Professional
As a visionary, Rick Sterne has built several successful businesses through entrepreneurial-thinking and strategic execution. He is an accomplished leader who develops his teams to push results. Under his leadership, Rick turned around a company on the verge of bankruptcy, such that seven years later it had grown five-fold, was highly profitable and sold for the benefit of the shareholders. As an entrepreneur, Rick founded his software business in his basement, Datasym Inc., growing it to become one of the leading point-of-sale systems providers in North America 25 years later.
Being a former TEC CEO member, Rick has experienced the barriers members often encounter, and he’s been a champion of working through issues with collective intelligence. Having sat in many boardrooms as an executive, and particularly as a TEC member, Rick is positioned as a Chair to implement numerous learning opportunities and strategies aimed to tackle the most difficult challenges.
TEC Group Vision
Rick’s vision is a CEO peer advisory group where the members are open to new ideas and are accountable to themselves and their fellow members. Rick is looking for members who are life-long learners, prepared to leave their egos at the door, and “open their kimonos” such that they are able to discuss what is really bothering them.
Personal
- BSc in Chemical Engineering from Queen’s University and an honours MBA from The Ivey School of Business at Western University
- Rick has served his community as President of the Chamber of Commerce Brantford-Brant, Chair of Brant United Way, Chair of the Board of Governors Mohawk College, Director of the Juravinski Cancer Center Foundation, Director of the Lansdowne Children’s Center and more
- Recipient of numerous awards: Tricolour Society Award from Queen’s University, an Ontario Global Traders Leadership Award and the Chamber of Commerce Brantford-Brant Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award
- Rick and his wife Jeanette have four daughters, one son, five granddaughters and two grandsons
