CALGARY – Shaw Communications announced Thursday it was substantially finished with its total business transformation plan announced in February 2018.
The TBT was focused on “reinventing our operating model to better meet the changing needs and expectations of consumers and businesses,” reads the press release. The program saw a large number of employees leave the company, cushioned by a generous voluntary departure package.
“As part of this journey, we have become a more focused, agile and accountable organization, which has allowed us to drive meaningful productivity improvements in the way we operate and invest so that we can deliver a superior connectivity experience by leveraging our world-class converged network,” said Brad Shaw, CEO, in the release.
The company also announced Jay Mehr, Shaw’s president, is retiring effective April 9th. He has been president of the company since March 2016.
“On behalf of our board and our employees, I want to thank Jay for his nearly 25 years of distinguished service at Shaw including playing a pivotal role in the launch of a broad range of successful consumer and business initiatives,” said CEO Shaw.
“Jay’s contributions over the years are too many to fully list and include his leadership in introducing Shaw to Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, building deep strategic relationships with industry-leading partners to gain scale and operational efficiencies, and most recently achieving stability in our consumer division. Having risen through the ranks, he ensured that the contributions and input from our field, branch and operations staff were recognized and acted upon – a practice that we will carry on.”
“I am extremely proud of the work we have accomplished together and thankful towards Brad, the Shaw Family, our board and, in particular, each and every Shaw team member,” said Mehr (pictured in a 2014
file photo). “While the decision to retire from Shaw was not easy, I take great comfort in knowing that our customers are the source of our innovation and their experiences are at the forefront of every decision made by our exceptionally talented leadership team and our highly engaged employees. I look forward to celebrating their successes as I transition to the next chapter of my life.”
In Mehr’s place, Paul McAleese, the company’s wireless president, is being promoted to president of Shaw Communications. He will be responsible for overseeing all sales, marketing, base management and customer facing areas of the business, including both the wireless and wireline divisions, said the company. “Since joining Shaw three years ago, Paul has demonstrated a strong track record of delivering profitable wireless growth, instilling operational discipline and building high performing teams,” reads the release. (McAleese is pictured at right representing the company at the recent CRTC wireless policy 
review hearing.)
During his tenure, Freedom wireless subscribers have grown by more than 50%, and wireless revenue has approximately doubled and now exceeds $1 billion. Its LTE network now covers approximately 18 million Canadians.
“Paul’s contributions over the past few years go beyond his role as president, wireless, as he has been a key member of the senior leadership team at Shaw where his passion, energy and operational focus have led to the successful development of cross-divisional efforts between our wireless and wireline organizations,” said Shaw. “With the heavy lifting of our labour optimization behind us, it is now time to decisively evolve from a product-focused organization to a fully integrated customer-centric organization.”
“I look forward to accelerating the great operating momentum we have developed over the past few years and providing exciting growth opportunities for our approximately ten thousand dedicated Shaw employees,” said McAleese in the release.
As the voluntary departure program approaches its completion, the company said it is on track to deliver annualized combined operating and capital savings of approximately $200 million. Over 2,900 employees have departed over the last two years as part of this program and the last remaining approximately 200 VDP employee exits will take place over the next two months.
“We are confident that we have the right team, strategy, financial strength and plan in place to capitalize on the long-term growth opportunities with a more integrated approach to the way we run our business and serve our customers, which further supports our strengthening free cash flow profile,” Shaw said.
