Anthony Lacavera

Anthony Lacavera
Lacavera at the Canadian Film Centre (CFC), 2011
Lacavera at the Canadian Film Centre (CFC), 2011
Born1974 (age 50–51)[1]
Welland, Ontario
NationalityCanadian
Alma materUniversity of Toronto (1997)
Occupation(s)Businessman, venture capitalist, television host
Years active1998 - present
Known forGlobalive (founder, chairman)
Wind Mobile (founder)
Notable workBeyond Innovation

Anthony Lacavera is a Canadian businessman, venture capitalist, television host, and philanthropist. He is founder, chairman, and former CEO of Globalive, a Toronto-based telecommunications and investment company. He has also founded several other companies including Wind Mobile, a wireless service provider which was sold to Shaw Communications in 2016 for $1.6 billion.

He also started a media company, Globalive Media, which produces the television series Beyond Innovation that airs on Bloomberg TV globally. He has produced Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 2008 which received Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival in 2010. He has also produced A Streetcar Named Desire for Broadway.

Early life and education

Lacavera was born in 1974 in Welland, Ontario. His father was a lawyer and a high school teacher.[2] His sister Catherine is also a businesswoman and was among the list of Fortune's 40 Under 40 in 2013.[3]

He went to Notre Dame College School in Welland,[4] and Neuchâtel Junior College in Neuchâtel, Switzerland until 1993.[5][6] He went to University of Toronto and joined Applied Science and Engineering school and graduated in computer engineering in 1997.[7] In 2012, he has also received an honorary diploma in "Business and Entrepreneurship" from the Niagara College.[8]

He played Junior "B" ice hockey leagues in Welland and Thorold.[4]

Career

After graduation, Lacavera founded Globalive in 1998 with a $25,000 small business loan from the Royal Bank of Canada. Globalive is a telecommunications and investment company based in Toronto, Ontario.[2]

The first operating company was Canopco, a communication company in the hospitality industry, supplying hotels and hospitals with a variety of services.[9] In 1999, he founded InterClear, a billing and collection service and then in 2000, Assemble Conferencing. These are three companies were merged into each other and started calling Globalive Communications, which was later converted into Globalive.[10]

In 2001, he co-founded Enunciate Conferencing with two partners, which was sold to Premiere Global Services for USD $28.3 million in 2006.[10][2] In 2003, he founded OneConnect Services through his Globalive, to provide communications technologies to small and medium sized businesses.[11]

Lacavera through his Globalive acquired Yak Communications for all-cash USD $67.7 million in 2006, a communications company founded in 1991 by Charles Zwebner.[12][13]

In 2008, Globalive founded WIND Mobile, a wireless telecommunications provider, and Lacavera became the Founder CEO of the company.[14] He also founded an investment firm, Globalive Capital Inc.[15] In 2015, Lacavera stepped down as a CEO of Globalive Capital and appointed its previously chief financial officer, Brice Scheschuk as the new CEO.[16]

He also started an augmented reality solutions company, a joint venture between Globalive and Gibraltar Ventures's XMG Studios, called Globalive XMG.[17] Globalive XMG was later sold to the Los Angeles-based Civic Resource Group's CivicConnect.[18]

Anthony closed a deal of $1.6 billion to sell WIND Mobile to Shaw Communications in March 2016, which Shaw renamed it to Freedom Mobile.[19][20] The same year in September, Lacavera also sold his other three companies including the Yak Communications to Distributel, OneConnect Services and Canopco to Accelerated Connections Inc (ACI).[21]

In March 2022, Lacavera showed an interest to reacquire Freedom/Wind from Shaw in a pending merger with Rogers Communications for C$3.75 billion to satisfy regulatory concerns.[22][23] After an unresponsive behavior from Rogers, Lacavera's Globalive directly went to Shaw making the same offer to buy the company.[24]

Theatre and other media

In 2008, Lacavera co-produced the all-African-American Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, starring James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose, and Terrence Howard.[25] The production, with some roles recast, had a limited run (2009 – April 2010) in London's West End Productions. It received Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival in 2010.[26]

He has also co-produced Broadway's A Streetcar Named Desire in 2012, another play by Williams. It was directed by Emily Mann, starring Blair Underwood, Nicole Ari Parker, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Wood Harris.[27]

He started a media company, Globalive Media, with journalist Michael Bancroft, produced and premiered its first television series, Beyond Innovation, a weekly technology and business related program, aired in November 2018 on Bloomberg TV globally.[28] In March 2020, the second season of the half-hourly series premiered on Bloomberg.[29]

Philanthropy

In 2012, Lacavera started "Lacavera Prize" in partnership with The Entrepreneurship Hatchery at the University of Toronto, to help university students looking to start an entrepreneurial venture.[30][31] Kepler Communications is one of successful telecommunications companies which won the prize and founded in 2015 by the University's four graduate students.[32]

He is director and co-chair of NEXT Canada, a non-profit organization.[33] He is also a founding partner of the Creative Destruction Lab, a nonprofit organization,[34] with five locations at different educational institutes in Canada and the United States.[35]

Books

  • How We Can Win: And What Happens to Us and Our Country If We Don't (Penguin Random House Canada, 2017)[36] – ISBN 073527259X, 9780735272590

Awards and honors

References

  1. ^ Castaldo, Joe. "Bio: Anthony Lacavera". Canadian Business. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "Laughed out of 84 Investor Meetings, by @tommy". ceo.ca. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  3. ^ "40 Under 40 2013". Fortune. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Welland man?s company bought for $1.6 billion". niagarafallsreview.com. 4 January 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  5. ^ Neil, Brenda (6 January 2018). "Students Step Outside of Their Comfort Zones | Neuchâtel Junior College". Preferred Magazine. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  6. ^ Leong, Melissa (14 September 2013). "How to build a CEO: Raising your kids for business success". Financial Post. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  7. ^ "Anthony Lacavera - Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc) 1997". University of Toronto Alumni. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  8. ^ a b "encore - Winter 2013 by Niagara College Canada - Issuu". Issuu. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  9. ^ Avery, Simon (12 December 2009). "THE NEW PLAYERS". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  10. ^ a b Castaldo, Joe. "How Tony Lacavera is helping Canadian startups cross the "Valley of Death"". canadianbusiness.com. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  11. ^ "Globalive Capital announces the sale of Yak Communications, OneConnect Services Inc. and Canopco". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  12. ^ "Yak Communications Inc. to be Acquired for $5.25 per Share in an All Cash Offer by Gl... - Sep. 21, 2006". CNN Business. 21 September 2006. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  13. ^ "Yak Communications agrees to $67.7M US friendly takeover". CBC. 21 September 2022. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  14. ^ Lamont, Jonathan (18 December 2021). "Wind Mobile founder Anthony Lacavera wants to buy Freedom Mobile". MobileSyrup. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  15. ^ "Wind Mobile CEO to step down; Orascom to gain control". Reuters. 18 January 2013. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  16. ^ "Brice Scheschuk | Globalive Capital by Entrepreneurs in Small Rooms Drinking Coffee". Anchor. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  17. ^ "Gibraltar AR Investment | Gibraltar & Company News". www.gibraltarcompany.ca. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  18. ^ Spence, Rick (6 June 2016). "Tony Lacavera: Businesses have to be on the hook to invest in Canadian startups". Financial Post. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  19. ^ "Shaw Communications buying Wind Mobile in deal valued at $1.6 billion". CBC. 16 December 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  20. ^ Bradshaw, James (1 March 2016). "Shaw enters wireless market with closing of Wind Mobile deal". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  21. ^ "Globalive Capital announces the sale of Yak Communications, OneConnect Services Inc. and Canopco". www.newswire.ca. 7 September 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  22. ^ "Freedom Mobile's Original Founder Bids $3.75 Billion to Buy it Back from Rogers | iPhone in Canada Blog". 16 March 2022.
  23. ^ "Globalive offers $3.75 billion in cash for Freedom Mobile, says media report". Financial Post. 16 March 2022. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  24. ^ "Globalive goes directly to Shaw with its $3.75 billion bid for Freedom Mobile". Toronto Star. 3 June 2022. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  25. ^ Brantley, Ben (7 March 2008). "Yet Another Life for Maggie the Cat". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  26. ^ "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof at Novello from 21 Nov 2009". London Theatre. 8 June 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  27. ^ Rooney, David (22 April 2012). "A Streetcar Named Desire: Theater Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  28. ^ "Globalive Media Takes Viewers "Beyond Innovation" With Insider's Look At Technology's Top Changemakers Around The World". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  29. ^ "Globalive Media Launches Second Season of "Beyond Innovation" to Discover Technology's Top Entrepreneurs Transforming Our World". Bloomberg Television. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  30. ^ Mitchell, Marit (24 November 2017). "'We need to celebrate our successes': Tony Lacavera tells The Hatchery how Canadian entrepreneurs can win". U of T Engineering News. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  31. ^ Czikk, Joseph (19 September 2013). "U of T's Modly Takes 2013 Lacavera Prize for Entrepreneurship | BetaKit". BetaKit. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  32. ^ Irving, Tyler (15 September 2015). "Four student startups - Entrepreneurship Hatchery Demo Day". U of T Engineering News. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  33. ^ "Tony Lacavera doesn't think Canada should be pursuing a deal with Amazon | IT World Canada News". www.itworldcanada.com. 22 September 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  34. ^ "Press Release | NYU Stern Announces the Establishment of the First Creative Destruction Lab in the U.S. - NYU Stern". www.stern.nyu.edu. 10 October 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  35. ^ "Creative Destruction Lab joins UW Foster School of Business, establishing CDL-Seattle". UW News. 20 May 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  36. ^ "How We Can Win by Anthony Lacavera and Kate Fillion". Penguin Random House Canada. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  37. ^ "Canada's Top 40 Under 40 - Honourees 2005". canadastop40under40.com. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  38. ^ "Diversity Magazine's Visionary Stars". diversityexpo.org. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  39. ^ a b "Anthony Lacavera, Chairman and CEO, Wind Mobile and Globalive Group | C.D. Howe Institute | Canada Economy News | Canadian Government Policy". www.cdhowe.org. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  40. ^ "Canada Gazette, Part I, Volume 146, Number 13: Government House". canadagazette.gc.ca. Retrieved July 29, 2022.