A CAREER OF GETTING THINGS DONE
Broadcasting
While enrolled at Carleton University, Ron began his media career at The Ottawa Citizen as a part-time news photographer. He then transferred to Laurentian University in Sudbury when his RCMP father was assigned to Sudbury to head up the RCMP Northern Ontario Detachment.
While attending Laurentian University, Ron became a member of the Editorial Staff at The Sudbury Star, an arena concert promoter (Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, Gordon Lightfoot, Roy Orbison, Everly Brothers), a CHNO-AM DJ, and operated weekly live-music dances at both the Mine Mill Hall and Caruso Club.
After graduation with a B.A. (Psychology), H.B.Comm. and M.B.A., Ron was hired as Manager of the new CBC affiliate television station in Sudbury. He was actively involved in the construction and design of the new broadcasting facility on Frood Road.
Over his career in broadcasting, Ron appeared 32 times before the CRTC, government commissions and public hearings.
In addition to his corporate, management and administrative duties, Ron was also in charge of broadcast operations, including News, Sports, Programming and Production.
The Sudbury Star later described Ron, then 29, as the creative force behind Channel 9 programming. He hosted “Reach for the Top,” “President’s Corner,” election-night programming and other local productions.
As cable television fragmented local audiences, he pursued new distribution strategies, including licences for a large privately owned microwave system spanning Ontario and Quebec.
The applications in Ontario and Quebec were vigorously opposed by Bell Canada. Licences were eventually approved to carry the broadcast signal to downtown Ottawa.
Ron also acquired other radio and television stations in Northern Ontario and the Ottawa Valley.
As President of Mid Canada Broadcasting, he directed the acquisition of the competing CTV (CKSO) group of Northern Ontario stations.
But audience fragmentation continued to take its toll. Local broadcasting stations had to be downsized and often closed.
After 28 years in broadcast management, Ron Goswell made the difficult personal decision to move his talents to a new growth segment.
Academics & Consulting
Ron became a Professional School professor at Laurentian University, teaching in the fourth-year Honours Bachelor of Commerce and MBA programs. The archival material below preserves anonymous student assessments from the Laurentian University Admin VAX system.
NRA CONSULTING - FROM SUDBURY TO INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS
Ron became a Professional School professor at Laurentian University, teaching in the fourth-year Honours Bachelor of Commerce and MBA programs. The archival material below preserves anonymous student assessments from the Laurentian University Admin VAX system.
PUBLIC SPEAKING - FROM SUDBURY TO INTERNATIONAL STAGES
Ron Goswell has delivered more than 500 major public presentations - from press conferences and plenary addresses to convention-centre programs in Havana, New York, Las Vegas, Dallas, Chicago and Atlanta, with audiences of up to 3,500.
Ron is also fully experienced in full-service hospitality. In the lower black-and-white photograph, he is seen with former Sudbury Mayor Jim Gordon at the opening of one of Ron's fine-dining restaurants.
Technology
Shortly after voice-recognition technology was declassified in the United States, as President of SUDCAN Corporation Ron acquired rights to sell the system to lawyers, doctors and other professional groups in Canada.
Community Service
1) Director, Sudbury Theatre Centre
2) Director, Sudbury and District Chamber of Commerce
Ron Goswell and his wife Carole are pictured with Robert Desmarais, an Ontario Superior Court Justice and a member of the Desmarais family associated with Power Corporation.
3) President, CFA Canada (Toronto)
4) Director, Metro Center Management Board (Sudbury)
5) Founder & Chairman; Flour Mill Business Improvement Area / Moulin-à-Fleur
Ron helped establish the Flour Mill Business Improvement Area / Moulin-à-Fleur by doing what successful municipal leadership often requires: bringing commercial property owners together, building agreement and turning that agreement into something tangible that remains visible and vibrant many years later.
Working with City staff and Ward Councillor Ricardo de la Riva, Ron helped organize local businesses behind a major beautification program. The colourful flower planters that line both sides of Notre Dame Avenue, together with the elegant stone entry feature and neighbourhood sign identifying the Flour Mill / Moulin-à-Fleur, gave the neighbourhood a stronger, more attractive and more distinctive public face.
The special BIA improvements were financed through an additional levy on commercial properties - over and above their normal municipal property taxes. The special BIA levy was not imposed on residential taxpayers. Local businesses chose to invest more in their own neighbourhood because they believed the improvements were worth making.
Retiring Ward 12 Councillor and Deputy Mayor Joscelyne Landry-Altmann carried that work forward and continues to serve on the Flour Mill BIA Board of Management. If elected, Ron is prepared to serve again as Council's representative to the BIA, if appointed.
It is a practical example of Ron's approach to municipal leadership: bring people together, secure agreement, find a workable way to pay for the improvement, and produce something the community can still see and enjoy decades later.
6) Co-founder - James W. McLamore Executive Education Center, University of Miami
Ron's business leadership also reached well beyond Sudbury and Canada. Working with the family and legacy of James W. McLamore, co-founder of Burger King Corporation, Ron helped advance the development of a world-class Executive Education Center at the University of Miami.
He worked with the School of Business team on executive education and training for senior business leaders from around the world, bringing to the project his experience in franchising, marketing, management and organizational development.
The photographs record the opening celebrations, including Ron with members of the McLamore family and University leadership. It was another example of Ron operating comfortably at an international level - bringing together business, philanthropy and higher education to create something intended to endure.
7) Vice-President, Sudbury Regional Development Corporation
TEAM MEMBER OF CO-FOUNDERS: SCIENCE NORTH
Science North became one of the most consequential tourism and economic-development projects in Sudbury's history - a landmark that changed the city's image, drew visitors from across Canada and helped reinforce Sudbury's role as the de facto capital of Northern Ontario.
Ron participated as Vice-President of the Sudbury Regional Development Corporation, the City's development arm, working as part of the broader team that helped move the project from concept toward reality. The work required collaboration on land, design, feasibility, funding, government relations and community support.
Ron is pictured in the white hard hat in the centre. Like most of his municipal community work, this was a volunteer contribution requiring close cooperation with City staff, business leaders, funders and governments - the same collaborative working relationship he is prepared to bring to City Council.
8) CHAIRMAN - SUDBURY DEVELOPMENT PROMOTION COMMITTEE
At the time, bringing INCO management and the United Steelworkers of America together around the same table was no routine accomplishment. Sudbury had lived through years of difficult labour relations, strikes and very public disagreements between the city's dominant mining company and organized labour.
Ron helped bring leaders from INCO, the Steelworkers and the City of Sudbury together around a common purpose: improving Sudbury's image, rebuilding confidence in the community and promoting the region rather than allowing old divisions to define it.
The photograph captures something powerful for its time - senior company leadership, senior labour leadership and City staff participating together in the same civic promotion effort. Ron's role was to help create the common ground that made that cooperation possible.
Like most of Ron's municipal activities, this was volunteer service. It depended on a close, respectful working relationship with professional City staff - exactly the kind of collaborative relationship he is preparing to renew as a City Councillor.
