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Chris Houston is a seasoned consultant who helps his clients bring about fundamental change in the organizations they lead. He loves his work and brings a creative mind, passion for results and a caring heart to his clients and the issues of business strategy, senior team development, organization and change management. Chris serves by challenging and strengthening to build 'hopeful realists' - both leaders and their organizations.
xxChris graduated (with honors) first with a B.Sc., and then an M.Sc., from the University of British Columbia, specializing in fish physiology and fisheries management. After a successful ten years as a field biologist and manager, he took his MBA (Gold Medalist) at the Ivey Business School in London, Ontario.
xxIn 1987, Chris joined the General Management practice in the Toronto office of Woods Gordon, the Canadian consulting affiliate of what was then Arthur Young International and is now Ernst and Young. As a principal, Chris led and participated in a variety of strategic planning and organizational change assignments for a number of large clients in retailing, natural resources, healthcare, and research and development.
xxIn 1990, Chris joined Change Lab International where he was a director in the Toronto practice for four years. In 1994, he and a colleague in Toronto, Morrey Ewing, formed The Change Alliance, where they were subsequently joined by Esther Ewing.
xxChris brings a unique combination of intellect and character to coaching leaders and their teams as they define and execute strategy and create and lead successful organizations. Chris has successfully built many strong and lasting client relationships with senior executives in companies such as Eastman Kodak, the Bank of Montreal and Harris Bank, Ogilvy & Mather, Pon North America, Marsh Insurance & Marsh Canada, WebMD, AOL-Time Warner, the Coca Cola Company, and what was Sterling Winthrop Pharmaceuticals. In addition, he has worked with KPMG, the T. Eaton Company, and the international law firm Stikeman, Elliott, Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Banking Institute, Levi Strauss Co., Allstate Insurance, Reuters, The Auditor General of Canada, Dupont Canada, and the G. Heileman Brewing Company, as well as others. In the not-for profit sector, he has had successful assignments with Inter-Varsity and Goodwill Industries. He has taught strategy and change management in the senior management programs of the Institute for Chartered Accountants of Ontario.
xxIn addition to his consulting practice, Chris is a director of Jefferson Partners, a Toronto-based merchant bank specializing in technology companies. He has also served on the board of a hi-tech public company for three years through and after its IPO process.
xxChris has chaired the leadership team at Chartwell Baptist Church, a local community church in Oakville, Ontario where he lives with his wife Jeannie and their three children. He can be occasionally discovered in glorious oblivion in his greenhouse or at an executive retreat center on the farm near Toronto, Ontario that Chris and Jeannie have developed to serve both corporate and not-for-profit needs. See a map to the farm (below).
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