Frank O'Dea

Francis O’Dea, OC (born 1945 in Montreal) is a Canadian entrepreneur, humanitarian and author. He left a lifestyle of homeless panhandling and in 1975 co-founded the Second Cup chain of coffee stores with Tom Culligan.[1]

He is currently the Chair of the Bauen Group of Companies and is Chair of the board of CUSO International CUSO International. He regularly speaks professionally on the subjects of his personal and business life.

He was involved with the founding of Proshred Holdings Ltd,. an international document destruction service (1986), and Samaritan Air Service, a regional air ambulance service (1989).

O'Dea became founding President of Renascent Treatment Foundation, (1983), founded Street Kids International (1988), and the Canadian Landmine Foundation (1999).,[2] he initiated the international charity, Night of a Thousand Dinners (2000), with Colin Powell, Sir Paul McCartney, and Kofi Annan, which resulted in 11,000 people sitting down to fundraising dinners in 29 countries all on the same night.[2]

O'Dea has been Chief Executive Officer of Arxx Corporation, the once largest manufacturer and installer of Insulated Concrete Forms in North America. Mr. O'Dea served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Arxx Corporation (alternate name, Arxx Building Products Inc.) positions he held for more than 20 years. He currently is Chairman of the Board of Bauen Capital S.A. ("Grupo Bauen") a Canadian/Brazilian asset management firm which acquired the Latin American asset division of Arxx Corporation technologies. Frank currently serves as Chairman of Arxx Brasil S.A. the Brazilian corporation that produces and commercializes Arxx ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms).

O'Dea is also a co-founder of True North, a Toronto-based impact investing fund which was one of the top suppliers of personal protective equipment for the Canadian federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.[3]

Books
  • 2007: When All You Have is Hope (Penguin Canada) ISBN 978-0-670-06427-4
  • 2013 Do The Next Right Thing: Surviving Life's Crises (Penguin Canada) ISBN 9780670065875

References
  1. "'Believe in yourself': How an ex-panhandler helped found Second Cup Coffee". CBC News. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  2. Rushworth, Kevin (April 8, 2015). "Second Cup founder empowers residents". Highriver Times. Archived from the original on September 29, 2017. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  3. Moules, Jonathan (September 27, 2020). "A business graduate's race to trace PPE in the pandemic". Financial Times. Retrieved October 11, 2020.


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