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Luc Fortin, BCom 1990 - Trudeau Medal Recipient 2019

Published Date

Luc Fortin

Building businesses through collaboration

Going to the University of Ottawa for Business was an eleventh hour decision for me but one I will never regret! Prior to that, I was focused on getting into med school. The recruiting numbers were against me, so I knew I needed to pivot. At the time, the market had little demand for a biology major.  It was all about business and finance.  Here we are, almost 30 years later, and I’ve never looked back.

The Telfer School of Management gave me the fundamental skillset I needed. More importantly, it peaked my curiosity and completely opened my eyes to this horizon that was Finance. It equipped me with that sense of discovery that you need to scratch beneath the surface and really look into things to get the answers you need.

I’m not your traditional operator: I’m a fixer. I’m driven by challenges. I like to come in, make tough choices, reshape businesses and set vision and strategy. And, like most of my peer CEO’s, I’m really driven by success. For me, the best way to achieve that is by being collaborative, being eternally optimistic and most importantly helping to unleash people’s potential.

I believe celebrating success is indispensable in building a winning culture. When I started out in the industry, TD didn’t really have a Markets business. It was covered by other investment dealers/banks.  When I left in 2010, TD Securities had risen to be one of the top investment dealers in Canada and was now a fierce competitor to those same dealers.  I take tremendous pride in having contributed to building that great business.

That was the appeal of joining TMX, to be able to challenge the status quo and build businesses again. To help a siloed organization break down barriers, be more collaborative, and unleash the full potential of an integrated entity. To have more of an “enterprise” view of the business.  When you start leveraging the strengths and complementary skillsets of the whole team, it can be a very, very powerful thing!