George Cope

Early life

George Cope was born on July 28, 1961, in Scarborough, Ontario, and raised in the small town of Port Perry, located about 75 km northeast of Toronto. His father briefly played for the Toronto Argonauts, a football team in the Canadian Football League, before operating gas stations and rustproofing shops. His mother ran a fabric store. At Port Perry High School, Cope was active in both academics and extracurriculars. He played basketball on the school team and served as student council president.

After finishing high school, George Cope enrolled in the Ivey Business School at Western University, earning a Bachelor of Business Administration (HBA) with honours in 1984.

Career

George Cope first rose to prominence as a business executive as President and CEO of Clearnet Communications, a fast-growing wireless firm that was later acquired by TELUS in 2000. He was then chosen to become President and CEO of TELUS Mobility, helping position the company as a major wireless competitor in the Canadian market.

In 2005, Cope joined Bell Canada and quickly advanced through that company’s corporate ranks. Within three years, he was appointed President and CEO of BCE Inc. and Bell Canada, taking charge after a failed leveraged buyout attempt by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund during the 2008 Financial Crisis. Instead of retreating due to unfavourable business conditions, George Cope implemented a large-scale restructuring of the company through big investments in broadband infrastructure and wireless networks. He also presided over the rollout of new services like Bell Fibe TV and Gigabit Internet, technologies that allowed Bell to become the nation’s largest TV company, top Internet provider, and one of its leading wireless suppliers.

George Cope also expanded Bell into the media and entertainment sphere through spearheading numerous high-profile acquisitions. The company’s purchase of CTV and Astral Media created Bell Media, which quickly became Canada’s largest multimedia company. Under his stewardship, Bell also acquired stakes in several major league sports organizations, including the Montréal Canadiens, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (owners of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors), and the Toronto Argonauts. Cope also directed Bell to acquire other strategic assets, including The Source, Glentel, and Q9 Networks, which increased the company’s reach in the retail distribution and business services industries.

In 2010, George Cope debuted Bell Let’s Talk, a landmark corporate initiative supporting mental health across Canada. Aided by a nationwide marketing campaign that accompanied its launch, the program instantly became a national conversation starter, raising awareness and funding while setting a new bar in the arena of corporate social responsibility. Let’s Talk is still thriving today, running in January of each year, and to date has supported over 1,500 organizations providing mental health services and reached nearly seven million Canadians through funded programs. Widely viewed to be George Cope’s signature accomplishment during his tenure at Bell, for his efforts in creating Let’s Talk, he received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.

Over the course of his career, Cope has received many other recognitions for his leadership and achievements. He was named Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year in 2015, recognized as one of Harvard Business Review’s Top 100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World in 2019, and inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 2018. Other notable accolades include being listed among Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 1996, receiving the Richard Ivey School Distinguished Service Award in 2009, and being named Corporate Citizen of the Year by the Globe and Mail in 2019. In 2014, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada, in a ceremony that acknowledged both his business accomplishments and his larger impact on Canadian society.

In 2013, Cope applied some of the lessons he learned in private industry to the charitable sector, serving as that year’s Chair of United Way Toronto’s annual fundraising campaign. The results from his leadership efforts were a record-breaking $117 million CAD raised for local community programs.
After retiring from Bell in January 2020, Cope was appointed Chair of the Board at the Bank of Montreal. Alongside this position, he holds seats on the boards of organizations such as Brain Canada and CGI. He is also a member of the Richard Ivey School of Business Advisory Board at Western University, as well as a leading voice on the Business Council of Canada.

Net Worth

According to Market Screener, as of August 2025, George Cope’s net worth is approximately $13 million.