November 17, 2021
Jim King, Founder of EllisDon Capital, Named 2021 P3 Champion by CCPPP
Award to be presented at P3 2021 today at 2:15 p.m. ET
Jim King, founder of EllisDon Capital, will be celebrated today as a winner of the 2021 Champion Award by The Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships.
King, who retired in 2019 after an impressive 38-year career with EllisDon, will receive the prestigious award virtually at P3 2021, CCPPP’s 29th annual conference. He will be honoured alongside fellow 2021 Champion Award winner David Podmore, OBC, founder and chair of Concert Infrastructure.
“Jim played a critical role in bringing the private sector to the table in the early days of P3s in Canada,” said Brad Nicpon, Partner, McCarthy Tétrault LLP, and chair of the national awards committee.
“His work with EllisDon Capital showed construction companies could be more than just contractors — they could bring capital and innovative financing solutions to a project, and thereby transform themselves into partners in the true spirit of a P3,” he continued. “Jim has earned the respect and admiration of his peers across the P3 market.”
The Champion Award is presented by the Council to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to P3s in Canada. The 2021 awards are supported by gold sponsor McCarthy Tétrault LLP and silver sponsor Colas Canada.
King joins a long line of distinguished Canadians who have received the award, including: John McArthur, former president and chairman, Kiewit Development; Mike Marasco, former Plenary Concessions CEO; James Flaherty, former federal finance minister; John M. Beck, Aecon Group Inc. founder and chairman; and Sarah Clark, president and CEO at Fraser River Pile and Dredge (GP) Inc. and former president and CEO of Partnerships British Columbia.
“I am honoured to be recognized by The Canadian Council of Public-Private Partnerships and my peers with the 2021 Champion Award,” said King. “The PPP/AFP model, from the beginning, was a great way for the existing Canadian marketplace to participate in the Canadian program. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work on the original projects and continued to stay with the program for nearly 20 years during which EllisDon has embraced the P3 model and all its advantages. The program needs to continue, and I think there’s no limit to its potential.”
The awards committee noted King was a pioneer who helped pave the way for greater acceptance and innovation of the ‘made-in-Canada’ version of the public-private partnership model. In particular, his approach had a tremendous impact on the way the first hospital P3s in Ontario were structured to deal with risk transfer and the private financing of public infrastructure.
King joined EllisDon in 1983 as corporate treasurer, later becoming a senior vice present and chief financial officer for the company. In 2000, he founded a new EllisDon division and operating company called EllisDon Capital, which was established for the sole purpose of providing comprehensive development services to the P3 infrastructure market.
He was the first employee at EllisDon Capital and dedicated the majority of his time to not only growing EllisDon to be a market leader in P3, but also educating others, such as project and industry partners across Canada, about the model and its benefits. King remained with EllisDon Capital until 2019 and was a key member of the development and finance teams for all P3 pursuits, providing executive oversight to the project team and developing the financing solution.
“Jim's ability to be the ‘voice of reason’ in resolving commercial and financial negotiations with clients and lenders during the earliest days of the Canadian P3 model truly makes him one of the pioneers of P3s in North America,” said Danny Giacomel, vice president, infrastructure, EllisDon.