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For more than 30 years, John McLennan influenced the shape and reach of Canada’s telecommunications industry. His leadership has brought innovation to the marketplace, has engendered open and free competition and has contributed to Canada’s sustained international leadership in communications. At a time when communications capabilities were virtually exploding, John had the insight to recognize the ways in which the economy and people’s lives would be changed by emerging communications technologies. John left behind strong, financially sound companies that included Mitel, Cantel, BCE Mobile, Bell Canada and, of course, AT&T Canada which was re-named Allstream. Transforming AT&T Canada from a company with dramatic losses year after year to a strong, financially viable enterprise was a daunting challenge. When AT&T decided to “walk away” from their ownership stake, John saw a substantial opportunity and set about to re-launch the organization as a customer-facing, successful enterprise. This required a complete financial and operational re-structuring of the company, completed in just five months while under CCAA (bankruptcy) protection, and involved convincing holders of $5 billion in corporate debt to exchange all of it for equity in the new company. Allstream became a contender in the industry, battling effectively against the incumbents in the business communications arena. John and his team did a careful review of their strategic options and concluded that Allstream needed to be part of a bigger enterprise to effectively grow and compete. The acquisition of Allstream by Manitoba Telecom Services was announced on March 18, 2004 in a $1.7 billion transaction just 11 months after the company’s re-launch. John served on the Board of Directors of Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. from 2004 and contributed as a member of a number of Board committees until his retirement in 2007. |