Gary Schlee, ABC, MC

An IABC member for more than 40 years, Gary started his career as a journalist in the early 1970s, moving to corporate communications as an editor at Gulf
Canada in 1974. That same year, Gary was the Toronto chapter president of Corporate Communicators Canada when the organization voted to join the
International Association of Business Communicators, making him a pioneer of IABC/Toronto.

From 1978-80, Gary chaired an advisory committee at Centennial College that put together the framework for a new corporate communications program. In
1980, he launched Canada’s first post-secondary corporate communications program with a focus on internal communications. He was a professor at
Centennial College until his retirement in 2008. During his tenure, the program graduated hundreds of corporate communicators who are working in public
relations and communication roles across Canada and worldwide.

He was one of the first Canadian members to earn the Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) designation, and served on IABC’s international
accreditation committee. He helped create—and named—the Silver Leaf Awards program, which has recognized excellence in Canadian communication for more
than 35 years, and recently spearheaded a committee that revamped IABC/Toronto’s prestigious Communicator of the Year program.