Anthony Lacavera Explained

Anthony Lacavera
Birth Date:[1]
Birth Place:Welland, Ontario
Alma Mater:University of Toronto (1997)
Nationality:Canadian
Occupation:Businessman, venture capitalist, television host
Years Active:1998 - present
Known For:Globalive (founder, chairman)
Wind Mobile (founder)
Notable Works:Beyond 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.

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.

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. 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

Awards and honors

Notes and References

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