Mel Pervais
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Melvin "Mel" Pervais (born 1940) is a
Canadian-American Canadian Americans is a term that can be applied to American citizens whose ancestry is wholly or partly Canadian, or citizens of either country that hold dual citizenship. The term ''Canadian'' can mean a nationality or an ethnicity. Canadians ...
business
executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dire ...
,
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 ...
,
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
and member of the Ojibwa Nation.


Early life and education

Pervais was born and raised on the Fort William Reserve near
Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...
,
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, the eldest son of eight children. At age five he began his academic studies in a one-room schoolhouse, housing eight grades, on the reserve. At age twelve he was sent to a Jesuit-run boarding school for Indian boys, the Garnier Residential School, away in
Spanish, Ontario Spanish is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located on Trans-Canada Highway 17 in the Algoma District near the border of the Sudbury District. Formerly known as the Township of Shedden, the municipality adopted its current status an ...
, and graduated at sixteen.


Career


Early career

At age sixteen, Pervais started work as a night watchman for the Jones Construction Company. Two months later, he took the opportunity to begin an apprenticeship as an instrument technician with Noranda Mines in Cutler, Ontario. Over the next seventeen years, he held various positions in the
power generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission, distribution, etc.) to end users or its stor ...
industry before joining
Johnson Controls Johnson Controls International is an American Irish-domiciled multinational conglomerate headquartered in Cork, Ireland, that produces fire, HVAC, and security equipment for buildings. As of mid-2019, it employed 105,000 people in around 2,0 ...
in 1973 as the manager of a newly formed calibration engineering department. Pervais redirected the department's focus to nuclear power, boosting sales from $100,000 to $5 million over three years.


Cataract Inc.

Pervais left Johnson Controls in 1976 and, with his expertise and $10,000, started Amalgamated Services in Philadelphia with a business partner, providing engineering services to nuclear power plants. In 1979 the company merged with Cataract Engineering and Construction and Pervais became president. Never shy about his Indian heritage, Cataract's logo had an Indian motif and the company strived to hire Indian employees. Cataract also used a unique bonus and salary system to discourage sick days and draw talent from other companies; it was not uncommon for workers to out-earn their bosses, with some field technicians earning $90,000 a year. Pervais sold Cataract Inc. through an
employee stock ownership program Employee stock ownership, or employee share ownership, is where a company's employees own shares in that company (or in the parent company of a group of companies). US employees typically acquire shares through a share option plan. In the UK, Emp ...
for $20 million. At the time, Cataract had 500 engineers and technicians and reported annual sales of $50 million. He retired at age 45 to focus on a horse breeding and cattle operation on the Chief Joseph Ranch near
Darby, Montana Darby ( Salish: snk̓ʷɫxʷexʷem̓i, "Place Where They Would Lift Something") is a town in Ravalli County, Montana, United States. The population was 783 at the 2020 census. Darby is located near the southwestern border of Montana and Idaho, al ...
. The ''Los Angeles Times'' reported in 1984 that Pervais was one of the wealthiest Native Americans in the United States.


Rhodium 2001

In 1991, Pervais returned from retirement to found Rhodium 2001, dedicated to recycling materials from scrapped catalytic converters. Pervais put more than $2 million of his own money into the new company, originally housed in a remodeled calving barn on his ranch. Pervais and partner Don Golbeck bought a license to a process developed by metallurgist inventor and chemical engineer C.A. Dickey to refine precious group metals from automotive catalytic converters, a process they used to retrieve a number of materials, including fine sand for the asphalt industry and platinum, palladium and rhodium compounds to sell to refiners. Rhodium 2001's extraction process is notable for being environmentally friendly, requiring no smelter nor airborne emissions, and for being a closely guarded secret. It took two years of research and development by Dickey, who claimed it involved temperature and pressure. Neither Pervais, nor Dickey, were willing to reveal more about the process than that, for fear that other competitors might adopt it, rendering their company irrelevant. Said Pervais, "If you're an environmentalist, it's probably the greatest invention. I don't need a polluting process. I'd stay retired if that was the case."


Service and distinctions

Pervais, whose grandfather was a tribal chief, has said his father pushed him into the non-Native American world at an early age. "It was the most traumatic thing he ever did," he says. "But it was the best thing he ever did for me." Pervais is an advocate for self-sufficiency in the Native American community and has spoken before students and other groups arguing that Native Americans must stop relying on federal aid and begin supporting themselves in the free-enterprise system. In 1982 Pervais was invited by President
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
to serve on a private sector task force that encouraged support of community projects including homes for the elderly and day care centers. Pervais received honorary Doctorates of Engineering from
Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 6 ...
in 1995 and
Lakehead University Lakehead University is a public research university with campuses in Thunder Bay and Orillia, Ontario, Canada. Lakehead University, shortened to 'Lakehead U', is non-denominational and provincially supported. It has undergraduate programs, grad ...
in 1996. Pervais is a former member of the United Indian Development Association, a Los Angeles organization that provides consulting services to Indian businesses. He is on the council of trustees with United National Indian Tribal Youth Inc. (UNITY), a national organization promoting personal development, citizenship and leadership among Native American youth.


Chief Joseph Ranch

In 1987, Pervais bought the Chief Joseph Ranch, including a lodge built in 1917, a summer home for the family of William S. Ford. After the Fords sold it in 1952, it traded hands several times. When Pervais took it over, the ranch was in poor shape; the barns were falling apart and its perimeter was unfenced. Pervais improved the property and extensively renovated the lodge to its Ford-era conditions over a ten-year period. At the time, he owned a pet bobcat, Toma, named for one of Chief Joseph's wives. Pervais sold the ranch in 2004. Today it is a
guest ranch A guest ranch, also known as a dude ranch, is a type of ranch oriented towards visitors or tourism. It is considered a form of agritourism. History Guest ranches arose in response to the romanticization of the American West that began to occur ...
, and also a filming location for the TV series ''
Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
''.


Personal

Melvin Pervais married his first love, Patricia, shortly after his graduation from the Garnier Indian School. Together they had 6 children. They later separated, then divorced, but remained close, loving, friends, until Patricia's passing in 2017. Pervais married Lynda Hart Bailey, former wife of lawyer
F. Lee Bailey Francis Lee Bailey Jr. (June 10, 1933 – June 3, 2021) was an American criminal defense attorney. Bailey's name first came to nationwide attention for his involvement in the second murder trial of Sam Sheppard, a surgeon accused of murdering ...
, in 1985. Peter MacDonald, a former Navajo Tribal Chairman, served as Bailey's adopted Navajo "father" and offered twelve wild horses, a traditional dowry to the groom and a Navajo medicine man. In accordance with Pervais' Ojibwa heritage, a second ceremony took place at sundown the day after the wedding on the night of a new moon. Pervais is the father of seven children.


References


External links


Mel Pervais
profile
Rhodium 2001
company profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Pervais, Mel 1940 births Living people Ojibwe people People from Thunder Bay District People from Ravalli County, Montana People associated with nuclear power