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Frank McKenna is a man of his word. When he was first elected as premier of New Brunswick in a 1987 landslide victory, he promised his wife Julie that he wouldn't stay a day beyond 10 years.

He honoured that promise, leaving the premier's office in 1997 to return to law and business. After a brief turn as Canadian ambassador to the United States from 2005 to 2006, Mr. McKenna was appointed to his current position as deputy chairman of Toronto-Dominion Bank, supporting the bank in its customer acquisition strategy, particularly in wholesale and commercial banking, and helping to expand its North American presence. The transition from politics to business was a challenging one for him.

“Political life is red hot, with higher levels of stress and intensity than business,” Mr. McKenna says. “You're going from 1,000 miles an hour to an inevitably slower pace. You have to realize that you are not the centre of the universe, that people are not going to run at your beck and call, that the car is not going to be waiting when you walk out the door, and that when you leave the hotel, you have to pay the bill yourself. For people with egos – and we all have them – it's quite tough to adjust. Mentally, you have to get to a different place.”

While Mr. McKenna says that politics gave him intense satisfaction, he acknowledges the cost to his family life.

“I spent a lot of my life just working as a lawyer and as premier,” says Mr. McKenna who is passionate about catching up time with Julie, their three adult children and six grandchildren. “I tried to be the best premier I could for the people of New Brunswick. Even when I was asleep, I was thinking about the job. Family ends up suffering neglect from that, not physically but in terms of mindshare. You can be home but not really home.”

Mr. McKenna credits his experience as Canadian ambassador in Washington for giving him a much more global perspective in his current position with TD. He regularly looks at international press such as The Economist and The Wall Street Journal, but still reads the Telegraph-Journal from Saint John every day. He says that the hardest part of his job as ambassador was “just being noticed in a very noisy media environment.”

Renowned for being outspoken when he was premier, Mr. McKenna found that what worked most effectively in Washington was just being himself – forthright, direct, honest and assertive – even though it went against the conventional diplomatic training to be guarded about what you say.

What's essential to him when he works is just being around people because that “really charges him up.” The other is a “need for neatness.”

“I just crave the pens lined up and the files lined up, and to get rid of the things I don't need to do immediately,” says Mr. McKenna, a lover of to-do lists. “It's obsessive-compulsive.”

On most mornings, he enjoys a healthy breakfast after exercising, admitting that it's become “almost a ritual.”

“Breakfast for me is a major meal,” Mr. McKenna says. “I'll start off with some almonds, walnuts and Brazil nuts, alfalfa, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, some kefir, yogurt and I'll make porridge. Then, I'll start on fruit: blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. If it's the weekend, I'll indulge in bacon and eggs, make a cup of hot tea and read The New York Times and the national newspapers in Canada. That is, to me, the ultimate pleasure."

Special to The Globe and Mail