Rod Bryden

Last updated

Roderick M. Bryden [1] (born March 13, 1941) is a Canadian businessman. He served as a prominent Ottawa business executive. He is best known as the former owner of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League from 1992 until 2003.

Contents

Biography

Bryden was born in Port Elgin, New Brunswick. He obtained a B.A. Hon. Ec., from Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick; an LLB, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton; and an LLM, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

He taught law at the University of Saskatchewan as assistant law professor, from 1966 to 1969 before moving to Ontario, where he held a succession of positions in the Canadian federal government.

In 1974, Bryden founded Systemhouse Ltd., a computer integration firm where he served as president or chairman until 1991. In 1979, he founded Paperboard Industries Corporation (PIC) by purchasing Trent Valley Paperboard Mills. He served as chairman of PIC until 1991. Both companies were enjoying annual revenues of over $700 million when he stepped down that year.

In 1992, Bryden became CEO of Terrace Corporation, the principal owner of the new Ottawa Senators NHL franchise. In 1993, he became the franchise's Chairman and Governor. In 1994, construction on the Palladium arena (later the Corel Centre and Scotiabank Place, Now the Canadian Tire Centre) was begun by the Palladium Corporation, of which Bryden was the owner and chairman. The arena opened in 1996.

In 1996, Bryden formed the WorldHeart Corporation in coalition with the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Dr. Tofy Mussivand and Dr. Michael Cowpland. Bryden served as president and CEO of the company before resigning in 2004.

Late in 2004, Bryden avoided personal bankruptcy, brought on by $100 million of debt personally owed to creditors and investors of the Ottawa Senators franchise. Bryden agreed to pay creditors a total of $600,000 on the debt, which was induced by high player salaries and an unfavourable exchange rate against the US dollar. [2]

In 2005, Bryden was appointed as the new chairman of cancer drug developer PharmaGap, Inc.

Until 2014, he was President and CEO of Plasco Energy Group, an Ottawa firm developing energy production using plasma gasification, from household waste. [3] [4] A year later, Plasco filed for protection under CCAA. Seven months later, Mr. Bryden purchased the company from its secured lenders and led its rebuilding.

He also is the chairman of the board of SC Stormont Inc., and Chairman of the board of PharmaGap Inc. Bryden is also on the Board of Directors of Clearford Industries and Gallium Software Inc.

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottawa Senators</span> National Hockey League team in Ontario, Canada

The Ottawa Senators, officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. The Senators compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference and play their home games at the 18,652-seat Canadian Tire Centre, which opened in 1996 as the Palladium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nackawic</span> Place in New Brunswick, Canada

Nackawic is a former town in New Brunswick, Canada. It held town status prior to 2023 and is now part of the rural community of Nackawic-Millville. It is approximately 65 km west of the city of Fredericton on the east bank of the Saint John River.

The 1919–20 NHL season was the third season of the National Hockey League (NHL). A Quebec team was activated by the NHL, increasing the number of teams to four. The four teams played 24 games in a split-schedule format. The Ottawa Senators won the league championship by winning both halves of the split-season. The Senators went on to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since the Cup challenge era ended and their eighth time overall, by defeating the PCHA's Seattle Metropolitans three games to two in a best-of-five series in the Stanley Cup Finals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giant Tiger</span> Canadian discount store chain

Giant Tiger Stores Limited is a Canadian discount store chain which operates over 260 stores across Canada. The company's stores operate under the Giant Tiger banner in Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan; under the GTExpress and Scott's Discount banners in Ontario and under the Tigre Géant banner in Quebec.

RockTenn was an American paper and packaging manufacturer based in Norcross, Georgia. In 2015, it merged with MeadWestvaco to form the WestRock company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugene Melnyk</span> Canadian sports businessman (1959–2022)

Eugene Melnyk was a Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and owner, governor, and chairman of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Ottawa Senators and the American Hockey League's Belleville Senators. He was the founder, chairman, and CEO of Biovail Corporation, once Canada's largest publicly traded pharmaceutical company with more than CA$1 billion in annual revenue. He had sold almost all of his holdings in the company by 2010. Canadian Business magazine ranked Melnyk 79th on its 2017 list of Canada's 100 wealthiest people, with a net worth of CA$1.21 billion. He was one of the richest residents of Barbados.

Nelson Mathew Skalbania is an engineer and businessman from Vancouver, British Columbia who is best known for signing a then 17-year-old Wayne Gretzky to the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association, and for his high-profile real estate flipping.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SemGroup</span>

SemGroup Corporation was a publicly-traded company engaged in natural gas, petroleum, and propane pipeline transport. It was organized in Delaware and headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In December 2019, the company was acquired by Energy Transfer LP.

Bruce Firestone of Ottawa, Ontario, is a Canadian businessman and writer. He is the founder of the modern-day Ottawa Senators NHL professional ice hockey club and former part-owner of the Ottawa Rough Riders CFL football club.

Randy Sexton is a Canadian ice hockey executive, businessman and former athlete. He is the Senior Advisor to the General Manager for the Minnesota Wild. He was the assistant general manager for the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL) and general manager of the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League from 2017 to 2020. Prior to that, he was the director of amateur scouting for the Pittsburgh Penguins and general manager of the Ottawa Senators and the Florida Panthers of the NHL. He was also one of the founders of the Ottawa Senators NHL club in Ottawa, Ontario.

Founded and established by Ottawa real estate developer Bruce Firestone, the Ottawa Senators professional ice hockey team is the second National Hockey League (NHL) franchise to have the Ottawa Senators name. The original Ottawa Senators, founded in 1883, had a famed history, winning 11 Stanley Cups and was a founding member of the NHL from 1917 until 1934. On December 6, 1990, after a two-year public campaign by Firestone to return the NHL to Ottawa, the NHL awarded a new franchise for an expansion fee of US$50 million. The team began play in the 1992–93 season.

Bryden is a surname of Lowland Scots origin. Notable people with the surname include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottawa Soccer Stadium</span> Proposed soccer facility

The Ottawa Soccer Stadium was a proposed open-air soccer facility in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was part of a proposal to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to Ottawa by the Ottawa Senators organization.

Cyril Leeder is a Canadian businessman. He is the current president of the Ottawa Senators professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) and its corporation, the Senators Sports & Entertainment Corporation. Leeder is also a member of the Ottawa Community Ice Partnership, which organizes the annual Bell Capital Cup minor ice hockey tournament.

Plasma gasification is in commercial use as a waste-to-energy system that converts municipal solid waste, tires, hazardous waste, and sewage sludge into synthesis gas (syngas) containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide that can be used to generate power. Municipal-scale waste disposal plasma arc facilities have been in operation in Japan and China since 2002. No commercial implementations in Europe and North America have succeeded so far. The technology is characterized by the potential of very high level of destruction of the incoming waste, but low or negative net energy production and high operational costs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Haslam</span> American businessman

James Arthur Haslam III is an American businessman and sports executive. He is the chairman of the board of the Pilot Flying J truck stop chain. He and his wife Dee own the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL), the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer (MLS), and a stake in the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Haslam has won two MLS Cup Championships as owner of the Crew.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Tire Centre</span> Multipurpose arena in Ottawa

Canadian Tire Centre is a multi-purpose arena in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It opened in January 1996 as the Palladium and was also known as Corel Centre from 1996 to 2006 and Scotiabank Place from 2006 to 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Hartling</span> Canadian politician

Nancy J. Hartling is a Canadian Senator from Moncton, New Brunswick. She was Executive Director of Support to Single Parents Inc., as well as a founding member of St. James Court Inc., a non-profit housing complex which provides single parents with affordable housing. On October 27, 2016, Hartling was named to the Senate of Canada by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to sit as an independent and assumed office on November 10, 2016.

References

  1. "Roderick 'Rod' M. Bryden".
  2. "Bryden paying $600,000 to Senators' creditors". CBC Sports. 2004-12-02. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
  3. "Plasco Energy Group moves in new direction without CEO Rod Bryden". Sun Media. 2014-01-30. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
  4. "Liquidator takes ownership of Plasco assets for pennies on the dollar". Ottawa Citizen. 2014-08-18. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
  5. Brodie, Rob (June 6, 2012). "Sens' founders together again in Sports Hall of Fame". Ottawa Senators. Retrieved June 7, 2012.