Rogers Executive Thomas Turner Joins Rogers Control Trust Advisory Board, Sources Say

Thomas Turner, director of Rogers Communications Inc., has joined the advisory board of the Rogers Control Trust, a group whose membership has declined in recent years due to the deaths of several of its members.

Two sources confirmed to The Globe and Mail that Mr. Turner, President of Rogers Business, joined the advisory committee. The Globe is not identifying the sources because they are not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The sources did not say when Mr. Turner joined the committee or whether other members have recently been added. A Rogers spokesperson declined to comment.

The Rogers Control Trust runs the telecommunications and media giant through its ownership of 97.5 percent of the company’s Class A voting shares.

In fall 2021, Edward Rogers, the son of the company’s late founder, used his position as chairman of the Rogers Control Trust to reconstitute the company’s board, removing five independent directors and replacing them by its own list of hand-picked candidates.

He was able to do this despite opposition from his mother and two of his sisters because he had the support of two-thirds of the 10 committee members. The new board then fired the company’s CEO, Joe Natale, and replaced him with its former CFO, Tony Staffieri.

Since then, three members of the advisory board have died: Rogers family matriarch Loretta Rogers, former chairman Alan Horn and longtime director Phil Lind.

Mr. Turner, who has more than 30 years of experience at Rogers in business planning, sales and customer service, was also recently added to the telecommunications company’s leadership team.

Mr. Staffieri announced the change in a memo to employees on September 11, in which he also indicated that Robert Dépatie, president and chief operating officer of the telecommunications company’s home and business division, will retire at the end of the year.

In the email, Mr. Staffieri congratulated Mr. Turner for making “strong and consistent progress toward double-digit growth” over the past year as president of Rogers Business.

Other members of the advisory committee include Mr. Rogers and his three sisters – Lisa Rogers, Melinda Rogers Hixon and Martha Rogers – as well as former Toronto mayor John Tory, Loretta Rogers’ nephew David Robinson and best friend Toby Hull. childhood of the company founder. Ted Rogers.