movers + shakers

Jon Turner took over as vice-president cargo at Air Canada on February 18, 2023. He replaced Jason Berry, who has returned to work at Alaska Airlines as senior vice-president of operations. Turner moves from the position of vice-president, inflight services. Turner became president, Rouge Operations in June 2019, with oversight for all aspects of Air Canada Rouge. Previously, he was vice-president, maintenance and engineering. He also served as president and CEO at Sky Regional, which operated flights under the Air Canada Express brand, and before that was executive vice-president at Air Transat. Turner holds a Bachelor of Engineering from McGill University.

Trailcon Leasing has promoted John Foss to vice-president, national accounts. Foss joined the company in 2005, and assumed positions of increasing responsibility since then. Foss is a member of the Ontario Trucking Association board of directors and has recently been appointed to the board of directors of Trucking HR Canada. He has also been the Toronto Transportation Club president three times and remains an executive trustee.

Broadcaster Ben Mulroney is joining the advisory board of same-day, on-demand local delivery company Trexity. After a 20-year media career, Mulroney is shifting his focus from broadcast news to project development.

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) has appointed three new executives. J'Maine Chubb has been appointed chief financial officer. Chubb was most recently CFO of TravelWIFI in Houston, and for six years served as the CFO and controller for Houston Airport System. Chubb also held positions at Halliburton and Schlumberger. He holds a BSc in Accounting and an MBA from Wayne State University in Michigan. Chubb took over from retiring CFO Ian Clarke, who left after five years with GTAA.

Bernardo Gogna has been appointed chief infrastructure officer of the GTAA. Gogna took over the role on February 23, 2023, following the retirement of vice-president, airport development and terminal services, Pat Neville. Gogna was previously senior vice-president for AECOM Arabia in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Previously, Gogna held senior airport development positions at Los Angeles World Airports and Royal Schiphol Airport Group.

Khalil Lamrabet has been appointed chief commercial officer of the GTAA . Lamrabet began this new role February 27, 2023. Lamrabet was previously CEO of the Saudi Air Connectivity Program in Riyadh and senior vice-president of aviation development for Abu Dhabi Airports. He also spent 10 years as director, aviation business development at Dubai International Airport. He earned a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Polytechnique Montréal and a Masters in Aerospace Engineering from McGill University.

HOW POLARIS TRANSPORTATION GROUP CONTINUES TO “RAISE THE BAR” WITH A CLEAR VISION

How does a rapidly evolving transportation company maintain the personal customer service and care of a boutique operation?

Polaris Transportation Group President and CEO, Dave Cox joined his family-owned business in 1998 and has since been overseeing its ongoing growth and success. Founded in 1994 by his parents, Larry (1945-2017) and Geri Cox, Polaris originally served as a regional freight broker trusted for delivering personal, professional services to their customers.

Polaris is now one of Canada’s largest privately held LTL carriers. Known as #CrossBorderPros, they transport hundreds of thousands of shipments between Canada and the USA every year, offering competitive transit times including next-day services to and from Toronto and select USA cities.

Their leadership team has established a unified vision honouring its fundamental values in the form of a Brand Promise – which is shared throughout all departments and divisions of the company:

“To provide industry-best cross border supply chain solutions & customer experiences through innovation and technological development while focusing on our people, customers and communities.”

Innovation And Technological Development

Polaris has maintained steady growth since initially serving as a preferred carrier for a small group of regional customers, “We’ve always been favoured for being agile and attentive,” Dave Cox recalls. With continued expansion, they needed to ensure they could continue taking the same personalized approach with every customer.

Their focus shifted toward technology. Cox comments, “We were thinking Next Generation Transportation. We knew technology was the answer and would allow us to scale up our business while actually improving our ability to serve.” He continues, “Our shift to a more digital and automated operation has pushed us forward and has become a real differentiator for us.”

Under the lead of Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Dave Brajkovich, Polaris has implemented an extensive list of digital initiatives. This began with adopting robotics – more specifically robotic process automation – for running systems in the background that would otherwise require intensive data entry labour. Now, approximately 80% of the company’s shipping documentation processing is automated.

In 2019, Polaris opened an entire division dedicated to technology development, NorthStar Digital Solutions (NDS), who launched the FR8Focus application in 2022.

In collaboration with Radaro, FR8Focus was custom-built to alleviate operational pain-points in the LTL and TL marketspace by “Connecting the road to the back office.” It offers real-time fleet and freight visibility while automating shipment document processing and unifying communications between the driver, dispatch, office and end customer.

“FR8Focus delivers internal and external solutions for carriers with speed, accuracy and simplicity. It consolidates all order data for shippers, consignees, brokers and clients to access in one place,” Brajkovich explains. Integrating FR8Focus into Polaris’ operations has relieved employees from repetitive manual tasks so they can tend to more enriching work. Dave Cox shares, “We provide a more convenient shipping experience for our clientele. At the same time, we’re making jobs for our Polaris people more fulfilling.”

People Matter

Polaris is committed to helping employees with their careers so if they leave after 10 or 20 years, they’d think, “Wow, this is a company that really cared about me.” With a strong HR department led by Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), Laura Muir, they have fostered a positive work environment that promotes the wellbeing of their people and attracts the top talent needed to take the company to the next level.

As CHRO, Laura Muir is responsible for Polaris’ meaningful employment, “Employees don’t want to be seen as a number. They really want to feel valued, recognized and like they can impact the decisions that are happening around them.”

When a Polaris employee signs on, every effort is made to ensure they have a solid foundation, understand the culture and join a peer group. The company offers ‘fireside chats’ with Dave Cox, where new hires can ask questions and get a sense of the bigger picture.

Cox comments, “Professional development is so important. We mentor our internal talent to help them fulfill their career goals, move to the next level of leadership and to help build the next group of successors at Polaris.”

Polaris offers numerous learning and training programs, including their recently opened Larry Cox Academy, to support their team’s professional development. This is while providing a culture of diversity and inclusion in which everyone has equal opportunities to thrive. Recently, they were selected as the 2022 recipient of the Trucking HR Canada Achievement of Excellence for Women in the Workplace Award, which recognizes their commitment to women’s careers since the very beginning when founder Geri Cox set a fine example for females in the trucking industry.

Corporate Responsibility

Polaris’ values extend beyond their operations. While focusing inward on their people and elevating customer service standards, they designate significant time and energy to their humanitarian efforts. Year after year, Polaris has been finding more ways to raise funds, donate food and essentials and make positive contributions to all communities the company touches.

Dave Cox reflects, “We’re in a fortunate position to be able to make a real impact and we’ve always enjoyed doing it.”

Polaris supports a long list of organizations, including grassroots groups that

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 380

TRANSPORTATION ASSETS: 200 trailers, 135 trucks

DIVISIONS: 4

Polaris Transportation Group, Polaris Commercial Warehousing, Polaris Global Logistics, NorthStar Digital Solutions

FACILITIES: Head office 7099 Torbram Rd, Mississauga, ON Polaris Commercial Warehousing 205 Bethridge Rd, Etobicoke, ON

NUMBER OF CLIENTS: 1,500+

INDUSTRIES SERVED: Dry freight of all kinds including CPG (consumer package goods), appliances, medical supplies, dry goods, paper products, electrical, auto parts and high value products.

To learn more about Polaris, visit polaristransport.com

To learn more about NorthStar Digital Solutions, visit northstardigital.solutions may not get the same attention larger charities receive but serve equally important local causes. Cox reflects, “I take immense pride in our team’s kindness and generosity,” adding, “It is our responsibility as a corporation to assist these groups that are helping our neighbours in need and I take that very seriously.”

The Customer Experience

Over time, Polaris has shown an unwavering commitment to their customers – from the small group they served in the beginning to the 1,500+ they have now. They’ve remained proactive in providing solutions for evolving shipping demands, offering convenience with end-to-end supply chain services across their 4 divisions: Polaris Transportation, Polaris Global Logistics, Polaris Commercial Warehousing and NorthStar Digital Solutions. Their ongoing efforts to best serve their customers have earned them several awards as selected by reputable industry organizations and the North American shipping community.

Cox closes, “I am so proud of our leadership group and the entire team for helping to bring our vision to life. Not only are they working incredibly hard, they are working together as one to make Polaris a better company each and every day.”

With a clear vision built upon a solid foundation of family values, Polaris is elevating industry standards to benefit their customers and the entire shipping community. Fulfilling their Brand Promise enables them to consistently provide that original boutique experience as they continue raising the bar.