Tony Gagliano

LL.D. Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...

(; born June 13, 1958) is a Canadian businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the executive chairman and CEO of St. Joseph Communications, Canada's largest private communications company. St. Joseph is the publisher of many of Canada's magazines including

Toronto Life ''Toronto Life'' is a monthly magazine about entertainment, politics and life in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ''Toronto Life'' also publishes a number of annual special interest guides about the city, including ''Real Estate'', ''Stylebook'', ''Eatin ...

and

Fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion i ...

. Gagliano is President of the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Bev ...

and is co-founder and chair of Toronto's Festival of Creativity & Arts,

Luminato Luminato Festival, Toronto's International Festival of Arts and Ideas, is an annual celebration of the arts in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, launched in 2007. In its first decade, Luminato presented over 3,000 performances featuring 11,000 artists fr ...

. In 2009 he was appointed onto the board of the 2015 Toronto Pan American Games.

Background

Tony Gagliano was born to Italian immigrants

Gaetano Gagliano Gaetano Gagliano (; August 24, 1917 – April 14, 2016) was an Italian-born Canadian entrepreneur who founded St. Joseph Communications and Salt + Light Television. Career and family Gagliano was born in Cattolica Eraclea, Sicily, on August ...

and Giussepina Gagliano in 1958 in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Ontario. He was their seventh child, He has four brothers and five sisters. Gaetano started a small print shop in his basement and encouraged his children to come work for him to help grow the business. Gagliano has a

Bachelor of Business Management Bachelor of Business Management (BBM), sometimes known as a Bachelor of Management Studies, is an undergraduate program of four years. The BBM degree is designed to teach students the skills necessary to perform leadership roles in the business and ...

from

Ryerson Polytechnical Institute Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, although it also operates facilities elsewhere in Toro ...

(1980). He is married with three children and currently resides in Toronto.

Business

In 1979, he began his rise in the print industry with his first of many positions with St. Joseph Communications. He became

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

in 1987 and, shortly thereafter, at 29 years of age, was named president. After several years with the organization, he became

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 especial ...

in 1995. As of 2019, he served as executive chairman and chief executive officer of St. Joseph Communications.

Arts

After serving on the board of the

for several years, in 2009 Gagliano was appointed

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

of the board as the successor to Charles Baillie. Gagliano also led a huge initiative for the AGO which is Galleria Italia. A $13 million plan to create a beautiful space at the Art Gallery during its renovation by Canadian born architect Frank Gehry. The special aspect of this was that it was a gift from all Italian families to the city of

and to Canada which has been such a great home for all Italians. In 2009, along with the support and funding of the Canadian Federal Government, Gagliano and Pecaut announced the "Canadian Prize". A new Canada Prize for the Arts and Creativity could be in place by 2010, with large cash prizes for emerging artists in dance, music, theatre and visual arts. The federal budget allocated $25 million toward an endowment to support the awards, which would be open to artists around the world. It has never materialized.

Luminato

Gagliano is co-founder and chair of

, Toronto's Annual Festival of Arts & Creativity which opened in 2007. For the years leading up to its first festival year, Gagliano and David Pecaut thought of the idea to create what would be an arts and creativity festival. Events included performances from

The Guess Who The Guess Who are a Canadian rock band formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1965. The band originated in 1962 and achieved an international hit single with a cover of " Shakin' All Over" in 1965 under the name Chad Allan and the Expressions. After ...

Randy Bachman Randolph Charles Bachman (; born September 27, 1943) is a Canadian guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of the bands The Guess Who and Bachman–Turner Overdrive. Bachman recorded as a solo artist and was part of a num ...

K'naan Keinan Abdi Warsame (born 1 February 1978) ( so, Keynaan Cabdi Warsame, ar, كَينَان عَبدِ وَرسَمَ ''Kaynān ʿAbdi Warsama''), better known by his stage name K'naan (), is a Somali Canadians, Somali-Canadian musician. He ...

Rufus Wainwright Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and composer. He has recorded 10 studio albums and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written two classical operas and set ...

Bruce Cockburn Bruce Douglas Cockburn ( ; born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to jazz-influenced rock and his lyrics cover a broad range of topics including human rights, environmental issues, p ...

John Malkovich John Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an American actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Screen Actors Guild Aw ...

, art installations, theater productions, and operas. Millions of people attended the festival in its first four years.

Honours

Tony Gagliano is the former president of the

. On June 18, 2010, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Ryerson. Gagliano is a member of the

Young Presidents' Organization YPO (formerly Young Presidents' Organization) is an American-based worldwide leadership community of chief executives with approximately 29,000 members in more than 130 countries, according to the organization's 2019 YPO international fact sheet. ...

as well as a board member of the St. Michael's Hospital Board and the St. Michael's Hospital Foundation Board. In addition, he is a cabinet member of Toronto Metropolitan University as Ryerson is known today and an honorary board member of

Scouts Canada Scouts Canada is a Canadian Scouting association providing programs for young people, aged 5 to 26, with the stated aim "to help develop well rounded youth, better prepared for success in the world". Scouts Canada, in affiliation with the French ...

. His personal contributions center on education and the environment, supporting "Partners in Growth" with Scouts Canada, which since its inception has planted over 1,750,000 trees across Canada. St. Joseph was also the first Corporation in Canada to receive the

Financial Post The ''Financial Post'' was an English Canadian business newspaper, which published from 1907 to 1998. In 1998, the publication was folded into the new ''National Post'',"Black says Post to merge with new paper". ''The Globe and Mail'', July 23, ...

award for environmental excellence. Tony played an role in initiating the St. Joseph Foundation, which today provides consistent long-term direction to the charitable activities of St. Joseph Communications and allocates funds to the relief of poverty and the advancement of education. In October 2003, Tony Gagliano received the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for "Business to Business, Products and Services" for the Province of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. In 2008, Gagliano was recognized by the

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

-Toronto community as the recipient of the Words and Deeds Leadership Award. Tony Gagliano was also awarded with Canadian of the year along with David Pecaut in 2008 by the

Canadian Club Canadian Club is a brand of Canadian whisky produced by Beam Suntory. Popularly known as CC, Canadian Club was created by Hiram Walker and Sons, an evolution of a brand around a product that took place over the second half of the nineteenth c ...

for his efforts on Luminato. He was named one of Canada's Top 40 under 40 in 1995,

Ernst and Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewaterh ...

’s Ontario Entrepreneur of the Year for “Business to Business, Products and Services” in 2003, and he received an Alumni Achievement Award from Ryerson University in 2007. In 2011, Gagliano was named Canadian Printer of the Year and was the co-chair of the Venetian Ball in Toronto for Villa Colombo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gagliano, Tony 1958 births Businesspeople from Toronto Canadian media executives Canadian people of Italian descent Canadian people of Sicilian descent Canadian philanthropists Living people