BOUCHERVILLE, Que. — RONA CEO Robert Sawyer spoke to Canadian Business magazine about the challenges he faced taking up the helm of the then-struggling home improvement group. Not realizing the extent of the crisis, he says, he told himself, “Oh my God, I didn’t know the baby was sick like that.” Sawyer helped reverse the effects of a poorly executed expansion plan, tightening existing cost-cutting measures, and turning around the company’s banners, with a particular push for Réno-Dépôt.
His efforts were recognized by the publication, alongside three other Canadian CEOs as some of Canada’s most innovative leaders.
One skeptic when Sawyer took over was HARDLINES’ own intrepid editor Michael McLarney. “I was wary at first,” he told the magazine. “It seemed like he was putting his focus on what Bay Street was thinkin , not his dealers—but that turned out to be the right strategy.”
