Goodbye Greg Brophy
Greg Brophy, the Founder and CEO of Securit and Shred-it, died in a plane accident in Alaska on Sunday, September 30th. I worked for Greg for two years and found him to be an inspirational entrepreneur. He built his paper shredding services business from one truck, which he himself drove, to a multinational information management phenomenon – with 140 branches in 13 countries.
So few Canadian entrepreneurs are brave enough to do business state-side, let alone around the globe, and I think that Greg should be credited for his boldness to take risks. He also kept his business private and kept the head office in Canada, giving a lot of us rare opportunities to work on international business. Much of Canadian marketing is simply implementing programs designed by the head office, either in the US or elsewhere. With Securit and Shred-it, my colleagues and I had the chance to strategize, build and execute international programs from scratch.
I put his logo on my post because in my time in his Marketing department, he was always critiquing every design, whether it be a truck or a website, for having the logo be too small. The result of course was huge logos everywhere. I also remember standing out in a cold February parking lot debating over truck designs – people shouting out their opinions over the wind.
My thoughts are with the Brophy family on this sad week.
I worked for Greg and reported directly to him for a few years back in the early 2000′s. He was a true leader and a big picture thinker. Also, a passionate and committed person with a desire for thrill. If he’d of had to choose a way to die, it would have been on one of his many world wide adventures, such as this one.
My heart goes out to Tracy, Chris, Meg and Kirst.
I worked at Securit from 2002 – 2007 and Greg always made a point to connect with me personally, always stopping by for a chat and to ask about myself and my family. When he introduced me to the new COO, he listed off all my accomplishments of the last four years. It meant so much to me that he really cared what each of us contributed to the company. He will be sorely missed. My thoughts are with Tracey, Christopher, Kirsten and Megan as well as Sean’s family.
I am lucky enough to work for the company and the industry that Greg founded. I have met him on two different occasions. He was actually a CEO who cared about his business as well as his people. He inspired me in the first 10 minutes I met him. My prayers go out to his wife, children and anyone else who was blessed enough to call him a friend.