1994 Alumnus of the Year
Alumnus of the YearRex Anthony, B.Comm.(Hons)'68
Like most young students, Rex Anthony had some tough decision to make before he settled on a career in insurance. He was married at 20, and he and his wife expected their first child before he was able to finish his MA. Job offers beckoned him to Montreal, his spirit lured him to Europe, and his father wanted him to stay put. The solution ... head state-side. Anthony's first insurance job was with Union Mutual Insurance in Portland, Maine. He returned to Newfoundland and settled in Topsail in 1969, awaiting the arrival of a daughter in October of that year.
Anthony Insurance was already a presence in the market place.
Anthony's father, Robert C. Anthony, had been with Steers insurance
until 1952, when he left to form his own company. Still a
relatively small player, it had only 20 employees when Rex Anthony
joined the team. He started off in employee benefits, a new venture
for the company. He moved from department to department to fill
various needs as the company grew and staff came and went. His
interest in management won out and he concentrated on that side of
the rapidly growing business. Through the ups and downs of a fickle
economy, Anthony Insurance has remained a constant for over 40
years. Anthony attributes part of the firm's success to its rural
roots. With the markets within St. John's more or less cornered by
"old family" business, Anthony's father had concentrated on the
outports from day one, and thus built a business that serviced the
needs of a diverse and scattered population. Moving to other
provinces was a natural expansion, one that mainland insurance
companies, happy in their own small niches, may never have been
able to consider.
Over the years, Rex has diversified his interests. He is a partner in Bristol World Com, a large public relations, advertising and communications firm based in St. John's. Bristol has offices in Dartmouth, Moncton and Fredericton, offering audio-visual services through Ad Vantage Productions and market research through Omni Facts Research. Bristol is a major player in Canada's communications industry, and it all started here in St. John's. And why not? If he can sell insurance in Nova Scotia, why not communications as well? Rex admits that he is seldom involved in the day- to-day operations of Bristol, a business he leaves to the active partners. He does find it an interesting field, however, and maintains a presence at Bristol's head office on Water Street.
Rex was also a founding director of Resource Can, a company originally created to take advantage of opportunities related to the development of Hibernia in the late '70s. When the oil boom wore thin and things went to the back burner, Resource Can turned its attentions to more traditional industries, and some completely different ones. With concerns in seafood processing, manufacturing and high-tech industries, Anthony still sees an opportunity to take advantage of offshore oil development in the years a head but, timing is critical.
Anthony is also part owner of the Terra Nova Lodge in Port Blandford. This world-class golf facility caters to a growing international clientele. With a view of Clode Sound from the tee-off, and two salmon rivers rushing through the greens, it isn't hard to understand the appeal. Avid golfers make the trip from St. John's to Port Blandford quite happily for a day on the spectacular course nestled along the border of Terra Nova National Park.
Anthony admits that when he left MUN, he didn't turn around. "It was years before I even thought about the university again. I had my education, and had done with it what I wanted to do. The university was not where my business was at that time." But things were about to change. Jim Barnes, then dean of the Faculty of Business, felt the school needed greater links with the business community. He set up a board to accomplish that. Rex served a four- year term, following Vic Young as chairman of that board. In addition to building stronger links with the business community, the advisory board decided a permanent facility was needed for the school.
"The business school has come a long way since then," says Anthony, and the improvement continues to be steady. Many of the school's graduates are active members of the local business community and many others have left for positions outside the province. "Still", he says, "a part of the business community at large seems to be relatively unaware of what is going on within the school of business." Which is why he still feels it is necessary for Memorial to be proactive in seeking ways to keep the university and business communities involved with each other."
"Our undergraduate program is one of the best in this country. We provide one of the only co-op programs, allowing our students to actually work in the real business world as part of their training. It isn't all academic, you know."
"A degree gives you the ability to learn more, it is a step on the way. If you see it as an end in itself, you will be disappointed. A lot of young people come here to talk to me. They think there is a path they can take that will lead them to where they want to go, a path to a job, or to business savvy. There isn't. Education doesn't make us who we are. We make what we can of our education: We choose what we want to do, based on what we love to do, or what we are interested in. The education system offe rs us various options, and we pick and choose. But you cannot leave and say, `I'm finished, who will give me a job?' You have to keep at it."
"There are two mindsets out there. "One says, let's get on with it and get it done, the other waits for the system to get on with it and get it done." There can be little doubt about Rex Anthony's thinking on how to get things done. In addition to his bus iness work and his involvement with the university, Anthony is well known in the community for his many contributions to public service and the arts. "You just can't say no," he says. Rex Anthony is a man who seems to have found a way to say "yes" to just about everything he has ever asked of himself. It is an attitude we can all learn from.
The Alumni Association is proud to congratulate Rex Anthony on his achievements, and to proclaim him 1994's Alumnus of the Year.