TORONTO — Jim King, founder of EllisDon Capital, and David Podmore, OBC, founder and chair of Concert Infrastructure, were named the winners of the 2021 Champion Award at the 29th annual Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships (CCPPP) conference held virtually today (Nov. 17).
The Champion Award is presented by the council to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to P3s in Canada. The awards committee noted King was “a pioneer who helped pave the way for greater acceptance and innovation of the ‘made-in-Canada’ version of the public-private partnership model.”
In particular, his approach had a tremendous impact on the way the first hospital P3s in Ontario were structured to deal with risk transfer and the private financing of public infrastructure.
“Jim played a critical role in bringing the private sector to the table in the early days of P3s in Canada,” said Brad Nicpon, a partner at McCarthy Tetrault LLP, and chair of the national awards committee, in a statement. “His work with EllisDon Capital showed construction companies could be more than just contractors — they could bring capital and innovative financing solutions to a project, and thereby transform themselves into partners in the true spirit of a P3. Jim has earned the respect and admiration of his peers across the P3 market.”
King joined EllisDon in 1983 as corporate treasurer and later became a senior vice-president and chief financial officer for the company.
In 2000, he founded a new EllisDon division and operating company called EllisDon Capital, which was established for the sole purpose of providing comprehensive development services to the P3 infrastructure market, explains a release. He remained with EllisDon Capital until his retirement in 2019.
“I am honoured to be recognized by The Canadian Council of Public-Private Partnerships and my peers with the 2021 Champion Award,” said King. “The PPP/AFP model, from the beginning, was a great way for the existing Canadian marketplace to participate in the Canadian program. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work on the original projects and continued to stay with the program for nearly 20 years during which EllisDon has embraced the P3 model and all its advantages. The program needs to continue, and I think there’s no limit to its potential.”
In 1989, Podmore co-founded Concert Properties to deliver assured rental housing on behalf of the City of Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia.
In 2010, through Podmore’s vision and relationship with Concert’s long-standing union and management pension plan shareholders, Concert Infrastructure was founded as an independent entity to directly invest in, develop and manage Canadian P3 infrastructure projects.
Concert Infrastructure has since gone on to successfully deliver essential infrastructure projects across Canada.
According to the awards committee, Podmore worked tirelessly to advocate for the P3 model and the need to build quality infrastructure across Canada and “his vision of a pooled pension plan infrastructure investment vehicle also enabled small- to medium-sized Canadian union and management pensions (including building trades) to directly invest in Canadian P3 infrastructure.”
“David’s vision for P3s has touched every corner of the Canadian market,” added Nicpon. “He founded Concert, an important Canadian player in the social infrastructure space, brought pension plan investors into the P3 fold and advocated for use of the P3 model across the country within unique and challenging asset types.
“David had a remarkable vision of what the P3 model could achieve that others are continuing to follow to this day.”
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