Ronald Richardson, director, Calian Group and Tundra Oil & Gas

Ronald Richardson
Ronald Richardson
Editor's Note

Each year, OBJ and the Ottawa Board of Trade honour 40 of the region’s top young entrepreneurs, business executives and civic leaders and recognize them for their professional achievements, expertise and community service.
Click here to see the full list of the 2021 recipients and click here to watch the special broadcast honouring the year’s recipients.

2021-06-09

Business: Customer experience, feedback and contactless communications as a SaaS offering.

Born: Winnipeg

Biggest business achievement: Founded Benbria (and more recently founding investor of Brokrete Inc. and Hyperion Global Energy). Personally won several Fortune 1000 customers and partnerships at Benbria.

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Biggest obstacle overcome: Managing the team, investors and customers through a pivot from Benbria’s original emergency notification product lines to the current customer experience SaaS offering.

Biggest influences: Terry Matthews, founding investor at Benbria and longstanding board chair. Infectious and enduring energy, grand vision, tireless persistence, loyalty and keen business sense.

Biggest lesson learned during COVID-19: Be amongst your buyer’s top-three must-have priorities, or find a new buyer. Shutdowns in travel and hospitality decimated budgets and forced reconciliation, including churn of an eight-year key account for Benbria after a zero-based “rethink” of their business plan post-pandemic.

Charitable involvement: Queensway Carleton Hospital Foundation

First job: Instructor at a seasonal sailing club.

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