Confidence

Anthony Lacavera ’93, founder and Chairman of Globalive Capital was one of the honourary co-chairs for NJC’s 60th Anniversary Gala in October 2016, as well as the keynote speaker at NJC's graduation ceremony in June 2017. Most recently, Anthony came to Zermatt in January 2018 to speak  about his book on the future of Canada’s economy, "How We Can Win: And What Happens To Us and Our Country If We Don't”, which was released by Random House Canada on October 3rd, 2017.

Anthony started Globalive in 1998, after graduating with an Engineering degree from the University of Toronto. Since then, the company has been recognized as a leading Canadian corporation, ranked No. 1 in Profit Magazine’s listing of Canada’s 100 fastest growing companies in 2004, named among Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies for five consecutive years, among Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50, and among Canada’s 50 Hottest Start-Ups, and one of Canadian Business Magazine’s Top 30 Workplaces in Canada. Anthony was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2006, and named one of three CEOs of the Year by Report on Business Magazine in November 2010.

Growing up in Welland, Ontario, Anthony and his friends loved skiing and in Grade 12, instead of going for a beach vacation, they saved up for a ski trip to Switzerland. His love of skiing and a desire to learn French was the motivation for persuading his parents to let him return to Switzerland to study at NJC for a year. “There was no internet back then but somehow I did the research and found out that it is easier to learn French in Neuchâtel than it is in Montreal or Paris, because the French is so pure,” he says, “and that persuaded my parents. My sister got the benefit too because my parents allowed her to go for one semester in my year, so we were there at the same time.”

“Mine was not the typical ‘pension’ family,” Anthony recalls. “Claude and Katrine Lacaille owned a small bar/restaurant and lived in the flat above it. We became good friends right away, and I helped out with the business, met all their friends and was immersed in the French language from the first day. We were quite close and I went back to stay and visit with them twice after graduating from NJC.”

 

Anthony says that when he started his first business after graduating from NJC, he was already thinking beyond Canadian borders to what impact his business might have globally. He says that NJC set him on that path by providing him with a perspective of how big the world is and how much can be done out there. “NJC added a lot to my life,” he says, “a lot of personal confidence and independence. I played junior hockey and I was confident – but it was cocky, young-kid confident – not real, personal confidence. That’s what NJC gave me. I developed a real sense of self, of independence.”