Kildy Li is one of Red Deer’s best known business people. With holdings including Whiskey 7, Branley’s Party and Fun Club, Lotus Nightclub, Taboo Erotic Sports Lounge, Bell Fever Lounge, the Uptown Liquor Store and a share of the Red Deer Ramada Inn, let’s just say his presence is felt down the Gaetz Avenue strip. >
Randy Marsden: CEO, Madentec Inc.
Motivated by a friend paralyzed from the chin down, Randy Marsden developed a communications device for a university engineering project. Today, the company that grew out of that project, Madentec Inc., is a world leader in assistive technology. >
More than 20 years ago, in an effort to drum up business during the slow real estate years, Victor Nevada donned a Santa suit. He made appearances for his clients’ children, and soon realized there was more to being Santa than a white beard and red suit. He researched and practised and, sure enough, his ho ho hos improved.
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Tom and Emmy Droog: Founders/Owners, Spitz International >
Despite having no hospitality experience, Madeleine and Alan Ernst took their love for the mountains and turned it into a new career and a new life when they opened Aurum Lodge in 2000. Having spent 25 years in banking, freight and travel, the Ontario couple decided it was time for a change. After two years of searching, they settled on the eastern front ranges of the Rockies, 40 km east of Banff National Park.
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It seems Edmonton ain’t big enough for two city publications. Just ask Ron Garth, the man who started the city’s two urban weekly newspapers – Vue Weekly and See Magazine. The ongoing rivalry between the two publications has been long and bitter, chock-full of name calling and high-court drama.
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Judy Wood’s culinary career started in her mother’s Montreal kitchen. From there, she graduated to the famed L’École de Cuisine La Varenne in Paris, earning a Grand Diplome. The executive chef then went to work at several popular restaurants across Canada: the David Wood Food Shop in Toronto, the Four Seasons Hotel in Calgary and Buchanan’s Chop House in Calgary, to name a few.
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Thirty years ago, Robert Wong tackled his first “Abracadabra!” after watching a magician perform on TV and later live at a party. Wong began reading about and practicing magic, and hasn’t stopped since. After years of performing magic on the side and working a variety of jobs, including stints as an aerobics instructor, disc jockey and salesman, Wong, now 41, finally became a full-time performer in 2006.
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Sadru Peerani used to sell cowboy hats for his dad during Stampede Week when he was a teenager in the early 1980s. Now he’s managing his family-run business, Formans Fashion Group, selling high-end clothing to Calgary’s well heeled. In 2003, Formans bought the CIBC heritage building on First Street and uprooted the 46-year-old business to Victoria Crossing. One of the first upscale retailers to move to the now uber-trendy neighbourhood, the store invigorated the street’s retail mix. Last year the company and its clients donated coats to those less fortunate in the area, proving that while fashion may come and go, corporate responsibility is never out of style. >
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