William Andrew
The moment William Andrew stepped off the plane in Vancouver a week before the Olympics, he knew something big - really big - was happening for his company.
He watched as airport staff rushed around in official Olympic clothing. He saw piles of Olympic shirts, pins, jackets, hats and mitts stock airport retail shelves. Even people hired to usher sponsoring company executives into waiting cabs wore the Olympic garb.
"I got off that plane and thought, 'Oh my God, I just walked into our showroom!' It was unbelievable," he says now.
Mr. Andrew, the founder and president of Elevate Sport Inc., and vice-president of sales, marketing and business development for affiliated company Trimark Sportswear Group, was at the helm when Elevate Sport won the activewear license for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, beating out many better-known companies.
For anyone who picked up a t-shirt or ball-cap at Zellers or the Bay for the big hockey showdown, Mr. Andrew's team created it.
Not bad for an art teacher's son who started silk screening logos on T-shirts for his friends back in high school. Then Mr. Andrew never slowed down. As an engineering student at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., he hired other students to manage his first business, WAC Sportswear, out of his house's basement so he could go to school.
Although the company eventually went under when the market shifted, he took what he learned and eventually landed the coveted Olympic licensing agreement with his new, relatively unknown, company.
Being under the radar actually worked to Mr. Andrew's advantage, as it turned out. The Olympic committee was adamant that it didn't want to partner with a brand that put itself first and the Olympics second.
Part of his pitch?
"You don't know us and that's a good thing," says the married marathon runner and Toronto father of two young children, Liam and Marlowe.
Maybe it's the running endorphins at 6 a.m., or perhaps it's the enjoyment he gets from going after new markets, but Mr. Andrew stays upbeat these days.
"As an entrepreneur, you get up every day and you're always optimistic," he says. "You always think tomorrow is going to be bigger and better and the sales are going to skyrocket."
This year's Top 40 Under 40 is sponsored by Deloitte, National Bank Financial Group, WestJet, and The Globe and Mail.
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