Mark Goudie, the President and CEO of Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, has spent his whole life in Ottawa, making his current role an extra special one.
“I loved sports growing up, and Lansdowne was an important part of my life,” he said. “We went to 67’s and Rough Riders games, and the Ottawa Ex was the last blast of every summer before going back to school. I saw my first concert at Lansdowne, and then about a hundred more after that. I get to combine what I love with what is important to me, so what I get up in the morning to do is awesome.”

Goudie started his career as a chartered accountant with PwC. From there he spent time as CFO of the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club back in their early years, before moving on to a career in high-tech, where he spent over 20 years. In reality, high tech is where he expected that he would finish his career.

“I fell back into sports and entertainment a bit accidentally,” Goudie said. “I came to do a couple of days of work with OSEG in early 2013, and that turned into a couple of weeks, and then a couple of months. Now, this is the longest job I’ve ever had.”

What sold him on moving back into sports and entertainment was the ownership group, and the dreams they shared for OSEG.

“Our ownership had a story similar to mine; they grew up in Ottawa and wanted to make Lansdowne and the stuff that happens here special again,” Goudie said. “Their values and vision also jibed with mine, and 11 years later, I still get out of bed before my alarm goes off because I am excited to get at it.”

Goudie is proud of what OSEG has built at Lansdowne and is excited for the future.

“Together we have enabled Lansdowne to reclaim its title as Ottawa’s Gathering Place,” Goudie said. “We now attract more than four million visitors and close to 200 events a year.”

“We started with the REDBLACKS and 67’s, but now have six sports tenants at TD Place including the Ottawa Charge, Atlético Ottawa, the Ottawa BlackJacks and the new Ottawa Rapid FC. Combine that with the concerts, other shows and events, and Canadian and international championships that we host, and that makes for action-packed weeks, months, and years.”

“Our Lansdowne 2.0 redevelopment – complete with a new Event Centre and north stadium stands – will ensure that we will continue to be the hub of sports and entertainment in our region.”

Goudie credits the culture OSEG has created and fostered for its successes.

“We started with an empty whiteboard and got to invent the company that we wanted to build,” he said. “We wanted our guests’ experiences to be at the heart of everything that we did, and we wanted energetic, positive, bright, cooperative, can-do people to carry out that mission. In the early days, everyone pitched in to do whatever was necessary to make happy guests, which defined our early culture, and has carried through to today.”

“If you chose sports and entertainment as your career, you need to love it. We go to work when everyone else is going out to play, and there is a lot of it. There is nothing that makes me happier than seeing our folks move on to bigger jobs and live their dreams. That reminds me that we are doing a good job here.”

“In 20 or 30 years, I want people to look back on their careers and say ‘That time that I spent at OSEG helped get me to where I am now, and was the most fun that I have had at work.”
When asked about his favourite memory so far, he cited the REDBLACKS’ Grey Cup parade in 2016.

“It was an ice storm day and schools were closed,” Goudie recalled. “I knew that Ottawa’s first Grey Cup in 40 years was a big deal, but I was petrified that no one was going to be there because of the weather. When we turned onto Bank Street and saw 50,000 people lining the street into Lansdowne, I was in awe.”

“You could feel how much it meant to our city, and to spend a couple of hours in overflowing happiness and positive energy and know that OSEG was responsible for it felt like a job pretty well done.”

Goudie concluded on what it was like to work at OSEG.

“Our exceptionally talented and committed employees are in the business of making memories for our neighbours, community, and visitors. We have a lot of fun, but we also take that exceptionally seriously.”