Geoff Smith is the President & CEO of EllisDon, an employee-owned, $4 billion-a-year construction services company that has grown exponentially beyond its modest origins in London, Ontario. With over 5,000 salaried and hourly employees across fifteen national and international offices, EllisDon has become a leader in every sector and nearly every facet of the construction industry.
Geoff earned his law degree from the University of Toronto and was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1981. After joining EllisDon in 1983, he quickly gained experience across various management positions, including Field Operations, Legal and Labour Relations and Executive Leadership.
In 1996, at the height of a trying time at EllisDon, Geoff was named President and CEO. Through a redefinition of the traditional construction offering, Geoff reinvented EllisDon as a ‘Cradle To Grave’ Services Provider with guaranteed performance outcomes through its Capital Services, Facilities Management, and Sustainable Buildings Divisions. EllisDon is determined to lead the coming disruption in the construction sector, having recently created pioneering initiatives in Energy Management, Smart Buildings Software and Data Analytics, all of which now lead the industry.
Geoff’s community involvement has covered a broad spectrum. He has served as a Curriculum Advisor to Ryerson University, on the Board of Halton Health Services, and chaired the Technology In The City Campaign for George Brown College. Geoff was past Chair of the Ontario Liberal Fund, serves on the Board of the Canadian Council For Public Private Partnerships, and is a founding member of OG100, an initiative to enable Canada’s fastest growing companies to become exporters to the world. In 2018, Geoff co-Chaired the Unity For Autism Golf Event.
Geoff views EllisDon as a ‘Values Based’ proposition above all else: Trust, Complete Openness, Mutual Accountability, and Entrepreneurial Enthusiasm serve as the company’s foundation, wherever it goes, whatever it does. These core values have earned EllisDon consistent accolades, including Aon Hewitt’s 50 Best Employers in Canada, Deloitte’s Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies, Canada’s Top 100 Employers, and Waterstone Human Capital’s Canada’s 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures.
Geoff himself has also earned recognition as recipient of the OGCA’s Jock Tindale Award For Integrity in 2011 and was EY’s Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year in 2013.