Rogers Communications Inc. hired Navdeep Bains, a former cabinet minister turned banker, to an executive role as the wireless and cable firm begins to absorb the assets of Shaw Communications Inc.
Bains, who served as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s first minister of industry, will be Rogers’ chief corporate affairs officer. He’s joining Rogers from Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, where he took an investment banking role after leaving politics in 2021.
Rogers, Canada’s largest wireless provider, closed its $20 billion acquisition of Shaw earlier this month, more than two years after it was announced. The deal was delayed, first by a legal challenge and then by Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne — Bains’s successor — who sought to extract concessions from Rogers.
Champagne approved the deal after Rogers agreed to put a number of pledges in writing, including a promise to spend at least $2.5 billion to expand 5G wireless coverage in Western Canada over five years and another $3 billion in other investments, in its cable network. Rogers faces potential fines of as much as $100 million a year if it breaks those commitments.
In hiring Bains, the Toronto-based company has put a man who used to be responsible for regulating telecommunications in Canada in charge of key public policy files, including areas of federal responsibility such as climate change and telecom access for low-income families. The move was announced Thursday.
Rogers also appointed former Shaw executive Zoran Stakic as chief transformation officer and promoted Terrie Tweddle to an executive role responsible for brand and communications. Marisa Wyse, the company’s chief legal and regulatory officer, leads its dealings with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
Two former Shaw senior executives, Brad Shaw and Trevor English, have joined the Rogers board. The Shaw family became one of the largest holders of Class B non-voting shares of Rogers Communications as part of the deal.
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