Zurich
Overview
Food & Beverage · Canada · 215,298 Employees
George Weston Limited is a Canadian public company founded in 1882 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.
George Weston Limited
George Weston Limited is a Canadian public company, founded in 1882. George Weston has two operating segments: Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada’s largest food and drug retailer and a provider of financial services, and Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust, Canada’s largest and preeminent diversified REIT. With over 200,000 employees working at George Weston and its operating segments, the group of companies represent one of Canada’s largest private sector employers.
Our History
In 1882, a young Toronto bread salesman and former baker’s apprentice named George Weston went into business for himself when he bought a bread route from his employer. By the turn of the century, Weston’s Bread was known throughout the city and George Weston had become Canada’s biggest baker.
In 1924, George’s eldest son, Garfield Weston, followed in his father’s footsteps and became president of George Weston Limited. In spite of war and the depression, Garfield transformed his father’s Toronto bakery into a commercial food empire with holdings on several continents.
In 1953, George Weston Limited expanded its grocery business, acquiring a majority control of Loblaw Inc. In 1956, Loblaw Companies Limited was incorporated, and over the next two decades, Loblaw continued to expand its operations throughout Canada and the Unites States.
In the early 1970s, a third generation took charge as W. Galen Weston successfully consolidated the large conglomerate, reinventing Loblaw in the process and transforming it into Canada’s largest grocery chain and George Weston’s largest asset.
In 2006, Galen G. Weston assumed responsibility for Loblaw, and guided Loblaw through a period of transformation and growth in response to a rapidly changing business environment, including the creation and initial public offering of Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (“Choice Properties”) in 2013 and the acquisition of Shoppers Drug Mart shortly thereafter. In 2017, as part of a long-term succession plan, Galen G. Weston was appointed CEO of George Weston Limited.
In 2018, as part of George Weston’s transformation initiative and on-going mission to drive shareholder value, the company completed a reorganization where Loblaw spun out its majority interest in Choice Properties to George Weston.
George Weston’s acquisition of a majority ownership of Choice Properties was a critical milestone in the recent history of the company. As a result of this spin out, George Weston became the majority owner of Choice Properties. With the addition of Choice Properties to the portfolio, George Weston became more balanced and diversified, with three strong and well-positioned businesses in retail, real estate and consumer goods.
In 2021, George Weston Limited made the decision to sell its Weston Foods bakery business. The business had been the foundation for the Weston Group in Canada since its establishment in 1882. The sale of the business was completed at the end of 2021, positioning GWL to focus on its market-leading retail and real estate businesses.
For more than a century and a quarter, thousands of employees of George Weston Limited and its subsidiaries have built an enterprise that has persevered and prospered through good times and bad to become one of Canada’s most successful companies.
Here, we take a look at our past in the hope that it will inspire our future:
Our Vision
For more than a century George Weston Limited has been successfully making investments and generating attractive returns through its ownership of market leading businesses.
George Weston seeks to invest in businesses that generate positive cash flows through stable, high-quality operations, leveraging its expertise in retail, real estate and related businesses.
George Weston seeks to create economic value for investors through active management of its portfolio companies, utilizing its extraordinary people, culture of excellence and access to capital.
Board of Directors
The role of the Board is to provide governance and stewardship to George Weston Limited which consists of reviewing corporate strategy, assigning responsibility to management for achievement of that strategy, establishing limitations on the authority delegated to management, and overseeing performance against approved objectives. In fulfilling this role, the Board regularly reviews management’s strategic plans so that they continue to be responsive to the changing business environment in which the Company operates.
The Board oversees the Company’s approach to corporate governance, succession planning, capital structure and finance matters, risk management activities, compliance matters, internal control over financial reporting, disclosure controls and procedures, and information systems to ensure that the Company accurately and fairly reports information to shareholders, other stakeholders and the public.
In addition, the Board is required to appoint corporate officers, and satisfy itself as to the integrity of senior management, ensure that the Company engages in ethical and legal conduct and that senior management maintains a culture of integrity throughout the Company.
Galen G. Weston, Chairman of the Board
Mr. Weston is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation and Chairman and President of Loblaw Companies Limited. He previously held several senior executive positions with Loblaw Companies Limited and its subsidiaries. Prior to joining Loblaw, he was an investment banking analyst for Salomon Brothers in the U.K.
Mr. Weston graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. and from Columbia University with an M.B.A.
Mr. Weston is Chairman of Wittington Investments, Limited and is also a director of Selfridges Group Limited and President of the Weston Family Foundation. Mr. Weston is the former Chairman of Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust and President’s Choice Bank.
M. Marianne Harris 1,2
Ms. Harris is a corporate director. Ms. Harris serves as a director of Loblaw Companies Limited and Sun Life Financial Inc. and is former director of Hydro One Limited/Hydro One Inc. In addition, Ms. Harris has been a director on the board of the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, a Crown Corporation, since December 2020. Prior to 2013, she was the Managing Director and President of Corporate and Investment Banking for Merrill Lynch Canada Inc. and Head of Financial Institutions Group Americas, Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith. Prior to Merrill Lynch, she held various investment banking positions with RBC Capital Markets from 1984 to 2000.
Ms. Harris holds an M.B.A. degree from the Schulich School of Business, a J.D. degree from Osgoode Hall Law School and a B.Sc. (Honours) from Queen’s University. Ms. Harris is also a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council at the Schulich School of Business, and the Advisory Council of the Hennick Centre for Business and Law. Ms. Harris is a former Chair of the board of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC).
Nancy H.O. Lockhart 2
Ms. Lockhart, a corporate director, is the former Chief Administrative Officer of Frum Development Group and a former Vice President of Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation.
Ms. Lockhart is currently a director of Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust and Atrium Mortgage Investment Corporation and previously served on the boards of Loblaw Companies Limited, Gluskin Sheff & Associates Inc. and Barrick Gold Corporation. In addition to her public board memberships, Ms. Lockhart is a director of The Royal Conservatory of Music. Ms. Lockhart is also Chair Emeritus of the Crow’s Theatre Company and Chair of the Board of Alignvest Student Housing. She is a former chair of the Ontario Science Centre, former President of the Canadian Club of Toronto and a former chair of the Canadian Film Centre. Ms. Lockhart is also a former director of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Foundation and the Loran Scholars Foundation.
Ms. Lockhart has an Institute of Corporate Directors ICD.D certification.
Sarabjit (Sabi) S. Marwah 1,2
Mr. Marwah is a Senator with the Senate of Canada. He is the former Vice-Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of The Bank of Nova Scotia.
Mr. Marwah has an M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles. He obtained an undergraduate degree in Economics (Honours) from the University of Calcutta and a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Delhi.
In addition to serving as a director of Cineplex Inc., Mr. Marwah served as the past Chair and trustee of the Hospital for Sick Children. He was past Chair of the Humber River Regional Hospital and a past member of the boards of directors of the C.D. Howe Institute and the Toronto International Film Festival.
Gordon M. Nixon 2*
Mr. Nixon is the Chair of BCE Inc. and the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Royal Bank of Canada, a position he held from August 2001 to August 2014. Mr. Nixon first joined RBC Dominion Securities Inc. in 1979, where he held a number of operating positions, one of which was as Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Nixon earned a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree from Queen’s University and holds Honorary Doctorates of Laws from Queen’s University and Dalhousie University. He is a Member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario.
In addition to serving as a director of BCE Inc. and BlackRock, Inc., Mr. Nixon sits on the Advisory Board of KingSett Canadian Real Estate Income Fund, L.P., is a director of MaRS Discovery District and is a trustee of the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Barbara Stymiest 1*,2
Ms. Stymiest, a corporate director, is a former member of the Group Executive of Royal Bank of Canada responsible for the overall performance of the bank. Ms. Stymiest is a former Chief Executive Officer of TMX Group Inc., Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer at BMO Capital Markets and Partner of Ernst & Young LLP.
Ms. Stymiest obtained her H.B.A. from Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario. She is a Fellow Chartered Accountant and a Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant.
In addition to serving as a director of BlackBerry Limited and Sun Life Financial Inc., Ms. Stymiest is also a director of President’s Choice Bank, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the Advisory Council for the Ivey Institute of Leadership. She is also Vice Chair of the University Health Network.
Cornell Wright
Mr. Wright is President of Wittington Investments, Limited. Mr. Wright joined Wittington in 2021 following a 20-year career at the law firm of Torys LLP, where he was a leading corporate lawyer. Mr. Wright served as Chair of the firm’s Corporate practice and former co-head of the firm’s M&A practice. Mr. Wright has a broad range of experience in complex transactional, securities, private equity, regulatory, governance and compliance matters. Mr. Wright is a Fellow of The American College of Governance Counsel.
Mr. Wright is a director of Loblaw Companies Limited, Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust and BCE, Inc. In addition to his public board memberships, Mr. Wright is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Ballet of Canada, a Trustee of University Health Network and Executive in Residence at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.
Mr. Wright holds J.D. and M.B.A degrees from the University of Toronto and a B.A. from McGill University.
Notes
1 Audit Committee2 Governance, Human Resource, Nominating and Compensation Committee* Chair of the Committee
Corporate Officers
Galen G. Weston
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Richard Dufresne
President and Chief Financial Officer
Gordon A.M. Currie
Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer
Rashid Wasti
Executive Vice President and Chief Talent Officer
Khush Dadyburjor
Chief Strategy Officer
John Williams
Group Treasurer and Head of Corporate Finance
Lina Taglieri
Group Head, Controller
Jeff Gobeil
Group Head, Tax
Andrew Bunston
Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Anemona Turcu
Vice President, Chief Risk Officer
Investor Contacts
For all investor relations inquiries, please contact:
Roy MacDonaldGroup Vice President, Investor RelationsGeorge Weston Limited[email protected]
Additional financial information has been filed electronically with various securities regulators in Canada through the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR 
). George Weston holds an analyst call shortly following the release of our quarterly results. These calls are archived in the News and Events section of this website.
Jan 19, 10:58 AM EST – Disclaimer
Autumn and Winter holidays are just around the corner. How are you getting the most out of your famiglia gatherings? We’ve got some tips to help you out:
– Meal Prep: Throw a potluck to take the pressure off one person cooking
– Hosting: Change up who’s hosting so everyone gets the chance (only if they want to)
– Theme: Create a theme for your gathering and add games and music to the mix
– Name cards: prevent arguing over seating
– Capture the moment: try and take pictures and share on a photo sharing site
It’s the last long weekend of summer, so it’s time to go larger than ever! If you’re celebrating with the famiglia,
Time flies when you’re having fun. Slow things down this long weekend, relax, BBQ and enjoy some time with the Famiglia.
For more than a century George Weston Limited has been successfully
making investments and generating attractive returns through
its ownership of market leading businesses.
Map
Visited 129 times, 1 Visit today