Growing up in Newfoundland on the easterly-most edge of Canada, Tony is a first-generation immigrant who developed a deep sense of place from the people and land that shaped his upbringing. Newfoundland brought gifts of resiliency and entrepreneurship and by his teenage years he owned a graphic T-shirt business, paper route and became an independent reseller for a national skincare brand. He remains connected to Newfoundland through family, friends and as the Counsellor-in-Residence to the renowned Fogo Island Inn.
In business, he’s been a positive disruptor of industries. Today he focuses on two firms he co-founded – Cue Ball Capital and MiniLuxe. At Cue Ball, he leads an integrated investment approach– one grounded in the intersection between purpose and profit and guided by a people-first and patient mindset. Cue Ball’s objective is to turn early growth into durable growth and value. A majority of the firm’s capital is committed to inclusionary founders and ventures.
As the Executive Chairman and founder of MiniLuxe, he’s disrupting one of the largest beauty industries – nail care. MiniLuxe economically and creatively empowers nail care professionals with a tech platform, clean and ethical standards, and new educational certifications. Since its founding, MiniLuxe has paid out nearly $100M in legitimate fair wages while giving all team members ownership opportunities in the company. In December of 2021 the company went public on the Toronto Exchange.
In the mid-1990s, Tony also founded ZEFER as a pioneering multi-disciplinary Internet advisory and technology firm that launched some of the first large scale websites and applications (part of NEC today). Following ZEFER and around the tragic events of 9/11, Tony began working with the Thomson Corporation to see how the Canadian conglomerate could best position itself for the future. Over the ensuing decade he partnered side-by-side with the CEO to catalyze one of the largest media transformations in business history that ultimately led to the formation of Thomson Reuters.
For 15 years, Tony also served as the Vice Chairman of The Parthenon Group (now EY-Parthenon) where he was the youngest senior partner ever elected. Today he continues his passion for strategic councillorship harkening back to his first professional job post-college at McKinsey & Company.
Tony has authored 125 articles for the Harvard Business Review, Good People, and co-authored the New York Times Bestseller, Heart, Smarts, Guts, and Luck that was named one of Fast Company’s “Best Business Books.” He was also a close collaborator with Tom Brady in the writing of the #1 New York Times Bestseller, The TB12 Method. His TED talks include –
Creative experiences, art, and design sensibility represent another passion area for Tony. Whether it is in the visual expression of information and narratives, brand development, fashion, or interior and landscape design, Tony loves all things creative. He is the Brand and Creative Steward of MiniLuxe, Advisory Chair to Martian Arts, and a self-taught designer of interiors and landscapes.
Tjan holds AB and MBA degrees from Harvard University and was a Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and he sits on the Advisory Council for the MIT Media Lab. He’s one of the World Economic Forum’s Global Leaders of Tomorrow and a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
Anthony Tjan@AnthonyTjan
How to build a Company That (Actually) Values Integrity. Six ways leaders can show it's more than just a box to check.
Anthony TjanChairman and Co-Founder
Entrepreneur and business-builder turned NYT best-selling author and venture investor committed to working with and learning from people, especially founders, who seek category-defining and culturally-shaping change that yields positive change and durable value creation. Fundamentally, take a purpose-driven and people-first approach to everything in the knowledge and comfort that clear purpose plus good people pushes the world forward in more human and beautiful ways.
