“I had a job in 10 days and I’ve never
been without work since,“ says Chris. I
joined Sea West Engines who were the
Volvo Penta distributor for British
Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan,
Manitoba, Yukon and the Northwest
Territories. Chris worked as a Sales
Coordinator for two years, moving on to
become the Dealer Development
Representative for British Columbia and
then adding the OEMs to his portfolio. A
major change happened in 1993 when
Volvo Penta Sweden decided to establish
its own presence in the important
Canadian market and terminate the
three distributors they had in Canada;
Atlas Polar in Ontario and Québec,
Liftow in the Maritimes and Sea West
Engines in Vancouver. A new company -
Volvo Penta Canada, was created out of
Sea West Engines and Volvo Penta has
been Vancouver-based ever since. That
was on April 1, 1993. It turns out that
April Fools’ Day has had a special and
very positive meaning for Chris over the
years, but more on that shortly. From
1993 to 1995 Chris handled the
Western Canada dealers from the coast
to Kenora. Then in 1996, Clint Moore
became the new CEO of Volvo Penta of
the Americas and he spearheaded a
major reorganization. Chris explained, “I
was responsible for the OEM and Power
Centers for both the Western United
States, and all of Canada! In 1997, I took
127 flights and was on the road for 140
nights and at that time, Susan and I had
a six-year-old and a three-year-old at
home.”
Luckily, he didn’t have to keep that
pace up forever. Lars Ljungqvist was
appointed President of Volvo Penta
Canada in 1998 and, as they already
knew each other, Lars asked him to
become the Sales Manager.
“I said ‘yes’ immediately,“ Chris told
me.
Eighteen months later, Lars was promoted to Senior Vice President of Volvo
Penta in Gothenburg, at which time he
recommended Chris Goulder as the new
President of Volvo Penta Canada – on
April 1, 2000!
“I have been incredibly fortunate,“
Chris told me. “We have a loyal, dedi-
cated and very committed staff at Volvo
Penta Canada and they do a wonderful
job. Many of our staff have been with
Volvo Penta for a long time and as a mat-
ter of fact, three of us are celebrating our
30-year anniversary with Volvo Penta
this year.”
From his start as a Sales
Coordinator, Chris held many different
responsibilities with Sea West and later
Volvo Penta: OEM and Dealer sales, ser-
“I believe that serving
with any of the industry
associations, even just
on a committee, can
provide a person with a
strong sense of
involvement in their
industry. When you give
back to your industry,
you gain greatly by
working with your peers
and helping that
organization in such a
way that the ‘whole’
becomes more than the
sum of its parts.”
vice and warranty coordination, boat
shows, dealing with service and far
more. The very broad range of his experience helps him to empathize with the
guys across the country.
“I especially enjoy the customer
interaction,“ Chris told me. “The people
and the country are wonderful. I’ve been
to every province and territory in all of
Canada and honestly, travel is only a
problem if I hit delays”!
We couldn’t resist showing Chris on
the cover of this issue of Boating
Industry Canada standing at the airport
instead of on a boat. He takes it good-naturedly, but his travel schedule is simply unbelievable and recently he became
the Corporate Liaison to Europe for
Volvo Penta of the Americas on top of
everything else.
“The winter months just fly by,” Chris
told me. “January starts off with the
Toronto International Boat Show, then
the London show in the UK; I get to
come home for a week and then I’m off
to Düsseldorf, returning by way of the
Montréal show, so January is just gone.
Of course, February is the Vancouver
International Boat Show followed imme-
diately by Miami.”
His business travel alone keeps him
on the road a lot, but the most signifi-
cant thing about Chris Goulder is his
unflagging commitment to serving the
industry.
“If I get the call that we have a chance
to get in and lobby Ottawa on engine
emissions or some other project, Chris
will always make the effort to be there,”
Sara Anghel, NMMA Canada Vice
President told me. “You can always
count on Chris.”
Deservedly, there has been personal
recognition. Chris Goulder was the
Canadian Safe Boating Council ‘Marine
Professional of the Year’ in 2009 and in
2008 he received the Industry
Leadership Award from the BCMTA.
He was first elected to the BCMTA
board as a director in 1991, worked on
many committees and served two terms
as President. He is currently Past
President.
Chris commented to me that, “Being
a director of the BCMTA has given me a
very good opportunity to learn about
managing the activities, the people and
building consensus among a group of
people who don’t work for me!”
As Jane McIvor noted, “He has been
at the heart of every initiative undertak-
en at the BCMTA, including the acquisi-
tion of 100% ownership of the
Vancouver International Boat Show, per-
haps one of his proudest moments.”
Chris also served as the Chairman of
the CMMA, first being elected a Director
in 1997 and then as the Chairman of
CMMA in 1999, returning later for a sec-
