Roger Hardy

Roger Hardy
Born (1969-11-11) November 11, 1969
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupation businessman

Roger Vincent Hardy (born November 11, 1969) is a Canadian Internet entrepreneur and businessman. He is the Chairman, and CEO of Hardy Capital.[1] Hardy is also the co-founder and former Chairman, and CEO of Coastal Contacts Inc. (TSX: COA, NASDAQ: COA), the leading manufacturer and online retailer of eyewear products.[2] The Coastal Contacts Inc.’s family of websites includes Coastal.com, ClearlyContacts.ca, Clearly.com.au, Clearly.co.nz, Lensway.co.uk and ContactSan.com.

Early and personal life

Hardy was born in Toronto, Ontario and grew up in Eastern Canada where he attended Earl of March Secondary School. After graduating from Bishops University, Hardy’s passion for skiing pulled him to the West Coast. He spent a year skiing in Whistler and came to the decision that BC was his home.[3]

While attending university, Hardy was a member of many sports teams where his competitive nature garnered him the Most Valuable Player of the year award. Later in his career, it was this competitive spirit that helped Hardy succeed in an online industry in which thousands had entered, and failed.[4][5]

Hardy currently resides in Vancouver, BC with his wife and children.

Career

Coastal Contacts Inc.

Hardy first worked for a transportation and logistics company, followed by a contact lens company. While working at the contact lens company, Hardy recognized that purchasing contact lenses was expensive, time consuming and service constrained for consumers.

In 2000, Hardy founded Coastal Contacts Inc. The Company started in a basement office with one phone line, a 14K modem, a ping pong table and a Visa card. Hardy purchased the keyword “contact lens” from AltaVista and Snap.com. This keyword was not known to have any value at the time and no other companies were advertising on the keyword. Hardy bought the exclusive rights to “contact lenses” and launched with that advertising.[6] In the first day, they had 30 orders; within the first month, they had $68,000 in sales.[7][8]

Under Hardy’s direction, Coastal Contacts Inc. became the world’s largest online retailer for eyewear. In 2001, Coastal achieved $1 million in cumulative revenue. In 2004, the Company began trading on TSX. In 2008, the Company launched eyeglasses business unit. In 2012, Coastal surpasses $1 billion in cumulative sales since 2000 and starts trading on NASDAQ.[9][10][11]

Coastal Contacts Inc. and Essilor signed an agreement on February 27, 2014 that it is acquiring Coastal Contacts Inc. for C$430 million.[12][13][14][15][16]

SHOES.COM

Roger Hardy was the co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of SHOES.COM, formerly known as SHOEme.ca.[17] Under Hardy’s leadership, the parent company acquired both OnlineShoes.com and SHOES.COM.[18] On May 20, SHOES.COM announced it had raised net proceeds of approximately $45 million.[19] As of May 2015, SHOES.COM was valued at $320 million and was awarded the " Fastest growing company in Canada " title by Profit magazine.[20] The company went bankrupt in January 2017 and was liquidated.

Awards

In 2002, Hardy was recognized as Top 40 under 40 Award by Business in Vancouver. In 2006, Hardy was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (Business to Consumer).[21] In 2009, Hardy received Bishop’s University Top 10 After 10 Award in 2009.

Philanthropy

Hardy established the Hardy Endowment Fund at Bishops University which will pay the tuition for a student "in need" each year in perpetuity. Hardy is responsible for donating to and contributing countless hours along with his team at Coastal Contacts Inc. over the past years to charities close to their hearts. Easter Seals, The Ride to Conquer Cancer, The Greater Vancouver Food Bank, ORBIS Canada and The Red Cross are some of the many charities that he is involved with. Hardy has also contributed hundreds of pairs of free glasses to people in developing countries such as Mexico, El Salvador and Kenya, as well as disadvantaged people in Canada through Coastal Contacts Inc.’s own charity project, Change the View.[22][23]

References

  1. ↑ Tilak, John ”Canada's Hardy Capital sees online shoe retailer IPO in 2015”]”Business Insider”March 2, 2015
  2. ↑ "The Founder" Coastal Contacts. 2012
  3. ↑ Jordan, David "Clearly Contacts CEO Roger HardyBC BusinessNov 3, 2010.
  4. ↑ Mitra, Sramana "Building A Niche E-Commerce Powerhouse: Coastal Contacts CEO Roger Hardy (Part 1)" One Million by One Million. Nov 12, 2010.
  5. ↑ Shaw, Gillian "Clearly Contacts was a gamble that paid off"The Vancouver Sun Feb 28, 2014.
  6. ↑ Coastal Contacts "Clearly a Winning Strategy" Archived 2012-02-04 at the Wayback Machine.. 2012.
  7. ↑ Jordan, David "Clearly Contacts CEO Roger Hardy" BC Business Nov 3, 2010.
  8. ↑ "Clearly Contacts has clear vision for how to manage growth" the Globe and Mail Mar 12, 2012.
  9. ↑ Coastal Contacts "Financial Reports"
  10. ↑ Coastal Contacts "Coastal to Begin Trading on NASDAQ"
  11. ↑ Nelson, Jacqueline "Business without Borders: Coastal Contacts" Canadian Business Mar 13, 2012.
  12. ↑ Olijnyk, Zena "Clearly Contacts Deal: Some Saw It Coming"Forbes Feb 28, 2014.
  13. ↑ The Canadian Press "Vancouver-based ClearlyContacts operator Coastal.com being bought for $430 million by France's Essilor" The Vancouver Sun February 27, 2014.
  14. ↑ Nelson, Jacqueline "Coastal Contacts deal a marriage of tech and lenses" The Globe and Mail February 27, 2014.
  15. ↑ BNN February 27, 2014.
  16. ↑ Korstrom, Glen "Coastal Contacts' pending $430 million sale good news for local e-commerce ventures"Business in Vancouver March 4, 2014.
  17. ↑ Tilak, John ”Canada's Hardy Capital sees online shoe retailer IPO in 2015”]”Business Insider”March 2, 2015
  18. ↑ Hilderman, Kristen ”Roger Hardy Buys ShoeMe.ca and OnlineShoes.com”]”BC Business”July 15, 2014
  19. ↑ Tilak, John “Canadian startup Shoes.com eyes fall IPO””The Globe and Mail”May 25, 2015
  20. ↑ Tilak, John “Canadian startup Shoes.com eyes fall IPO””Globe and Mail”May 25, 2015
  21. ↑ Coastal Contacts "Coastal Contacts CEO Named Entrepreneur of the Year" 2006.
  22. ↑ Coastal Contacts "Online Eyewear Company to Change the View for Millions Around the World" Archived 2014-03-04 at the Wayback Machine. 2011.
  23. ↑ "Clearly Contacts Celebrates Over 5,000 Glasses Donated to TFSS" Dec 2, 2013.
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