A man with a plan and a brand
Richard Brown gets around. If the Concordia marketing degree he earned in 1983 fuelled what has been a stellar career, the MBA he completed in 1985 turbocharged it.
“I knew what I wanted and I knew an MBA would get me there because having an MBA was a differentiator," says Brown.
He started his career as a brand manager for Unilever, the consumer goods giant. More than 25 years and three countries later, the Toronto-native is top man at Calgary-based H&R Block Canada.
“If at any point in my career someone looks at my résumé, one of the first things I want them to understand is what my personal brand is all about — that here is a versatile senior executive who has been successful in different industries, countries and management positions,” he says.
His journey began with a recession. “In 1982, the economy wasn’t very strong,” Brown recalls, noting it was a factor in his decision to pursue his MBA.
Canada’s unemployment rate hit a record 13 per cent in 1982, the economy ravaged by soaring inflation and high interest rates.
It took four years for the number of full-time jobs to be restored. Yet by 1987, Brown had landed a national marketing director job at Gillette-owned Braun in Toronto. Two years later, he was promoted to the International Business Management group at Braun’s German headquarters in Kronberg.
He returned to Unilever in 1992 as a senior brand portfolio director for Lipton Canada, where he managed various brands within the beverage business and launched the Becel and Country Crock food brands.
By the late 1990s, Brown had made his mark as national marketing director for PepsiCo Restaurants Canada and as vice-president of marketing at Taco Bell in California, where he managed a US$120-million marketing budget.
How did the Concordia MBA fit in? “My goal was to get to a general management position,” he says. “I liked marketing, so I chose a career in brand management as my path to get me there.”
‘Liked’ puts its mildly. By 2001, Brown was responsible for more than 70 marketing staff and a US$175 million budget as senior vice-president, marketing and sales, for Burger King Corp. in Miami, Fla.
Today, as newly anointed president of H&R Block Canada, Brown hangs his hat in Calgary. Yet he insists southern California, where he has lived for 16 years, will always be home. “My kids — most of their life is down there.”
Ask Brown his thoughts on the value of his Concordia MBA and he’s every inch the marketing man. “It seems like the image and branding around the program has come a long way.”
It has. Corporate Knights magazineranked the John Molson School of Business MBA third best in Canada in September; The Economist’s2012 ranking pegs it 78th globally -- two facts Concordia marketers trumpet at every opportunity.
As for Canadians who wonder how to use their tax refunds, Brown offers his wisdom: “Max out your RRSP."
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