Mat founded and leads Wilcox Group,[1] one of Canada’s largest national corporate communications, social media and crisis management firms.
With unmatched issues management, crisis communications and labour relations experience, Mat has managed communications and strategy around 54 labour disruptions and overseen some of Canada’s highest-profile crises including the avian bird flu epidemic, H1N1 swine influenza, public health issues, emergency operations planning and crisis management preparedness, product tampering and product recalls.
Mat has provided strategy and counsel to prominent Canadian business leaders on more than $4 billion worth of merger and acquisition projects, garnering millions of dollars in media coverage and national – and international – headlines. She has personally advised CEOs of multibillion-dollar, publicly-traded organizations and provided key counsel to client accounts including Telus, KFC Canada, Obelysk Inc., Scott's Real Estate Investment Trust, Translink, BHP Billiton, Whole Foods Market, Dave Wireless, and Priszm Income Fund. Mat is also a key member of the international crisis team for YUM! Restaurants International – a global organization of more than 12,500 restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell banners.
Mat played a key role in the campaign to bring XM satellite radio to Canada and launched its subsequent IPO, managed communications during an intense three-month labour disruption at BHP Billiton’s Ekati Diamond Mine, led the restructuring and closure of eastern operations for SuperPages and was on the strategic leadership team to manage Canwest’s $800 million acquisition of WIC television stations. Mat provided ongoing leadership and communications strategy to Telus Communications during one of the most turbulent periods in telecommunications history, which included offering 6,500 employees an industry-leading voluntary separation and early retirement package, the meltdown to telecom stocks and the four-and-a-half-year-long contract negotiations that culminated in a strike of more than 15,000 unionized employees across Canada.
A testament to her inspiring community leadership, Mat spearheads major pro-bono projects committing thousands of team hours to raise awareness for health issues, environmental projects and community initiatives.
In 2008 and 2009, Mat was named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 by the Women’s Executive Network.[2] She has also been privileged to be a finalist for PR News' Crisis Communicator of the Year award and named as an Influential Woman in Business.[3]
Mat is a Board Director for XM Canada/Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings[4] and S’Cool Life Fund.[5] She also sits on the advisory board for Wellington Financial LP.,[6] a non-profit Board which has given away more than $2 million dollars to Canadian school children. She previously sat on the Boards of Vancouver’s Telus World of Science and the Trans Canada Trail.
In addition to regularly contributing to the Globe and Mail, Mat sits monthly on the Globe and Mail’s business advisory panel for business incubation. You can see the Report on Business panel at: http://www.reportonbusiness.com/incubator.