Michael Harrison McCain (born November 13, 1958) is a Canadian business executive who serves as the

executive chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

, as well as the outgoing president and

chief executive officer 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 ...

Maple Leaf Foods Maple Leaf Foods Inc. is a Canadian consumer packaged meats company. Its head office is in Mississauga, Ontario. History Maple Leaf Foods is the result of the 1991 merger between Canada Packers and Maple Leaf Mills. Canada Packers was f ...

. McCain formerly served as the

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

of the company until the end of 1998. He is one of the wealthiest people in Canada and is currently listed on Canadian Business Magazine’s 100 richest Canadians.

Early life and education

Michael Harrison McCain was born in

Florenceville-Bristol Florenceville-Bristol is a town in the northwest part of Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada. The town is located on the banks of the Saint John River. As of 2016, the population was 1,604. History Florenceville was originally known as ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, on November 13, 1958. He is the son of

Wallace McCain George Wallace Ferguson McCain (April 9, 1930 – May 13, 2011) was a Canadian businessman and co-founder of McCain Foods. With an estimated net worth of $US 4.15 billion (as of 2018), McCain was ranked by ''Forbes'' as the 13th wealthiest ...

, the co-founder of

McCain Foods McCain may refer to: * McCain (surname), a surname (includes a list of persons and characters) Companies * McCain Foods Limited, a producer of frozen foods * McCain, Inc., privately held American manufacturing company headquartered in Vista, ...

and

Margaret McCain Margaret Norrie McCain ( Norrie; born October 1, 1934) is a Canadian philanthropist who was the first woman to serve as the lieutenant governor of New Brunswick. She is known for her work in the promotion of early childhood education. As a me ...

, a Canadian philanthropist. McCain attended

Mount Allison University Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839. Like other liberal arts colleges in North America, Mount Allison does not parti ...

and then

Ivey School of Business Ivey Business School is a constituent unit of the University of Western Ontario, located in London, Ontario, Canada. Ivey offers full-time undergraduate (HBA), MBA, MSc, MFE and PhD programs and also maintains two teaching facilities in Toronto ...

at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

. He graduated in 1979 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

business administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

. In 2014, McCain received an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...

in recognition of his leadership in economic development.

Personal life

McCain was married to Christine McCain in 1981 and a divorced was filed on January 13, 2013. The court decree nullified a contract imposed on Christine at the time of marriage by Wallace McCain, his father, that waived her right to spousal support.

Business work

McCain companies

In 1979, he joined McCain Foods sales department and worked up into management. By 1986, he became the president of McCain Citrus Incorporated and in 1990, was appointed as the president and chief executive officer of McCain Foods USA Incorporated. In the 1990s, a prolonged legal dispute between McCain co-founders and brothers Wallace and

Harrison McCain Harrison McCain (3 November 1927 – 18 March 2004) was a Canadian businessman and co-founder, along with his three brothers, of international frozen foods giant McCain Foods. Early life McCain was born in Florenceville-Bristol, New Brunswi ...

over succession to the company leadership ended with the departure of Wallace and Michael from McCain Foods.

Maple Leaf Foods

McCain joined Maple Leaf Foods as president and

in April 1995, and is currently the president and chief executive officer of the firm. McCain is also the director of Maple Leaf Foods, McCain Capital Corporation and

Group Inc. McCain is also a member of the board of the

Royal Bank of Canada Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; french: Banque royale du Canada) is a Canadian multinational financial services company and the largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 17 million clients and has more than 89,000& ...

, the

American Meat Institute The American Meat Institute (AMI) was the oldest and largest trade association representing the U.S. meat and poultry industry. In 2015, it was merged into the North American Meat Institute (NAMI). Overview Founded in 1906 in Chicago as the Amer ...

, and also serves on the

board of trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of the Hospital for Sick Children. He was also director of the

American Frozen Food Institute The American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) is a national trade association for the frozen food industry in the United States of America, USA. AFFI conducts research, lobbying, and marketing efforts to promote frozen food. The association was founde ...

and Bombardier Inc. As CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, McCain's handling of the 2008 listeria outbreak was met with overall praise.

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

has referred to McCain as "a role model for crisis management" for his contributions toward ameliorating the incident. Writing in

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, and Rober ...

, Deborah de Lange complimented McCain's transparency, ethics, and communication skills during the outbreak, referring to his "track record of leadership", and

Hill+Knowlton Strategies A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not as ...

's Jane Shapiro referred to it as "a textbook case of how to handle a crisis". McCain was named the Business Newsmaker of 2008 by the Canadian press. Writing a 2013 case study in the

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

, business theorist

Morgen Witzel Morgen Witzel (born 1960) is a Canadian historian, business theorist, consultant, lecturer and author of management books, especially known from his work on "Doing business in China" and on "Managing in virtual organizations".Fineman, Stephen, Yiann ...

noted that in addition to accepting responsibility, McCain's recovery strategy included a hiring freeze but open hiring in the food safety department, which was to hire at any cost. In January 2020, McCain criticized "a narcissist in Washington" regarding the events that preceded

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752/AUI752) was a scheduled international civilian passenger flight from Tehran to Kyiv, operated by Ukraine International Airlines. On 8January 2020, the Boeing 737-800 flying the route was shot dow ...

being shot down by

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, from the company

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account. McCain, a well-known philanthropist, was lauded by some, for his humanity, and criticized by others, for supplanting

shareholder primacy Shareholder primacy is a theory in corporate governance—especially when dealing with United States corporate law—holding that shareholder interests should be assigned first priority relative to all other corporate stakeholders. A shareholder ...

, as reactive calls for a boycott of the company impacted stock prices. In May 2022, McCain announced that he was appointed as the executive chairman of Maple Leaf Foods and will hand over CEO responsibilities to Curtis Frank by the 2023 annual meeting.

References

Sources

Maple Leaf Foods biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCain, Michael 1958 births Living people People from Carleton County, New Brunswick Mount Allison University alumni University of Western Ontario alumni Canadian chief executives Canadian people of Ulster-Scottish descent