Raffaele Gerbasi, Marcello Iacovella and Frédéric Lefrançois from Wildfire Environmental
Marcello Iacovella says the stars were aligned when he began the Executive MBA program at the John Molson School of Business four years ago.
“In the 2nd year we knew we wanted to get into business together”, he says, “because we knew each other’s strengths and had gotten to know each other very well.”
Iacovella recalls, he, Frédéric Lefrançois and Rafaele Gerbasi all clicked the first day of class in August 2006.
They became fast friends while working on group projects and assignments over the course of the two year program.
The trio kept in touch after graduating, then the right opportunity came along. Last year Iacovella, Lefrançois and Gerbasi acquired Wildfire Environmental, a company that specializes in manufacturing forest fire equipment.
Iacovella is the President and CEO, having worked up the ladder for over 15 years, starting in customer service. Gerbasi is CFO. Lefrançois is VP of Product development, and left his job as a producer for gaming giant Ubisoft.
They manage a staff of 50 people in Canada and the U.S. The company has sales offices in B.C., Edmonton, California and Oregon with the head office in Montreal.
The equipment produced by Wildfire includes pumps, nozzles and hoses which are being used right now to help fight the ongoing and devastating forest fi res in Alberta and previously in California, B.C as well as Brazil, Greece and other locations around the globe. Some of their customers include Parks Canada, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Forest Service.
Iacovella admits he knew the three of them were meant to know one another and it became obvious how compatible they were while studying in the EMBA.
Today he says they are using the knowledge they learned and experienced in the program to reinvent the company and create new products. Iacovella says their plan is to double the revenues within five years and they hope to expand into other ventures.
JMSB was the connector, Iacovella recalls, “all of us wanted to do the EMBA and that decision led us to meet one another”.
“I’m grateful for the program”, he says, “because it was what brought us together”.
