2024 Industry Luncheon

Description

The Industry Luncheon is an annual event hosted in partnership between the Rotary Club of Orangeville, the Greater Dufferin Home Builders Association, and the Dufferin Board of Trade. This event brings local business leaders together to share ideas, network, and enjoy a great keynote speaker.

This year's speaker is Mark Cohon  



Mark Cohon, O.Ont.  M.S.M.

Mark Cohon is an experienced sports and entertainment executive, proven leader, active public speaker, engaged board member, community builder and entrepreneur at heart.

In the sports world, Mark worked in 30 international markets earning his respected reputation as a former executive with Major League Baseball International, where he was Director of Corporate and Game Development, and the NBA, where he served as Director and Group Manager of International Marketing, Managing Director of NBA Europe, and Vice-President of Business Development.

When Mark retuned to his home in Canada, he became best known for his leadership as the 12th Commissioner of the Canadian Football League.  Mark was the driving force behind the renaissance of the CFL. His eight-year stewardship of the league was a remarkable run that saw the CFL’s business model transformed and its brand rejuvenated.  Strong attendance, record television ratings, $2 billion in new stadiums, strengthened corporate partnerships, a return to the nation’s capital and the almost tripling of team distributions from the league office were all part of Mark’s legacy.

When Mark completed his successful run as Commissioner, he wanted to celebrate his love of Canada and pursue the true entrepreneur in him.

Mark, a music industry outsider, was appointed the Chair of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, to help transform the Juno Awards, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and MusiCounts. 

Mark was also appointed as Chair of Toronto Global, a government funded agency to promote and attract Foreign Direct Investment.  Mark oversaw the Toronto region’s pitch for Amazon HQ2, with Toronto successfully making the shortlist out of 238 cities across North America. 

Mark has also enthusiastically pursued his entrepreneurial spirit. He is the Chair and partner in the Georgian Bay Spirits Co, one of the fastest growing Canadian spirits companies.  Georgian Bay Spirit Co created a new spirit category with their hit, Georgian Bay Gin Smash. In 2021 the company sold its 50 millionth can.  In addition, Georgian Bay Vodka won “Best Vodka in the World” at the prestigious San Francisco Spirits Competition.  

He is a Board Member of Great Canadian Entertainment, the largest Casino operator in Canada, recently purchased by Apollo Global Management   Mark is also a special advisor to CVC, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, working with the firm to identify investments in sports, media, and entertainment properties.  Mark served on the board of Ryerson Futures, the tech accelerator for Ryerson University and Chaired Sensibill, a leading fin-tech company, from early stage through to successful Series B funding of $30 million.  He also served on the board of Cirque du Soleil Russia.  

In 2013 Cohon was appointed to the Order of Ontario, the most prestigious official honour in Canada’s most populous province.  And in 2015, he received the Meritorious Service Medal from the Governor General of Canada for his transformative leadership of the CFL.  Mark recently received an honourary Juno Award for his successful stewardship of the Junos over the last 7 years.

A former zookeeper at the Toronto Zoo during his high school years, in 1990 Mark led a three-month expedition in Siberia and the Canadian High Arctic.  In 2001, he lived in the rain forests of Sumatra for a month to assist field scientists studying wild and semi-wild Orangutans. Mark served on the Board of World Wildlife Fund Canada and is the past Chair of the Ontario Science Centre. 

Mark, a dual citizen of Canada and the United States, lives in Toronto with his wife Suzanne, their daughter and their Pembroke Welsh Corgi puppy named Bolt and German Shepherd puppy, Apollo.