2025 Gala Co-Chairs

Michael H. McCain, Executive Chair, Maple Leaf Foods Inc.

Mr. McCain is Executive Chair of the Board of Maple Leaf Foods. He joined the Corporation in April 1995 as President and COO, was appointed CEO in January 1998, and subsequently Executive Chair of the Board in May 2023.

Prior to joining Maple Leaf, Mr. McCain spent 16 years with McCain Foods in Canada and the United States, where he was President and Chief Executive Officer of McCain Foods USA.

Mr. McCain is Chair of McCain Capital Inc., a Director of McCain Capital Partners, a Director and Honorary Chair of the Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security, a Director of the Daymark Foundation, a member of the Business Council of Canada and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Foundation (CAMH).

Geoff Beattie, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Generation Capital.

Geoff Beattie is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Generation Capital, an investment company based in Toronto.  Geoff is also Chairman of Relay Ventures, a Canadian Venture Capital firm, a director of Baker Hughes, and an advisor to Atlas Merchant Capital and Asia Partners Fund Management. 

Geoff was Chief Executive Officer of The Woodbridge Company Limited and Deputy Chairman of Thomson Reuters from 1998 to 2013.  He was also a director and Chairman of CTV Globemedia between 2004  and 2010.  Prior to joining Woodbridge, Geoff was a partner at Torys, a Canadian law firm, and Vice President at Wood Gundy, a Canadian investment bank.  Geoff graduated from the University of Western Ontario (1984) with a JD and received an honorary LL.D.  in 2018. 

Geoff has served in varying capacities on the board of several public and private companies including Thomson Reuters, Royal Bank of Canada, General Electric, Maple Leaf Foods, Hydro One, General  Atlantic Partners, Fiera Capital and Blue J Legal. His non-profit work over the years includes the creation of the Campbell Family Cancer Research Institute at Princess Margaret Hospital, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Ballet of Canada, Roy Thomson Hall and the United Way. 

Geoff also served as Chairman of the University of Western Ontario’s “Be Extraordinary” capital campaign and as Co-Chairman of the Breakthrough T1D capital campaign and as a director of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. Geoff has published articles on leadership, corporate governance and the importance of focusing on strategy to build strong enterprises and sustaining communities in Canada and has lectured at a number of Canadian and U.S. universities.