About Pat Jordan

There’s nothing like growing up on a farm to appreciate the value of hard work. That’s certainly true of Pat Jordan, who was raised on a dairy farm close to the tiny village of Kilskyre in Meath.

“You get nothing in farming if you don’t work,” he says. “When I went back to UCD as a mature student, I knew that even if I wasn’t the smartest person in the room, I could outwork anyone.”

In fact, completing a part-time business studies degree at UCD Quinn School at UCD changed everything for him. “I can’t stress how much it benefitted me,” says Pat. “It was a game-changer, changing my belief in myself and what I’m capable of.”

Developing sales skills the hard way

Now leading communications and public affairs at CPA Canada, one of the world’s largest accountancy bodies, Pat originally studied for a diploma in agricultural science at Waterford Institute of Technology. Having graduated, he joined Agrinet, a software start-up.

“For five years, I went out and sold software to farmers when most of them didn’t have computers,” he recalls, adding the company thrived despite the sometimes sceptical target market.

Keen to build his skills, he completed a diploma in marketing, advertising and PR at Dublin Business School in 2003. While working at Cornmarket and then Irish Mortgage Corporation, Pat also became a qualified financial advisor (QFA).

“I won a voucher for being the no 1 consultant in the firm and the prize was a €1,000 travel voucher. On my lunch break that day, I went into Thomas Cook and asked if the voucher was enough to get me to Australia. It was. I booked the flight, went back to the office and handed in my notice.”

While on his year off in Australia, he met his now-wife Marie, a Quebec native. He then moved with her to Montreal for three years, where he worked in business development for BCA Research.

Education key to career progress

In 2008, he returned to Ireland to join Mercer’s communications team in Dublin, but decided to also study for a business degree to help further his career. “My sister went to UCD and I had always wanted to go there because of its name and the quality of education it delivers.”

While at UCD, he got up at 4am to study before getting the train from Sallins to work in Mercer’s Dublin office. Once home, he’d study again in the evening. Tough as it was, Pat says the atmosphere and support in UCD, including the interaction with lecturers, the study facilities and the support of other mature students all helped him through.

“I hated secondary school, but after two years in UCD, I had the highest GPA in our diploma class. The day I graduated from UCD with an honours degree was one of the proudest days of my life. It built so much confidence in me.”

Forging a leadership path in Canada

Pat and Marie flew back to Canada on New Year’s Day 2013. He joined FleishmanHillard there and spent four years with the firm, rising to become Associate Vice President.

He then became Director of Public Affairs at Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, where he spent five years before taking up a role with CPA Canada in 2022.

As the vice president leading communications and public affairs, he directs a team of 75 across sales, marketing, communications, creative and government relations. 

“I’m lucky to have really good directors on my team. Everyone rolls up their sleeves and we have a strict rule of family first. If your kid is sick, go and pick them up. Work is really important but you need to have perspective too,” he concludes. “Major communications campaigns and crisis management won’t be going on my gravestone!”

Panel

What’s your leadership style?

I try to be honest and open, and always do things right and well. So I also want honest effort and for each of us to bring our best thinking. Our work requires a lot of creativity, so I love to see how we can improve and bring a new quirk or twist to things.

When I first met my team, I told them how I had once booked a CEO and author to appear in St John’s in Newfoundland instead of Saint John in New Brunswick (1,700km away). I said, “I want you to realise I don’t have all the answers. I will make mistakes and so will you, but I don’t want you not to try because you’re afraid of making mistakes. We’re in comms – we can recover anything”.

What gets you up in the morning?

PTSD from milking cows gets me up in the morning! I still get up at 5am and my kids are early risers too. Apparently my sleep efficiency is really good, meaning I enjoy great quality sleep for the amount I get. I try to switch off and leave work behind at the end of the day, and I don’t talk too much about it at home.

How important is community to you?

Aoife and Sam are 10 and 7, and both play Gaelic football and hurling with St Pat’s GAA club in Toronto. We’re really involved and it’s great to have that connection with the Irish community here. 

I’m also on the board of Applegrove Community Complex, a Toronto not-for-profit that runs food banks, child care, senior care and much more. I had a lot of experience dealing with the boards at the CPA and WSIB, but this was an opportunity to be on a board and contribute from a different perspective, which I really enjoy.

What advice would you give to people starting out?

Sometimes I meet young people starting out who are really focused on specific goals. They say things like, “This is where I have to be in five years so I can be CEO by the time I’m 30”.

My advice to them is not to plan so rigidly that they miss out on opportunities that might appear but which they couldn’t have forecast. Be open to the possibility of what could happen.

November 2025