Name John Risley | ||
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John risley a pickup truck and a load of ambition
John Risley, OC (born 1948) is a Canadian businessman with major financial interests in fisheries, food supplements, and communications.
Contents
- John risley a pickup truck and a load of ambition
- A Message from our Board Chair John Risley OC
- Early life and career
- Clearwater Fine Foods
- Ocean Nutrition Canada
- Columbus Communications
- Personal life
- References
A Message from our Board Chair, John Risley, O.C.
Early life and career
He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the son of an insurance broker. He never attended university, instead choosing a career in real estate. By 1976 he was struggling through a housing slump and he opened a lobster business in Bedford, Nova Scotia.
Clearwater Fine Foods
Within ten years of its founding in 1976, Clearwater had grown into one of the largest international food fish businesses by specializing in high return products including scallops, lobster, clams, coldwater shrimp and crab, which it air-freights around the world. It is the largest holder of rights in Canada for each of these shellfish species and by 2008, it owned the rights to all offshore lobster fished in offshore Atlantic Canadian waters and all Arctic surf clams. By 2008, the fleet included ten factory freezers (the largest such fleet in Canada) and the entire international fleet totalled 21 vessels. Its Argentinian fleet fishes Antarctic scallop.
The business became an income trust in 2002 at which time Risley turned the business over to Colin MacDonald. The company has since had a full recovery and has become one of the world largest vertically integrated shellfish harvesters, processors, and distributors. In 2014, they received the Rabobank award for innovation. In 2016 they purchased the largest shellfish producer in the UK, MacDuff Shellfish Group.
Ocean Nutrition Canada
His company is the major shareholder in Ocean Nutrition Canada, which he founded in 1997 as a manufacturer of fish oil-derived dietary supplements. Headquartered and with R&D offices in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, it has manufacturing facilities in Mulgrave, Nova Scotia, Arcadia, Wisconsin, and in Peru. It is the world's largest producer of omega-3 fatty acids.
In 2010 the company announced the accidental discovery of ONC T18 B, the most prolific strain of oil-producing algae known, which appears capable of producing oil at a rate 60 times greater than other types of algae being used for the generation of biofuels. It has embarked on a four-year R&D program to determine whether the algae is a viable a fossil fuel replacement.
Columbus Communications
Risley was a major shareholder in Columbus Communications, a Caribbean cable television and Internet provider which he co-founded in 2004. He entered the business with Brendan Paddick from Grand Falls, Newfoundland and was a board member of the company based in Freeport, Bahamas. In March 2015, the company was acquired by Cable & Wireless Communications at a cost of USD $1.85 Billion dollars. He now serves as a Non-executive Director of Cable & Wireless.
Personal life
His wife is the former Judy MacDonald of Halifax. They have a son and a daughter. His brother is the Halifax restaurateur, caterer and hotelier Robert Risley. The Risley home overlooks the Atlantic Ocean on a 91-acre property formerly owned by Joseph N. Pew, Jr., founder of Sunoco. After purchasing the property, Risley added another 210 acres to the estate. Besides a mansion, he has a barn with cows purchased from the Rockefeller family and his horses include Dutch Warmbloods, which he shows.
Risley was made an officer of the Order of Canada in 1998.