Board transport, in one paragraph
Board meeting and AGM transportation in Toronto moves directors — arriving at Pearson, Billy Bishop and sometimes the FBOs from across the country and abroad — from the airports to the hotels (the Four Seasons, the Ritz, the Shangri-La, the Royal York, the King Edward), to the dinner the night before, to the meeting venue (the head office's boardroom in a Financial District tower, a bank's floor, the Toronto Club or the National Club, the Design Exchange, a hotel's boardroom, or the convention centre for a large AGM), and back to the airports, on a corporate secretary's manifest sent a week ahead, with one chauffeur per director where the board's size allows, meet and greet at the airports, premium sedans, the security a public company's board requires (a perimeter at a contested AGM, discretion always), and the account coded to the board's budget. The roadshow article's buffers and the visiting clients itinerary article's hospitality both apply.
A public company's board meets four to eight times a year, its committees more often, and its annual general meeting once — and each meeting is a logistics problem the corporate secretary owns: directors flying in from Calgary, Vancouver, New York and London on the day before, a dinner that evening, a meeting that starts at nine and cannot start without a quorum, committee sessions before and after, and departures that afternoon to three airports. The directors are the company's most expensive hours and, in a car, the company's most sensitive information; the AGM adds shareholders, media and sometimes protesters to the venue's door. This article describes board and AGM transport as we run it: the manifest and the arrivals, the hotels and the dinner, the meeting venues and their doors, the one-chauffeur-per-director standard, the committee days, the AGM's particular logistics, the security and the discretion, the departures, the account, and a worked board meeting.
The corporate secretary's manifest
A week before the meeting the corporate secretary's office sends dispatch the manifest: each director's name, arrival flight and airport, hotel, the dinner's venue and time, the meeting venue and its start, any committee sessions, the departure flight, and the director's preferences where known (the front seat, a language, a wheelchair). Dispatch creates the meeting as a block on the company's corporate account, assigns chauffeurs — one per director for the two days where the board is small enough, otherwise a team briefed on all of them — and briefs them with the manifest; the executive assistants' guide describes the booker's side and the conference transportation article the larger version.
The arrivals: three airports and the FBOs
Directors arrive at Pearson (the West, Europe, the US beyond the Northeast), at Billy Bishop (Montreal, Ottawa, New York, Boston, Chicago) and sometimes by private aircraft at Pearson's FBOs; each is met with meet and greet — the company's name or a discreet alternative on the board — by a chauffeur who tracked the flight and who is, where possible, the director's chauffeur for the two days. The Pearson vs Billy Bishop comparison explains why the Montreal and New York directors land on the island, and the private aviation page the FBO procedure.
The hotels and the dinner the night before
Directors stay at the Four Seasons and the Hazelton in Yorkville, the Ritz-Carlton, the Shangri-La and the St. Regis in the core, the Royal York and the King Edward for the AGM's tradition; the Toronto luxury hotels guide covers the porte-cochères. The dinner the night before — at the Toronto Club, the National Club or the York Club, at a private room at Canoe or Scaramouche, at the chair's home — is a run from each hotel at 6:30 and back at 10, on the hourly or as fares; the fine dining article covers the restaurants' pickups and the Yorkville and Rosedale homes are on the chauffeur's map.
The meeting venues and their doors
The head office's boardroom in a Financial District tower: the executive car service article's lay-by for that tower, and the building's security told the directors' names. A bank's floor: the same. The Toronto Club (Wellington at York) and the National Club (Bay at Adelaide): their doors, with a chauffeur who knows the clubs' rules about waiting. The Design Exchange (the old Stock Exchange on Bay): the Bay Street entrance. A hotel's boardroom: the porte-cochère. The convention centre for a large AGM: the conference transportation article's drop-offs. The directors arrive between 8:30 and 8:50 for a 9 a.m. start, in sequence, at a door that is the same for all of them.
One chauffeur per director
For a board of ten or twelve, the standard is one chauffeur assigned to each director for the two days — the airport, the hotel, the dinner, the meeting, the departure — so that each director has one name, one plate and one text thread, and no director waits for a shared car; for a larger board or a committee week, a team of chauffeurs briefed on the whole manifest, with the chair and the lead director each keeping one. The standing orders article notes that a board that meets quarterly comes to have its regular chauffeurs, requested by the corporate secretary each time.
Committee days and the extended stay
Audit, compensation and governance committees meet the day before or the morning of the board, and some directors stay for a site visit or a management session the day after; the manifest carries the extended stays and the chauffeurs' assignments extend with them, on the hourly for a director's full day or as fares for a hotel-to-tower morning. A director's spouse who travels with them is on the manifest too, with the visitor guide's day in the city while the board sits.
The AGM's particular logistics
An annual general meeting adds shareholders, analysts, media and — for some companies in some years — protesters at the venue's door, and the transport changes: the directors arrive together, through a door the venue's security has designated (often a side or service entrance rather than the front), at a time coordinated with the company's security; a perimeter or a police presence may be in place; the media's cameras are at the front; and the chauffeurs are briefed on the plan and on the alternative if the front is blocked. The Royal York's, the King Edward's and the convention centre's AGM entrances are on the chauffeur's map, and the privacy and discretion article and the diplomatic and consular article cover the protocol and security patterns that apply.
Security and discretion
A board's presence in the city is material: a special meeting called at short notice signals a transaction, a director's arrival from a particular city signals a counterparty, the dinner's guest list signals a succession. The chauffeurs who drive boards say nothing to anyone, use a code word on the board where the company prefers, and drive the same black sedan that carries a hundred other passengers; a company that requires confidentiality undertakings gets them signed, and the privacy and discretion article sets the standard. For a contested AGM or a director who requires close protection, the company's security team briefs dispatch and the chauffeurs work to its plan.
The departures
The meeting ends at 2 or 3; the directors leave for three airports over the afternoon, each with a chauffeur who knows the flight and the terminal and who has the bags from the hotel's bell desk in the trunk; the Pearson page has the departures procedure and the rush hour article the afternoon's timing — a director for a 6 p.m. Pearson flight leaves the tower at 3:45 on a weekday, and one for a 5 p.m. Porter flight from Billy Bishop at 4:15.
The account and the coding
Board transport is on the company's account coded to the board's or the corporate secretary's budget, with each director's trips as lines on the statement (the corporate account billing article shows it), the gratuity set, the 407 approved for a director whose home or site visit is in the 905, and the AGM's fleet as its own cost code. The company's disclosure of directors' expenses, where required, is served by a statement that carries each director's name.
A worked board meeting: a TSX-listed company, quarterly board
Tuesday: eleven directors arrive — six at Pearson between noon and 6 (meet and greet, the company's name on the board, six premium sedans), four at Billy Bishop between 3 and 5 (met at Eireann Quay), one by private aircraft at Skyservice at 4; hotels: the Four Seasons, the Ritz, the Shangri-La. 6:30 p.m.: eleven cars to the Toronto Club; 10:15: eleven cars back. Wednesday: audit committee at 7:30 (four directors to the tower's Wellington lay-by), the board at 9 (the other seven, arriving 8:40 to 8:55), a working lunch, adjournment at 2:30; departures: five to Pearson between 3:30 and 5, four to Billy Bishop between 3 and 4:30, one to Skyservice at 3:15, one staying for a Thursday site visit in Markham via the 407. Eleven chauffeurs for two days, one manifest, one statement coded to the board, and a corporate secretary who spent the two days in the boardroom.
Board and AGM quick reference
| Element | Standard |
|---|---|
| Manifest | Corporate secretary's, a week ahead: directors, flights, hotels, dinner, venue, committees, departures |
| Arrivals | Meet and greet at Pearson, Billy Bishop or the FBOs; company's name or a code word on the board |
| Chauffeurs | One per director for the two days where the board's size allows |
| Hotels | Four Seasons, Hazelton, Ritz, Shangri-La, St. Regis, Royal York, King Edward |
| Dinner | Toronto Club, National Club, York Club, private rooms, the chair's home; 6:30 out, 10 back |
| Venue | Head office tower's lay-by; the clubs; Design Exchange; hotel boardroom; MTCC for a large AGM |
| AGM | Designated (often side) entrance; security's plan; media at the front; alternative if blocked |
| Departures | Three airports over the afternoon; bags from the bell desk; flights tracked |
| Account | Board's cost code; each director's trips as lines; gratuity set; 407 for the 905 |
| Discretion | Nothing repeated; undertakings signed on request; the same black sedan as anyone's |
Arranging board transport
The corporate car service page opens the account; the corporate secretary's manifest to dispatch does the rest; the roadshow article and the conference transportation article cover the patterns a board's transport borrows from.
The corporate secretary's checklist
The corporate secretaries who run board transport well keep a short checklist that we reproduce here because it saves everyone a phone call. Send the manifest a week ahead, with every director's mobile number and the assistant's number as a fallback. Tell the building's security the directors' names and the arrival window. Tell dispatch which door — the front, a side entrance, the garage — and whether it changes for the AGM. Confirm the dinner's venue and time two days before, because chairs change restaurants. Name one person on the company's side who can be reached during the two days for changes, and give dispatch a second. Ask for the same chauffeurs as last quarter if the directors liked them. Confirm the departures the morning of the meeting, because directors change flights at breakfast. Ask for the statement's cost code before the meeting, not after. Ten lines, and the two days run themselves; the executive assistants' guide covers the booking mechanics behind each line.
When a director's plans change mid-meeting
A director called out of the boardroom to an emergency at home, a meeting that runs two hours over, a flight cancelled by weather in the departure city — the chauffeur assigned to that director holds, dispatch rebooks the flight-dependent legs from the tracking, and the director's assistant gets a text with the new plan before the director is out of the elevator. The flight delays article covers the airport side and the cancellation policy article the rare case where a leg is cancelled outright — which, on a board's account, is handled as the account's terms say rather than the retail policy.
The board that meets outside Toronto
Some boards meet at a company's plant in the 905, at a resort in Muskoka for the annual strategy retreat, or at the Niagara-on-the-Lake inns; the transport is the same manifest with longer legs — directors met at Pearson and driven two hours north in SUVs, with the Muskoka article and the multi-day hire article covering the road time and the chauffeurs who stay with the board for the retreat's two or three days.
