Q4: Top 20 Dynamic CEOs of Canada 2024

To Anubhav Agarwal, President & CEO, Irpinia Kitchens, and Partner at Rhyno Equity Group, providing the Company’s employees with a safe, secure and productive working environment is priority number one. Anubhav believes that the most important resource of any organization are its people. Understanding this fact is a critical aspect of Anubhav’s inclusive and non-bureaucratic leadership style with the goal to inspire employees at all levels to perform their best each and every day.

Chris Schmidt, CEO of DKI Canada, loves to discuss ideas, strategies, and concepts because that is how you can influence industries and change the trends. Chris considers himself fortunate with DKI that he could surround himself with an excellent team consisting of people who believe in the vision and mission of what they are trying to achieve and work hard daily to execute the strategy. DKI Canada is exceptionally focused on creating value and innovating. “Those are difficult things to do but it fills us with a sense of purpose that our work has meaning. I work hard to communicate my vision, motiviate the team and create an environment where we can all share really honest feedback and evaluate our successes. It takes a team to innovate and we need to create room for mistakes and growth,” says Chris. “That is all part of innovating. The strategy and concept is the fun stuff. The execution is the really, really hard part, but also where all the magic lies.”

Dr. Coralee Mueller, President & CEO, NeuroVision Therapy, actively cultivates a solid corporate culture based on a genuine love of people. She actively implements the corporate culture by living and breathing the company’s core values and noble purpose with the NeuroVision team. Coralee deliberately and selectively surrounds herself with exceptional, high-performance people to work with, formulating the NeuroVision “A” team. Consistent emphasis on employee retention and engagement, allows them to maintain the environment positioned for innovation. She consciously appreciates and conveys her state of certainty and steadiness when surrounded by a world of uncertainty, empowering the team at NeuroVision to maintain their positive internal state. Focusing on gratitude and higher purpose for the greatest good of all, conveys the sense that they are all part of something bigger than themselves, and the driving motivation to achieve that greatness to share with ourselves and others.

Lightspeed (NYSE and TSX: LSPD) powers complex small and medium-sized businesses with cloud-based, omnichannel commerce platforms in over 100 countries. With smart, scalable, and dependable point of sale systems, Lightspeed provides all-in-one solutions that drive innovation and digital transformation within the retail, hospitality, and golf industries. Its product suite enables SMBs to sell across channels, manage operations, engage with consumers, accept payments, and ultimately grow their business.

Irfan Sattar, CEO of Greeniche Natural Health, is a people’s man in the true sense. His focus is always on achieving results through empowering and developing his team. He invests a lot of time and energy in paying individual attention to the strengths and weaknesses of his team members and ensuring a conducive and result-oriented environment that offers equal opportunity for growth and rewards for everyone. He is technically proficient with an undergraduate degree in life sciences, an MBA in Marketing, and an MS in Management Science. Add to that over 25 years of global experience, and the profile is fit for leading any organization effectively and efficiently.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) is a member-based professional association of 15,000 REALTORS® and their companies who live and work in communities from Whistler to Maple Ridge to Tsawwassen and throughout the Metro Vancouver area.

As the CEO of Willow Lake Métis Nation, Justin has been the proud architect of a transition away from a centralized approach to governance so that his community can return to a grassroots organization governed by, and for, the Willow Lake Métis Nation (WLMN). Justin relentlessly focused on restructuring the WLMN as an organization to ensure that it is accountable to its members, driven for community prosperity, and remains culturally grounded. He is committed to bringing new community-based services to the Nation, determined to protect and enhance the community’s rights, and to ensure the Willow Lake Métis have an economically sustainable future for generations to come.

When speaking with Martin Paquette, one thing is immediately apparent: he’s honest. His transparency is refreshing. While many shy away from such vulnerability, Paquette sees it as a force to reckon with. The incredible emotional intelligence speaks to years of looking within—it’s also what allows him to acknowledge his mistakes gracefully and use them as opportunities to innovate.

Supportive leadership is an essential and valuable leadership style for businesses. It fosters positive relationships between employees and ultimately empowers team members to develop their professional skills and work well autonomously or with little active management and guidance.

Dr. Nadia Akseer is a curious, driven leader inspired by complex and multidisciplinary global health issues. She is interested in providing opportunities for junior scientists and artists and creating a powerful workplace for their nexus and integration. She takes her passion for equality and applies it in her research projects and in her company, where she strives for fairness and opportunities for scientists and artists at all levels.

The Targeted Strategies Group (TTSG) spent over 20 years helping Canadian business owners and entrepreneurs build economic opportunity through the successful succession of family businesses. Then almost 5 years ago, it was time for them to think of their succession plan. The founder, Garnet Morris, sought out the right candidate for the role when he appointed Susan Kichuk as CEO. He gave her a big mandate: to convert TTSG into a sustainable company that can provide bespoke insurance solutions to serve its clients over the long term. This seems like a simple concept, but it is unusual in the insurance industry. Canadian insurance brokerages typically wind down when their owner retires, whereas TTSG was on a path to grow as part of their transition plan.