Chris Zimmerman: Net Profits
Chris Zimmerman sits across the boardroom table in the Orca Bay offices at General Motors Place on a Friday morning early in December. It’s the first face-to- face interview for the new president and CEO of Orca Bay Sports & Entertainment since arriving in Vancouver from New Hampshire, and his slightly stiff posture and carefully measured words give the impression that he’s already a little wary of the media here.
Or maybe it’s just his game face. Right upfront, he confesses he has not yet mapped out a strategy for the Canucks. “Employees, fans, sponsors, ownership… everyone’s got an opinion,” admits the 46-year-old Zimmerman, ready to take on the challenge. “But they know a lot more than me right now, and I can utilize that information to shape the future.”
Zimmerman earned a BA in economics from the University of Vermont and an MBA from Babson College in Massachusetts. He joins Orca Bay, the company that controls B.C.’s favourite hockey team and its home, GM Place, after nine years in leadership roles with one of the largest sports brands in the world: initially as GM of Nike Golf USA and, most recently, as president and CEO of Nike Bauer Hockey.
It’s the perfect fit: winning business credentials with a minor in hockey. His task now is to prove the skills he perfected in the marketing of hockey skates also apply to the teams themselves.
“Obviously, Nike is highly visible in the sports world… but on a day-to-day basis, this position will have a much, much higher profile than anything I’ve ever done,” says Zimmerman. When it’s your job to come up with a strategy that ensures the future success of the Vancouver Canucks, the one guarantee is that everyone will be watching.
Other than the degree of public attention, Zimmerman’s job is like that of any other president and CEO. He is responsible for the number at the bottom of the income statement at the end of the year, he sets strategic direction for the business and he is expected to be a public figurehead for the organization. All the VPs report to him, including senior VP and GM Dave Nonis, the man in charge of hockey operations and player personnel. Although some might say he has an unwritten responsibility to fans, Zimmerman ultimately answers to the Aquilini Investment Group (AIG), a family business consisting of brothers Francesco, Roberto and Paolo Aquilini. AIG bought 50 per cent of the Canucks in November 2004 and the remaining 50 per cent in late 2006 from Seattle billionaire John McCaw.
As a privately owned company, Orca Bay doesn’t disclose financial information, but a 2006 report in Forbes magazine shows that Zimmerman will be expected to capitalize on an already strong business. According to Forbes, the Canucks franchise was worth US$192 million in the 2005/06 season, with revenues of US$80 million and EBITDA (earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization) of US$1 million – a far cry from 1999, when Forbes showed its EBITDA at US$14 million in the red.
Until it was awarded to Zimmerman, the top seat at Orca Bay had remained vacant since August 2005, when Stan McCammon left the organization. Zimmerman’s predecessor, who had been appointed to the position in 1999 by previous owner John McCaw, had little experience with hockey, rarely spoke to the media and never moved to Vancouver from Seattle. It’s no wonder that few fans even knew who he was. “I think if you asked fans about Stan McCammon, they would say he was a great coach for the Canucks in the late ’80s, thinking you were talking about Bob McCammon,” says John Shorthouse, in his ninth year as play-by-play commentator for the Canucks on the TEAM 1040 AM radio station and pay-per-view CanucksTV.
Ed Willes, who has covered the Canucks for more than eight years as a columnist for the Province newspaper, says McCammon was able to get away with a low profile because Brian Burke, the Canucks GM at the time, acted as the face of the organization in his absence. Since Burke’s contract was not renewed in May 2004, Willes believes it will be important for Zimmerman to step up. Referring to Burke’s replacement, Willes says, “Dave Nonis is an able man, but he’s not Brian Burke as far as being the face of the organization and getting out there and representing the team.” Willes believes Nonis lacks Burke’s charisma and community involvement.
Zimmerman’s ability to connect with the public will likely be challenging because, like his predecessor, he is an American and relatively unfamiliar with Vancouver. Born in New York, the new Orca Bay leader has no known relatives north of the border and had only been to Vancouver six times prior to taking on his role with the Canucks. He won’t, however, try to fulfill his duties from abroad the way McCammon did. Zimmerman, his wife Emily, daughter Kate, 15, and son Ted, 11, made the permanent move to Vancouver in November. The kids started private school immediately after arriving and Zimmerman says the family is enjoying living in a Yaletown apartment while they wait for their home in New Hampshire to sell.
If there’s one thing that will help Zimmerman connect with fans, it’s his passion for the sport. From the age of eight, when he began playing hockey in a town just north of New York City, hockey has been a part of Zimmerman’s life. While earning his BA, he spent four seasons playing National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I hockey at the University of Vermont, and while doing his MBA at Babson College, he was an assistant coach for the men’s hockey team. Still today, Zimmerman plays as much hockey as he can. He’s even laced up his Bauers a couple of times in Vancouver for the employees’ game- day pickup skate after the Canucks practice, dubbed the THL (Trainer’s Hockey League).
“When you can bring together your passion and your vocation, that is a fortunate thing,” he says about his career path.
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Zimmerman and Aquilini`s
Submitted by Mojo1957 (not verified) on Mon, 2008-05-12 16:01.