Chris Rudge (born 1945) is a Canadian business executive. He was chairman and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

for the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

from 2012 to 2015. Following a business career in the printing industry, Rudge was CEO of the

Canadian Olympic Committee The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC; ), also known as Team Canada, is a private nonprofit organization that represents Canada at the International Olympic Committee. It is also a member of the Pan American Sports Organization. History Cana ...

for the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

and

Whistler, British Columbia Whistler (, ; , ) is a resort municipality in Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains, approximately north of Vancouver and south of Pemberton, Britis ...

, and also chaired the successful Canadian program 'Own The Podium'.

Biography

Rudge grew up in

Malton, Ontario Malton is a neighbourhood in the northeastern part of the city of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, located to the northwest of Toronto. Malton is bounded by Highway 427 to the east, the Brampton city limits (a Canadian National Railway (CN) rail ...

, which is now a part of the amalgamated city of

Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

. He earned an undergraduate degree in Physical Education from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

, and a certificate in Education from Queen's University.''Only man for the job'', by Frank Zicarelli, '' The Toronto Sun'', January 31, 2012, p. S16 Rudge was a senior executive with the printing firm Quebecor World Inc. He retired from that role in 2002, when Quebecor World was the world's largest commercial printing firm. Rudge was CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee leading up to the 2010 Olympics. He also led the highly successful Canadian program 'Own The Podium', which funded and developed Canadian high performance athletes in winter sports, preparing for the 2010 Olympics. Canadian athletes produced a Games-leading 14 gold medals, the country's best-ever total in a Winter Olympics. They led Canada to a third-place finish in overall medals with 26, good for third place behind the United States and Germany; this was the country's best overall finish at a Winter Games. Rudge was hired in 2011 to run the 100th

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

game and festival, scheduled for November 2012 in Toronto. On January 30, 2012, the Argonauts hired Rudge to take over from Bob Nicholson, as team president and CEO as well, on a contract which will extend past the Grey Cup game in 2012. In May 2015, the Toronto Argonauts were bought by Kilmer Sports and

Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun, Quebec, in Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in the province ...

from David Braley, and Michael Copeland replaced Rudge as President and CEO of the Argonauts at the beginning of 2016, when Rudge's contract came to an end in December 2015.Michael Copeland named new president, CEO of Toronto Argonauts
from ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', 13 July 2015, retrieved 17 March 2016

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rudge, Chris 1945 births Living people Queen's University at Kingston alumni Sportspeople from Ontario Canadian businesspeople Toronto Argonauts team presidents University of Toronto alumni