Randy Ambrosie didn\u2019t set out to lead a national sports league. In fact, when the 1993 Grey Cup Champion got the call from the Canadian Football League (CFL) in 2017 to serve as its Commissioner, it caught him completely off guard.<\/p>\n
Ambrosie, who has been named the Goodman School of Business<\/a><\/u>\u00a02026 Distinguished Leader, began his career with nine seasons playing in the CFL before transitioning to leading national firms in the financial services sector. His professional life eventually came full circle with a return to his first love: football. Ambrosie went on to become one of the longest serving top executives in CFL history.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw the opportunity to come back to where I started with one big difference: instead of wearing shoulder pads and a helmet I would hold a pen and work in the boardroom,\u201d the now-retired Commissioner said. \u201cIt was a chance to do something special and I\u2019m happy to say that I think that\u2019s what we accomplished during my time as Commissioner.\u201d<\/p>\n The Brock and wider Niagara communities are invited to hear Ambrosie speak about his leadership journey during a fireside chat with Goodman Dean Barry Wright on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 2 p.m in the University\u2019s Goodman Atrium.<\/p>\n As he gets ready to share his insights on work and leadership with Goodman students, he hopes the principles that have guided his career \u2014 lifelong learning, authenticity and investing in others \u2014 inspire the next generation of leaders.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that students see that there are a lot of different ways to be successful,\u201d Ambrosie said. \u201cThe best way to achieve success is through authenticity and a deep commitment to your own values and the things that make you unique, which can serve as a powerful source for your own success.<\/p>\n \u201cMy career as a player was characterized not so much by raw skill as by dedication and commitment to being the best I could be. Hard work and a commitment to continuous learning is a recipe for lots of success.\u201d<\/p>\n Ambrosie held senior leadership roles in the financial services industry, including President and CEO of MacDougall, MacDougall and MacTier, and President of AGF Funds Inc., along with executive positions at HSBC, Merrill Lynch Canada and Midland Walwyn.\u00a0His time in the CFL saw him play as an offensive lineman with Calgary, Toronto and Edmonton, where he won the Grey Cup in 1993.<\/p>\n Each year, Goodman honours a prominent Canadian business leader and connects the recipient with Goodman students and the community at large.<\/p>\n \u201cOur students are preparing to lead in environments that demand resilience, adaptability and integrity,\u201d said Goodman Dean Barry Wright.<\/p>\n \u201cRandy Ambrosie has lived those qualities at the highest levels. First as a Grey Cup champion, then as a senior executive in financial services and finally as Commissioner of the Canadian Football League. His career shows that leadership principles transcend industries and I\u2019m so pleased to welcome him as our 2026 Distinguished Leader.\u201d<\/p>\n Anyone interested in attending the fireside chat is asked to save their seat by registering on ExperienceBU<\/a><\/u>\u00a0or by emailing goodman@brocku.ca<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n Past recipients of the Distinguished Leader award include Julie Dell\u2019Aniello, President of Martin Brower Canada; Mich\u00e8le Boudria, retired President and Chief Executive Office of McDonald\u2019s Restaurants of Canada; Margaret Kenequanash, CEO of Wataynikaneyap Power; Bonnie Lysyk, the 13th Auditor General of Ontario; Michael Lee Chin, Founder and Chairman of Portland Holdings and the late Ned Goodman of Dundee Corporation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Randy Ambrosie didn\u2019t set out to lead a national sports league. In fact, when the 1993 Grey Cup Champion got the call from the Canadian Football League (CFL) in 2017 to serve as its Commissioner, it caught him completely off guard.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":107833,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,9794,7484,1],"tags":[3540,2852,594,565,15032],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107830"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107830"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107836,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107830\/revisions\/107836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}