A Coffee with John Liston, Partner at Newcastle West Partners

Join us for a coffee and chat with John Liston, Partner at Newcastle West Partners! Growing up in a large Irish immigrant family in Edmonton, John was a standout hockey talent pursued by Ivy League schools until a sudden injury ended his professional aspirations. This early setback forced a transition into civil engineering and eventually the insurance industry, proving that a major change in direction can lead to even greater opportunities than the ones left behind.

John’s career took a monumental turn when he was handpicked for the due diligence team during the $2.94 billion acquisition of London Life. Competing against global financial giants, this high-stakes experience sparked a lifelong passion for mergers and acquisitions that now defines his specialized work in transitions and succession planning. His journey from drafting Edmonton's Anthony Henday ring road to navigating multi-billion dollar corporate sales offers a unique perspective on the grit and adaptability required to thrive in the Alberta business landscape.

Beyond the boardroom, John is deeply committed to community impact, specifically through his involvement with the Cure Cancer Foundation. Inspired by his father’s battle with the disease, he is a tireless advocate for funding research into CAR-T cell immunotherapy and raising the capital needed to build specialized labs right here in Canada. 

This conversation captures the remarkable story of a man who balances high-level professional excellence with a profound dedication to his family and the long-term health of his community.

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Transcript

0:02

Hi, I'm John Liston, and you are listening to Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam. Jennifer, it is a winter wonderland here today. Well, people that thought that we weren't going to get this again were wrong. I know, it was like spring for so long, and now once again, it is winter 2.0. It is in all of Alberta today. I know, it's really crazy. If you were in Alberta, lots of snow. Everywhere, and so hey, we are coming to you from the heart of beautiful downtown Acheson at The Wall Coffee Roasters here in Acheson, and that's why if you hear some machines whirring in the background and people talking and kids screaming, although there's nobody- It's very quiet in here today. I think it's because of the snow. People don't want to go out. I think everybody stayed home. Dog sleds aren't out, skidoos aren't out, all that kind of stuff. And so yeah, it's just quiet in here today, but nonetheless, it's kind of a winter wonderland out there. We were all getting used to spring, and it's not spring anymore. So spring's coming, I think. I think in 30 some days. In 30 some days. I think the ground, did the groundhog see himself when he came out of the whole thing? I don't believe that. I don't know how that works. And besides, that's not the original groundhog, because I don't think groundhogs live for like 100 years old. I don't think so either. Anyway, none of that. But hey, we're happy to be with you today, and want to let you know that today's podcast is being brought to you by none other than Wing Snob Canada. It's the best place for wings. You'll ever get wings is the best place for wings. Does that make any sense? Well, sure. Yeah? Yeah, because they're fresh, never frozen. That's right, fresh, never frozen. 16 flavors, four rubs. It's absolutely amazing. You know what I saw on the weekend? They opened their new store in Grande Prairie this weekend. Did they? They did. Oh, that's exciting. There you go, Mikey Chadi. Congratulations. Yep, that's really awesome. And so we just want to thank Wing Snob. They are amazing. Hey, listen, tonight, if, actually, don't go tonight. Go tomorrow night to Wing Snob, because you know what today is? Most people don't know this. It is Shrove Tuesday. Pancakes. Pancakes. But you know what's also included in pancakes? I read this, donuts. I'm not even kidding you. I saw it this morning on the Italian Centre, our good friend Teresa Spinelli. I saw that donuts are included on Shrove Tuesday. I don't know. No, I'm serious. It was there. Teresa, put it there. I'm not even kidding. It was there. So you could have either donuts or you could have pancakes. I'm having pancakes. And yeah, so go tomorrow to Wing Snob to get your Wing Snob wings, and tonight have pancakes, because it's Shrove Tuesday. We always did that when I was a kid. Always. My mom, always on Shrove Tuesday, we had pancakes. Wasn't allowed to have bacon or sausages or anything with it. You just had to have the pancakes. So that's what I'm having. So wings tomorrow. Wings tomorrow, pancakes tonight. Perfect. Anyway, Wing Snob, www.WingSnob.ca. And you want to check them out, because it's the best place for wings, I'm telling you right now. And we are also brought to you by... Our friends over at Mprint, Sign and Print Solutions here in Acheson. That's right. They will print anything from your business cards to your pamphlets to your brochures. They will even wrap your vehicles. They sure will. I know. It's so cool. In fact, they did our wonderful mugs. They did. They are the preferred... You always say this. I like this. They are the preferred printer of Coffee In The Park, which I think is really awesome. They're amazing people, Don and Jan. Wonderful people here at Acheson. No matter where you are, and I'm telling you, they do quality work. They've done work for like University of Alberta. They've done a lot of big clients. Really amazing. But you know what? When you go in there, you just feel like they're family. They're pretty amazing and I love them. Absolutely. They're the best. So thank you, Don and Jan, for sponsoring Coffee In The Park. And you can check them out at www.mprint.ca. M-print.ca, not Im, M-print.ca. That's right. So check them out, because they're pretty awesome people and they do amazing, amazing work. So I'm excited about today. Well I'd like to thank our guest for trekking through the Alberta winter. No kidding, eh? To come join us today. I know. I was wondering. I actually thought, honestly, I was going to get a text this morning going, can't do it, too snowy, too icy, too wintery, too much snow. And no, he was a trooper. He's here. He's here. He's like, the dogs are parked outside for the sled. It's really awesome. And he made it. It's really cool. I think it's awesome that he's here and I'm excited. So let's kick it off. All right, introduce our guest. Our guest today is John Liston. Welcome John. John. Thank you for having me. Good to have you. Thrilled to be here. Man, thanks for coming out. It's a beautiful day. It is actually in Alberta. This would be considered a beautiful day. You know what it is? It's normal. It's, yeah. For February it's normal, I think. Yeah. And people got to know, because again, our listeners are all over the place. People got to know that here in Alberta, we could have winter easily for another six weeks. Easily. Oh, sometimes March is our heaviest snow. Although I did hear on the radio this morning, driving into work, that the average temperature right now last year at this time was only minus three. But we've had that the last two weeks. We can't complain. Anyway, John, thanks again for driving out and braving the roads and being a good Albertan. It's really cool. So let's get started. Let's get started. Okay, we're going to take it back to the beginning like we do all of our guests. So we can find out about John. Where were you born and where did you grow up, John? I was born in Edmonton. I'm the son of immigrants. Three of my siblings were born in Ireland. Come on. My parents are both Irish. Yeah. Then three of us were born over here in the good city of Edmonton. Wow. What year did your parents come over from Ireland? My parents came in 1956. Really? My father did some work in the British Army, served in North Africa. And then they found their way back to England. They were in Manchester for a period of time. And an opportunity came to this crazy place in Edmonton called the General Hospital. It was run by the Grey Nuns. And so my dad's first contract was an invitation from the Grey Nuns to come out and live. They arrived December 15th in weather like this. Wow. Really? Now, a couple of things there. You say you're... So what did your dad do? My father was a radiologist. Okay. So he'd studied, did his undergraduate in Ireland, did his postgraduate in Manchester, and then wanted to pay back the favor of having education in England. And so he served in the British Army for a period of time just after the war. Right. Why come to Edmonton And in February? Of all places in February. Why Edmonton? It's actually an interesting story. My father and mother had these young kids in Manchester, and they would take turns going to the movie theatre, because they couldn't afford a babysitter. So one would go, and then the other, and then they would talk about the movie afterwards. So it was a very... I like it. That's really good, actually. It's a lean experience. And my father saw that the medical system, even in 1956, was struggling in the national health system in England. They were struggling. So they were open to something new. Canada was calling. Canada at that time in the 50s was growing wildly. And it's a tremendous tribute to Alberta and to Canada. So they were calling for professionals of any sort. And so my parents jumped on a boat with three kids and seven pieces of luggage and $700. That's what fascinates me. What a challenge, right? The unknown. They've obviously never been here. Never. Just heard about it from what they read probably or what people told them. And again, why Alberta? Could they have chosen any other province? That's a good question. My dad had offers to go to London, Ontario. Yeah. And I think Halifax was calling. But it was a bit more of a definitive offer from Edmonton. Yeah. And the Grey Nuns at the General Hospital. So I arrived into Halifax with, you know, again, three kids and seven pieces of luggage and then had to jump on a train from Halifax all the way to this place called Alberta. Wow. When they got here, it turned out the train went to Calgary, not Edmonton. Oh. So they ended up in Calgary. So they ended up in Calgary and then had to figure out how to get here. Right. But Dad's partner, a guy named Rupert Clare, who was the president of the Edmonton Eskimos Board at one time. Really? Very interesting history. Yeah, yeah. Back in, you know, these were the legendary days of the Eskimos three peak. Yeah. Normie Kwong. Normie Kwong, yes, that's right. So Mom and Dad and my three sisters arrived December 15th into weather very much like today. Yeah. Yeah. And were introduced to Alberta. Man, I always wonder when that happens and they come and they land in Edmonton on December 15th and whether, do they ever just go, what are we doing here? You made a mistake, we're going and we're leaving. Yeah, we're going back. Like, I don't know what it's like in Ireland. I don't think they get this in Ireland. Probably not. It's a very damp, wet, so they get cold and they're being flooded right now. Yeah. They do not get 40 below. No, and I noticed not a lot of people got the call to Vancouver, which. No, you're right. It was the Prairie provinces or Eastern Canada. And so, you know, if they had known how Vancouver was, they might have all gone to Vancouver because it's a little more milder than it is here. But nonetheless, they ended up here, which is really good. That's cool. Well, remember that people went to where the opportunity was. Right. Yes, that's right. You didn't start to get picky. Yeah. Yeah. You said, where can I set myself up to raise my family, feed them and live a reasonable life? Sure. So three siblings, your mom, your dad, land in Edmonton. Here they are. How long after that did little John come along? So they arrived in 56. I have a brother and sister who are twins who were born in 59. Okay. And then I was born in 62. So a few years later. 62? My parents kept going until they got it right. Then they stopped because you can't improve upon perfection. Like you just stopped. I'm sure his siblings listening right now will be like yes we agree with this. That's right. They're like, yeah, they're like, okay, wait till Christmas. All right. So 62, you were born. Along comes little John. By now they're a little bit, they're settled in Edmonton. Absolutely. Yeah. So you're settled here and you're doing all that. What school, what elementary school did you go to? So we lived out in the West End and I went to a school called St. Rose. Okay. And St. Rose was a one to nine. Right. So it was a, you know, elementary, junior high. And then I went to St. FX. Oh, the famous St. FX. It wasn't famous then. No, it is now. It's pretty, yeah. It's done very well with the sports academy. Yeah. So you didn't go when there was a sports academy. No, those were not in vogue. Those didn't exist? No, I don't think, no. You know, we, and it's a bit of a shame where it's gotten to. We had community leagues. And you played sports for your community league. Right. You know, we played, I played a lot of hockey. We played, you know, 24 games, 21 would be outdoor. Right. And then you'd have maybe three indoor if you're lucky. On a day like today. Well, it was, if it was minus 10 Fahrenheit, right, which is minus 23 Celsius. So it's warm enough now that you would play tonight. And if you were like me, because I grew up here playing hockey on the outdoor rink, we had to, we were the ones who had to shovel the ice with the big, remember the big scrapers and we'd have to be the one, we'd scrape it and then we'd have our game. We were the ones, no zambonis. That's all I'm saying. There was no zambonis. We were the zambonis. Well, and if you're lucky, you got the scoop shovel. Yes. That was easier to shovel than it was to scrape. Yeah, the big, that's right. And then when you were done, the guy would come out with the big hose and he'd spray down the rink for the next crew coming on. Yeah, that was it. Yeah, it was, you know, it was part of the community. Yeah. You know, my wife's father was the rink guy. Oh, yeah, yeah. At midnight. Yeah. He and the guys would go over. I have a feeling they might have had a shot or two while they were doing it, but they would flood the rink. That's why they did it at midnight. They flood the rink. Yeah, flood the rink. Get it ready for the community. And it was just... I know. We had these little tags on our skates. I know. This makes us sound so ancient, but it's how they did it. And we, I don't know about you, but I grew up in Westmount area and we called it the shack. So we went to the shack and the heater was on and you'd huddle around the heater. You'd do up your, try to do up your laces and it was cold. Your fingers were freezing and then you'd go out and play a game and it was cold sometimes. Well, that plays into just recently the world's longest hockey game. That's right. They just finished that. These guys went for 11 days straight. Yeah. And the blisters they have on there, like just extraordinary. That's right. They played hockey for 11 straight days. So for people who don't know, it's in Sherwood Park, Alberta, which is just like a little suburb of Edmonton. It's a town, a city, I guess now. And they do the world's longest hockey game, 24-7 for 11 days, non-stop. There's always somebody playing. They do have a Zamboni. So there's a little bit of a break. And they have 40 players. It raised $1.1 million so far. Amazing. Absolute, for cancer is my understanding. It's going to save a whole pile of lives. Cancer research. I know. That's pretty incredible when you think about it. And so just think of it, 11 days straight, 40 people taking shifts and playing hockey in the cold, outside, not inside. Although it wasn't very cold. No, it wasn't. That's true. I imagine the ice was a little challenging, but we'll get to that. Well, and I do remember years when they've had this event and it's been cold, very cold. Two years ago, it was minus 40. If the puck hit the post, it shattered. Yes, I remember. And they still played through. Oh, they were troopers, these guys. Unbelievable. Most of them have a tie to cancer like all of us. Yeah. And so the whole time that they're suffering, because it is not a joyful hockey game. No, no. Their memory is this is nothing compared to Chemo. Right Or Immunotherapy or radiation. Yeah. So it's extraordinary. Yeah, it's really amazing. And it is a world record. I believe it does go in to the Guinness Book of World Records. And it's pretty incredible. I think here in Sherwood Park, here in Edmonton, not far from downtown Acheson here. Incredible. Have you played in it? No, I've not. I participated in fundraising for a sister event. But we should give a shout out to a guy named Brent Saik. Dr. Brent Saik is the host of this thing. This thing is on his property out in, just outside of Sherwood Park. And he's an optometrist out in Sherwood Park. Right. He lost his father to cancer. He lost his wife to cancer. And he is going to fix cancer one way or the other. That's fabulous. And they've done this for. They've raised well over a million dollars with this hockey game. Awesome. And we'll talk a little bit more about that. Okay. So you went to FX, you graduated high school, you made it through three years, you were done. Best six years of my life. That's right. That's right. What did you want to do though, when you were growing up in high school, was there a career that you thought, yes, this is what I want to do? Did you want to follow in your father's footsteps and go into healthcare? No. You know what? I wanted to play professional hockey. Really? I would love to have pursued that. Yeah. So that's where I probably was at in high school. Yeah. I did have some opportunities. Don't know how much detail you want to go into that stuff. Let's go into it. This is interesting. So yeah. So in grade 11, I'm at home and the phone rings and it's the coach of Harvard. Harvard University in Boston. Harvard University in Boston. And it's a guy named Val Belmonte. He's the assistant coach. He's coming through to recruit. And he said, I'm going to be in Edmonton tomorrow. Is there any chance I could come to your school and see you? Yeah. And I was not that bright. Maybe I shouldn't say was. I'm not that bright. No, I think things have changed. Anyways, yeah. I told him I was a little busy. I'm a little, I love that. Harvard, I'm busy. Harvard, I'm busy. I'm sorry. But I had a physics exam the next day, and I didn't want to miss my physics exam. So long story short, he arrives to St. FX High School and he goes into the office, talks to the principal. Yeah. And the principal comes down, knocks on the door in the middle of the exam and says, John, can I get you to come out? There's somebody who wants to see you. And I'm like, I'm writing an exam here. I would have been out. Yeah, you would've ran. I'm done, I would have ran out. So the principal has given up his office and I sit down with this coach and he's got a flip chart that he's selling me Harvard. This is the quad and this is this and this is that. In retrospect, just a remarkable experience. Yeah. So I was recruited by several of the Ivy League schools, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth. And so I had a chance. I did get injured. I wrecked my knee, the coach of Yale was coming out to see me play, and I wrecked my knee in a crazy play, and the window of opportunity opened and closed quite quickly. So was there scouts who were like traveling around Alberta and they saw you? Or somebody phoned the guy at Harvard and said, hey, we got this guy named John Liston. How does that work, like how did? So my rights were held by Portland Winterhawks when I was 14, coming out of Bantam, and my father who valued education said, John's not playing junior hockey, he's going to go to college, and so that eliminated the WHL. I was traded around a little bit, but I never played anything there. And in the process, the WHL scout passed my name along to, there's a talent scout in Edmonton at the time, his name is Dr. Bill Grace, and he worked with the Ivy League schools to find people. So he was kind of the connection, told the schools about, it was a few buddies of mine and I. And so that was the start of that kind of scouting. Wow. So the Harvard guy came, did he like ya, did he want ya, did he sign ya? Who knows whether he liked me or not? You can imagine these guys are going all across North America. So I was actually being interviewed at the same time that Troy Murray, who ended up with a tremendous career in Chicago and has been the play-by-play guy for them. That's right. And another guy named Randy Bucyk. Yes. His uncle was Johnny Bucyk. And both those guys went away to different schools, not to Harvard. They were better hockey players than I was. And so they both, Randy has a Stanley Cup ring from the Montreal Canadiens in 1993. And Troy had this tremendous career. And we've got an arena named after him out in St. Albert. Yeah, that's right. So, anyway, fascinating times. That is. And so you wrecked your knee, so you didn't get to play. That must have been hugely disappointing. But I'd also like, we've had a Harvard hockey player on our podcast, Noah Welsh, played for Harvard and then went on to play for Pittsburgh. Yeah, Pittsburgh. And so, yeah, anyway, so that's kind of cool. So you didn't get to play. You must have been terribly disappointed. Yeah, it was, you know, it was one of those changing moments of life. Yeah. And listen, they're blessings if you see them the right way. Right, yeah. And so I've been tremendously blessed. So you knew you couldn't play professional hockey now or go to school and play hockey. What did you want to do? What did you? So my father was very insistent that I go and get an education. And so, and I was not the best of students. Right. I was fine, but I was probably lazy more than I was anything else. Yeah. And so I thought if I'm going to go to university, I have to find the quickest route out. So I went into engineering and engineering has four years and then you come out as an engineer. So it looked like it was fun. Yeah. Well, it wasn't. It wasn't fun. It's like, it's not like Home Ec. It's not, I'm just saying, it's a little harder. It was quite a journey. It was a transitional time for me. I didn't know what I wanted to be. Was this going on at U of A? Yes. You were at U of A? I went to U of A. That was in 1980. So after my first year of engineering and I was an average student, nine job offers for the summer, could do anything. Alberta was thriving in 1980. Oil boom. And so it was a it was a gloriful time and I went through a couple of years in engineering and then I had a meeting with the dean. His name was Peter Adams and it was the first time we ever agreed because he didn't want me there and I didn't want to be there. Get out. It's nice when it's mutual like that. Yeah, it's working. Yeah, that's good. I left and went and worked for an engineering company. I thought I got to go find out if this job is worth chasing. So I worked for a great engineering company called Stewart and Weir, it's since transitioned, but we were thriving at the time. We actually, I was a draftsman on this little road called the Anthony Henday. Oh yeah, the ring road. Yeah, it's the big ring road around Edmonton. We designed that ring road and the ring road around Calgary in 1983-84. And we've just completed it. Yeah, so when you were designing it back then, did you think they were going to do it right away? Because that's... You know what, it was a tremendous study. You know, things like the road between St. Albert and there was the Catholic......where they......Seminary. There's the word I'm looking for. And they had to decide whether they were going to infringe on St. Albert or infringe on the Seminary. They ended up infringing on this Seminary. And the Seminary picked up and moved into Edmonton. That's right. But so it was a fascinating time to be involved in this thing. Yeah, I mean, Edmonton, well, it's certainly grown since then significantly. So your studies then must have been unique. And the fact that it was based on maybe what Edmonton was, what it could grow to be. And now it's grown significantly. So they've had to since put a third, third lane around. And in my opinion, just saying, my opinion should have been, there could have been a fourth lane, but nonetheless, that's just my opinion. So that's pretty cool. So the ring road, I have a friend, he's 90 some years old, actually, he just lost his license. But up until a few months ago, he would almost every month, without a doubt, he would drive the entire ring road. He would just drive around, because he said it was a great drive, because you got to see the whole city from the ring road, it's pretty cool. So that's pretty cool that you were part of that. Yeah, I haven't seen the John Liston exit yet, but I'm sure that it's coming somewhere. You know what? For some reason, they wouldn't do it. I didn't get that call. Right. Okay. So you finished the Henday, well, you finished drawing it. It took a long time. Yeah. I know there were some engineers and I. Yeah, you're the guy. I was the draftsman, so. How long did that last? How long did the engineering gig last? I worked with Stuart and Weir 83, 84, 85, and I got married in the middle of all that. I was 21, and I got married in 1984. So it was a very interesting time. Then I went back to school, went to NAIT. So I decided I wanted to be involved in engineering, but I went to NAIT in civil engineering technology. Which was very attached to Stewart and Weir, it was surveying. It was much more of the hands-on piece, project supervision, that sort of stuff. So I went and did two years at NAIT. So I graduated as a civil engineering technologist, not from the university as an engineer. Okay. Wow. So again, I had nine job offers in 1981, the summer. One in two in 1984 that graduated from university had a job. Wow. Well, things had really changed in Alberta then too, right? The national energy policy came in, and it just stopped the bus. Yeah, it did. And it was an extraordinary time. Many engineers I know went back and got teaching degrees or whatever it was to just kind of survive through that period. Everything changed. So John mentioned his wife. Yes. John. John. Tell us about your wife. Where did you meet her? Where? How did that happen? So when I was 16, 16, I played on a hockey team. Yeah. And we went to Sweden on a trip. Oh, and so it was quite an exciting time. It was a bunch of guys that I'd grown up with, and they're still very close friends today. So, you know, sports is so good for developing long term friendships. Yes, absolutely. One of the fellows, his family came on the trip, and their oldest daughter is the young lady who I've been married to for 41 years. So I joke, I met my wife in Sweden. Right. She's from Edmonton. Right. But you met her in Sweden. And we met in Sweden and continued on from there. Was it love at first sight, or did it take a bit of convincing, or? Thank God this thing is sound and not video. Audio, yeah. Video, yeah. I don't know that I would get picked out as a love at first sight. Listen, we were just so blessed. We met at 16, continued our relationship, and it's been... And got married at 21. Got married at 21. Okay. And how long after 21 did the children's start? Children's. Children's. Did the child's start arriving? We were married in 1984, and then we did not have kids for nine years. Okay, yeah, yeah. The good Lord hadn't blessed us with them yet. And it was a great journey. We moved around a little bit. I was working... I left the engineering industry and went into insurance. I worked for London Life. Yes. And I joined London Life in 1987. And we moved to London, Ontario. Ended up moving as a national training manager for London, right? In London, Ontario. So we moved to London. And my wife went through... I was raised Catholic. Right. She was raised Baptist. Okay. There's a mix right there. And we went through what's called RCIA, which is a course within the Catholic faith. And she converted to Catholicism. And shortly thereafter, we were blessed with our first child. Wow. So, incredible journey. But we were nine years before we had our first son. So you had your first son. Yeah. All right. And he was born in London, Ontario. Okay. So it was a great experience for us to be in London. Right. And then we got transferred to Winnipeg. Oh, I'm sorry. No, that's good. Yeah. Don't, we might have Winnipeg listeners. I know. It's cold in Winnipeg. Well, we're talking today. That's a really dumb statement today. But it's windy in Winnipeg. You know what? We moved into a nice neighborhood in Winnipeg, and we were received. It was the most friendly place. Yeah. It was extraordinary. Very much like Edmonton. Right. I think part of the gig is those cities don't get a lot of respect from the outside. Yes. So their core on the inside is extraordinarily strong. You know, that's a really good way of putting it. It's true, though. It's true, because, yeah, you're right. Nobody, yeah. But like Edmonton is a very friendly place. It's a very great community-oriented type of place. Winnipeg, Saskatoon, all those places, very community-oriented. You know, I hate to pick on it, but when we moved to London, Ontario, if we were walking our dog down the sidewalk and we said hi when we passed somebody, we were the odd one. Yeah. Well, that's because they're just all disgruntled because they've never, they haven't won a Stanley Cup for like 80 years, so like they're just mad people. They're just like not happy. It was just much more state. But when you're in Winnipeg or Edmonton, you cross somebody. Paths with people. That's right. You're, you're friends momentarily. Not only do you just say hi, you stop and talk. You have a conversation. Yeah, like the good. Yeah, it's the good old days. I know. No, you're right about that. I think I think it's Prairie Provinces. There's something about it. That's yeah, it's good. And that makes up for the fact that it's cold. Minus 30 here, half the year, but anyway. Listen, our summers are beautiful. I know, they really are. Those four weeks are some of the best weeks of the whole year. I'm just kidding, but sometimes it's true. Sometimes it's true. It is true sometimes. So John, what called you back to Edmonton from Winnipeg then? Well, I'd made a promise to my wife when we left Edmonton that we would just be a short stint and we would be back. Right. Her family was here? Her family's here. And your family was here? My family, the siblings were all around here. My parents picked up and moved out to the BC coast. They retired to a little island called Salt Spring Island. Yes, beautiful. And enjoyed retirement out there. Yeah. But yeah, we were pulled back to Alberta. When you're in a company and you leave, it's pretty rare to actually get back. Yes. And so we were lucky. We worked pretty hard at trying to find a way back and did in 1995. Okay. So we ended up back. We moved into St. Albert, close enough to our families, but far enough. I always say close enough, I could borrow tools. Yeah. Far enough way I didn't have to bring them back. Bring them back. That's good. I love that. That's really good. Yeah. So yeah. So we ended up back here in 95. Yeah. And have been building community. There's something about coming home. It's just as you're saying that because I was away for 30 years and came home and somebody asked me the other day because most of mine was away on the coast and somebody said, do you miss it? And I said, I don't. And they say, you don't miss the weather? Well, I don't actually because I don't miss the rain. But there's something about coming home with your family, being with your family. It's great. I love it. I'm willing to put up with minus 30 for that. Listen, you know, it's different for everybody. There's a lot of, you know sayings, once you leave home, you'll never have a home. Yeah. Because when you come back, it's not the same place. No, no. But if family is there. Listen, I still run into people that I went to high school, went to junior high and you can't, you know, I couldn't do that in London or whatever. I didn't have any history there. Yeah. So there is something valuable. Yeah. And I value that. Not everybody does. Right. So you came back here. You're doing insurance still. Yeah. I ended up in 90. So I came back to a regional manager. So I was running an office for London Life. And then a buddy of mine had moved to Great West Life and Great West Life was at that time based in Winnipeg. They were a very successful company like London was. And my buddy convinced me to come and leave London and move over to Great West Life. So in 1996, I moved to Great West Life. Right. And then very interesting times, Great West Life ended up. I got a phone call one day. I was the regional director for Great West Life. I got a phone call from the president and he said, did you see the paper this morning? And I had not. And he said, the Royal Bank has just made an offer to buy London Life. And we think we're going to maybe jump in. And I was the last one who had left London Life to join. And so I got a message that there'll be some tickets on your desk momentarily and tell your wife, you just have a meeting in Winnipeg and you're going to come in and be part of the due diligence team on this purchase. Yeah, yeah. So we were, you know, Great West Life was competing with the Royal Bank to buy London Life. And I'm Johnny Lunchbucket, right? I'm just some guy out in Edmonton. And next thing you know, I'm on teams where, you know, we've had a distribution team. And it was interesting because the Royal Bank had three questions about distribution. We had 39 pages of single, single-spaced questions because we knew the business. And so we ended up, they offered 2.4 billion. We ended up offering 2.9 billion. And then we got wind of a European group that was coming in. And so we ended up throwing in $40 million for exclusivity. So it was 2.94 billion. Can you imagine throwing in $40 million... Billion, Cam. Billion. I know. I'm just sitting here thinking like, I thought you were going to say, and we threw in hockey tickets for the event. We threw in, everybody gets a car. Like, unbelievable. No, it's just extraordinary experience. Yeah, that's amazing. And again, I'm, you know, this kid... But for you, what an experience. The knowledge, the learning curve. Yeah. It's actually what my whistle on this whole premise of mergers and acquisitions. Right, right, yeah. Because it was a public company, buying a public company. And so you have to go to the Securities Commission, you have to announce it. Right, right, yeah. Go through all the hoops. And the London guys were unhappy because if the bank bought them, nothing was really going to change. Right. Just a new shareholder. Yeah. But if a competitor bought them, you know, there'd be a lot of consolidation, right? You don't need two accounting departments, you don't need two of this. Right, right. Yeah. So it was to some degree hostile. And it's, I could go on for. I always love that, a hostile takeover. I always love that. You watch too much Succession. I know I do, I watch too much Succession. You're right. That was the best. I love that. Anyway, okay. So now you've done this. You're staying in the insurance business. You're in Edmonton. You have your children. This is wonderful. Life is good. Life is good. Life is good. And I was able to, you know, I was what was called a regional director originally for Edmonton. And then we had four offices and ended up kind of running what was called a resource center with Great West. But I could coach my kids in all their sports. Yeah. I was home. It was an extraordinarily good time. Right. I was on the hospital board. So very much a solid period of time to raise the kids. Right. Again, what a blessing to not have to be on the road and all those sorts of things. For sure. So very lucky. Yeah. And so I want to touch on that a little. You're very involved. You're very involved in many things. You sit on many boards. You have sat on many boards. You're very involved with cancer and funding for cancer and development for cancer. Tell us a little about that. How? Why did that come about? In 1971, so I'm at that time, nine. Right. Sorry, 1969. Right. I'm seven. My father has cancer. He's 45 years old, six kids, and he has what's called nasopharynx cancer, which is all of his neck. Right. You could go into the causes, but in the end, one in three people live with this particular cancer. The only place you could get this brand new stuff, it was called radiation, was in Winnipeg. Okay. So mom and dad flew to Winnipeg Monday to Friday. Yeah. Dad got just demolished in his neck area, and then he would come home, sleep all weekend, get on the plane and go. Wow. And so my oldest sister, who is 11 years older than me, kind of raised us for this two or three month period. Right. So very interesting time in cancer. My father had cancer four times and died from it in 1996. So it's, you know, this cancer thing is just unbelievable. So I've gotten involved with a group that's called the Cure Cancer Foundation. And what they're doing is really kind of focusing their funding, trying to get as much money we can into the research. There's a couple of doctors here in Edmonton at the Cross Cancer Institute, Dr. Sandhu and Dr. Chu, along with many, many others. They are working on something called CAR-T cell immunotherapy. And they, others have played a role in discovering this, but they're taking it deep. And ultimately, they can take cells out of your body, teach them how to be warriors, put them back in the body and have them go and fight the cancer. I could go into detail about it, but I'd probably be wrong, because doctors know what they're talking about. And we've met through you, we've met some people who have had this treatment, and we're going to have some of them coming up on the podcast, and I can hardly wait for that, because that'll be fascinating to hear their story. But the reason you're raising money for this is because it is not, it is an expensive treatment, and there are machinery and all, research and all kinds of things. And if I recall, there is no, you cannot currently get this treatment here. So currently, we can help a patient with take, I say we, as if I'm involved. We take the blood out of them, we freeze it, we send it down to the states, it gets in line because there's a lot of places doing the same thing as we are. They train the warriors, freeze it, send it back, unfreeze it, put it in. All of those things are time is a problem. Effectiveness, things have been frozen twice. All of these things make it very difficult. And if we do things right, we're going to have the lab right here. There's no more freezing, there's no more travel. Yeah, it would be a game changer. It would be a game changer. Well, and it's only two and a half million dollars. I say that as if I've got it. But once we have the two and a half million, it will pay for the lab and for these seven pieces of equipment that we need. And literally, one of the patients that you met, he was in hospice already getting ready to cash his life insurance. It's a fascinating story. Got him onto this trial. And I was in a meeting with him the other day. You can imagine how grateful he is. But more importantly, everything we do today is going to save lives tomorrow. And we've had on our podcast, Barrie Stafford. And Barrie is very involved with you. You're very involved with Barrie. And Toast of the Town. Toast of the Town, which is coming up. Toast of the Town is coming up. Absolutely. So every two years, we identify a community builder. And instead of roasting them, we toast them. So it's called the Toast of the Town. Two years ago, we celebrated Cal Nichols. And Cal was one of the people who saved the Oilers in town, twice. Instrumental, yeah. One of my mentors and heroes. And so this year, we're celebrating another gentleman by the name of Terry O'Flynn. And Terry lost his first wife at age 30 to cancer. He has six kids. He's a character. He's a great guy. He is great. You will find him at every fundraiser. We've got him. Is he booked? We're trying to find a date. He is booked or we're finding a date? We're working on a date. We're working on a date to have Terry on. Terry and I have become very good friends. He's an extraordinary community builder. And so we're going to celebrate him. We actually just had to move the date. Because we had it on the day after the Oilers played their last regular season games and the day before playoffs. Right, right. When we were booking it recently, we found out that the NHL changed their dates. And so we were on the Saturday, the 18th. We're now on Friday, the 17th. Okay, that's good to know. That's very good to know. Because if you show up on the 18th, you missed it. Just, you know what? And all of our material says the 18th. So we have to go back. It's all right. Yeah, well, so whatever, we'll, hey, folks, you heard it. Toast To The Towns moved from the 18th to the 17th. Of April. Of April, yeah. So if you're listening and planning on attending that event, which you should. It's Friday, not Saturday. It's Friday, not Saturday. Thank you for getting that out there. Yeah. And again, every dollar that we raise will allow us to get these pieces of equipment. Right. And it will save lives. So it's, you know, listen, I don't likely end up running into a burning building to save someone's life. Right. But I can do some fundraising. Yeah. I can save people's lives. For sure. And you do. You are amazing. So you, I've known you now for a year or so, and I've watched you, and there's no grass growing under your feet. You're out there doing it. And folks, this is something, we've talked about it on our podcast, is a lot of great people doing a lot of great things for a lot of great causes. And sometimes the people overlooked are the people that are out there knocking on the doors, sitting down, having a cup of coffee, taking somebody out for dinner to talk about how you can help fund these amazing projects, because it costs money. It just costs money to do this. And so yeah, you do amazing. You're out there. It's a tribute to the people who contribute. Yes, absolutely. You know, the people who contribute, and I don't mean any disrespect to the public service. No, no. But who do we go to? We go to the business owners. Exactly. And the business owners, it's not like they're sitting there with a bucket of money saying, you know, you come and make a good case. They, every time you say yes to something, you're saying no to something else. Right. Yeah. And so, you know, I'm absolutely a huge fan of entrepreneurs and business owners who, they create a profitable business. And people think that they're sitting with their feet up on their desk and smoking cigars. And they're working their butts off. They do well. They solve a problem in the marketplace. And with those profits, they turn around and build community. That's right. And you know what? I think, you know, you just nailed that because we've had so many guests on this podcast that people wouldn't even know what they give back. Right. And that's, I think that's what makes not only Edmonton great, but our surrounding community great, is because people here give and they support, and they really do build community. Yeah. Well, take a look at this Acheson Business Association and all the companies that are out here. I, you know, every day I'm talking to somebody in a business in Acheson, who's stepping up in one way or another, whether, you know, it's the Myshak's or it's, you know, Peter Kiss at Morgan Construction or it's just an extraordinary group. I sometimes wonder what the GDP of this business community is. Yeah, I mean, you're right. It's Acheson is an amazing place. And again, you know, it sounds funny going back to, going back to the hometown, coming back to the hometown. Acheson is still like a hometown. Very much so. You did. People here, it's, they'll stop and they'll talk no matter how much money they have, what they're worth, whatever. They'll talk to you like they're your best friend. And that's just, and then they just open their wallets and away they go. They don't want credit. They don't want a lot of, you know, very humble people. And that, that's why I love being in beautiful downtown Acheson and the businesses that we get to work with, just humble, caring, giving people. But that, that's, that's a lot of Alberta. That's just a lot of the mentality of Alberta. It's, it's, it's just Prairie people the way they are. And I love it. But the, our millionaires wear work boots. Yes, absolutely. And I don't say that in a, you know, No. Disrespectful way to others. No, no, no, no. You can be standing beside somebody who, there was a great book out many years ago, Robert Stanley, I think was his name, and it was The Millionaire Next Door. Yeah. And it really is, humility is a really important characteristic. There's another great book called The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni. And it says there's three characteristics to a great team player. It's humble, hungry, and smart. Yeah. And humility is a really important characteristic to me. Others might not value it the same way, but for me. Yeah. No, I think humility brings a sign of integrity. And again, those people that will just sit and have coffee with you. I mean, I'm always amazed at this. I'm a nobody. I am. I'm just a nobody. And yet some of these people are very happy to sit and have lunch with you or coffee with you and not talk down to you, but talk to you and listen. And that just to me is always the sign of humility. It's a sign of integrity. It's I love it. I just absolutely love it. And you know what? Good folks. It's just good folks. First of all, cut the I'm a nobody out. Well, my face is on a mug. You know what? That's about it. What are you talking about? You're a podcast. My face is on a mug. What more could you ask for? I made it. I died tomorrow. Your face was on a mug. Absolutely. Well, you know, the question is, what does made it mean? Yeah, exactly. Right. No, you're right. All depends on what your measures are. OK, so this has been great. I love this. I love we could go on and on and talk about this, because I think this is ama... What do you do now? You're a? So I left the insurance business in 2012 and I ended up hanging my shingle out as a business coach. Right. And so I've been doing a lot of business coaching really since 2012. Got involved with a business group that had a lot of business owners in it. And what I found out was they're all baby boomers. Yeah. And they all are ready to transition. Yeah. And so the Canadian Federation of Independent Business put out a report in 2022. About 75% of the business owners expect to leave their business in the next 10 years. Right. And that's a huge worry. It's a worry for us as a country and as a province and as a city because we need these businesses to transition. And they need to transition in a way that we, you know, keep the employed employed, that we keep the productivity of us up. And right now, productivity in Canada is off. Yeah. And so we need to transition these businesses carefully. And we may be heading into a period of time where there are more businesses that want to leave than there are buyers who want to buy it. Ah, yeah, yeah. By supply and demand. The risk will be you've built this business, you know, many have their own name on it. And all of a sudden, you're ready to leave. And nobody's there to buy it. Yeah. And so I've partnered up with four or three other partners myself. There's four of us. We started up a business called Newcastle West Partners. And we are in the business transition game. So mergers and acquisitions is the buzz term. Sure. But ultimately, helping businesses get ready for and to transition ownership. And it may be to managers. It may be to employees. Right. It may be to a competitor. It's a variety of different things that can happen there. But ultimately, we help people transition and transaction. Right. And so family businesses, we're working in a family right now that has accumulated wealth, and now they want to make sure that it goes to the next generation and the next generation. Right. So very exciting time. We decided, you know, given all these business owners that I talked to, it seemed like there's a huge need. Right. And so we've stepped into it with. Awesome. There's four of us. That's cool. If you're in that situation, you need to get a hold of these guys. They're amazing. Absolutely. Yeah. How do they get, do you have a website? We have a website, Newcastle West Partners. Newcastle West partners.com..com. All right. And the, you know, the challenge is you need to prepare in advance. Yeah. We work with a tax law firm who say, just give us a year or two to put a proper tax plan. Sure. We can, you know, effectively transition. Because it's not like selling your house. You don't just put a sign on your business. And tomorrow it's sold, right. So the complexity is, and you need, our belief is that you need someone to hold your hand through that process. Professionals, guidance, who have done it before. Absolutely. A lot of people try to do it themselves, but what they do is they take themselves out of their own business. Yeah. Right. So now they're rookies in our business, and they're not running their business. And at the end, it doesn't work out for them or anybody for that matter. So, it's better to call you guys. That's the way it is. We'd love to help. We have, there's three of us here in Edmonton. We have a partner in Chicago. Right. It's a fellow that I was on there. Oh, I like that. International. Yeah, we're international. And it was a fellow that was on the hockey team in Sweden. Oh, yeah, yeah. And he's one of my closest friends. And so he went and did his MBA down at Wharton, went to Notre Dame and then went to Wharton, which is one of the best business schools in the US. And so we have access to international money if we need to. Right. Anyway, exciting times. Cool. So this has been great. This is awesome. Listen, Toast of the Town, check that out online. Can you just... Toast of the Town? Yeah, Toast of the Town. Yeah. Check that out. Check out Newcastle... Newcastle West Partners. Newcastle West Partners. Check out John. This is good if you're in that stage of life, you're a business owner and we have a lot of business owners who listen to us. We sure do. Yeah. And you're thinking, or even just thinking about that. Phone up John. He loves coffee. He loves breakfast. He'll take you out and he'll buy you that, and away you go, and you can start the conversation. And that's great. It's never too early to start that conversation. It's never too early. So this has been good. John, you're an awesome guy. You really are. I've watched you closely. What I love about you is your heart to give, your heart to just reach out, your heart to just want to make a difference. And you're a man of integrity. And I'm privileged and honored to be able to work with you a little bit. And I think it's great. And this is a great story. And we have one final question. One final question. This is the most important question. We ask every guest this question. John, what is the best piece of advice you've been given, either personally or professionally, that you carry with you to this day? How long do I have? I was going to say the short... Don't worry, Cam will cut you off if it goes too long. I'm just kidding. I'm a huge Stephen Covey fan. Oh, Stephen, yeah. And ultimately, the message, probably the most important piece, is seek first to understand before being understood. It's the fifth habit. It's all around the premise of listening with intent. As opposed to waiting for your turn to speak. That might sound surprising given the way I've spoken for the last while. No. No. But it's a really important piece. And if I can go with it, number two, to he who much is given, much is expected. Yeah. I agree with that. We are so blessed to live in this community, in this city, in this province, in this country, that sometimes we take it for granted and we find things to complain about. But if you've given gifts and all of us are, how do you most effectively use those gifts to serve? Yeah. I love that one. That's great. Because that one to me is, it's that, although people want to think it is, that's not an income bracket statement. In other words, you could have nothing and you can still give because you got something to give, or you can have everything and you can give. And everybody in between, and we all have something that we can give and offer. It may not be monetary. It doesn't always have to be monetary. Matter of fact, a lot of the time, we don't need it to be monetary. You just can give love, you can give care, you can give appreciation, you can give concern, all of those things that make a difference in somebody's life. So I love that one. That's the best. That's the best. I love it. This has been great. I love today. This is awesome. I feel like I've been schooled a little bit, and I love that because I've learnt, and that's the best part. And hey, it's been great. It's been great. Thanks, everybody. Don't forget wingsnob.ca if you're looking for some wings. Best wings you'll ever have. I love them. Every one of them, 16 flavours, four rubs. Edmonton, Calgary, now Grande Prairie. I was born in Grande Prairie. I mean, I left when I was two, but nonetheless, had there been a Wing Snob there when I was there, I would have gone there, but nonetheless, www.wingsnob.ca and... And our friends at Mprint for all your printing needs. That's right. So thanks everybody for listening. Thank you, John, for being our guest today. It's been great. And make sure you tell somebody about the podcast. Tell your friends, tell your neighbours, tell your co-workers, tell your enemies. If you don't have a friend, just tell them about the podcast anyway, and then they'll be your friend. And we also want to make sure that you subscribe, subscribe, subscribe so that the podcast just pops up on your phone or your desktop or wherever, and there it is and you listen to it and you hear John and you go, that's good, and away it goes. So thanks everybody for listening, and we'll see you next week. Thanks everybody, stay warm if you're in Edmonton.