Gary was also Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Future Shop Ltd. with broad responsibilities for finance, accounting, real estate and public relations.

Prior to joining Inwest in August 1988, Gary worked in the corporate finance department of Burns Fry Ltd., a respected Toronto-based investment dealer. Burns Fry was later acquired by Nesbitt Burns Inc. (now BMO Nesbitt Burns) one of Bay Street's top investment houses.

Before joining Burns Fry, Gary served for seven years as Vice President, Finance of Vancouver-based Intrawest Corp., North America's leading ski resort operator and developer.

Gary played a key role in both Future Shop's and Wesbild's ongoing real estate activities. At Future Shop, he played an integral part in their real estate programme.

"We added 50 stores to our network across Canada since 1993 and upgraded or relocated dozens of other outlets, so I spent a lot of time travelling across the country identifying and securing prime store locations. The research and planning that goes into every one of these sites is extremely intensive, and that's another reason why our new stores were very successful. "

At Wesbild, Gary was involved in the acquisition and financing of the Westwood Plateau master planned community project, as well as the financing and development of the company's retail shopping center portfolio.

Gary earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1971 from Mount Allison University, in Sackville, N.B. He earned his Chartered Accountant's designation in 1974.