Female Leaders in Business
Entrepreneur and philanthropist Teresa Cascioli (2018 EMBA).
As part of a new series highlighting alumnae who are leaders in business, we were delighted to speak with entrepreneur and philanthropist Teresa Cascioli (2018 EMBA). Teresa was recently awarded the prestigious Order of Ontario (2021), the province’s highest civilian honour. Teresa was appointed as Lakeport Brewing CEO in 1999, where she led a turn-around of the bankrupt brewery, taking it public on the TSX in 2005 and ultimately selling the business to one of her major competitors in 2007.
She was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year by Canada’s Venture Capital and Private Equity Association and by Ernst & Young in the Turnaround Category. She is considered one of Canada’s most successful women and on multiple occasions was named one of the Women’s Executive Network Top 100 Canada’s Most Powerful Women. She was inducted into the Sales Hall of Fame by the Canadian Professional Sales Association.
Teresa founded the Teresa Cascioli Charitable Foundation in 2005 and, since then, has donated over $10 million to charities, including St Joseph’s Healthcare and McMaster University’s Fundraising Campaign.
Teresa was awarded the prestigious Order of Ontario in 2021
After graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McMaster, she began her career in municipal government in finance and treasury roles. As the result of a variety of twists and turns, she was appointed Interim CEO of the local bankrupt brewery. Motivated by the desire to continue to employ people within her community, she implemented cost-cutting measures to return the business to profitability. By manufacturing products for other well-known alcoholic beverage brand owners, she was able to slowly grow the business. These partnerships provided much-needed financing for equipment upgrades.
In 2004, she launched Lakeport’s value beer, Lakeport Honey Lager at “24 for $24” when competitive alternatives were priced $10 higher, thereby introducing the ‘discount’ category of beer. Market share and profitability skyrocketed culminating with Labatt (Ambev) making an offer to purchase all the outstanding shares of the company for $201 million in 2007.
Being a female leader presented its challenges primarily since most underestimated her potential. As Teresa said, this allowed her the opportunity to “build an arsenal of competitive weapons, as it were” by staying under the radar. Teresa recounts how her male competitors were surprised by her fearlessness.
She is proud of the fact that she remains the only female CEO of a publicly traded brewery in North America.
Following her tenure with the brewery, she started her namesake charitable foundation and also went on to become a Strategic Advisor for KPMG in both their Enterprise Services and Restructuring divisions.
Teresa is passionate about supporting institutions in her community. Funding the Chair in Entrepreneurial Leadership at her alma mater McMaster brought things full circle. She cares deeply about women’s healthcare and supporting St Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation continues to be a humbling experience.
Financial literacy is another of Teresa’s passions and to that end she published nine books for children as part of her M is for Money® book series.
After having reached a certain point in her professional career, she decided to invest in further personal learning, with the specific desire of experiencing education abroad. “When I considered my options, Oxford was top of my mind”, she said.
“Keble is the most beautiful college in Oxford! I felt clever just walking around the grounds.” She was one of the oldest in her cohort. "It was eye-opening to get an understanding of the thoughts and aspirations of future leaders”.
As to her future path, Cascioli says “My life has never been linear. I’m good at recognising opportunities when they come my way. The Order of Ontario was an amazing honour and I’m looking forward to participating in that piece of history and to seeing what that Ambassadorship role might bring.”
