Rob Steele

Rob Steele built his entrepreneurial career in auto-related industries throughout the 1990s. The Steele Auto Group, is now the largest and most diversified auto group in Atlantic Canada with 900 employees, and 17 dealerships in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador, representing 22 brands.

The Steele Auto Group is recognized as one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies.

Rob’s other hat is President and CEO of Newfoundland Capital Corporation or Newcap. Since taking the job in the early 2000’s Rob has focused on the radio business, and now controls 95 radio licenses across Canada with 1000 employees.

Rob also sits on the boards of Stingray Digital, Montreal, and Atlantic Signature Mortgage, Halifax.

Rob has a strong passion for music. He’s been a Past Co-Chair of the East Coast Music Awards Event Committee and continues to be involved with the ECMA’s in an advisory capacity. He also serves on the Advisory Committee for Junior Achievement of Nova Scotia, and is also a Director of the Halifax Mooseheads Hockey Club.

Rob is a strong supporter of giving back to the communities and both Newcap Radio and the Steele Auto Group are very actively involved in many charitable causes and Rob is personally active with the Alzheimer’s Society, the Mental Health Foundation, Family SOS, Daffodil House, Feed NS and the Arthritis Society. He was named Outstanding Individual Philanthropist of the Year in 2014 by the NS Association of Fundraising Professional.s I met Rob at his home near the Kearney Lake Road and we sat down on a beautiful afternoon on his patio to chat…

*In our conversation, Rob mentions a unattributed poem called the Creativity of Living. The quote is as follows;

The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been before.

Creativity in living is not without its attendant difficulties, for peculiarity breeds contempt. And the unfortunate thing about being ahead of your time is that when people finally realize you were right, they’ll say it was obvious all along. You have two choices in your life; you can dissolve into the mainstream, or you can be distinct. To be distinct, you must be different. To be different, you must strive to be what no one else but you can be . . .

There is some investigation of this quote, attributed to several figures, available at http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/10/18/follows-crowd/