Governors' Lifetime Achievement Award Winner - Bill McCreadie

Governors' Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Bill McCreadie, McCreadie & Tait

Going to bat for Greater Victoria

There are many ways to lead. Sometimes, leaders are obvious. They’re the ones who bask in the spotlight and enjoy having the attention follow them around. Others, such as Bill McCreadie, do their work in the background and let their effort and passion inspire.

McCreadie, named The Chamber’s 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award winner by the Board of Governors, past chairs of The Chamber, has lived a life dedicated to giving back.

Governors' Lifetime Achievement Award Winner: Bill McCreadie, McCreadie & Tait

“I would never think of myself as an example for others to follow,” McCreadie says. “I have tried to pay back kindness that was extended to me as a kid, that has been my goal in life.”

Born in Grenoch, Scotland in 1942, McCreadie’s family moved to Canada one year later during the height of the Second World War. The passage was fraught with danger as Nazi U-Boats actively patrolled the ocean. After initially settling in Montreal, the family faced a decision at the end of the war. Either move back to Scotland, or head west to the Pacific to a job in Victoria’s shipyards.

McCreadie grew up in Esquimalt, and says he became enamored with Greater Victoria as a child. In high school, when his father once again needed to move for work, McCreadie made the tough choice to stay behind in the city he loved.

“My family moved to San Diego when I was in Grade 11 and, even at that age, I knew where I wanted to live so I stayed in Victoria,” McCreadie says, recalling moving in with another family who provided room and board and treated him like a son.

Looking back, he recognizes how fortunate he was to have people looking out for his best interests.

“I enjoyed playing sports and coaches recognized that I didn’t have some of the advantages other kids had, and they would swing by in their cars and drive me to and from practices and games,” McCreadie says. “I was very grateful for their kindness and I have tried to pay that back by working with kids and sports as a director or as the guy who sells the most hot dogs to support the team.”

After a short time at the University of Victoria, McCreadie decided his interests were elsewhere. He left the school to take a role with the accounting firm Bailey, Monteith and Holmes and began studying for his Chartered Accountant degree.

After the local firm merged with international giant Price Waterhouse, McCreadie was once again faced with the prospect of moving away from his roots. He knew that to further his career with the new firm, he would need to relocate to Toronto. So, staying true to his passion for Greater Victoria, he set out to start his own business. The shift also allowed him to focus on what he loved to do.

“I found that working on audits of large corporations was not satisfying to me, but helping an individual organize his or her business plans was very satisfying,” he says. “As an auditor I always felt that, when you went into an office to audit the accounts, the people working there would treat you as a necessary evil and tolerate you but not appreciate you because in their minds you were there to discover their errors. Whereas sitting down with a sole proprietor, discussing their plans and helping them get the bank financing required was beneficial for the client and very satisfying for myself.”

His work with business, naturally led him to join The Chamber.

He was encouraged to run for a seat on the Board of Directors and, after being elected, spent time as Chamber president. He was appointed to the regional Destination Marketing Commission at Tourism Victoria, which itself started as a Chamber committee. Working with longtime tourism guru Lorne Whyte, McCreadie says the commission made significant contributions to the economic growth of the region.

Now retired, McCreadie is perhaps best known in the community for his work building the relationship between Greater Victoria and its sister city Morioka, Japan.

A Chamber delegation preparing for their 1986 trip to Morioka, Japan.

Bill and his wife Rita in 1990 at Victoria Corner, Morioka Zoo.

McCreadie has served as president of the Victoria-Morioka Friendship Society since 1986. After an earthquake devastated Japan in 2011, McCreadie travelled to Morioka in 2013 to present a cheque to the community as a show of support. And recently — before the pandemic forced the postponement of this summer’s Tokyo Olympics, — McCreadie was acting as the liaison between the Canadian Olympic Association and Morioka, which had been hosting Canadian Olympians in training.

That connection inspired Chamber governor Robin Adair to nominate McCreadie for this year’s Lifetime Achievement award.

“It occurred to me that many people in Victoria had no idea about the 30 years Bill had devoted to the sister-city friendship society or his decades of service to community organizations, including The Chamber,” Adair said.

Bill presents a cheque in 2013 to help Japanese students devastated by a tsunami.

McCreadie takes the recognition in stride, preferring to keep the attention on a community that has given him so much and that he continues to pay back.

“If others are inspired by my efforts to repay kindness, then they will receive the same satisfaction I have received by my involvement in the community.”

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