R. Michael Warren

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R. Michael Warren has made significant contributions to Canada in a wide range of fields including government, business, the arts and community service.

He is the President of The Warren Group Inc., a consulting firm that provides strategic adivce to governments and corporations with emphasis on public-private partnerships, health care, government relations, seniors housing and facility management.

Mr. Warren's public sector career has included "first" senior roles in all three levels of government. He is best known for his leadership in the revitalization of several of the country's largest and most controversial public enterprises. In 1981, he was appointed the first President and CEO of Canada Post Corporation. He spearheaded efforts to transform the nation's floundering Postal Department into a more customer oriented, financailly self-sufficient Crown Corporation. Improvements in labour relations, deficit reduction and postal service helped lay the groundwork for today's profitable and more reliable Canadian postal system.

He faced a similar challenge in the mid 1970's as the Toronto Transit Commission's first Chief General Manager. Rebuilding ridership, expanding the subway and LRT network and instilling operating excellence were only part of the challenge he faced. Despite two decades of subsequent financial neglect by senior levels of government, the T.T.C. continues today to be one fo the most respected mass transit systems in the world.

As an international advocate for greater public investment in mass transist, Mr. Warren successfully pressed for federal financial support directly with Prime Minister Joe Clark and U.S. President Jimmy Carter. He had the honour of subsequently introducing President Carter to an international conference of Transit Authorities in New York City in 1981. He was later recognized for his contribution to the field of public transportation by being inducted as a Fellow in The Chartered Institute of Transport (UK) in 1985.

During his last year with the T.T.C. he also acted as the General Manager of the Canadian National Exhibition ... then the world's largest annual exhibition and fair. The 1981 exhibition featured some of the best in international entertainment and led to renewed attendance and financial stability.

Earlier in his career, at age twenty-nine, he was appointed Deputy Provincial Secretary and Deputy Minister of Citizenship, the youngest person to ever hold such a senior position in the Ontario Government. Later he went on, as a Deputy Minister, to help establish two new Ministries... the Ministry of the Solicitor General which now oversees the Ontario Provincial Police, the Chief Coronters Office, Emergency Measures and the Centre for Forensic Science. And, during his las years with the Ontario Government he helped form the new Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs.

After returning to the private sector in 1985, Mr. Warren founded one of the country's first venture capital funds devoted to debt financing for emerging Canadian companies. He served on the Advisory Council of Royal LePage, the largest real estate service company in Canada. He was also a Director of Stone & Webster Canada, a leading world-wide engineering and construction conglomerate.

During the 1990's he helped pioneer the concept of public-private panternships in several fields including facilities management. He played a key role in the establishment of BLJC (Brookfield LePage Johnson Controls) a firm which now manages thousands of government and private sector ofice buildings and specialized facilities from coast to coast.

His contribution to Canada's health care system includes retirement home development in the 1990's and an attempt to introduce PET (Positron Emission Tomography) into Canada-a diagnostic technology that is considered the world gold standard and superior in many respects to MRI or CT scanning. He also served for nearly three decades as a Director of MDS Inc., Canada's largest health care and life sciences company, chairing their Audit Committee for five years.

He was the founding Chair of the Board of Trustees of Sunrise Senior Living REIT which was established in late 2004. In less than three years, this income trust became a leader in the provision of care for over 7,500 seniors in 76 premium living communities throughout Canada and the United States. In an effort to maximize unit holder value the REIT sold its assets in 2007 for $16.50 a unit ($2.4 billion)- a 65% premium over its early 2007 trading price.

He was a long-term Board member and Vice Chair of the Canadian Marketing Association and an advocate for responsibel direct marketing. He also helped to promote Canadian trade relations as a member of the Ontario Internation Trade Corporation Board of Directors.

Mr. Warren has had a life-long interest in promoting the arts. He was one of the early supsporters and a director of the Toronto Arts Awards Foundation. He also helped to restore one of the most unique theatres in Canada, the Elgin and Winter garden, as a director of the Restoration Project Board. He continued his commitment ot the visual arts as Chair of the Board of Management of the Ton Thompson Memorial Art Galelrly. Mr. Warren was part of the community team that was successful in urging the Federal Government to designate the City of Owen Sound as a Cultural Capital of Canada in 2005.

Community service has also been an enduring part of Mr. Warren's life. As Honorary Chair of the Canadian Geriatric Society he promoted its aims across the country and helped to raise funds for key prujects. He has had a life-long association with YMCA which included serving as a Governor and Vice Cahir of the YMVCA of Metropolitan Toronto. He was also Vice Chair of the Doctors Hospital Foundation and member of the Grey Bruce Health Services Govenrment Relations Tssk Force.

Mr. Warren continues to contribute to the economic development of the Grey-Bruce Owen Sound region as Co-Chair of the Owen Sound and Area Economic Development Committee which focuses on the retention and attraction of employers and jobs to the region, and support for small businesses.

His columns and opinion pieces on social, business and political issues have appeared in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and the Osprey Media newspapers. He has also served on the Community Editorial Board of The Sun Times.

Mr. Warren is the recipient of a number of awards including the Canadian Centennial Medal and a Fellowship from the Chartered Institute of Transport in the United Kingdom. Concordia University granted him their Senior Student Award and he was inducted into their Sports Hall of Fame as a member of the "Gerogians" 1957-58 team which holds one of the best records in Canadian basketball history.

During his career in government and business Mr. Warren played a leadership role in several international and Canadian associations. While with the Toronto Transit Commission he had the distinciton of serving as both the President of the Canddain Urban Transit Association and Executive Vice President of the American Public Transit Association. During his years as an Ontario Deputy Minister he was appointed to the Board of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Service (OMERS) now one of the largest pension funds in Canada.

Mr. Warren graduated at nineteen with a Bachleor of Commerce degree from Sir George Williams University (now Concordia) where he majored in economics.

Married, he has three children and currently resides in Owen Sound, Ontario.