Don Cameron

Act 1:

  I Started in the business in Saskatoon in March 1976 as a Life insurance agent.

Although it took a couple years to get going thank goodness for Wendy my wife (who had a great job) we finally took off in year 3 and never looked back.

 In 1979 my brother and I got involved in the corporate markets, doing a lot corporate life insurance, buy-sell agreements and began to get involved in tax ideas. We worked with corporate lawyers and tax accountants.

 We also formed a partnership called Cameron and Associates and incorporated ourselves.

 We worked together for 3 years when I got the opportunity to move my family to Calgary to take over a brokerage firm. So in summer of 1981 I moved my wife and 3 month old son, Darris, to the promised land, or so we thought.

 NEP followed later that year and so did 20% inflation and 18% mortgage rates.

 Over the next 2 years we did okay and built a reasonable size firm.

That same year I joined the Canadian Tax Foundation. (Later to become a huge part of the firms I would build)

 In 1983 I was Head hunted by Montreal Life to take over their Alberta operations. At that time the company was owned by Guardian Royal Exchange out of London England and I was to bring the Life Insurance business into Property/Casualty agencies around Southern Alberta. A totally new challenge. We became very good at it because of my corporate and tax background then and became very good at recruiting.Gained some very good recognition in the industry and began to get involved in our national association which brought us to a whole new level of business and professionalism.

Through this time I built the #1 Agency in Canada.

 In 1985 Montreal Life was purchased by Empire Financial Group and another challenge offered itself.

  In 1986 I first met Donald Miano, arguably one of the top Pooled fund managers in the world and undisputedly the top Canadian Equity manager and we entered the public equity markets through Segregated funds. This would soon become and still is the biggest part of my career and the 3 circle investment model was born

 There were 3 agencies in Alberta, one in Edmonton and 2 in Calgary. After a couple years they merged the 2 Calgary offices and I was awarded both because of being a good business person. Something lacking in the business back then.

 Over the next 5 years we built a great organization did a lot of business with quite a large agent force and were among the top 3 agencies in the country and the most profitable by far.

 In fall of 1989 I was offered a couple opportunities. One was to head east and take on a Vice President role, or, enroute to that, move back to Saskatoon and take over operations for the prairies. Sask, Manitoba and North Western Ontario.

They wanted me to spend a couple years rebuilding that area and then look at moving to Kingston, Ont in a VP role.

We did a good job there, but 2 years in, a new President came along and things changed and they wanted me to stay there. This was not going to happen.

 In the Spring of 1992 I was again head hunted to move back to Calgary with Imperial Life to take over the operations there.

Imperial was looking to change nationally from a traditional career organization to Brokerage, which by then, most of the industry in Canada had done so and I was known as a leader in this industry and They hired me to create a process to do so.

 I created my own compensation contract, based on recruiting, cost cuts, production and profitability. A very strange contract and first for Imperial Life.

 I took over this very spoiled agency here in Calgary and a sub branch in Red Deer

An eclectic bunch of agents, a staff that was very lazy and an extremely expensive 4th floor of 12,000 square feet on Centre St North that they had dubbed “the Tajmahal”.

In other words a very austere looking place of granite, lighting and huge offices.

So I began to try and win them over, which I soon found out that wasn’t going to happen. So I began recruiting and in the first 12 months recruited more agents than the next top 5 agencies in Canada.

This caused head office and the president to take notice and they asked what direction I would like to go.

Brokerage I said and built the companies first brokerage agency in Canada.

Over the next 2 years Recruited a lot of agents, did a LOT of business and

changed the profit picture from a $400,000 loss to a $300,000 profit.

Unheard of numbers back in those days.

The company decided that my model was the route go and we began to change the 100 year old company with my model.

They shut down agencies across the country and went outside the company to find more “brokerage type” management and began the process of regional offices.

 So in 1994 Seven of us across the country negotiated and purchased the blocks of business in our regions.

I bought the Alberta block.

This was the first and last time a life insurance company did this in Canadian history.

 So, from being a handsomely paid regional manager on a Friday night to a Monday morning with no income and being SEVEN figures in debt to buy Alberta do so, I had large offices in Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton and away we went.

 Financial Growth Inc was formed and with the FGI brand we grew big time!!

 Over the next few years we built a massive block of business, expanding into the prairies and by 2000 had over 350 agents and a very large block of business.

 Then along came a buyer. A western organization and gave me a great offer and purchased our company.

 I was 49 years old, had lots of money and retired in 2001. Bought a place in Southern California and still have it.

 Act 2:

 By the end of 2003 I had become boring and bored. (2 different issues)

One of my big producers from my Financial Growth days came to me with an offer of purchasing his block of clients which I had a small hand in helping him build.

 I had become bored and really had no hobbies so I bought it and began act 2 of my career.

 It was a block of about 110 Farm clients in and around Calgary and south central Alberta.

So I opened an office, hired a great gal and away we went. We made a great team, she got me in front of all these great folks and had a great time meeting and converting them into clients as well as friends through my Tax foundation background and using the “timeless” 3 Circle Model we built another great organization.

But Winter was taking us south for almost 4 months a winter when most of them were gone. What to do.

 In 2005 our son Darris joined the FVI firm and added a whole other dimension to the company.

Since joining FVI and partnering up, Darris and I have worked as a very effective team to build and grow Financial Value. My time working with my son has been as rewarding as it is challenging, as any father and son duo can probably attest to, but we have a common goal in mind and I have felt comfortable having Darris as a partner in business since day 1.

In my experience spanning 5 decades I have seen very few parent/ child (frankly very few of any dynamic) partnerships pan out, but we have made it our goal to ensure our clients have a functional and thriving succession plan in place to ensure they are looked after long after Darris puts me out to pasture. (hopefully not for a while, as I adore this business.)

We have worked as a solid team for almost 15 years, and with my experience and concepts combined with his enthusiasm and ability to adapt we have been able to manage client accounts and capital through ups and downs that have broken other firms.

This partnership has given me the opportunity to give back to the community via the Rotary Club of Calgary (Calgary’s downtown chapter of Rotary International) to build a series of events that have raised millions upon millions of dollars for local and international charities. I feel blessed to have been able to do this work with my wife and son, and his many friends who have volunteered through the years. (Click here to check out the work we have done over the years)

While this chapter of my life has come to a close, I am always looking for new opportunities to build upon. I fancy myself a builder of business, with experience building networks, brokerages and businesses throughout my career as evidenced above.

 It has been a great life.

I plan to stick around quite a while, but I do have two grandkids that need my attention…