Willard Galen Garfield Weston (born December 19, 1972), known as Galen Weston Jr. or Galen G. Weston, is an Irish-Canadian businessman and a member of the

Weston family The Weston family is a prominent family of businesspeople that was founded in Canada and eventually developed global business interests, primarily in the food and retail sectors. The family operations began with the purchase of a bakery in 1884 b ...

. He is chairman and

chief executive officer 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 ...

(CEO) of

George Weston Limited George Weston Limited, often referred to as Weston or Weston's, is a Canadian holding company. Founded by George Weston in 1882, the company today consists of the Choice Properties real estate investment trust and Loblaw Companies Limited, C ...

, and chairman and former president of

Loblaw Companies Limited Loblaw Companies Limited is a Canadian retailer encompassing corporate and franchise supermarkets operating under 22 regional and market-segment banners (including Loblaws), as well as pharmacies, banking and apparel. Loblaw operates a private ...

. He is the second child of

Galen Weston Willard Gordon Galen Weston (October 29, 1940April 12, 2021) was a British-Canadian billionaire businessman and Chairman Emeritus of George Weston Limited, a Canadian food processing and distribution company. Weston and his family, with an esti ...

and

Hilary Weston Hilary Mary Weston ( Frayne; born January 12, 1942) is an Irish–Canadian businesswoman and writer who served as the 26th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1997 to 2002. During her five-year tenure, Weston focused on issues related to women ...

Early life and education

Weston was born on December 19, 1972, in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland, where his father

had relocated to in the 1960s. Weston's father originally moved to Dublin to start up a supermarket chain. He married Hilary Frayne there in 1966 and had two children,

Alannah Alana, Elana or Ilana is a female given name. It is derived from the Gaelic or Celtic Languages meaning “rock” (al), “noble” (ail), “beautiful” (àlainn), or “child” (leanbh). It is also considered an anglicized version of the Gae ...

and Galen. The Westons relocated to Canada in 1974. Weston grew up in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, where he attended

Upper Canada College Upper Canada College (UCC) is an independent day and boarding school for boys in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as Canada's most prestigious preparatory school, and ha ...

. He subsequently received his bachelor's from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and his

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

degree from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Career

Weston succeeded his father to become the

executive chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of Loblaw Companies Limited in October 2006. Previously, he had held positions in the company for eight years and was a member of its

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

. At that point, the company was worth around $9.5 billion. Since becoming chairman of Loblaw, Weston has featured in a number of television and radio commercials for Loblaw and its brands, similar to

Dave Nichol David Alexander Nichol (February 9, 1940 – September 22, 2013) was a Canadian businessman and product marketing expert. As head of product development and eventually President of Loblaws Supermarkets, Nichol introduced the President's Choice s ...

who had been the spokesman for Loblaw in the 1980s. In September 2016, Weston took over from his father as CEO of George Weston Limited. In December 2020, Weston succeeded his father as the

controlling shareholder A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders' motion. A majority of voting shares (over 50%) is always a controlling interest. When a party holds less than the majo ...

of Wittington Investments, Limited, which controls George Weston Limited. In March 2021, it was announced that Weston would assume the leadership role at Loblaw Companies Limited following the retirement of Sarah Davis as its president that year, changing his title from executive chairman to chairman and president. On December 19, 2017, Loblaw and its parent company George Weston Limited announced action the companies had taken to address their role in a price-fixing arrangement involving certain packaged bread products. In the statement, Weston is quoted as saying "this sort of behaviour is wrong and has no place in our business or Canada's grocery industry," and that "this should never have happened." In response, Loblaw and George Weston said the companies had reported the price fixing to the

Competition Bureau The Competition Bureau () is the independent law enforcement agency in charge of regulating competition in Canada, responsible for ensuring that markets operate in a competitive manner. Headed by the Commissioner of Competition, the agency is ...

, that the employees responsible for George Weston and Loblaw's role in this are no longer with the companies and the companies had significantly enhanced their compliance programs with measures that are industry-leading and go further than the Competition Bureau's requirements. Loblaw also announced it was offering customers a $25 Loblaw Card, which could be used to purchase items sold in Loblaw grocery stores across Canada. Registration for the card opened on January 8, 2018. As of April 2019, many people have still not received the restitution. Loblaws and George Weston Limited agreed to pay $500 million to settle the lawsuit in July 2024, with the class action lawsuit against several other retailers continuing. In June 2020, Weston confirmed the cancellation of an hourly 2.00 wage premium to Loblaw workers, which received criticism from then

Unifor Unifor is a Canadian general trade union founded in 2013 as a merger of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and Communications, Energy and Paperworkers unions. It consists of 310,000 workers, and associate members in industries including manufactu ...

President

Jerry Dias Jerome P. Dias Jr. (born October 10, 1958) is a Canadian trade unionist who was elected the first national president of Unifor in August 2013 at the union’s founding convention following the merger between the Canadian Auto Workers and the Co ...

. The premium was paid to low-wage grocery store workers, who were deemed "essential" and required to attend work while much of Canada was shut down in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The cancellation of the pandemic wage premium drew further criticism, as Weston's pay package from Loblaws in 2022 was worth $8.4 million (after receiving a $3 million pay rise from 2021) and including his remuneration as head of George Weston Ltd. his total compensation reached $11.7 million. Weston, who had been the company spokesman of Loblaw advertising campaigns in addition to his executive role as Loblaw president, has since 2022 became the "very face of grocery store gouging" after he aggressively defended Loblaws' record profits and stated that Loblaws was not responsible for increased grocery prices during the

2021–2023 inflation surge Following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a worldwide surge in inflation began in mid-2021 and lasted until mid-2022. Many countries saw their highest inflation rates in decades. It has been attributed to various causes, including pandemic-related ...

. On April 18, 2023, it was announced that Weston would step down as president of Loblaw, to be succeeded by Danish retail veteran Per Bank in 2024.

Personal life

In 2005, Weston married Alexandra Schmidt, granddaughter of businessman Thomas J. Bata and his wife, Sonja.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weston, Galen G. 1972 births Living people 21st-century Canadian businesspeople Businesspeople from Toronto Canadian chief executives Columbia Business School alumni George Weston Limited Harvard University alumni Irish emigrants to Canada Loblaw Companies Galen G. Canadian people of English descent Canadian people of Irish descent Canadian people of American descent