“You don’t hire the law firm because of the firm, it’s the lawyer. I see passion in Gary and a man wanting to go out on a limb. It’s very refreshing.” Canadian Business Canadian companies with operations in Arizona Air Canada Bombardier Aero Cascades InNexus MDS International PCL TransCanada TD Ameritrade Investments (Toronto Dominion Bank) WestJest Arizona-based companies that are Canadian owned Circle K Harris Bank (Bank of Montreal) Inter-Tel (Mitel) PCL Quote Media RBC Dain Rauscher (Royal Bank of Canada) Stantec Syntellec TraxSoftware (March Networks USA) Arizona-based companies that have operations in Canada Avnet Dial Corporation EFunds General Dynamics C4 Systems Insight JDA Software Mobile Mini PetsMart Swift Transportation US Airways U-Haul This is just a sampling of companies. For the complete list, www.canaz.net.
global expansions Waissi was making, he was impressed. “I knew right away I wanted to help,” Williamson says. He wanted SGML, and not any other business school, because of the growing relationship he was establishing with the dean, because it was Waissi he believed in. “You don’t hire the law firm because of the firm, it’s the lawyer. I see passion in Gary and a man wanting to go out on a limb. It’s very refreshing.”
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business@sgml Fall 2007
In Williamson, Waissi saw “a dynamic man with great energy,” but also someone well-linked to Canadian business and academia. In May, on Waissi’s invitation, Williamson joined the Dean’s Advisory Council. Already he has helped SGML cement a partner-university agreement with the Wilfrid Laurier University School of Business and Economics in Ontario, and Waissi wants more like this throughout Canada. “Williamson can help. He is an instrumental, leading Canadian in the Valley.” THE MAN BEHIND THE CABC Williamson’s approach to business may be non-conventional. The CABC founder has taken public five of his start-up companies. Two of these crashed and burned. He admits to having been penniless on a beach in northern Oregon before completely reinventing himself. The most famous of Williamson’s companies is Wavo, formerly known as WavePhore, Inc. The company feeds digital news feeds to businesses, mostly media companies and consumers. Its biggest clients included the Associated Press, Reuters, Dow Jones, and even Yahoo. Williamson says he resigned as vice chairman at just the right time. He won’t cite numbers, but did “very well” out of the deal. Williamson honed his own self-education by reading biographies on business leaders like General Electric’s Jack Welch and South West Airlines’ Herb Kelleher. This helped, but so did his realization that money and finance were in his genes. “I had a streetsmart ability to put deals together and the people skills to mobilize people to work for me.” His belief in work-life balance is unique. One night nine years ago, when his wife was expecting twins, he emailed his resignation from seven corporate boards and six philanthropic boards in the Valley and across the nation. “This was after 10 years of really hard work in our corporate world. I realized that being a good husband and a good father is a facet of wealth and this epiphany felt liberating.” Now back working as a registered investment banker and CEO of Nest Ventures L.L.C., a private equity firm with offices
in Montreal and Phoenix, this same tenacity is probably what helps his council do so well. Williamson’s peers like Leslie Hayes, Canadian president of Media Corps, a Canadian-owned company based in San Diego, call him Forrest Gump because he never ignores an opportunity and sees no barriers. “He’s a dynamo,” says Hayes. “Canada is very lucky having this spokesperson here in Arizona.” CHECKING OFF THE COUNCIL’s GOAL LIST This October the CABC checked one task off of its list of goals when Williamson accompanied Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano on her Canada visit – a first for any Arizona governor. Williamson was thrilled with the significance of the meeting and the outcome. Through the CABC, Governor Napolitano and 12 trade delegates helped open the Toronto Stock Exchange. As for working with SGML, Waissi and Williamson hope to create internships for SGML students at Canadian businesses, both in Arizona and in Canada, and to establish more agreements between SGML and other Canadian universities. The first SGML students will travel to Wilfrid Laurier soon. STRIKING WHILE THE IRON IS HOT But Williamson says he won’t rest until Canada has that full-blown Canadian Consulate General, and Arizona opens a trade and FDI office in Canada. How can they not when trade and foreign direct investment, not to mention tourism between Arizona and Canada, has been increasing at such large rates across the board in either direction? He worries the state will become complacent, or worse yet take Canada for granted—“the 51st state thinking.” Last year 500,000 Canadians visited Arizona. This year the CABC projects more than 600,000 visitors, and Montreal, the only Canadian city with no direct route to Phoenix, will have one soon. “We are seeing an enormous amount of activity. Tourism equals trade and then this becomes investment. “We must strike while the iron is hot.”