On his retirement, Nor’Westers join to pay tribute to Edward Kennedy for his remarkable twenty-five years of leadership. Edward took The North West Company from its early days, shortly after acquiring the Northern stores from the Hudson’s Bay Company, to the multifaceted, complex organization North West is today, all while maintaining an unwavering focus on the well-being of our customers.

Edward began his career with North West in 1989 in senior management positions including Chief Operating Officer of North West and Chief Executive Officer of the Alaska Commercial Company. When he returned from Alaska in 1997, he accepted the role of President and CEO.

Under his leadership, the company became expert at logistics, market-specific assortments and remote operations - all while focusing on the needs of individuals, families and communities in underserviced locations. Edward used that expertise to grow northern operations and expand into temperate climates. In 2007, NWC acquired the Cost-U-Less chain of 12 warehouse club-style stores in the Caribbean, Hawaii and South Pacific. In 2017, he spearheaded two further major acquisitions—the expansion of NWC’s Caribbean presence with the purchase of a majority stake in Roadtown Wholesale Trading in the British Virgin Islands and the acquisition of the company’s first airline, Thunder Bay-based North Star Air, providing cargo and passenger services within northwestern Ontario.

Edward’s commitment to social initiatives and community support programs made social responsibility integral to North West’s identity. Edward placed an emphasis on supporting the health and well-being of comunities which resulted in improved access to healthy food options, improvements to the environment and funding for active-living opportunities such as nutrition classes, sport programs and running clubs. An avid runner and athlete himself, in 2002 Edward decided to use his running to help those in need as the first North West member of Team Diabetes Canada, fundraising and participating in the annual Rome marathon. After that first solo outing, North West’s participation exploded, with large groups raising money for CDA and later for our Health Horizons Foundation by venturing to annual marathons in New Orleans, Honolulu, Disneyland and the Caribbean. Edward was a driving force behind establishing the Healthy Horizons Foundation in 2015, which has raised over 1.9 million, providing funding to youth healthy-living initiatives.

In addition, many corporate programs were lauched during his leadership, such as the Greener Tomorrow program in 2011, which has reduced more than 20 million plastic bags in community landfills and has provided over 3 million in funding to community initiatives. In 2017, the Indigenous Languages program was launched across all Nothern/NorthMart stores in Canada to promote and preserve the Indigenous languages, providing translating shelf signage across more than 80 grocery categories and everyday items in 13 Indigenous Languages and over 30 dialects. The same year, the Health Happy program was also launched which has provided an expanded assortment of healthy foods in remote communities, which promotes a healthy diet and healthy living. 

Those of us who worked with Edward are well aware of his ethics, business acumen and courage to be bold. Many retail and educational institutions also recognized his strong leadership and humanitarian commitments. In 2006, he was named Distinguished Canadian Retailer of the Year by the Retail Council of Canada, recognizing his role as a leader in the retail industry, as well as his generous humanitarian and charitable commitments to the community at large. He was awarded the 2007 Henry Singer Award by the University of Alberta School of Retailing, for excellence and leadership in the retail and service sectors. In 2009, Canadian Business magazine presented him with the Top Retail Executive Award, and in 2011 he was the University of Winnipeg’s Duff Roblin Award winner, recognizing him as an outstanding Manitoban, a patron of education and demonstrating exemplary citizenship and lifelong commitment to his community.

As we pay tribute to Edward and congratulate him on a well-deserved retirement, we are also excited to open a new chapter in North West history by welcoming Dan McConnell back to Winnipeg as our new President and CEO. Dan has been a Nor’Wester for nearly 20 years, joining the company in 2002 as Manager of Real Estate and Store Development. He quickly advanced to Director in 2004, Vice President in 2008 and Executive Vice President in 2014 before relocating to Boca Raton as our first President of International Retail. We wish Dan the best in his new role and look forward to many great years under his leadership.