Mike joined PEO as an Advisor in October 2008.

Presidents of Enterprising Organizations (PEO) would like to welcome Mike Russill as one of our new Presidential Team Advisors. Mike was President and CEO of WWF Canada from 2004 to 2008. Under his strong leadership WWF Canada doubled its revenues and broadened its conservation reach into Climate Change and Freshwater. He led WWF to become the leading Canadian Conservation Organization partnering with business to reduce their footprint. During his tenure Mike became recognized in Canada and abroad as a leader in finding and building value through Sustainability. He is a member of the Advisory Boards of Dalhousie University School of Management, Green Living Enterprises and the P&G Expert Advisory Product Panel.

Prior to his tenure with WWF Canada Mike enjoyed a thirty-year career in the energy sector, with Shell Canada Inc., Petro-Canada Inc. and Suncor Energy Inc. During his 14years at Suncor he held Vice-President assignments in Strategic Integration, Business Services, and Retail. He has served on the Board of Directors of The Nature Conservancy of Canada, CS Able Ltd. USA, Pioneer Petroleum Limited, and UPI Petroleum. Mike is past Chairman of the Atlantic Petroleum Association, and the Ontario Region of the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute.

He graduated from Ryerson in Business Administration and completed the Western Executive Programme and the University of Michigan Human Resources Executive programme. He is an alumnus of the Sustainable Enterprise Academy of the Schulich School of Business at York University.

Mike is married to Karen and they have three grown children. His interests include spending time at the family cottage, hiking, kayaking, canoeing and golfing.

We know Mike will be a tremendous addition and valued Advisor to the entire PEO organization.

Welcome aboard Mike!


Presidents of Enterprising Organizations Opens in Quebec
October 2007

Mark Rivers and Leon Goren, CA are proud to announce the opening of Presidents of Enterprising Organizations (PEO) Quebec. In the works for several months, PEO Quebec successfully launched with the Eye of the Executive Leadership Series on November 13, 2007 hosted at McMillan Binch Mendelsohn. With over 20 senior executives present at the event the discussion on leadership was stimulating and challenging to all those present. The Eye of the Executive Leadership Series will continue in 2008 with an estimated 8 events developed for Senior Executives in Montreal. In addition to the Eye of the Executive Leadership Series, PAT groups (Presidents Advisory Team) are quickly growing. Applications for memberships are being accepted to join the organization. If you‘d like more information please contact jnicholson@peo.net


Catherine Morgan joins PEO as Presidential Team Advisors
April 23, 2007

Presidents of Enterprising Organizations (PEO) would like to welcome Catherine Morgan as one of our new Presidential Team Advisors.  Catherine’s business and leadership experience can be attributed to over 17 years spent in the technology industry in a number of different roles including senior sales and marketing roles within IBM, Compaq and Hewlett Packard. After receiving her Bachelor of Commerce with a major in Accountancy from Concordia University in 1984, Catherine started her career with IBM in Montreal.  She later moved to Compaq in the early 90’s as the Account Manager for Quebec and the Atlantic region, servicing accounts like CNR, Air Canada, Irving and McCains.   Her move to Toronto came after a year traveling the globe for self fulfillment and returning to a position within Compaq Head offices. In a Marketing role, Catherine successfully put together a logistics and pricing plan that earned Compaq a position on the Federal Government product acquisitions list (NMSO). 

In 1994 Catherine moved to Hewlett Packard to manage the marketing efforts for all the HP business printers.  The business grew as did the responsibilities and Catherine evolved the position into a business unit leader who was responsible for over 43 million annually.

More recently Catherine has been focused closer to home orchestrating a remote construction project and a one year family sabbatical to the jungle of Costa Rica in 2004-2005.  Returning to Canada in a pioneering role Catherine launched the inaugural fundraising effort for T4G, a medium sized high tech company, which raised over $100,000 for Portage, a national drug addiction centre. This event has now become an annual event for T4G called the  “The Jet Set Event”

Presidents of Enterprising Organizations (PEO) would like to welcome Mike Cooke as a Presidential Team Advisor. Mike’s leadership and experience as a turnaround expert allowed him to work with The Jimmy Pattison Group for over 15 years – in fact he was given the nickname “The Suitcase” living in approximately 10 different cities during his tenure. In his first 9 years he acted as the President overseeing the Flexible Packaging Group which was essentially comprised of over 5 different North American plastic companies in the food and industrial segments. When a new acquisition was made or a turnaround required, the Companies’ success were placed under Mike’s control. During the last 6 years he served as the President of The News Group, Mike was responsible for taking the Company from $250,000 in revenue to $1Billion, through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions, achieving a 10 fold increase in market share with a significant increase in profitability.

Mike has a unique leadership style – his experience has allowed him to look at things from a different perspective- be it selling beer, operating a salt mine, or performing a roll-up in the North American magazine wholesale distribution business. He has a reputation for developing a dominant market position in any business based on a realistic assessment of its unique value. He then focuses its people, systems and resources intensely against creating that value. To be able to do this in different industries, business sizes and situation is extraordinary.

Welcome aboard Mike!


Leon Goren, C.A., President
February 25, 2006

Leon Goren, President, addresses the 2005 graduating class of Ontario Chartered Accountants.
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