Geoffrey Smith

Geoff Smith is the Executive Chair of the Board of EllisDon, an employee-owned, $8 billion-a-year construction .services and technology company. After twenty-five years, Geoff step.ped down as CEO in June, 2023 and now focuses his efforts on the company’s Digital· and Data strategy and execution, assisting with EllisDon’s sustainability initiatives, as well as various community activities.

Geoff earned his law degree from the University of Toronto and was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1981. After joining EllisDon in 1983, he quickly gained experience across various management positions, including Field Operations, Legal and Labour Relations and Executive Leadership.

In 1996, at the height of a trying time at EllisDon, Geoff was named President and CEO. Through a redefinition of its business model, Geoff reinvented EllisDon as a ‘Cradle to Grave’ services provider with guaranteed performance outcomes through its Capital Services, Facilities Management, and Sustainable Building Divisions. EllisDon is determined to lead the coming disruption in the construction sector, having recently created pioneering entrepreneurial initiatives Data and Construction Risk Analytics, Smart Buildings Software, and Mass Timber construction.

Geoff’s community involvement has covered a broad spectrum. He has served as a Curriculum Advisor to Ryerson University, on the Board of Halton Health Services, in 2023 was awarded an honourary degree for his work with George Brown College and became Chancellor in June 2025. Geoff was past Chair of the Ontario Liberal Fund and is the Chair of Ontario Global 100, an initiative to enable Canada’s fastest growing companies to become exporters to the world. Geoff also co-Chairs the Unity for Autism Golf Event, and is on the Board of the CD Howe Institute. His current focus includes Ch-airing the Foundation Board of the McMichael Art Gallery, and his membership of the ILEO Leadership Table. This United Way sponsored Inclusive Local Economic Opportunity Initiative brings together private, public, and community sectors to find innovative ways to reduce gaps in economic prosperity at the neighbourhood level.

Geoff was named EY’s Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year in 2013 a·nd was awarded .. the Ontario General Contractors Association’s Jock Tindale Award for Integrity in 2011, and the Donald P. Giffin Construction Industry Achievement Award presented by the Toronto Construction Association in 2020. In 2025, Geoff was .. awarded the Toronto Board of Trade Builder Of The Year award.

Geoff views EllisDon as a values-based, employee focused proposition above all else: Trust, Complete Openness, Mutual Accountability, and Entrepreneurial Enthusiasm serve as the company’s foundation, wherever it goes, whatever it does. These core values have earned EllisDon consistent accolades, including Aon Hewitt’s 50 Best Employers in Canada, Deloitte’s CanadaJs 50 Best Managed Companies, CanadaJs Top 100 Employers, and Waterstone Human Capital’s CanadaJs 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures.