Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
) is a Canadian
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
,
humanitarian
Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional ...
and
author
An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states:
"''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
. He left a lifestyle of
homeless
Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are:
* living on the streets, also kn ...
Second Cup
Second Cup Café, is a Canadian restaurant chain, coffee retailer, and roaster which operates more than 190 cafes nationwide. Its headquarters are in Pierrefonds, Québec. Its stores sell hot and cold beverages, pastries, snacks, pre-packaged foo ...
chain of
coffee
Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
S ...
stores with Tom Culligan.
He is currently the Chair of the Bauen Group of Companies and is chair of the board of CUSO International
CUSO International
Cuso International (formerly CUSO, Canadian University Service Overseas) is a Canadian international development organization that connects communities around the world with skilled Canadians to help end poverty and inequality. Established in 1961 ...
. 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
Air medical services is a comprehensive term covering the use of air transportation, aeroplane or helicopter, to move patients to and from healthcare facilities and accident scenes. Personnel provide comprehensive prehospital and emergency and cri ...
service (1989).
O'Dea became founding President of Renascent Treatment Foundation, (1983), founded Street Kids International (1988), and the
Canadian Landmine Foundation The Canadian Landmine Foundation (French: ''La Fondation des Mines Terrestres du Canada'') is a Canadian charity that seeks to "raise awareness and funds to end the human and economic suffering caused by anti-personnel landmines".
The organisation ...
(1999)., he initiated the international
charity
Charity may refer to:
Giving
* Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons
* Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing
* Ch ...
, Night of a Thousand Dinners (2000), with
Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell ( ; April 5, 1937 – October 18, 2021) was an American politician, statesman, diplomat, and United States Army officer who served as the 65th United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African ...
,
Sir Paul McCartney
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...
, and
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder ...
, which resulted in 11,000 people sitting down to fundraising dinners in 29 countries all on the same night.
O'Dea has been
Chief Executive Officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of Arxx Corporation, the once largest manufacturer and installer of
Insulated Concrete Forms
Insulating concrete form or insulated concrete form (ICF) is a system of formwork for reinforced concrete usually made with a rigid thermal insulation that stays in place as a permanent interior and exterior substrate for walls, floors, and roofs ...
in North America. Arxx Corporation in 2008 acquired American PolySteel Llc. and Ecoblock Inc., American PolySteel founded in 1978 as Foam Form the oldest ICF manufacturer in North America traces its roots back to Werner Gregori, the Canadian who was issued the first patent for insulating concrete forms in 1966, which American PolySteel owned the rights to. Arxx rebranded the Ecoblock and PolySteel product lines and continued expanding until 2014 when its North American assets and IP were acquired by Fox Blocks ICF and its Latin/South American assets and IP sold to AF Global Inc. the parent corporation of the Brazilian companies Bauen Capital S.A. and Arxx Building Products S.A.. 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 since Arxx's beginning. 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
Insulating concrete form or insulated concrete form (ICF) is a system of formwork for reinforced concrete usually made with a rigid thermal insulation that stays in place as a permanent interior and exterior substrate for walls, floors, and roofs ...
).
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
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, elec ...
for the Canadian federal government during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...
.
Books
*2007: ''When All You Have is Hope'' (
Penguin Canada
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Penguin Canada
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Order of Canada citation: Frank O'Dea
George Stroumboulopoulos
George Mark Paul Stroumboulopoulos (; Greek: Γεώργιος Μάρκος Παύλος Στρουμπουλόπουλος; born August 16, 1972) is a Canadian media personality. He is one of Canada's most popular broadcasters and best known as fo ...