George Melville is chairman and owner of Melville Global Investments Inc., a diversified investment portfolio which includes ownership in Mr. Lube, Naramata Benchland Properties and SKOOKUM Festival at Stanley Park. He also co-founded and previously owned T&M Group, which included Boston Pizza International Inc., and is now the largest owner of trust units in the Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund.
Melville’s career began in Penticton with an accounting practice at Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co. One of his first clients was a former RCMP officer named Jim Treliving who had opened a local pizza restaurant. A friendship formed along with a business partnership that has lasted for more than 46 years. Together they grew operations from one restaurant location to over 400 restaurants across North America, and invested in many other successful businesses that were collectively known as the T&M Group. Annual sales of the group exceeded $1 Billion and they employed thousands across Canada and the United States.
During his time with Boston Pizza, the business was celebrated as Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies Platinum Club and Canada’s 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures. In addition to the many recognitions received corporately, Melville has also personally been honoured with the Canadian Franchise Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year, and has been inducted into the Business Laureates of British Columbia Hall of Fame as well as the British Columbia Restaurants Hall of Fame.
Adding to his many business achievements Melville has been a major philanthropist donating in excess of $30 million dollars to B.C. organizations including the Union Gospel Mission, Surrey Memorial Hospital, Covenant House and Rick Hansen Foundation. His donation to build Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Melville Centre for Dialogue has created a place for Canadian and International students to study, learn and develop a path for future success. His donation to the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundations Campaign is enriching the learning and training environment for UBC medical students. As a result of his generosity, construction has started on the Peace Arch Hospital’s much-needed 200-bed residential care facility, which includes a 15-bed hospice residence.
Giving of his time, Melville was director of the Boston Pizza Foundation Future Prospects which, since its inception in 1990, raised and donated over $25 million to Canadian charities. He was also chairman of the 2014 Hockey Canada Foundation Celebrity Classic and he has served on a number of volunteer boards including Governor for the Southern Interior Innovation Fund, Science World, Fraser Institute and the Premier’s Economic Counsel. A past member of Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s board for many years, he is presently serving his second term as the institution’s chancellor.
