Background
He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the son of an insurance broker.
He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the son of an insurance broker.
He never attended university, instead choosing a career in real estate.
Clearwater Fine Foods
Within ten years of its founding in 1976, Clearwater had grown into one the of the largest international food fish businesses by specializing in high return products including scallops, lobster, clams, coldwater shrimp and crab, which it air-freights around the world. lieutenant is the largest holder of rights in Canada for each of these shellfish species and by 2008, it owned the rights to all offshore lobster fished in offshore Atlantic Canadian waters and all Arctic surf clams. By 2008, the fleet included ten factory freezers (the largest such fleet in Canada) and the entire international fleet totalled 21 vessels.
Its Argentinian fleet fishes Antarctic scallop.
The business became an income trust in 2002 at which time Risley turned the business over to Colin MacDonald. The trust had not paid dividends since 2005 and in August 2008 the company went private and was nearly ruined by the stock market failure later that year.
Ocean Nutrition Canada
His company is the major shareholder in Ocean Nutrition Canada, which he founded in 1997 as a manufacturer of fish oil-derived dietary supplements. Headquartered and with R&Doctorate offices in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, it has manufacturing facilities in Mulgrave, Nova Scotia, Arcadia, Wisconsin, and in Peru.
lieutenant is the world"s largest producer of omega-3 fatty acids.
In 2010 the company announced the accidental discovery of ONC T18 B, the most prolific strain of oil-producing algae known, which appears capable of producing oil at a rate 60 times greater than other types of algae being used for the generation of biofuels. lieutenant has embarked on a four-year R&Doctorate program to determine whether the algae is a viable a fossil fuel replacement. Columbus Communications
Risley was a major shareholder in Columbus Communications, a Caribbean cable television and Internet provider which he co-founded in 2004.
In March 2015, the company was acquired by Cable & Wireless Communications at a cost of United States dollar $1.85 Billion dollars.
He now serves as a Non-executive Director of Cable & Wireless.
He entered the business with Brendan Paddick from Grand Falls, Newfoundland and was a board member of the company based in Freeport, Bahamas.