Legend

Inaugural Inductee

Dave Nichol

Galen W. Weston hired Dave Nichol in 1972. Nichol was a former college classmate who went on to work with the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, a company that helped turn Loblaw stores from fluorescently lit boxes filled with metal shelving into outlets that were spacious and almost luxurious. Nichol, who passed away in 2013, was the face of and the strategist behind the group’s approach to the private label business, beginning with household staples. He was associated with being the president of the highly successful President’s Choice brand. In 2005, Nichol was inducted as a Visionary into the Hall of Canadian Marketing Legends by the American Marketing Association. He was cited for “[changing] the retail landscape forever and has done so in a sustainable and meaningful way,” noted Maclean’s in 2019. “A lifelong passion for food has translated into fundamental evolutions in the choices and quality of food products available to Canadian households.”