Forget the coffee and eggs, the best way to wake up this morning was by feeding off the positive vibes that Ottawa business leader Kathryn Tremblay brought to the Mayor’s Breakfast held at Ottawa City Hall.
Tremblay, who’s the co-founder and CEO of Altis Recruitment, excelHR and affiliated brands, was the woman of the hour at the sold-out event, presented by the Ottawa Board of Trade and Ottawa Business Journal, and hosted by Mayor Mark Sutcliffe.
“Kathryn truly is a champion of people,” the mayor told the room during his introduction of the special guest. “You can feel that energy from Kathryn the second you meet her.”
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Zaahra Mehsen was three years into a biology degree at a local university when she realized she wanted to take a different path. “I realized that it’s not my thing,”
The value of an Algonquin College degree: Experiential learning, taught by industry experts
Zaahra Mehsen was three years into a biology degree at a local university when she realized she wanted to take a different path. “I realized that it’s not my thing,”
Tremblay, who was named 2021 CEO of the Year by the business community, is widely regarded as an Ottawa success story and inspirational leader and role model. Her Altis/Excel business, which has offices in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver, ranks among the best-managed in the country. She serves as a career ambassador for new Canadians by offering them opportunities for professional growth within her firm. She helps to coach women in business. She’s also a proud supporter of such causes as Christie Lake Kids and The Ottawa Hospital.
As well, Tremblay is the mother of four daughters and the grandmother of one granddaughter (with another grandchild on the way, she shared).
Tremblay’s business makes 8,000 placements a year and employs 225 team members. Forty-five per cent of its revenue is generated in Ottawa while another 45 per cent is earned in Toronto. The remaining 10 per cent comes from other parts of Canada.
Attendees networked and noshed before grabbing a seat in the public gallery of Andrew S. Haydon Hall, where they listened to Tremblay and Sutcliffe enjoy a convivial conversation together. It was filled with insight, advice and statistics. Yes, Tremblay has a real knack for numbers.
It’s been 34 years since Tremblay launched and bootstrapped her business with her future husband Toni Guimarães. She expressed her gratitude to RBC for the youth venture loan that helped when they were just getting started in their early 20s, and to her “rockstar” parents for their love and encouragement.
Tremblay, who grew up in the east-end suburb of Orléans, put herself through school by working during the day and attending the University of Ottawa at night.
The audience got a glimpse into how times have changed (for the better) for women. It used to be that a woman couldn’t get a business loan without a male co-signer. Sexual harassment was more common when Tremblay was starting out. It was also harder in the ‘90s to be a working mom. With each child, Tremblay took a week off after giving birth, choosing to return to the office with her newborn in tow.
Tremblay said she learned over time to be true to herself, that she didn’t have to adapt to more masculine behaviour or language. “It’s okay to sound like a woman and it’s okay to perhaps approach a problem in a way that a woman might. It brings that diversity to the table.”
Seventy per cent of Tremblay’s leadership team is women, the room heard.
On the subject of how to better help women succeed in their careers, Tremblay said she’d like to see workplace structures become less rigid and more flexible. The focus needn’t be on whether everyone’s bum is in an office seat from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, she said, so long as employees are being productive and working hard.
“What is the new normal today? It’s what we create; it’s what we stand for. If everyone here said, ‘We stand for flexibility’ it doesn’t mean we’re not working, it just means we’re working in a different way, in a different time, in a different place.”
Not only is increased flexibility in the workplace a gain for women but it helps all working parents and grandparents, as well as those individuals who may want to construct their day in a way that works for them, she said.
“I think the pandemic showed us all — and it’s so amazing — that life is bigger.”
It was touching to hear Tremblay and Sutcliffe talk so candidly about the topic of grief, relating to the loss of Guimarães in 2016 to terminal advanced prostate cancer. He was 51.
The couple’s work team and community of friends stepped in to help the family during this difficult time, the room heard.
Tremblay said she’d like to see workplaces be more supportive of colleagues who are going through the grieving process. “I do find there’s a lot of silence around death,” said Tremblay.
Added the mayor: “It’s okay to bring it up. I remember somebody saying to me, ‘…Don’t think you’re reminding me of something that I’m not thinking about. By bringing it up you’re not triggering me, because I’m thinking about it all the time.’”
Tremblay said she’s working hard on trying to be more present for her loved ones. “We all struggle with that, right? I’ve been working really vigilantly on the ‘one thing at a time’, on all of us parking that phone and really being in the moment that we’re in.”
The mayor was joined at the event by city council colleagues Cathy Curry (Kanata North), Rawlson King (Rideau-Rockcliffe), Ottawa Board of Trade president and CEO Sueling Ching and its board chair, Ian Sherman, CEO of Relationship Capital, OBJ publisher Michael Curran. Guests also included former Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson, who spoke at the last Mayor’s Breakfast, Calian Group CEO and 2017 CEO of the Year Kevin Ford, University of Ottawa president Jacques Frémont, and Janet McKeage, board chair of The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.
In his opening remarks, Sutcliffe thanked the folks at Hydro Ottawa, one of the event sponsors, for working so hard last week to restore power to the tens of thousands of homes affected by last week’s ice storm.
“They worked around the clock under very difficult conditions, very demanding conditions, so I want to salute them and the entire team at the City of Ottawa who respond when there is an emergency in our community.”
