Vincenzo "Vince" Guzzo
(; born 11 June 1969) is a Canadian entrepreneur, philanthropist and television personality. He currently serves as CEO of
Cinémas Guzzo
Cinémas Guzzo is a regional chain of movie theaters located in the Canadian province of Quebec. There are currently 10 Méga-Plex locations and 1 Cinema location, all within the greater Montreal area.
History
Cinemas Guzzo was started by Angel ...
, Groupe Guzzo Construction inc., Guzzo Medical and Guzzo Hospitality. He has also opened a chain of Neapolitan pizzerias called ''Giulietta'' in Montreal. He and his wife raise money for charities through the Guzzo Family Foundation. Guzzo was a recipient of the
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (french: Médaille du jubilé de diamant de la reine Elizabeth II) or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...
in 2012, he was knighted by the
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi.
The highest-ranking ...
and is a member of the
Order of Malta
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...
.
In 2018 Guzzo joined the cast of the
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
business reality show
''Dragons' Den'' as one of the investor "Dragons" in season 13 and season 14.
Early life
Guzzo was born on 11 June 1969 in Montreal, the only son of Italian immigrants. Guzzo attended
Selwyn House School
Selwyn House School (SHS) is an English-language independent K-11 boys' school located in Westmount, Quebec. The school was founded in 1908 by Englishman Captain Algernon Lucas and was named in honour of Selwyn College at the University of Cam ...
,
[
] a private boys' school in
Westmount, Quebec, where his classmates included
Greg Fergus
Gregory Cristophe Fergus (born May 31, 1969) is a Canadian Liberal politician, who was elected to represent the riding of Hull—Aylmer in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 federal election.
Early life
Fergus’ grandfather immigra ...
,
Mark Pathy
Mark Pathy (born July 1969) is a Canadian businessman, philanthropist and commercial astronaut. He is the CEO of Mavrik, a privately owned Canadian investment company. He is also the chairman of Stingray Group and the former co-CEO of Fednav, a ...
and
Michael Penner. A 19 September 2018 profile in the ''
Montreal Gazette
The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...
'' talks about his early life:
As a student at Selwyn House School, Guzzo would do his homework in his father’s office at the movie theatre. He later worked as an usher, and then in other capacities in the business.[
]
He studied economics at
Western University in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, Ontario, and law at
Université de Québec à Montréal.
Business career
Cinémas Guzzo
Guzzo is the president and CEO of
Cinémas Guzzo
Cinémas Guzzo is a regional chain of movie theaters located in the Canadian province of Quebec. There are currently 10 Méga-Plex locations and 1 Cinema location, all within the greater Montreal area.
History
Cinemas Guzzo was started by Angel ...
—the largest movie operator in Quebec, with 141 screens and 10 locations, and the third-largest in Canada.
His new cinema Méga-Plex St-Jean 12 is currently being built, scheduled to open in 2021.
Cinémas Guzzo was started by his father, Angelo Guzzo, who remains chairman of the board. He came to Canada from Italy in 1967 and worked as a machinist for Pratt & Whitney. In 1974, he bought a movie theatre,
the Cinéma Paradis, which had been closed and left abandoned for the previous ten years, creating friction with the local citizens. Vincenzo Guzzo worked as an usher and in other small roles as a student. In 1991 he joined his father in the family business. As the chain expanded in the late 1990s and new locations were established, the construction division of Cinémas Guzzo did the building and Guzzo helped with the design work.
Other businesses
Vincenzo Guzzo is also CEO for the following companies:
*Club discotheque L'astre 5
*Groupe Guzzo Construction Inc.
* Guzzo Hospitality
* Guzzo Medical Services Inc.
*Cinémas Guzzo Les Films Inc.
All of the cinemas owned by Cinémas Guzzo were built by Le Groupe Guzzo Construction Inc.
Guzzo also owns a chain of Neapolitan pizzerias called ''Giulietta''.
In May 2019, Guzzo submitted a bid to purchase the
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...
of the
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
. He later pulled out of the running to buy the team, citing "personal conflicts with people around the deal." Guzzo later tweeted in a series of threads that he did not believe that CFL commissioner
Randy Ambrosie
Randy Ambrosie (born March 16, 1963) is the 14th and current commissioner of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Ambrosie played Canadian football professionally as an offensive guard for the CFL's Calgary Stampeders, Toronto Argonauts, and Edmo ...
knew what he was doing during negotiations and acted "in a non transparent way and wasted my time."
Guzzo has also been President of APCQ (L'Association des propriétaires de cinémas du Québec)—an association of Québec cinema owners—since 2012.
Media
''Dragons' Den''
Guzzo joined the cast of the
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
business reality show
''Dragons' Den'' as one of the investor "Dragons" for season 13.
The first episode of season 13 including the two new "Dragons" Vincenzo Guzzo and
Lane Merrifield
''Club Penguin'' was a massively multiplayer online game (MMO), involving a virtual world that contained a range of online games and activities. It was created by New Horizon Interactive (now known as Disney Canada Inc.). Players used cartoon ...
aired on September 20, 2018. ''Dragons' Den'' is a Canadian TV show on the
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
network, with an average of 519,000 viewers per episode in the 2017–2018 season.
Other media appearances
Vincenzo Guzzo has made the following additional media appearances:
* Canadian French language television channel
Ici Radio-Canada Télé
Ici Radio-Canada Télé (formerly known as Télévision de Radio-Canada) is a Canadian French-language free-to-air television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as Société Radio-Canada), the national pub ...
talk show
Tout le monde en parle on 9 February 2014.
* Interviewed on Canadian French language digital radio channel
Ici Radio-Canada.ca's show Culture Club, broadcast on 31 January 2016.
*Interviewed on
CTV's entertainment television news show
eTalk, broadcast January 11, 2019.
Personal life
Vincenzo Guzzo has five children (Angelo, Vittorio Emanuele, Vito, Delano and Rossella).
Maria heads the Guzzo Family Foundation, founded in 2007, which raises money for the
Jewish General Hospital
The Jewish General Hospital (JGH; french: Hôpital général juif), known officially as the Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital (french: Hôpital général juif Sir Mortimer B. Davis) since 1978, is an acute-care teaching hospital in M ...
, the
Shriners Hospital
Shriners Children's is a network of non-profit medical facilities across North America. Children with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-center ...
and Youth Mental Health.
Guzzo holds both Canadian and Italian citizenships.
The
CBC ''Dragon's Den'' blog explains:
He and his wife, Maria, are renowned philanthropists, giving generously to numerous hospitals and culminating in the establishment of the Guzzo Family Foundation in 2007, which is aggressively invested in cancer nanotechnology research at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital and McGill University. Guzzo’s contributions have been internationally recognized as he is the recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, was knighted by the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and is a distinguished member of the Order of Malta.
Guzzo is nicknamed "Mr. Sunshine", and his outfits usually display that with wearing the colour yellow, stating, "Remember something... The sun can be warm and comforting — but if you get too close, it could burn you."
Awards and honours
*
Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal
The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (french: Médaille du jubilé de diamant de la reine Elizabeth II) or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...
(2012)
*
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi.
The highest-ranking ...
*
Order of Malta
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...
*Canada's Top 40 Under 40 - 2002 honouree
References
External links
Official websiteCinémas Guzzo websiteGiulietta Pizzeria Napoletana websiteDragon's Den(CBC TV)
*
*
. ''The Suburban.'' 12 September 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
Three takeaways from Vincenzo Guzzo’s talk at the Chamber. Blog post. ''The Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal.'' 8 December 2017. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
*
Vincent Guzzo vient lancer les travaux de son cinéma" ''Le Canada Français'' (in French). 12 October 2017. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
* "Décrépitude du cinéma Paradis : les citoyens en ont assez
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guzzo, Vincenzo
Anglophone Quebec people
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation people
Businesspeople from Montreal
Canadian chairpersons of corporations
Living people
Participants in Canadian reality television series
1969 births
Canadian people of Italian descent
Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic