33. Tom Gaglardi

President, Northland Properties

Age: 47 | First AppearanceThe family name is part of provincial history. Tom Gaglardi’s grandfather was “Flyin’ Phil” Gaglardi, a cabinet minister in the Social Credit government of W.A.C. Bennett in the 1950s and ’60s. Phil’s son Bob founded Northland Properties, starting with real estate, restaurants, and budget motels. After nearly going under in the 1980s (Gaglardi was saved from bankruptcy thanks to help from Jimmy Pattison and Luigi Aquilini), Northland has since grown into one of the largest privately held companies in the province.Besides real estate and the Sandman and Signature chains, the Gaglardis own Moxie’s, Denny’s, and the Sutton Place Hotel here (as well as the Sutton Place in Edmonton and the right to build elsewhere in Canada). Business, like politics, makes strange bedfellows. Tom Gaglardi may be best known for having (with Ryan Beedie) come out on the losing end of a court battle with the Aquilinis over ownership of the Vancouver Canucks, but he’s now an NHL owner and governor himself, having bought the Dallas Stars in 2011. And the Gaglardis have long been involved with the Aquilinis in an expansive, all-seasons resort they hope to build north of Squamish.

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