The first speaker at the CPBI conference this morning was Frank O'Dea.
Francis O’Dea, OC (born 1945 in Montreal) is a Canadian entrepreneur, humanitarian and author. He left a lifestyle of homeless panhandling and in 1975 co-founded the Second Cup chain of coffee stores with Tom Culligan. He is currently the Chair of AGSI Global and sits on the board of directors of Canadian Institute for Advanced Research he regularly speaks professionally on the subjects of his personal and business life.
His ongoing message was simple ... hope, vision, action. Inspiring way to start the day and the conference!
I had read his book, When All you Have is Hope, in October 2007 and enjoyed it.
3 comments:
I am always amazed by people like Frank O'Dea. They are by-and-large just ordinary people who make a difference. That story of his about "two men who met on an airplane" rocked me.
Amazing what a chance meeting can do!
I work at the Westin, so I get to see a lot of events and a lot of speakers. I learn so much, it is like getting paid to go to school. Frank O'Dea was, by far, one of the top speakers that I have seen here. The thing is he is just an ordinary guy. I saw him mixing and talking with people before hand, and you'd never know that he had done so much. What is it about some people that they are able and driven to do what they do?
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