John M. Beck is founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aecon Group Inc. John has over 45 years of engineering, construction and project management experience. Born in Algiers, John holds a degree in Civil Engineering from Montreal's McGill University. He began his career in 1963 by joining his family's business which manufactured pre-cast, pre-stressed concrete. In 1971, his company went public and John embarked on a strategy of mergers and acquisitions as well as rapid organic and geographic growth.
Aecon's teams of engineers and construction managers have been involved in building landmarks such as Toronto's CN Tower, until recently the world's tallest freestanding concrete structure; Toronto, Montreal, Budapest and Prague's international airports as well as roads, hospitals, schools, oil sands plants, mines, high rise towers, universities, nuclear plants and seaway infrastructure in Canada.
John and Aecon are innovators in terms of public-private partnerships and design-build-finance initiatives. Aecon built the $1 billion 407 ETR near Toronto, the world's first open access, all electronic toll highway, the $1.5 billion Cross Israel Highway, the world's most technically advanced all electronic highway, and has just completed the $700 MM Greenfield New Quito International Airport in Ecuador. All told, John, who speaks two languages, and Aecon, have successfully completed projects over the years in more than a dozen countries.
In November 2008, John was cited by The Financial Post Magazine's "CEO Scorecard", as one of the top 20 most accomplished CEO's in Canada. John is an active member of the business community. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Financing Authority as well as the Canadian Olympic Foundation. He is a member of the Advisory Council for the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary and is also a member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives. He was previously Chairman of the Board of the Ontario Power Authority, a government agency with responsibility for planning and procuring all of the province's power needs for the next 20 years. He was recently inducted as a Fellow into the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He has also served on a number of non-profit boards involved in charities, health, education and the arts.