Century 21 Franchisor Still Going ‘120 mph’

Financial Post:

Here’s what you need to know about Gary Charlwood: he runs more than a marathon a week and swims more than 500 kilometres a year. For a good 9 months of the year, he shows up at the office wearing a suit jacket and shorts, a look he calls ‘elegant.’

That, and he is quite possibly Canada’s most successful franchisor.

From a rocket ride through the ranks of the airline industry when he has in his twenties, to a stint selling houses in which he went from obtaining a real estate licence to being British Columbia’s top seller in just 15 months, it was obvious early on that the one thing Mr. Charlwood would never lack was success.

30 later, he sits atop an empire that includes the master franchise over all Century 21 locations in Canada as well as the Uniglobe Travel and Centum mortgage broker franchises, which he founded.

But as he mused on his entrance yesterday into a hall of fame studded with the likes of McDonald’s messiah Ray Kroc, Mr. Charlwood, who is 66, couldn’t help but wonder: What’s next?

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