It's 7 a.m. on a weekday morning, and Dave Cobb has already been at work for an hour.
On the elevator ride up to his Coal Harbour office at the Jim Pattison Group, the former BC Hydro boss comments on his work hours.
His new boss, an octogenarian billionaire whose name has become synonymous in this province with long hours, hard work and success, in part drives them.
"I'm not an early riser," Cobb said with a smile, though in spite of the time of day he does not lack energy or enthusiasm.
There's a Starbucks downstairs – but he doesn't have a coffee in his hand.
The last five months at the city's quietest major corporation, Cobb said, have been extremely interesting.
"Very entrepreneurial organization," he explained. "I still have a lot to learn, but I couldn't be happier."
As one of eight managing directors at the Pattison Group, Cobb has a core responsibility to help grow the country's third largest private company.
But what exactly does that mean?
The Jim Pattison Group's interests are global. It has stakes in food sales and distribution (Overwaitea Food Group), car dealerships, entertainment (Ripley's Believe it or Not! and Guinness World Records), signage and radio and TV stations, among other things.
But because the company is privately held, it's difficult to get a handle on its numbers.
In fact, explained Cobb, there are only three numbers the Group publicly releases: its annual sales ($7.3 billion last year), its number of locations (465) and total employees (34,000).
It's growing, said Cobb, but that's as much information as he'll share.
So, again, what role is the group's newest managing director supposed to play?
"My core is growth in acquisitions," said Cobb.
It's a cryptic answer, but he's quick to point out that his job, literally, is what he makes it.
"I don't have a job description," he said. "There's nothing written down about what my job is. So there's an expectation that you're very entrepreneurial, you're not sitting at your desk waiting for things to happen. You go out and make things happen."
But whatever deals Cobb pulls together – be they mergers or acquisitions – each of them must align with the guiding principles behind the company – integrity, quality and customer satisfaction.
That might sound like fluff, said Cobb, but he maintains that the three principles have driven the 51-year-old company's success.
"When I met with Jimmy [before I was hired], one of the first things he said to me was, 'If you're going to do something that you wouldn't feel comfortable being [seen] on the front page of the local newspaper the next day, then you simply don't do it.'"
On quality: "Everything we do we want to be top quality … we have to do that to earn our customer's support."
And customer service: "Our people get up every day thinking about what they can do today to earn the support of our customers."
That focus on customer service is not new to Cobb; it has underwritten his entire career.
The 49-year-old Vancouver native started out as an accountant for KPMG, one of Canada's largest audit, tax and advisory companies. One of his first major clients was the Vancouver Canucks, where he built a lasting relationship that eventually became a full-time job.
He took over as COO of the Canucks at the worst point in this franchise's history, he said.
At the time, the team had a high payroll, was at the bottom of the standings and half its games weren't even televised.
The Canucks' U.S. owners weren't prepared to lose any more money, so Cobb was brought on board to clean up the business side of the organization while GM Brian Burke focused on ice performance.
"No question there was talk about the team being sold," Cobb said, "and I don't think they would have been picky on who they sold to because they were losing too much money."
The organization worked with franchise alumni and season ticket holders to rebuild what had been lost. Meantime, Burke cut the payroll and dramatically improved the team's standings.
Within a few years, the organization was again turning heads in Vancouver, winning games and churning a profit.
In 2004, Cobb was offered the role of Canucks president – but John Furlong and the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) for the 2010 Olympic Games came calling.
It was a tough decision to leave behind what he called his "dream job," but he soon joined VANOC as deputy CEO under Furlong and steered the organization toward the biggest sports event in the city's history.
It wasn't easy. In the years leading up to the Games, VANOC was often a media target, under constant scrutiny and questioned about every decision.
"You have to become very disciplined to stay focused on what you believe in; vision is very important … you listen, you adjust, but you have to have a thick skin and we did," Cobb said of his time at VANOC.
Jeff Mooney, chairman of the A&W restaurant chain and co-owner of the Vancouver Canadians baseball club, was on VANOC's board of directors at the time, and said Cobb was "uncompromising" about the quality of his team.
"You have to have as much confidence in yourself to hire people you know are better in those areas than you are, and I saw him consistently do that," said Mooney. "One of the great things about Dave is that all leaders have a decent dose of ego, but a really great leader like Dave keeps his ego in perspective. In other words, it's about the team."
After the Games were done, Cobb joined BC Hydro as CEO.
He stayed with the Crown corporation for only 17 months but led it through one of the most tumultuous periods in its history as media, the public and government auditors criticized its gold-plated spending, high staff levels and increasing debt load.
"It wasn't easy because the views some of the auditors had, I didn't share them," he said. "I believe government has the right to direct [BC Hydro] from an objective strategy standpoint … but what I'd said, and the premier and I had a conversation about this, I said my primary focus has to be on the customers of our company."
Now, at the Pattison Group, it's Cobb's job to maintain the same sense of loyalty to the customers while also growing the organization through acquisitions.
There are some directions, however, the company won't go in.
"We're not interested in high-tech … we don't do startups, we don't invest in venture capital," he said. "We like proven businesses that have a strong presence in the marketplace … with the entire focus being on the customer."
And, for the man who's held some of the most sought-after executive positions in the province, Cobb appears to have finally landed a position that he hopes to hold on to for as long possible.
"I want to end my career here. I would love to spend 15, 20 years here."
