Seventh generation Molson family members Geoff and Andrew Molson participated in a 45 minute panel Q&A with moderator Professor James Tansey from the UBC Sauder Business School. Over dinner the audience in excess of 600 guests at the Hyatt in Vancouver had a chance to write their questions down for an open Q&A period following dinner.
Geoff and Andrew Molson reflected on aspects of Molson’s business and the family’s dynamics in Canada over the past 222 years. Also discussed was the long standing commitment to community, the success of the 2005 merger of equals between Molson and Coors and the commitment to innovation and quality Molson brands in the evolving beer business.
Geoff responded to many of the day to day business queries in his role of VP Marketing and Andrew fielded most of the questions related to governance as a member of the Molson Coors Brewing Company board, in addition to his expertise in this area.
A toast to the Molson family in continuing to perpetuate this truly remarkable Canadian success story and their continued pursuit of building stronger communities.
Molson is North America’s oldest brewery…and proud of it !
Final note…a picture of Chairman of Molson Coors Brewing Company - Eric Molson with Geoff and Andrew Molson in Montreal.
About two weeks ago, Molson employee Alain Quintard rollerbladed for MS raising an amazing $4,353.00! This was Alain’s 5th year of raising money for MS and in total, he has over $25,000 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. Wow….way to go Alain!
The 46.8 km rollerblade took place along the scenic route of Humber River in Toronto, and even with heavy rain, construction obstacles, lots of slippery spots and even a hungry fox terrier, Alain completed the route in 2 hours and 46 minutes…averaging about 16.8 km/hour.
I stopped by Alain’s office yesterday to say hi and let him know that I was going to blog about his wonderful efforts, and I have to tell you, his passion and enthusiasm was spilling out of him while we chatted about his recent and past races. It was a great way to start my day.
I also found out this morning that Molson’s matching donations fund added $1,720 to Alain’s fundraising total. How great is it to work for a company that matched the donations our employees made to Alain’s rollerblade? I love it.
Last week, I traveled to Vancouver with several colleagues (look for their Blog post soon about it) to take part in a series of events Molson organized for all our stakeholders to mark the 50th anniversary of Molson brewing presence in Vancouver. It is in 1958 that Molson acquired the Capilano Brewery from Sick’s Brewery. With this acquisition Molson, the oldest brewery in North America founded in 1786, established itself in Canada’s westernmost province truly becoming Canada’s brewery from coast-to-coast.
Kevin Boyce, Molson president and CEO and Geoff Molson, (a 7th generation direct descendant of founder John Molson) were also in Vancouver to celebrate this milestone.
Kevin and Geoff
The Molson brewery is situated near Burrard Bridge in downtown Vancouver. It opened in 1953 as Sick’s Capilano Brewery, and Molson acquired it in 1958 in a transaction to purchase all of Western Canada’s breweries operated by Sick’s.
Molson recently completed a $32-million upgrade of the brewery, installing seven new fermentation tanks, a bottle washer and a bottling line. The expansion increased the production capacity by more than 40 per cent to 2.1 million hectoliters a year.
For this anniversary week Molson hosted events at the brewery to celebrate its presence in the city. The events where an occasion to meet & greet with Kevin Boyce, Geoff Molson, Gord Rickard’s and Vancouver brewmaster Kerry Scarsbrook as well as several other local members of the Vancouver brewery and sales team. Brewery tours were arranged for guests, members of the media and bloggers of the Vancouver scene. Culinary hors-d’oeuvres, and a special beer crafted especially for the occasion were served delighting everyone. The splendid weather, food and beers were enjoyed and will be remembered by all.
About a week ago, I joined the National Mentoring Program (NMP) for lunch in Toronto to celebrate and recognize the wonderful work of the students and mentors this year — kind of like a NMP graduation.
I’ve written about this program a few times over the last year, and am happy to be writing again to congratulate the Queen’s University students, their Molson Mentors and the organizations they worked with. Kevin Boyce, CEO and President of Molson, joined us as well and had a chance to hear about the great things the student/Molson teams accomplished.
The latest Molson vlog:
Kevin Boyce, Mary Donohue (founder of the NMP) and Scott Ewart
The second annual WaknRoll for Variety Village in Toronto was held Sunday September 21st. My family and I were proud to have the opportunity to join with about 400 folks who decided to participate in the 5K or 1K jaunt. We chose the 5K and had a wonderful walk through the neighbourhood surrounding Variety Village in Toronto. (Danforth and Birchmount).
The official master of ceremonies for the day was Tom Brown of CTV who got the crowd rolling with great rousing cheers of joy and celebration. Nice work Tom…great that you and CTV could be there to support this terrific event.
The morning held a special treat for those gathered with recently returning Paralympians from Beijing donning their silver medals in basketball. Adam Lancia and Abdi Dini Fatah were on hand to mix and mingle with the crowd. We salute them for their oustanding achievement.
Along the route neighbourhood supporters cheered the walkers, rollers, police escort, staff participants, families and friends of Variety and a special honour guard of motorcylce enthusiasts. Along Natal Avenue we were treated to fresh slices of oranges to keep us nourished along the route.
Our family is delighted to report that through friends, family, business associates and acquaintances that we were proud to exceed our $10,000 target and at last tally we were able to raise just over $12,000. I’m posting this here because a number of colleagues at Molson stepped up with support and Molson matches employees charitable giving up to $5000 when an employee supports a non profit. So, to the Molson employees that supported us…a big thanks…and to the Molson Donation Fund…a double big thanks. Cheers everyone and thanks for supporting Variety Village. If you’re interested in participating next year check in with Variety.
