Profiler:

Tom Kritsch was born in Ottawa in 1941, a descendent of his Polish grandfather. He attended Lisgar Collegiate and St. Pats College at Ottawa University, played football and graduated with a Social Science degree.

Tom worked with the Toronto’s Catholic Childrens Aid (managing Group Homes) He moved to Camperdown in 1971 and accepted a position with the Ministry of Health.

After leaving the Ministry, Tom embarked on a real estate speculation career and successfully bought/developed/sold up to eighty properties.

We are not sure what happened from age 70 to 80 because these years were purposefully omitted!

On one of his properties he developed an apple juice business (subsequently sold) and built the Tomahawk golf course on the adjoining 200 acres.

In retirement, Tom and Faith (his wife of 56 years) enjoy skiing at Georgian Peaks, cruising, and philanthropy.

Kultural Attache:

Doug Ellsworth announced that Walter Barclay would be returning to his Kultural Attaché role at the May meeting. Doug’s March contributions were excellent and can be found under the Members tab on the Club website.

Guest Speaker:

David Steele was introduced by Don Stockman and it was announced that he had just been named Ontario Junior Hockey League's “Executive of the Year”.

He is a really tall guy and made a powerful presentation without notes or slides.

With a background of hard work and integrity provided by his grandfather (who captained a Collingwood built Corvette) and an OPP dad (who accepted right and wrong but no grey), they built eight homes together.

Dave’s application to follow his father into an OPP career was rejected – twice!

He then turned his energies and to local sustainable (and ethical) beef production starting with two local companies which eventually merged with Nutrafarms where he is currently Vice President of Operations. His takeaway – “Don’t delegate unless you know the task”.

In April of 2019 he successfully bid for a Ontario Junior Hockey League franchise which we know as the Collingwood Blues and, within four months, the team was staffed, rostered and on the ice! In their first season the Blues finished second in their division an are currently rated number one in Canada. He credits quality management, hard work, a top player development program and a supportive community for the team’s success.

400 Indoor RC (radio controlled) Raceway is Dave’s “hobby” business which operates from a fabric dome in his backyard north of Barrie. The concept started as a father/son project and the private club currently has 138 members.

Insightful questions followed his talk.

50/50 Winners:

Dennis Onn, Steve McKee, Speaker David Steeles (he graciously declined to enter the draw because he usually wins!) and George Pengelley