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Mirko Bibic named 2017 Canadian General Counsel of the Year for his 'visionary' leadership

Mirko Bibic, 2017 recipient of the Canadian General Counsel of the Year award, led BCE and Bell Canada through several regulatory hearings and acquisitions

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Recipient

Mirko Bibic, BCE and Bell Canada

Mirko Bibic, chief legal and regulatory officer and executive vice-president, corporate development, at BCE Inc. and Bell Canada, has pretty much seen all a lawyer can see since he joined the telecommunications giant in 2008.

Described by colleagues as a “visionary,” Bibic, 2017 recipient of the Canadian General Counsel of the Year award, has marshaled the company through three major regulatory framework hearings and overseen several major acquisitions that have allowed BCE to remain at the vanguard of the telecom industry.

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His M&A work includes a recent $3.9-billion deal to acquire Manitoba Telecom Services, a $3.2-billion acquisition of Astral Media, and the purchase of a 75-per-cent interest in Maple Leaf Sport and Entertainment with key competitor, Rogers Inc.

Add in the acquisitions of Glentel Inc. and CTV, and it’s a roster of deals that most M&A law firms would welcome, let alone a single lawyer.

Then there’s his regulatory work. Bibic, who is active as a director in a number of industry associations, has been Bell’s voice at numerous regulatory hearings. He is responsible for liaising with a wide range of regulators, including the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission and the Competition Bureau.

If that’s not enough, Bibic also manages his firm’s corporate social responsibility strategy.

In accepting the award at the gala, Bibic credited his colleagues for their help. “I’ve got an amazing group of colleagues at Bell. They’re fantastic,” he said. “And thank you to my employer, Bell. We’re provided with such a wonderful platform to work on the most amazing files.”

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Finalists

Harry Andersen, Pembina Pipeline

Harry Andersen, vice-president, legal and general counsel of Pembina Pipeline Corp., said that when he decided to advance his career as an executive, he swallowed his pride and hired a personal coach to teach him something you don’t learn in law school — how to manage people.

“It’s one of the best things I have done,” he said.

Anderson has wide responsibility at Pembina, overseeing regulatory, surface land groups, aboriginal affairs, government relations, and external communications. “There is not too much that happens at Pembina that I don’t spend some time on.”

Since arriving in 2011, he has over seen two “transformational” transactions: a $3.4-billion acquisition of Provident Energy Ltd.; and a recent $9.7-billion deal to buy Veresen Inc. He’s also been involved in more than $1.2 billion in financings.

Now, his industry awaits a “massive swell of change coming on the regulatory side,” as the federal government eyes revamping the National Energy Board, his industry’s key regulator.

Linda Beairsto, Algonquin Power

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Linda Beairsto recently gave up her general counsel hat at Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. to take on a new job as chief compliance officer for the fast-growing utility.

Her task now is to “design an enterprise-wide compliance program for the company, where none existed before.”

Beairsto, who was nominated in two categories this year, general counsel of the year and deal making, joined Algonquin in 2011 as its first lawyer, and she quickly had to build a legal department from scratch. She was also part of the executive management team.

Since arriving, Beairsto has seen Algonquin, which is based in Oakville, Ont., grow to more than $10 billion in assets, up from $1 billion, thanks to a number of important acquisitions. The company has closed 17 M&A transactions and 27 financings in the last six years.

“It was really exciting to do those deals,” Beairsto said. “We have a very strong M&A team.”

She attributes her success to her strong faith, and said the hours of an in-house lawyer can be long and unforgiving. “You really have to enjoy sophisticated, complex work.”

Jonathan Cullen, Pfizer Canada

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Jonathan Cullen, vice-president of legal affairs and general counsel for Pfizer Canada Inc., said he understands the power of asking questions.

A long time ago, he learned that if he is unsure about something being said in a meeting, others likely share his sentiment but are too afraid to speak up because they are afraid of “embarrassing” themselves.

“It’s not about your pride,” he said. You have a responsibility to the organization to ask the questions no one else is willing to raise, he said. If you don’t, and something later goes wrong, then the corporate “blamestorming” starts.

In addition to his legal duties, Cullen is chief compliance officer, corporate secretary, and secretary of the pension committee, an area that is new to him.

Cullen said he has learned that great general counsel learn from other peoples’ mistakes. “They reach out to ask advice from others who have been there.”

Gordon Davies, OpenText

In the almost eight years that Gordon Davies has been with OpenText Corp., he’s been involved with 25 M&A deals. “Acquisitions are part of our DNA,” Davies said.

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Waterloo, Ont.-based OpenText, one of Canada’s largest software companies, employs 12,000 and has 130 offices around the world.

Davies, who serves as corporate secretary and chief compliance officer, and who also has responsibility for corporate development and the program management office, oversees all aspects of legal support globally for the company, including intellectual property, litigation, regulatory, sales activity, corporate, and M&A.

He also has responsibility for overseeing a software compliance program that audits the company’s clients to help them make sure they are onside with their software licenses. It’s a revenue-generating service — something that legal departments aren’t known for. “It’s nice when legal is not only a cost centre, but also contributing on the revenue side.”

OpenText has grown by acquisition, and Davies has formed a specialized team whose sole focus is to manage integrating acquisitions into the company.

Jeffrey Ellis, CP Rail

Jeffrey Ellis said he “jumped right into the fire” when he joined Canadian Pacific Railway as chief legal officer and corporate secretary in November 2015.

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CP had just launched a bid to acquire Norfolk Southern Corp., which would have created the largest rail operator in North America. While that bid was later withdrawn, it became a great way to understand the company, Ellis said. “It was baptism by fire into the world of rail, rail regulation and CP.”

Ellis knows a thing or two about M&A. He arrived from BMO Financial Group, where he was the bank’s U.S. general counsel in Chicago.

Like BMO, he said, Canadian Pacific is a true cross border business. “I think my ability to straddle the border has been very helpful.”

Ellis is accountable for the overall strategic leadership, and oversight and performance of the legal, corporate secretariat, government relations, and public affairs functions.

He quickly restructured his department and created a dedicated litigation team, which Ellis said is necessary in today’s business climate.

Financial Post

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