2016 Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year® award recipient
Advisory Board member
Mr Calin Rovinescu CM
Biography
Named Canada’s CEO of the Year® for 2016, Calin Rovinescu served as President & Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada, Canada’s largest airline, from April 1, 2009 to February 15, 2021. Calin led a financial and commercial transformation of Air Canada into a global champion. In a time of global financial uncertainty, he established a new direction and vision for the airline resulting in its unprecedented growth and profitability. Under his leadership, sustainability was emphasized, with the establishment of the Air Canada Foundation and numerous environmental and diversity achievements and awards. He is a member of the Board of Directors of BCE Inc. and Scotiabank and a senior advisor to Brookfield Asset Management and Teneo Inc., in addition to being a venture capital investor in emerging technologies.
Calin holds law degrees from the Université de Montreal and the University of Ottawa. He served as Chancellor of the University of Ottawa from 2016 to 2022. In 2018, Calin was appointed a member of the Order of Canada. In 2019, he was recognized as Strategist of the Year and was named CEO of the Year by Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine and was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 2021.