Terry Matthews

Terry Matthews
KBE, FREng, FIEE
Born Terence Hedley Matthews
(1943-06-06) 6 June 1943
Newport, Wales, UK
Residence Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Citizenship Canadian, British
Alma mater Swansea University
Occupation Chairman of Mitel[1]
Chairman of Wesley Clover[2]
Net worth $2.04 billion (2016)[3]
Title Sir
Spouse(s) Ann Matthews
Children 4
Karen Sparks (b. 1981)
Trevor Matthews (b. 1982)

Sir Terence Hedley Matthews KBE, FREng,[4]FIEE (born 6 June 1943), is a Welsh-Canadian business magnate, serial high-tech entrepreneur, and Wales' first billionaire.[3][5][6][7]

He has founded or funded over 100 companies in the high tech communications field,[8] most notably Mitel and Newbridge Networks. He is the chairman of Mitel, Wesley Clover, and the Swansea Bay City Region board. He owns the Celtic Manor Resort, KRP Properties, the Brookstreet Hotel, and the Marshes Golf Club.

Early life

Matthews was born in Newport, South Wales, at the then Lydia Beynon Maternity Hospital. Matthews returned as an adult to include the manor house that housed the hospital within the Celtic Manor Resort. He grew up in the town of Newbridge, Caerphilly. He studied at Swansea University and received a bachelor's degree in electronics in 1969.[9]

Career

After an apprenticeship at British Telecom's research lab at Martlesham Heath, Matthews left Britain and joined MicroSystems International, a chipmaking operation affiliated with Northern Telecom (which became Nortel Networks) in Ottawa, Canada.[10]

Mitel

Matthews' first enterprise was started in collaboration with fellow Briton and Microsystems employee Michael Cowpland in 1972.[10] To raise seed money for future enterprises they had planned, the pair intended to import and sell electric lawnmowers built in the UK. Conventionally and as well accounts by Terry Matthews the name Mitel is thought to be a contraction of "Mike and Terry's Lawnmowers".[9] However Cowpland is quoted as saying that it stands for "Mike and Terry ELectronics". This first endeavour was a fiasco; the shipping company carrying the first batch lost the container.[11] When the lawnmowers finally arrived, the ground was covered with snow in the Canadian winter and no one would buy them. Matthews later said "That taught me a key lesson — the importance of timing. The shipping company lost the lawnmowers! By the time they showed up no-one wanted them, as you can't cut grass when it's covered with snow."[10]

Mitel became a technology consultancy company run from home to the various companies around Ottawa's emerging high-tech district. Mitel's clients included the National Research Council, the Communications Research Centre, and a handful of pioneering start-ups including SHL Systemhouse which was later purchased by EDS and now is part of HP and Quasar Systems (now Cognos).

Obtaining funding from a $4,000 bank loan and as well from their own savings and a group of angel investors (notably Kent Plumley)[9][12] the two developed a telephony DTMF tone receiver based on Cowpland's Ph.D. thesis. This was a major advance in the technology since they were able to sell receivers at a fraction of the cost of competing versions, while gaining returns of 1000%. Additionally, Mitel later became a chip manufacturer with the acquisition of the Silek foundry in Bromont, Quebec.

Later the pair realized that the then new technology of microprocessors and other semiconductor devices would make a similar change in the market for small PBXs. The SX200 PBX launched to immense success, being cheaper to purchase, quicker to install and far more functional. Mitel became one of the more successful manufacturers of small PBX systems and telecom semiconductors in the world, floating on the New York Stock Exchange in 1981.

In 1985, British Telecom bought a controlling interest in Mitel. Cowpland would later form the company that became Corel and Matthews later founded Newbridge Networks.

Newbridge Networks

In 1986, Matthews drove Newbridge to become a leader in the worldwide data networking industry, manufacturing data communications products, especially ATM devices and routers. In 2000 the company employed more than 6,500 employees with recorded FY 1999 revenue of $1.8 billion. Later in 2000, Newbridge was acquired by Alcatel[13] for $7.1 billion. Matthews' personal stake in Newbridge was valued at over a billion dollars, and as a result of the transaction he became the largest single shareholder in Alcatel.

Return to Mitel

In 2000, he reacquired the Mitel PBX business and company name, taking it private. He has invested heavily ($600 million by 2006) in Mitel to turn it into a broadband communications company. The company has made significant investments in enterprise Voice over IP telephony technology. Mitel's manufacturing business was spun off as BreconRidge. The company acquired Intertel in April 2007.[14] Mitel went public again in 2010.[15] Mitel announced the purchase of Aastra Technologies in November 2013.[16] Mitel announced the purchase of Mavenir Systems in March 2015.[17] Mitel announced the purchase of Polycom in April 2016.[18]

Other businesses

Additionally, Matthews serves on the board of directors for a number of high tech companies and chairs Solace Systems, [20] and CounterPath Corporation.[21]

Wales

Matthews spends a considerable amount of time in his native Wales, working on such ventures as the Celtic Manor Resort, a leisure complex in Newport, near the south Wales coast, chosen to host the 2010 Ryder Cup golf tournament and the 2014 NATO summit.[22][23] The Celtic Manor hosted the ISPS Handa Wales Open for 15 years. The original Celtic Manor Hotel was formerly a maternity hospital and is Matthews' birthplace.[6][24]

Matthews bought Celtic Manor in 1980, ploughing £100m into the project. Firstly the 19th century Manor House was renovated, while in 1991 plans were unveiled to develop two new golf courses and a convention centre between the manor and the River Usk. Matthews had become friends with golf course architect, the late Robert Trent Jones Snr, whose family roots were in Aberystwyth. Work began on the 'Roman Road' course in 1992, named after the main route connecting the former Roman fortress of Caerleon with the town of Caerwent, which crosses the land. In 1994 the 4,000-yard 'Coldra Woods' golf course was started, as well as the £10m golf clubhouse hotel.[25]

Celtic Manor was Hotel of the Year in 2002, and won two European Design Awards in 2001 - one for the interior designers, Goff Associates, and one for its spa from the International Spa Association. Matthews commented that: "I think the resort can act as a magnet to draw new investment into Wales from across the UK and overseas. I did my best to put up a building that you can see from the West End of London and I didn't come far short of it!".[25]

In September 2014, Matthews was appointed chairman of the Swansea Bay City Region Board.[26][27][28][29][30] The Swansea Bay City Region Board is backing a Swansea Tidal Lagoon project.[31]

In January 2016, he purchased the Hilton Hotel in Newport.

Philanthropy

Matthews founded the Wesley Clover Foundation, a not-for-profit, philanthropic corporation that supports entrepreneurship, healthcare, education, and community initiatives. The foundation leased the properties formerly known as the Nepean National Equestrian Park and the Ottawa Municipal Campground to create Wesley Clover Parks.[32][33] Matthews hosts an annual gala, Lumière, that has raised over $1 Million for charity.[34]

Honours

In 1994, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

In 1998, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.[4]

In June 2001, he was conferred the honour of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours. He was knighted by HM The Queen at an investiture in Buckingham Palace.

Matthews has received honorary doctorates from the University of Wales (Glamorgan and Swansea), and Carleton University.[35] In 2006 he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Engineering) from the University of Bath.

In 2011, he was appointed Patron of the Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute at Cardiff University.[36]

Personal life

His daughter, Karen, is executive director at Wesley Clover Parks. His youngest son, Trevor is an actor, founder and CEO of Brookstreet Pictures.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Newsroom - Board of Directors - Dr. Terence H. Matthews". Mitel.
  2. ↑ "About Us - History". Wesley Clover.
  3. 1 2 "Canada's Richest People: Terry Matthews". Canadian Business. 24 December 2015.
  4. 1 2 "List of Fellows". Royal Academy of Engineering. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  5. ↑ "Forbes Face: Terry Matthews". Forbes. 16 May 2001. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Terry Matthews: A well-connected Celt". The Guardian. 28 October 2000. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  7. ↑ "Now's the time to be a tech start-up, says Sir Terry Matthews". 4 June 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  8. ↑ ""There's a revolution going on," says Terry Matthews of tech industry". Ottawa Business Journal. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 "Sir Terry Matthews". Profit (magazine). 2 June 2010. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 "How to turn $4,000 into billions: Energy, hard work, passion". Waterloo Region Record. 14 May 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  11. ↑ Craig Bailey on Microsoft: INSPIRATION: Sir Terry Matthews
  12. ↑ David Thomas. Knights of the New Technology, Key Porter Books: 1983
  13. ↑ "Alcatel buys Newbridge". CNNMoney. 23 February 2000.
  14. ↑ "Mitel To Acquire Inter-Tel". tmcnet.com. 27 April 2007. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  15. ↑ "Mitel Becomes a Public Company – Again". UCStrategies.com. 22 April 2010.
  16. ↑ "Mitel Networks buys Aastra Technologies in friendly takeover deal to create bigger high-tech player" (Press release). 11 November 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  17. ↑ "Canada's Mitel Networks to buy Mavenir Systems for $560 mln" (Press release). 2 March 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  18. ↑ "Mitel announces definitive agreement to acquire Polycom - NASDAQ.com". NASDAQ.com. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
  19. ↑ "Victoria packs a pint-sized punch as a small but flourishing tech hub". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2016-03-23.
  20. ↑ "Leadership - Board of Directors". Solace Systems. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  21. ↑ "Board of Directors". CounterPath Corporation. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  22. ↑ "NATO summit coming to Newport's Celtic Manor". South Wales Argus. 31 October 2013.
  23. ↑ "NATO Summit Wales 2014". Gov.uk. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  24. ↑ "Billionaire entrepreneur Sir Terry Matthews talks about Wales and some pet projects". Media Wales. 4 January 2012. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  25. 1 2 "About Us". Celtic Manor Resort. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  26. ↑ "Swansea Bay City Region". Welsh Government. 16 February 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  27. ↑ "Celtic Manor's Sir Terry Matthews is Swansea region chief". BBC News. 24 September 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  28. ↑ "Sir Terry Matthews to use 'global network' to boost region investment". BBC News. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  29. ↑ "Sir Terry Matthews holds first regeneration board meeting". BBC News. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  30. ↑ "Sir Terry Matthews revealed as the new chair of the Swansea Bay City Region". Media Wales. 24 September 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  31. ↑ "Sir Terry Matthews and the Swansea Bay City Region give backing to the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project". Media Wales. 22 January 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  32. ↑ "Aging equestrian venue to get a makeover". CBC News. 17 January 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  33. ↑ "A World-Class Equestrian Centre and a Local Attraction for the Capital Region". National Capital Commission. 24 April 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  34. ↑ "Brookstreet's Lumière gala passes $1 million mark". Ottawa Citizen. 17 September 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  35. ↑ "Executive Profile - Terence H. Matthews". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  36. ↑ Sir Terry Matthews on Cardiff research centre on YouTube
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