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Last week I saw that Vic De Zen had been awarded a Life Time Achievement Award from the Vinyl Institute. VI described De Zen as a “Canadian vinyl industry pioneer, thought leader and philanthropist.”
Let’s add “comeback kid” to that list.
I first ran across De Zen in 1991, when my colleague Bart Greer was compiling Plastics News first-ever ranking of North American extruders. De Zen’s company, Royal Group Technologies Ltd. in Woodbridge, Ontario, was the unexpected No. 1.
When Royal went public in 1994 and had to release its financials, our rankings data was confirmed. Five years later, De Zen was in the spotlight when Royal won our prestigious Processor of the Year award.
But, like I said, this is a comeback story. First De Zen retired from the company in 2003, under some pressure from unhappy shareholders. Investigations followed. While De Zen and other managers were eventually acquitted in a criminal trial, he lost control of Royal.
Then De Zen started over again, founding Vision Extrusions Ltd. – currently No. 29 in our ranking of pipe, profile and tubing extruders. And he’s earned a reputation for good works in the community. Congratulations to Vic De Zen, you’ve had a great second act.