Nanaimo man remembered for his business smarts

By Carla Wilson, Times ColonistJuly 7, 2010

Nanaimo businessman Tony Menard, who died Monday, was a larger-than-life personality with the ability to predict exactly what the market wanted next, said a friend and colleague of more than 30 years.

"His crystal ball was ridiculously good," Jim Hogan said yesterday.

Remembered fondly by friends who worked and raced sprint cars with him, Menard built a B.C. success story as president and owner of VMAC, a Nanaimo company employing about 80 staff, selling products globally and earning numerous performance awards. The company makes underhood air compressor systems and engine throttle controls. VMAC stands for vehicle-mounted air compressors.

The company reopened for the first time yesterday after a planned maintenance shutdown last week. Dozens of employees who showed up had the news broken to them during a morning meeting. A Canadian flag on the industrial property flew at half-mast.

Hogan met Menard in junior high school in Nanaimo, where they graduated from Nanaimo District Secondary School in 1975. They both earned engineering degrees at the University of B.C. in 1982, where Menard focused on mechanical engineering and Hogan on engineering physics.

According to VMAC's website, Hogan helped design its standalone ALM Hydraulic Air Compressor, named after Menard's late father, Al Louis Menard, who spent many hours at the company during his retirement years. Hogan affectionately describes his close friend as a "piston-head," a term for people who love to tinker.

Menard's first vehicle was a two-door Ford pickup truck, beefed up with a larger engine, he said.

"He was a very hands-on type," Hogan said. "Very goal-oriented. He liked hot rods and souped-up trucks and all that stuff."

After graduating from UBC, Menard headed for the oilpatch in Alberta, Hogan said, and eventually ended up in Newfoundland managing the provincial office for an oil exploration company. But when the economy slowed, Menard and Hogan decided to join together with another man to start a company in Kitchener, Ont., in 1986.

Menard was a "master of doing business, doing deals, and negotiating and persuading," Hogan said.

The third partner left within a few months, but the Menard-Hogan team stuck together, developing a low-cost jet engine prototype for target drones for the federal Department of National Defence. Government funding dried up and the pair opened a machine shop.

The turning point came when a regular customer sought help to mount a reciprocating compressor under the hood of a vehicle. Menard said, "I'll go over and hear them out," Hogan said.

The compressor was old technology, large and heavy, but they found a way to create a new bracket to do the job, Hogan said. "It turned into a business in its own right."

Hogan sold out to Menard, who had decided to move back to Nanaimo, where he opened VMAC in 1990. At that time, 70 per cent of the company's sales were in the U.S., with the balance in Canada. Since then, VMAC has expanded further into the global market, including Australia.

Hogan rejoined his friend in the mid-1990s, staying at VMAC as head of engineering until a few months ago. He now runs his own company, Hogan Engineering.

In his free time, Menard enjoyed racing sprint cars and sponsored World of Outlaws star driver Craig Dollansky, Hogan said.

Menard and his former wife, Deborah, from whom he separated in 1998, have two sons and a daughter, ages 19 to 22.

cjwilson@tc.canwest.com

- With a file from Canwest News Service