Bell and Rogers CEOs lead list of Toronto’s 50 most influential people

The end of the year is fast approaching and as such most publications are busy publishing various end-of-the-year listicles. The latest to do is Toronto Life with its ranking of Toronto’s 50 most influential individuals. This being a list about people in Toronto, the person at the top is of course Drake. That said, a number of notable individuals in the city’s tech and mobile communities appear as well.

After a pair of politicians, John Tory and Kathleen Wynne, the first Canadian telecommunications figure to make the list is BCE and Bell Canada CEO George Cope. Cope, who is notably absent from the list Rogers-owned Canadian Business compiled on Canada’s most powerful business people, enters the list at number four, ahead of Rogers CEO Guy Laurence.

“The head of Canada’s largest telecommunications company — 57,200 employees, $21 billion in revenue — made Bell even bigger in 2015,” says Toronto Life by way of justification for the high ranking, noting that the CEO oversaw his company add 250,000 Fibe TV, Internet and smartphone customers, as well sign up 750,000 people to its CraveTV video on-demand service in 2015.

For Laurence, who enters the list at number 6, Toronto Life mostly notes the recent playoff success of the Toronto Blue Jays in its appraisal of the Rogers CEO. The publication also points to his company’s $13 billion revenue in 2014 and recent acquisition of Mobilicity as signs of his influence and good business acumen.

One odd addition is Ted Livingston at number 20. Livingston is the founder and CEO of Kik, the company behind the popular messaging app of the same name. While his company has had a noteworthy past twelve months — in August, Kik became valued at $1 billion after it secured a $50 million investment from Chinese WeChat developer Tencent — Kik is based in Waterloo, not Toronto.

Rounding out the list of notable tech personalities is Kirstine Stewart at 37. The former head of English language services at the CBC has spent the past two years working her way up the ranks of Twitter. Initially hired to lead the company’s Canadian operation, Stewart has since taken the position of vice president of media at Twitter. Under her leadership, the company has been able to secure partnerships with the NFL, Global News and Google. On the side she’s also written a book called Our Turn, which argues that women are uniquely suited to lead in Canada’s new innovation economy.

Check out the full list on the Toronto Life website.

[source]Toronto Life[/source]