Frank O’Dea joined a blue-ribbon panel of innovative business leaders
March 15th, 2010

Frank O’Dea joined a blue-ribbon panel of innovative business leaders to advise Canada Post. Looking to provide more value to Canadians by taking advantage of its vast network, Canada Post presented a number of innovative and far-reaching concepts to the panel for its input.  

Frank O’Dea has a history of using innovation to change very ordinary business ideas and create entire new markets.

Second Cup: In a market where coffee consumption was declining as the world was switching to instant coffee and soft drinks, restaurants and diners were giving away coffee with their bottomless cup policies. Against all that, Frank and his partners went into the coffee business. Their first store was a little kiosk in Scarborough, Ontario, from which they delivered a high quality product and charged a premium price for it. The result was a whole new market space and an international success.

Proshred Security, a mobile paper shredding service, was launched when the predictions of a “paperless society” were in full cry. Using a new twist to an old idea, they mounted a shredder onto a truck. Proshred spread across Canada and the United States and into Europe.  It is now owned by Iron Mountain, the world’s largest records storage company.

Canadian Landmine Foundation: Innovation is not only restricted to for-profit businesses. Under Frank’s leadership, this organization launched the very successful world-wide annual fundraiser, “Night of a Thousand Dinners” using the internet. With support from people like Paul McCartney and Colin Powell, this innovative event spread across 30 countries and raised millions of dollars in its first year alone.