Director, Strategy & Corporate Development

Location:

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Company Overview:

Founded in 1882, George Weston Limited (“GWL”) is a major Canadian public company, representing Canada’s largest food and drug retail businesses and a significant real estate portfolio through its control of Loblaw Companies Limited and Shoppers Drug Mart, and Choice Properties REIT. With over 2,400 stores, Loblaw’s retail operations reach most Canadians serving their everyday food, health, and wellness needs and is also the home to iconic Canadian brands including Shoppers Drug Mart, President’s Choice, PC Optimum, Joe Fresh, PC Financial, T&T Supermarket, and NoName. GWL also controls Canada’s largest REIT, Choice Properties REIT, which owns over 700 retail, industrial and mixed-use properties across Canada. With over 200,000 employees, the Weston group of companies is Canada's largest private sector employer.

The Corporate Development and Strategy Team:

The Corporate Development & Strategy team at GWL is uniquely positioned to drive value across the group of companies by developing and executing important and enterprise-level strategy projects, executing on M&A transactions, exploring new business opportunities and making capital allocation recommendations.

The department is comprised of a diverse ~20-person team, with backgrounds in management consulting, investment banking, private equity and corporate strategy/corporate development. Our team culture is tight-knit and our people are engaged, curious, dynamic and authentic. We have a strong in-office culture that we believe promotes collaboration.

While working for a leading Canadian company, our team also provides a small company dynamic, challenging work and long-term career growth in a fast-paced team environment. The industries we cover include real estate, retail, healthcare, digital, loyalty, supply chain and financial services. This results in meaningful and engaging work with opportunities for continuous learning and development.

Director of Strategy Role Overview and Primary Responsibilities:

For this position, we are looking for someone with strong Strategy experience. An ideal candidate would have proven successful in a management consulting or in a strategy role, have exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills, executive-level communication skills, project leadership skills, and would be effective at building relationships with people at varying levels of the organization and across the Group of companies.

The role also provides opportunity to support M&A transactions and Corporate Finance topics such as capital allocation and structuring, therefore an affinity with finance/accounting is an asset. 

• Act as internal consultant and advisor for various operating businesses and initiatives.
• Lead and execute Strategy projects, effectively working with key stakeholders to frame important strategic questions, identify creative, impactful and practical solutions supported by analysis, and lead teams through the execution of these strategies.
• Partner with the Operating Businesses by building rapport with key stakeholders across the Operating Businesses (Loblaw and Choice Properties)
• Act as a team leader and manage cross-functional teams, by directing the work of team members and managing a broad set of stakeholders while focusing on effective project delivery within the defined timeframe
• Communicate succinctly and confidently any analyses and project findings to senior business professionals.
• Interact effectively with external advisors (e.g., consultants, financial advisors, lawyers)
• Support M&A transactions, with a strategic mindset, through their lifecycle from conceiving the idea, articulating the strategic rationale, and supporting execution through the various phases of the transaction 
• Support Corporate Finance projects by assisting in the development and evaluation of strategic plans, identifying options to alleviate strategic or financial constraints, and evaluating capital allocation opportunities for the Group with a long-term lens

Qualifications:

The ideal candidate would have a proven their ability to succeed in a strategy role, given their primary responsibilities will be to direct strategy work. An ideal candidate will also have personal attributes such as the confidence and credibility to interact with senior-level business leaders, being self-directed and organized, and showing up authentically.

• 7-8+ years of work experience
• 5+ years in a Strategy role with applicable experience in Management Consulting or internal Strategy.
• Creative problem-solving skills to tackle complex projects and unstructured problems
• Excellent communication skills to distill key message for senior audiences (including the C-suite and Boards) and effectively present findings, recommendations and opinions
• Proven project management abilities to structure work in executable pieces, support complex projects and lead cross-functional teams to effectively deliver across a variety of priorities. 
• Strong business acumen and affinity in finance/accounting, with experience in Retail, Healthcare or Real Estate considered an asset
• Ability to build effective and trustful relationships across varying levels
• Relevant university degree(s) (e.g., bachelors, MBA, etc.)
• Expert knowledge of Microsoft Office tools, especially PowerPoint and Excel.
• Ability to work in Canada

George Weston Limited recognizes Canada's diversity as a source of national pride and strength. We have made it a priority to reflect our nation’s evolving diversity in the products we sell, the people we hire, and the culture we create in our organization. Accommodation is available upon request for applicants and colleagues with disabilities.

In addition, we believe that compliance with laws is about doing the right thing.  Upholding the law is part of our Code of Conduct – it reinforces what our customers and stakeholders expect of us.

Number of Openings

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