Black’s Harbour, N.B., based Cooke Aquaculture Inc., has been awarded for 2018 as a Platinum-winning company having earned the honour of a spot on the list of Canada’s Best Managed Companies for seven or more straight years.
The Best Managed Companies program celebrates the top private businesses in Canada with revenue over $15 million. A panel of judges evaluates the applicants in four areas: strategy (a vision and how that vision is communicated and managed); capability (does the company have the ability—the people, processes and systems—to execute); commitment (the engagement and alignment, the culture to execute); and financials, the numbers that prove the first three are driving results.
“Well-run companies are important to the economic health of our country. These companies serve as role models to help make all Canadian businesses better”, said Lorrie King, Partner, Deloitte and Co-Leader, Canada’s Best Managed Companies program.
Cooke Aquaculture Inc. is a family-owned, vertically integrated aquaculture corporation with sea farming operations in Atlantic Canada, the United States, Chile, Scotland and Spain. Aquaculture operations include land-based juvenile production, marine farms, processing and distribution facilities and a global sales and marketing team as well as a full value chain service and supply sector. The Cooke family of companies also includes seafood and wild fishery divisions and now directly employs approximately 6,000 people world-wide and supports another 14,280 jobs indirectly.
“It’s through the hard work and determination of our employees that we have grown to become a fully integrated global seafood leader offering a wide array of farmed and wild-caught products to customers around the world,” said Glenn Cooke, CEO of Cooke Aquaculture Inc. “Our loyalty to our diverse team of talent has nurtured a passion for delivering superior products, service, and value to our customers in a safe and environmentally sustainable manner.”
“Salmon aquaculture is vital to rural Atlantic Canada as it is in many other coastal communities globally”, added Glenn Cooke. “The companies in this region take great care looking out for the thousands of Atlantic Canadians employed in this marine industry. The majority of employees live and work in areas where comparable employment providing good family wage jobs does not otherwise exist – protecting those livelihoods enables locally raised farmed salmon to remain a low-barrier protein that Canadians of any income level can enjoy.”
The Best Managed Companies program turns 25 in 2018 and has grown stronger with each passing year. The awards recognize companies that spend disproportionate amounts of time and money on people. They’re investing in systems, processes, technology, robotics and R&D to enhance capabilities. They are driven by collaboration and leadership development rather than domineering CEOs, and often they bring in experts and boards of advisers to guide them. Best Managed Companies value diversity and inclusion, and care about the community and sustainability, and those ideals are embedded in the business model.
“CIBC is pleased to congratulate Cooke Aquaculture on being named one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies, recognizing its excellence in leadership, business performance and innovation,” said Dino Medves, Senior Vice President and Head, CIBC Commercial Banking. “As a sponsor of the Canada’s Best Managed Companies program for over 20 years, CIBC is proud to celebrate private companies like Cooke Aquaculture leaders in their industry.”
The 2018 winners of the Canada’s Best Managed Companies award will be honoured in Toronto on April 11, 2018.
About Canada’s Best Managed Companies
Canada's Best Managed Companies continues to be the mark of excellence for Canadian-owned and managed companies with revenues over $15 million. Every year since the launch of the program in 1993, hundreds of entrepreneurial companies have competed for this designation in a rigorous and independent process that evaluates their management skills and practices. The awards are granted on four levels: 1) Canada’s Best Managed Companies new winner (one of the new winners selected each year); 2) Canada’s Best Managed Companies winner (award recipients that have re-applied and successfully retained their Best Managed designation for two additional years, subject to annual operational and financial review); 3) Gold Standard winner (after three consecutive years of maintaining their Best Managed status, these winners have demonstrated their commitment to the program and successfully retained their award for 4-6 consecutive years); 4) Platinum Club member (winners that have maintained their Best Managed status for seven years or more). Program sponsors are Deloitte, CIBC, Canadian Business, Smith School of Business, TMX Group and MacKay CEO Forums. For further information, please contact: bestmanagedcompanies@deloitte.ca or www.bestmanagedcompanies.ca
Source: Canada’s Best Managed Companies