President and CEO of Bell Canada and BCE Inc., George Cope was named Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year for 2015, an award presented by Bennett Jones, founding sponsor Caldwell Partners and media sponsor National Post.
Cope, who graduated from Ivey’s HBA program in 1984, also serves as a member of the Ivey Advisory Board. In 2012, Cope received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Western, and in 2013, he was named the Ivey Business Leader of the Year.
Since joining Bell as CEO in 2008, Cope has transformed Canada’s largest communications company. Among other BCE successes such as building a new cellular network that it shares with Telus Corp., offering new products such as Fibe TV, and expanding its retail presence by acquiring The Source, Cope contributed to BCE’s profits at an astonishing rate.
In 2014, BCE had net earnings of $2.5 billion, 18.7 per cent more than the previous year and a drastic increase from the $943 million it recorded in 2008, the year Cope joined BCE.
In addition to Cope’s extensive contribution to BCE’s growth, he is dedicated to promoting mental health awareness with initiatives like Bell Let’s Talk and a five-year, $50-million charitable program to support programs that improve understanding and treatment of mental health.
