Cyril Leeder (born September 20, 1959) is a Canadian businessman. He is the former president of the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

team in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

(NHL) and its corporation, the Senators Sports & Entertainment Corporation. Leeder is also a member of the Ottawa Community Ice Partnership, which organizes the annual

Bell Capital Cup The Bell Capital Cup, formerly the Bell Canada Cup is an annual ice hockey tournament staged in Ottawa, Ontario between Christmas and New Years. It is open to youth teams aged 9–13 from all over the world. The tournament attracts over 500 teams ...

minor ice hockey tournament.

Personal information

Born in

Brockville Brockville, formerly Elizabethtown, is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Thousand Islands region. Although it is the seat of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, it is politically independent of the county. It is included with Le ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Leeder graduated from

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical ...

in 1982. Upon graduation, Leeder became a chartered accountant with Clarkson, Gordon of Ottawa. In 1984, Leeder joined Terrace Investments, becoming president in 1987, and CEO from 1988 until 1992.

Senators' career

Cyril Leeder was one of the principals, along with Terrace Investments'

Bruce Firestone Bruce Firestone (born December 4, 1951) of Ottawa, Ontario, is a real estate developer, former sports team owner and university professor. He is the founder of the modern-day Ottawa Senators NHL professional ice hockey club and former part-owner ...

and Randy Sexton in the 'Bring Back the Senators' campaign in 1989 and 1990, which culminated in the NHL granting a franchise to the Terrace Investments group and the return of the Ottawa Senators to the NHL. Leeder remained with the organization after Firestone left in a change of ownership, and after Sexton was fired from the general manager's job. Leeder remained with the organization in charge of the Palladium arena, now known as the Canadian Tire Centre. Leeder is credited with being the founder of the

, an annual ice hockey tournament held in Ottawa. Leeder was also responsible for the Bell Sensplex project, an arena and practice facility for the Senators. On June 16, 2009, Leeder was named team president, succeeding

Roy Mlakar Roy Mlakar (born September 10, 1950 in Parma, Ohio) is the former president and CEO of the Ottawa Senators professional ice hockey club of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Scotiabank Place arena. He was also the alternate governor of the Sen ...

. On January 25, 2017 Leeder was fired from his position as President and CEO of the Senators by owner Eugene Melnyk and was replaced by former MLSE executive

Tom Anselmi Tom Anselmi (born ) is a Canadian sports executive. He is currently employed by the OEG (Oilers Entertainment Group) serving as the President of Business Operations and Chief Operating Officer. He had previously served as a Business Manager with ...

Awards

* 2012 - Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame * 2013 -

Brockville and Area Sports Hall of Fame Brockville, formerly Elizabethtown, is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Thousand Islands region. Although it is the seat of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, it is politically independent of the county. It is included with Le ...

References

1959 births Living people Ottawa Senators executives Sportspeople from Brockville Sportspeople from Ottawa {{canada-icehockey-bio-stub