca.
Chris Heming immigrated to Canada in 1980. In 1982 he worked for CCH where he gained his experience in the publishing arena. He continued his career in management for a division of Carswell before founding his own publishing company, STP Specialty Technical Publishers in 1986. STP specialized primarily in Environmental Publishing before growing into a multi faceted technical publishing company. In 1999 Glacier Media purchased his company and Mr. Heming has managed STP to this day.
Mr. Heming was educated in South Africa where he studied history in Johannesburg at The University Of The Witwatersrand until 1972 when he went to England for 9 years before immigrating to Canada.
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Geoffrey L. Scott, Director
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Orest Smysnuik CA, Chief Financial Officer
Orest Smysnuik has more than two decades of experience in Canada’s publishing industry, and has been Glacier Media Group’s Chief Financial Officer since January 2004. In this role, he is responsible for all corporate finance and reporting functions.
Mr. Smysnuik is actively involved in all strategic and major operational aspects of Glacier’s businesses, and plays an integral role in Glacier’s acquisition strategy. Prior to joining Glacier, Mr. Smysnuik served as Chief Financial Officer of Lower Mainland Publishing Ltd. Mr. Smysnuik is a chartered accountant and graduate of The University of Saskatchewan.
