Suzuki Canada President Bill Porter enjoys anything with a motor.
"Last week I was on holidays so I was on one of our Suzuki powered boats most of the time. I ride a motorcycle back and forth to work of course. My son rides a motorcycle of course. So I'm kind of a motor guy."
Suzuki Canada recently moved into its new Barrie headquarters on Saunders Rd. complete with a ribbon cutting by Mayor Lehman.
The company employs 65 people and has a 40,000 square feet parts warehouse.
Porter, 68, has been with Suzuki just over 11 years and president for the past three.
"I was the first person to be the non-Japanese President in the world and I still am for Suzuki. So you might say I'm a test case for how it works," Porter said with a smile.
In 2012, Suzuki stopped selling cars in the U.S. and followed suit the next year in Canada deciding to focus on motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and marine products.
Suzuki had been in Richmond Hill for 27 years but when autos went, the 110,000 square feet warehouse was too big and a downsize was required.
It was decided the perfect sized building was 40,000 square feet.
Porter says they first started looking in Richmond Hill, Aurora, and Newmarket.
"Our real estate agent said 'Hey there's a building in Barrie that's exactly the right size,'" he said. "When we saw the building and the stars all lined up and yes there are other considerations for staff. I knew in my heart that Barrie was the right place. We could find some really good people."
Ironically, Porter is what he calls a 'Barrie person' and has lived in the city for about 30 years.
"It's kind of 'come home' but I don't look at it that way. I didn't buy the building because I happen to live close," he said.
A self-described 'cottage boy,' he actually spends most of his time at a second home in Gravenhurst so he's still commuting but it doesn't phase him.
"We're in the business of people driving things," he said.
The move to Barrie is more of a full-circle moment for Suzuki, according to Porter, because he says when the company first started in Canada with a distributor, it was located in Barrie.
Porter grew up in Streetsville right around the corner from now former Mississauga Mayor Hazel McClallion and he helped on her first mayoralty campaign.
Barrie's population was 35,000 people when he arrived here.
"The city has gone through changes but that background also told me there's a wonderful work pool here," he said, calling the talent 'gold.'
"I know there's about 150,000 people but there's Innisfil, Midland, Penetanguishene. There's all kinds of good reasons to be located here. The talent pool is deep."
Not all Richmond Hill staff made the move to the Barrie facility but others did and have already bought houses here.
"At the end of the day the company will be a lot stronger. The company is in the right size building so financially were going to be a lot stronger and talent wise I really believe we're going to be a lot stronger than we were before," he said.
Porter has been President at Kia Canada and a senior Vice President at Nissan and Hyundai.
"I hope you can tell I enjoy it. I love it. I love working. I love to do my job. I like helping people. I just really enjoy doing what I'm doing."
He makes a point of offering a plug for Barrie, saying the city was welcoming and a pleasure to deal with.
"Barrie is open for business," he says, giving this advice for other companies.
"If they do have to find another location this is a good place to look."
