Clive Beddoe (born 26 May 1946) is a founding shareholder and former chairman of the board of directors of WestJet, which is currently the second-largest airline in Canada behind Air Canada.
Beddoe was born in Dorking, England,[1] grew up in Leatherhead, England, and immigrated to Canada in 1970.
Beddoe first started flying gliders at Epsom College in England during his teenage years.[2] While talking to a friend one day, he decided to move to Canada on a whim to start a job at a real estate development company, further on creating his own commercial development company called Hanover Management, a named based on Hanover Square, London a location where he once worked.[citation needed] The company purchased Western Concord Manufacturing, a plastics manufacturer company based out of Delta, British Columbia, in 1994.[3]
In 2000, WestJet's founders, Beddoe, Mark Hill, Tim Morgan and Donald Bell were honored as 'The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year' for Canada and was honored at the international Entrepreneur of the year awards in Monaco.[4]
He has been awarded honorary degrees from the University of Calgary[5] and the Wilfrid Laurier University.
On Tuesday, 24 July 2007, Beddoe announced that effective 4 September 2007, he would relinquish his duties as chief executive officer, with then-president Sean Durfy taking the role.[6]
He is currently on the board for AIMCO, and head of their compensation committee.
Awards and honours edit
Beddoe was inducted to the Order of the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 2012.[7] Beddoe was also inducted into Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 2014.[8]
WestJet's first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, registered C-GUDH, has been named after him.[9]
References edit
- ^ "Biographies: Born 1940-1948". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
- ^ "Who are the new mavericks?". Calgary Herald. 24 October 2010. p. 4.
- ^ Nelson, Barry (13 February 1996). "Travellers applaud low fares". Calgary Herald. p. 43.
- ^ Frank, Charles (6 October 2000). "WestJet soars to awards". Calgary Herald. p. 41.
- ^ "Native artist, WestJet co-founder to get honorary degrees". Calgary Herald. 6 November 2008. p. 26.
- ^ "Clive Beddoe steps into mentoring role at WestJet". Edmonton Journal. 25 July 2007. p. 41.
- ^ "Clive Beddoe". Canadian Business Hall of Fame. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
- ^ "Member Profiles". Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2 February 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
- ^ Stephenson, Amanda (17 January 2019). "WestJet receives first Dreamliner; names it 'Clive Beddoe'". Calgary Herald. Retrieved 22 December 2022.