BUSINESS Episodes

Chef Guy Rubino talks about Toronto’s 'fraternal foodies' The Rubino Brothers [along with past podcast guest Michael], starring in/producing 39 episodes of Made To Order on The Food Network [24hrs of footage shot got trimmed to 24min on TV], working out on a treadmill alongside Madonna, his first proper kitchen job at Nobu in NYC, his interactions with Sir Richard Branson/David Bowie/Natalie Portman/Sting/Oasis’ Gallagher brothers, an ugly misunderstanding with Nelly Furtado’s posse [you did NOT...

Former owner of the Vancouver Canucks/Grizzlies and GM Place Arthur Griffiths talks about his family ties to Dr Ballard’s dog food empire, how his Mom convinced his Dad to purchase the Canucks, his reverence for the late great Pat Quinn, that incredible 1994 Canucks’ playoff run, getting involved with the concrete pour at GM Place, negotiating Bryan Adams as the first event at the new building, how a meeting to discuss acquiring an arena football team with Jerry Colangelo planted the seeds for i...

Bloom CEO Ben McCabe talks about his entrepreneurial journey, removing the stigma from reverse mortgages/equity releases, marking the transition from accumulation to decumulation of wealth in the retirement savings journey, and whether Bloom needs a boffo spokesman to combat their competition’s use of Kurt Browning/Peter Mansbridge/Tom Selleck! For more on Bloom, please visit https://www.bloomfin.ca/ TORONTO LEGENDS is hosted by Andrew Applebaum at andrew.applebaum@gmail.com All episodes availab...

Canadian Income Tax Act Expert Kim G C Moody tells us what the ‘G C’ stands for, why he has a sock collection that rivals Prime Minister Trudeau’s, explains the difference between tax EVASION [illegal!] and AVOIDANCE [encouraged!], speculates on the tax-related reasons why Steven Stamkos may have chosen the Tampa Bay Lightning [Florida] over his hometown Maple Leafs [Ontario], explains how he squeezes the most out of his day with a 4:30am wakeup, and shares his bemusement at the ‘keyboard warrio...

Breast Cancer Canada CEO Kimberly Carson talks about breast cancer being 50+ diseases at 5 different stages affecting both women AND men [the most diagnosed cancer worldwide], her focus on ‘precision oncology’ [personalized care], the differences between leading charitable vs non-profit vs for-profit organizations, why PREVENTION is the best way to stop breast cancer, being on the leading edge of implementing AI technology into research, HOW to ask donors for money, and why Progress is Beautiful...

Whole Body MRI Co-CEO and Chief of Radiology Dr Nirav Patel talks about full body screening, why they are the only clinic of their kind in Ontario, the misconceptions about ‘private clinics,’ the movement from reactive to preventative healthcare, why radiologists are the specialty with the most vacation time, and why Kim Kardashian raving about full-body scans is good for both patient awareness and autonomy! For more on Whole Body MRI , please visit them at https://wholebodymri.ca/ TORONTO LEGEN...

Former Labatt Brewing Company President Don McDougall shares the story of the birth of our Toronto Blue Jays, co-starring Paul Godfrey, Paul Beeston, Peter Bavasi, Pat Gillick, Herb Solway, Ted Rogers, Howard Webster, Page Wadsworth, Sydney Cooper, Charles Bronfman, Neil MacCarl, Bob McCown, Ray Kroc, Sid Oland and featuring a cameo by Alan Eagleson! TORONTO LEGENDS is hosted by Andrew Applebaum at andrew.applebaum@gmail.com All episodes available at https://www.torontolegends.ca/episodes/ Learn...

Shift Collab CEO Megan Rafuse talks about creating Canada’s Go-To Mental Health Company, why therapy is like going to the gym [and why choosing a therapist is like dating], how all business relationships are also human relationships, the importance of understanding your ‘Zone of Genius,’ bootstrapping a start-up with a co-founder who is also her husband, the industry challenges of her competition coming from venture/insurance-backed technology-driven therapy networks, running a company that is m...

Heritage Auction’s Consignment Director Jason Simonds shares the incredible story behind the discovery of the Holy Grail/White Whale/Loch Ness Monster/Bigfoot of hockey cards...a full case of 16 unopened/sealed boxes of 1979/1980 O Pee Chee NHL hockey cards, which may [or may not] contain an estimated 27 Wayne Gretzky rookie cards. The expected value when the auction process is completed is somewhere around $3 MILLION US dollars!!! And that doesn’t even take into account all those sticks of chew...

Ownr CEO Shane Murphy talks about helping entrepreneurs simplify starting their own businesses, why he came to Toronto as a victim of financial circumstances, his path of starting a tech platform that has been acquired by RBCx, the apparent hypocrisy of moving from starting HIS own business to now working for ‘The Man’ [only Canada’s largest bank!], Canadian entrepreneurship trends [micro-preneurs/solo-preneurs that are truly bootstrapping] and why we should STOP using the term ‘side-hustle,’ wh...

Frameworth Sports Marketing President Brian Ehrenworth talks about his transformational business pivot experienced on The Madison’s patio as a result of beer + hockey sticks + ’The Killer’ Doug Gilmour, signing Mike Weir two weeks before he won the 2003 Masters, his industry-changing autograph exclusivity deal signed with a 15 year old Sidney Crosby [originally only done to save his Mike Weir deal!], his development of the Wayne Gretzky fantasy camps [and hitching a ride on The Great One’s priva...

Exhibition Place CEO Don Boyle talks about the logistics behind holding 1600+ annual events attracting 5.5MM visitors, the grandeur of the Princes’ [not Princess!] Gates, how many Torontonians' first job was working at the CNE, turning the area under the Gardiner into a cattle yard during the Royal Winter Fair, increasing access via Liberty Village/the existing GO station/the NEW Ontario Line station, the expansion plans for BMO Field ahead of the 2026 Fifa World Cup, the Exhibition Stadium base...

Nelson President & CEO Steve Brown talks about leading the digital transformation at a 110 year old business known as ‘that textbook company,’ moving from paper output into an immersive digital learning platform called EDWIN, why he insisted that NO users manual be required & that information be ONLY one click away, leveraging AI/generative AI/large language models, why his educational industry peers don’t like it when he uses the terms ‘customers’ or ‘consumers,’ the need to build a ‘safe sandb...

Adyen’s Canadian Country Manager Sander Meijers talks about the innovations in fintech leading the push towards ‘unified commerce,’ why it’s not a question of ‘if’ but rather ‘when’ his global firm applies for a Canadian banking license, why consumers should expect the SAME shopping experience whether shopping on-line or in a bricks-and-mortar store, taking on this great adventure with his family’s move from Amsterdam to Toronto, why he brought his ELECTRIC bike with him from bicycle-friendly Am...

Author Dr Norm O’Reilly talks about why the NHL makes a fantastic business case study, transferring lessons learned from the ice to the boardroom, why love him or loathe him Gary Bettman is a strong 'in control' leader, the future of NHL expansion both domestically & globally, why the Arizona franchise experiment is unlikely to die, how the NHL successfully led all major sports leagues into the Las Vegas market, the star power achieved with the book’s foreward written by Gary Bettman and its aft...

Entrepreneur, publisher, art collector, fundraiser, philanthropist and now author Salah Bachir shares stories from his life and his new memoir ‘ First to Leave the Party: My Life With Ordinary People…Who Happen to be Famous ’ involving Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Joan Rivers, Doris Day, Cesar Chavez, Diahann Carroll, Andy Warhol and many more! ‘ First to Leave the Party: My Life With Ordinary People…Who Happen to be Famous ’ is published by Penguin Random House Canada and is av...

University of Toronto Press President/Publisher/CEO Jessica Mosher talks about their ‘diversity of voices & ideas’ mandate both in the U of T community and globally, the ongoing disruption related to the growth of AI [and why it needs to retain a ‘human loop’], the rapidly changing mix of printed vs electronic books, why she doesn’t mind if you purchase your Varsity Blues hoodie from a bookstore OR order it online, informs us of the shocking existence of COUNTERFEIT textbooks [!!], and shares th...

Toronto Argonauts Legend #31 Michael ‘Pinball’ Clemons flashes that megawatt smile and talks about the upcoming 7th Annual Christmas with the Clemons event at Roy Thompson Hall, why Doug Flutie was the BEST football player he ever played with, how he took on a mentoring role with Raghib ‘The Rocket’ Ismail, his connections to the Blue Jays through the Mayor of Dunedin [his hometown], his love for ‘The Giz’ Henry ‘Gizmo’ Williams, why his photo opp with the late NBAer 7’6” Manute Bol was subtitle...

ReturnBear CEO Sylvia Ng talks about making product returns from e-commerce purchases better for all concerned parties [including our planet], the massive $60B returns market in Canada alone, how the consumer trends of ‘Try Before You Buy’ & ‘Bracket Buying’ are driving this growth in product returns, why the shipping/fulfillment process is so different from the returns process [isn’t it just the reverse?], how she has brought skills from her experiences at the University of Waterloo, Northweste...

Order of Canada recipient Denise Donlon talks about moving from Whitesnake’s ‘Slide It In’ tour to The New Music, becoming an on-air personality/VJ at MuchMusic, launching MuchMoreMusic, her thoughts on Moses Znaimer/Christopher Ward/Rick Campanelli/Bill Welychka/George Stroumboulopoulos, going into labour while hosting a live television event with the Cowboy Junkies, taking over at Sony Music Canada precisely at the same moment the global recording industry began imploding, moving to our nation...

MLSE’s Bill Manning talks about his leadership of the Toronto Argonauts & Toronto FC, working alongside Brendan Shanahan [Maple Leafs] and Masai Ujiri [Raptors], growing up with 2 of the Baldwin brothers in Massapequa on Long Island [did you know Alec was actually called Xander as a child?], what culture change Pinball Clemons told him was needed with the Argos [‘too many silos, need more bridges’], sharing memories of Argo greats Condredge Holloway/Terry Greer/Rocket Ismail/Terry Metcalf, how h...

Opa!! Guitar virtuoso & 'Lord of the Strings' Pavlo Simtikidis talks about going from Pape & Danforth to selling CDs at the One of a Kind Craft Show to his PBS Special 'Live from Santorini,' swimming upstream against record label executives who told him he was ‘too ethnic’ and to ‘get rid of the bouzouki,’ successfully suing Jay-Z & R Kelly for copyright infringement [he is now a co-writer of FIESTA!], touring around the world consistently for over 25 years, his collaborations with Jose Felician...

Grill On!! BBQ Master Steven Raichlen talks about the 25th anniversary of his landmark book The Barbecue Bible [and how it can stand in for the actual Bible], his new PBS show Steven Raichlen’s Planet Barbecue , why grilling is the world’s most universal cooking method, his newfound love for Planchas & Griddles, why his favourite form of live fire cooking is Cave Man grilling, why he employs not one but two Fire Wranglers on set, how he avoids packing on the pounds with all that food lying aroun...

Room 442 & Footy Prime the Podcast host James Sharman talks about his UK accent drawing more girls than fights as a 16 year old being plopped into a Mississauga high school, being a pre-launch pre-day oner at Headline Sports [and its eventual morphing into The Score], tagging along with Elliotte Friedman to interview the great Pele, the importance of TFC’s birth in 2006, the mentorship of Sportsnet’s Gerry Dobson, the differences between British and North American play-by-play commentary, John H...