Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #40, Saäd Rafi

Saäd Rafi

Pan Am Games

40 Rafi led the effort that turned the city’s cynicism—over HOV lanes, overcrowding, ticket sales, and more—into pride. The Games sold more than 1.1 million tickets (about 92 per cent of available tickets), recruited 23,000 volunteers, set the stage for Canada’s record-setting medal haul and came in under his $2.5-billion budget (making himself eligible for a $430,000 bonus in the process). Panamania, the Games’ cultural component, was the surprise star, and Kanye West’s performance at the closing ceremonies caught the ­attention—if not always the approval—of the country.

Friends in High Places:

John Tory, Kathleen Wynne, Deb Matthews.

More of Toronto's Most Influential People

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Today, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, Drake is Toronto

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #2, John Tory

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #3, Kathleen Wynne

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #4, George Cope

Cope is the head of Canada’s largest telecommunications company

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #5, Gerald Butts

Butts is now the most powerful non-elected person on Parliament Hill

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #6, Guy Laurence

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #7, Ian Black

Black is the regional head of a global corporate scofflaw

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #8, Jennifer Keesmaat

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #9, Larry Tanenbaum

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #10, Naomi Klein

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #11, Katie Telford

Telford led Justin Trudeau's ground campaign

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #12, José Bautista

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #13, Patrick Brown

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Culture

Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #14, Piers Handling and Cameron Bailey

Handling and Bailey rep the most important movie marketplace not named Cannes

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #15, Randy Lennox

Lennox has domain over Bell's original and in-house tele­vision productions

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #16, John Ruffolo

Ruffolo commands one of Bay Street’s largest private venture capital firms

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #17, Nick Kouvalis

Kouvalis is the ultimate guy behind the guy

Culture

Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #18, The Weeknd

This was the year The Weeknd achieved monster commercial success

City

Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #19, Brendan Shanahan

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #20, Ted Livingston

Livingston suddenly finds himself in the upper echelons of the mobile start-up world

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #21, Ratna Omidvar

Omidvar is one of the city’s staunchest champions of diversity

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #22, David Thomson

Thomson is the public face, however reluctantly, of his family’s $30.7-billion fortune

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #23, Mark Saunders

Saunders heads up the country’s largest municipal police force

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #24, Galen Weston

Weston has ­redefined grocery shopping for the 21st century

Food & Drink

Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #25, Charles Khabouth

Khabouth is Toronto’s leading club and restaurant mogul

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #26, Eric Hoskins

Hoskins has his hands full with Ontario's $50-billion health ministry

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #27, Tim Hockey

Hockey is responsible for the bulk of TD Canada Trust's net income

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #28, Josh Donaldson

Donaldson helped lead the Jays to the post-season for the first time in 22 years

Culture

Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #29, Jeff Remedios

Remedios deals with Bieber, the Weeknd and Drake

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #30, Tatiana Maslany

Maslany is the most buzzed-about Canadian actor since Gosling

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #31, Zunera Ishaq

Ishaq altered the course of the 2015 federal election

Culture

Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #32, Margaret Atwood

At age 75, Atwood is more ­relevant than ever

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #33, Anthony Rose

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #34, Marie Henein

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #35, Tanya Taylor

Taylor’s cheerful prints have appeared on the likes of Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Michelle Obama

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #36, Jeff Stober

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #37, Kirstine Stewart

Stewart is winning the battle to convince networks that Twitter is a reinforcement to—not a distraction from—their programming

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #38, Chrystia Freeland

Freeland may have the most impressive resumé in Canadian politics

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #39, Kevin Donovan

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #41, Gary Slaight

The head of the Slaight Family Foundation followed up on a generous 2014

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #42, Kristin Cochrane

Cochrane is easily the most powerful person in the Canadian book publishing industry

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #43, Matt Galloway

Galloway's voice is the first thing 392,000 Torontonians hear every morning

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #44, Katie Taylor

Taylor is Canada's first female bank chair

Real Estate

Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #45, Sam Mizrahi

Mizrahi has dominion over what is arguably ­Toronto’s most significant undeveloped piece of land

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #46, Peter Gilgan

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #47, Andre De Grasse

Canada finally has another sprinter worth getting excited about

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #48, Mathieu Chantelois

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #49, Robert Deluce

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Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #50, Karen Kain

Kain put the National Ballet back on stable financial footing