Chris Rudge (born 1945) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

business

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dire ...

. He served as executive chairman and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

for the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

from 2012 to 2015. Following a business career in the printing industry, Rudge served as CEO of the

Canadian Olympic Committee The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC; french: Comité olympique canadien) is a private, non-profit organization that represents Canada at the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It is also a member of the Pan American Sports Organization ...

for the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and

Whistler, British Columbia Whistler ( Lillooet/Ucwalmícwts: Cwitima, ; Squamish/Sḵwx̱wú7mesh: Sḵwiḵw, ) is a resort municipality in Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mounta ...

, and also chaired the successful Canadian program 'Own The Podium'.

Biography

Rudge grew up in

Malton, Ontario Malton is a neighbourhood in the northeastern part of the city of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, located to the northwest of Toronto. Malton is bounded by Ontario Highway 427, Highway 427 to the east, the Brampton city limits (a Canadian National ...

, which is now a part of the amalgamated city of

Mississauga Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...

. He earned an undergraduate degree in Physical Education from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, and a certificate in Education from Queen's University.''Only man for the job'', by Frank Zicarelli, ''

The Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

'', January 31, 2012, p. S16 Rudge was a senior executive with the printing firm

Quebecor World Quebecor World Inc. was a printing subsidiary of Quebecor Inc. based in Montreal, Quebec. It comprised a number of small and large print shops throughout the world. In 2010, Quebecor World (now known as Worldcolor) was acquired by Wisconsin-based ...

Inc. He retired from that role in 2002, when Quebecor World was the world's largest commercial printing firm. Rudge served as CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee leading up to the 2010 Olympics. He also led the highly successful Canadian program 'Own The Podium', which funded and developed Canadian high performance athletes in winter sports, preparing for the 2010 Olympics. Canadian athletes produced a Games-leading 14 gold medals, the country's best-ever total in a Winter Olympics. They led Canada to a third-place finish in overall medals with 26, good for third place behind the United States and Germany; this was the country's best overall finish at a Winter Games. Rudge was hired in 2011 to run the 100th

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

game and festival, scheduled for November 2012 in Toronto. On January 30, 2012, the Argonauts hired Rudge to take over from Bob Nicholson, as team president and CEO as well, on a contract which will extend past the Grey Cup game in 2012. In May 2015, the Toronto Argonauts were bought by Kilmer Sports and

Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in t ...

from

David Braley David Osborn Braley (31 May 1941 – 26 October 2020) was a Canadian businessman and politician who was the owner of the BC Lions and previously owner of the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He was appointed to the Senate of Canada in ...

, and Michael Copeland replaced Rudge as President and CEO of the Argonauts at the beginning of 2016, when Rudge's contract came to an end in December 2015.Michael Copeland named new president, CEO of Toronto Argonauts
from ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', 13 July 2015, retrieved 17 March 2016

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rudge, Chris 1945 births Living people Queen's University at Kingston alumni Sportspeople from Ontario Canadian businesspeople Toronto Argonauts team presidents University of Toronto alumni