Q+A: New Goodwill CEO sees ‘lots of opportunity’ in green economy

Job creation, new stores and expanding existing ones. The incoming president and chief executive of Goodwill Industries Ontario Great Lakes is eyeing growth in a territory that covers all of Ontario, except the Niagara and Hamilton regions. Bev Kobe takes the helm of the London-based non-profit on Oct. 1, replacing Michelle Quintyn who is retiring after 18 years in the role. Our Jennifer Bieman spoke with Kobe and her next steps as Goodwill’s leader.

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Q: What’s your background with Goodwill Ontario Great Lakes?

A: I’ve been at Goodwill since 2008 and came in through the workforce development career center working in a portfolio supporting job seekers with disabilities. From there I’ve had great opportunities to advance in the company. Most recently, I’ve been in a dual role as the executive director for our career center subsidiary. We have career centers in London, Chatham and Sarnia. And I’m the chief mission advancement officer for the broader organization.

Q: What’s your first order of business as Goodwill’s new president?

A: It’s such a large organization with some really significant priorities, but I will say I’m a people-first leader. I’ll be spending time within the walls, with our 1,200 employees, and getting out across our territory and doing some listening tours and giving a voice to our people. We do a good job at engaging. We have a high employee satisfaction rating every year on our annual survey. I think it’s important that they feel they have a connection to me now as the new leader. That will be the first order of business.

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Q: What are your short-term goals for the organization?

A: We’re in the middle of a five-year strategic plan, which has in it creating 900 new jobs and growing revenue by the end of 2026. . . . The new things that are emerging, for us, are incredible growth opportunities. We have the largest territory in Canada and we have the second-largest territory of any Goodwill in North America. This presents a rich opportunity for us to grow our business and our mission of creating jobs and connecting people to training and skills. Territory development is going to be a big priority for me, expansion of our existing stores and also acquiring new sites and increasing our donations coming in.

Q: What is a challenge for this Goodwill territory?

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A: The Toronto real estate market is one of the most expensive and competitive. That is a challenge we’re faced with, but I’m excited to reignite a strategy around territory development that will involve penetrating multiple markets and leveraging a mixed-use concept. There’s lots of opportunity for us.

Q: What’s a direction you see Goodwill Ontario Great Lakes heading in the future?

A: As a country and as a planet, we’re looking to become more green. For Goodwill, I feel like we’re on the cusp of probably one of the biggest things we’ve ever done and that’s our work within the circular economy. I really do expect this will be an area of ​​significant growth as we innovate. What we are looking to do is transform our post-consumer retail supply chain. We will keep goods in the local economy and create new green jobs as we introduce new social enterprise. We have a see-the-worth platform. We take goods that haven’t sold in our stores and repurpose these textiles, or upcycle them. We have an industrial remanufacturing sewing platform that we provide skills training at for people interested in this type of work. But that’s just one very small example of how we’re going to be looking to expand.

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