Jason Macdonnell is responsible for more than 1,100 employees, the maintenance of B.C.’s telecommunications infrastructure and a $130 million annual budget – and he loves it.
Macdonnell joined Telus in 2002 after several successful years as a business-operations consultant in Toronto and Ottawa.
He landed a job as a senior manager of Telus’ business-transformation section, and said it was an excellent time to join because he got to be a part of corporate transformations in a major company.
“We really started out with a lot of big challenges in early 2002, and I’ve been able to play in that arena now for seven years and there’s never been a dull moment,” Macdonnell said.
From 2002 to 2004, Macdonnell led a team that helped realize $12 million in process improvements, designed a $70 million strategy for the company’s Internet operations and was a key player in a $500 corporate expansion strategy into central Canada.
Through all those initiatives, however, Macdonnell believes his success couldn’t have been possible without the people around him.
“You need extraordinary support from extraordinary people,” he said.
Macdonnell’s interest in building businesses began at the Central Okanagan Small Boat Association in Kelowna when he was 13.
“Over a six-year period of time … we created one of the leading sailing organizations in Canada, and that really got me going and interested in building organizations,” he said.
In 1994, before he entered the consulting business, Macdonnell supervised the startup of Pacific Coasting Fibre Ltd., one of Canada’s largest wood fibre recycling facilities.
As for Telus, Macdonnell said he enjoys the company’s corporate culture far too much to think about leaving any time soon.
“I really like the people I work with,” he said. “They are creative, intelligent and interesting … it’s like a second family.” •
