This article originally appeared on the Spartan magazine website.
For nearly twenty years, Robert and Renee Greening have lived between two worlds.
Spartans from Michigan who built their lives in Toronto, they arrived in Canada in 2008 when Robert was recruited to the executive leadership team at TJX Canada — the corporate home of retailers Winners, HomeSense and Marshalls.
The move was deeply personal for their family. The Greenings both trace their ancestry to Canada, with recent generations rooted across Michigan and the Midwest.
“Toronto is a great city,” says Renee. “Having grown up in Michigan, it really felt like coming home. It was a natural fit.”
Robert cuts in, not eager to interrupt, but with a quip — and a bit of history — to share. He spent much of his storied business career with Neiman Marcus, first in Dallas and then Chicago. When asked to return to Dallas, he stepped away.
“As a Midwesterner, my joke is that Dallas is the only foreign country I’ve ever lived in,” Robert says. “We really wanted to continue to live our lives in the Great Lakes region. So, we pivoted. When I was recruited by TJX, they asked if we would be open to London or Toronto. We were certainly open to Toronto.”
So, they moved to Ontario, built a life, and raised their children there, all becoming dual citizens in time. Together they have spent years navigating and embodying the cultural, economic and personal connections that bind the U.S. and Canada together.
Now they're helping strengthen those bonds and advance the mission of international partnership by creating a generous named endowment for the Canadian Studies Center (CSC) at Michigan State University.
Read the rest of this article on the Spartan magazine website.