Annette Verschuren
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Annette Verschuren | |
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| Born | North Sydney, Nova Scotia |
| Occupation | Chair & CEO of NRStor Inc. |
| Known for | President of The Home Depot Canada and Asia |
| Awards | Order of Canada |
Annette Verschuren, OC is a Canadian business woman. She is currently the Chair & Chief Executive Officer of NRStor Inc.,[1] The company develops and manages energy storage projects.
Prior to this, Ms. Verschuren was the President of The Home Depot Canada,[2] overseeing the growth of the company's Canadian operations from 19 to 179 stores between 1996 and 2011, increasing revenue from $600 million to $6 billion.
After Home Depot, she took a year off and went around the world. In her travels, she saw energy as a global issue, with enormous business potential, and many benefits to developing economies. Back in Canada, Ms. Verschuren founded NRStor in 2012 with an investment from Northwater Capital.
Career
[edit]Verschuren began her career as a development officer with the Cape Breton Development Corporation, a coal mining operation, in Sydney, Nova Scotia. She then worked with Canada Development Investment Corporation as executive vice-president, to help privatize crown corporations. Her next stop was as a Vice President of Corporate Development at Imasco Ltd., one of Canada’s largest holding companies. Ms. Verschuren then launched Michaels of Canada, a chain of arts and crafts stores before landing at the helm of Home Depot Canada.
Ms. Verschuren has been appointed to numerous government advisory roles. Among them: Economic Advisory Council, during the economic crisis in 2008, the Canada-U.S. Council for Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders and the Advisory Council for NAFTA. Recently, Ms Verschuren participated in our Government’s Roundtable on Decarbonization.
Verschuren is a board member of Liberty Mutual, Air Canada, Saputo Inc.[3] and Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL). In addition, Ms. Verschuren is the Chair the MaRS Discovery District Board. Ms. Verschuren is on the board of the Ontario Energy Association.
Corporate social responsibility
[edit]In 2011, Verschuren was honoured as an Officer of The Order of Canada for her contribution to the retail industry and corporate social responsibility.[4] In 2010, she was appointed co-chair of the 2012 Governor General's Leadership Conference, Canada's premier leadership training event. Annette Verschuren was honoured by the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 2019.
A champion of community investment and volunteerism, Verschuren is the Chancellor of Cape Breton University and is on the Board of the Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment, (VCSEE). (VCSEE).
She supports many causes but focuses on mental health, education and indigenous programmes. She is a founding member of the Rideau Hall Foundation. She co-chairs the Smart Prosperity Initiative, which is mapping out a course to a stronger, cleaner economy for Canada.
SDTC Scandal
[edit]Source:[5]
SDTC was an arm’s-length agency created by the Canadian federal government in 2001 to fund Canadian cleantech projects with public money. In the fall of 2023, the government suspended SDTC from funding new projects following a third-party investigation into allegations from former SDTC employees.[6]
On 8 November 2023, SDTC board chair Annette Verschuren admitted to the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics that she had approved grants worth more than $200,000 to her energy storage firm NRStor Inc., with the money having originally been part of the SDTC's efforts to fund SDTC-linked companies with existing funding arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic.[7]
Verschuren announced on 19 November,2023 that she would resign as chair of the Board of Directors in relation to the scandal effective 1 December,2023.[8]
As head of STDC, a Canadian project to distribute more than 1 billion dollars of public monies to Canadian Green Investment she arranged for her own company to receive millions of dollars of grants. She resigned as Chairman but never returned the millions that her company received. [9]
Author
[edit]Verschuren recently wrote a business book "Bet On Me", leading and succeeding in business and in life, published by Harper Collins. The book was a Finalist for the National Business Book Award in 2017.[10]
Education
[edit]Annette Verschuren has received fourteen Honorary Doctorates from Canadian universities including her alma mater, St. Francis Xavier University.[11]
Personal life
[edit]Annette Verschuren and her husband, Stan Shibinsky, often return to her home province of Nova Scotia and her family home.
References
[edit]- ^ "Annette Verschuren". Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2013-03-05.
- ^ Dana Flavelle (January 12, 2011). "Face of Home Depot Canada is changing". Toronto Star.
- ^ "Saputo Announces Election of Directors". Yahoo Finance. 7 August 2013.
- ^ "Appointments to the Order of Canada". June 30, 2011.
- ^ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-ottawa-orders-probe-of-cleantech-agency-after-allegations-of-conflict/
- ^ "Feds resume SDTC funding under NRC following damning AG report". betakit.com.
- ^ "MPs grill federal green fund chair who took part in decision to grant her own firm $217,000". www.cbc.ca.
- ^ "Sustainable Development Technology Canada chair resigns as agency faces fresh probe". www.theglobeandmail.com.
- ^ "Whistleblower testifies about 'gross mismanagement' at federal green fund". www.cbc.ca.
- ^ Archipelago, World. "Bet On Me - Annette Verschuren - Hardcover". HarperCollins Canada. Retrieved 2017-06-27.
- ^ "Annette Verschuren President - The Home Depot Canada and Asia". Canadian Club. Archived from the original on 2011-10-06. Retrieved 2011-07-05.