Summary
A creative disrupter, Rick’s greatest pleasure is challenging the status quo.
Before establishing Phaze 3 Associates in 2016, Rick was President and CEO of Weston Forest Products, and the Weston Forest Group of Companies, conducting business in over 40 countries on 4 continents. Weston companies have repeatedly won a variety of awards including Canada’s Best Managed Companies, Profit 500’s Fastest Growing Companies and Waterstone Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures.
Phaze 3 was set up to reflect the four passions in Rick’s life.
The first is the desire to invest in great people and ideas, and to make above average financial returns. At Phaze 3, the Asset Management/Investment team is constantly looking for opportunities to invest in residential and commercial green-field and redevelopment projects, as well as private companies in both the Venture Capital and Private Equity spaces.
Wanting to say thank you to Canada for allowing a first generation Canadian the opportunity to prosper is Rick’s second passion. Along with the Phaze 3 Philanthropy team, Rick and his wife, Lillian, co-founded the Together We Stand Military Families Foundation to honour and thank Canadian military families for their service. In its first four years of operation, Together We Stand has distributed $3.3 million in gifts to over 12,500 military families with a loved one deployed overseas during the December holiday season and led the Canadian Parliament to declare the 3rd Friday of each September as Canada’s official Military Family Appreciation Day.
Proud of his Jewish heritage and thankful that all four of his and Lillian’s parents survived the Holocaust, Rick’s third passion sees him work within the Jewish community to educate, and advocate on behalf of the community’s needs.
Finally, Rick’s fourth passion is to attempt to make Canada a better place to live, primarily by being active in politics.
Rick is an Equity Partner and Board Member of Elevate Financial, Weston Wood Solutions, Brookside Capital Partners, Element 5 Co., AWZ Ventures, Weston Forest Products, Socium Capital, and The Logic, an online publication covering the Canadian innovation economy.
He also sits on the International Economic Policy and National Policy Councils of the C.D. Howe Institute, where he is a Board Member. Rick sits on the Boards of the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the Regimental Council of the Queen’s York Rangers, and the Association for Lumber Remanufacturers of Ontario, which he also founded.
Rick is a past Board Member of the National Hardwood Lumber Association, a former Chair of the North American Wholesale Lumber Association, founder and former Chairman of the Canadian Lumber Remanufacturers Association.
Rick is married to his high school sweetheart Lillian, has two daughters and two wonderful granddaughters and one grandson.