Ken Cherney began his career as a daily newspaper reporter-photographer in Ontario and then moved to Winnipeg to work as a writer with the Manitoba Telephone System. He then joined the international mining company Inco Limited at their Thompson, Manitoba operations 750 km north of Winnipeg.

When he retired 25 years later, he was manager of the company’s international corporate communications function in Toronto.  During his tenure, his internal audience extended at one point to as many as 75,000 employees in nearly 40 countries.

Following his retirement, Ken created Ken Cherney and Associates Inc., to work with clients like Mount Sinai Hospital, Dorothy Ley Hospice, Horizon Utilities and Deloitte Canada. In 1999, he completed the Canadian Securities Course, to build on his expertise in the management of corporate annual reports.

Ken has received more than 30 Canadian and international awards for corporate annual report project management, internal/external communications management and video production. Even in retirement he has judged awards competitions for the International Association of Business Communicators and the Canadian Public Relations Society.

Over the years, Ken has acted as industry advisor to exhibits at Ontario Place, Science North, the National Museum, the Royal Ontario Museum and the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo.

In 2005, he was inducted as Master Communicator by the International Association of Business Communicators – at the time, one of only 35 Canadians to be honoured with the designation in 25 years. The following year Cherney was nominated for the Ontario Premier’s Award. His nominators described him as a “pioneer in the field of modern corporate communications”.

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