Len Anderson – Science, Technology, and Engineering Award 2025

CEO and Owner, Renaissance Network Reinvent
Business Administration – Materials Management, 1994

Len Anderson is a seasoned Indigenous entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Renaissance Network Reinvent. Established in 2010, Renaissance originally focused on supplying refurbished infrastructure gear to telecommunications companies. Today, Renaissance is the cornerstone of a consortium of companies offering a variety of global technology services, including cybersecurity solutions, system integration, and equipment maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO).

Anderson’s achievements at Renaissance earned him an EY Entrepreneur of the Year® Ontario Award in 2024. A year later, EY invited him to be on the panel of judges that selected the finalists of the 2025 edition of the awards.

Anderson’s track record is stellar. Yet, if you could go back to the early 1990s and see him as a young student, you might be surprised. “I was the opposite of a straight-A student,” he said. “It was only in my final year at Algonquin College that I found my passion and my marks started to go up.”

Anderson first studied Engineering Technology at Algonquin College. It was a sensible choice. His brother had taken the same path and had a great job at Northern Telecom (later Nortel). Anderson enjoyed the field and learned a lot, but after two years, he decided to switch to a program he thought would suit him better: Business Administration – Materials Management.

This decision unlocked his potential. He adapted well, developed lifelong friendships, and enjoyed the guidance of his professors. By the end of his time at Algonquin College, he had a double foundation in engineering and business that set him up for success in the intersection of those areas.

After graduation, Anderson landed an interview at CAL Corporation (later EMS Technologies). To his surprise, his best friend from college was called to interview for the same position. But vying for the same job didn’t drive a wedge between them—it brought them closer together. CAL saw their rapport and decided to hire both of them. The two friends began their careers on the exact same day, working side by side in the same office.

In 1998, Anderson got a job at Nortel like he originally wanted. “Nortel was doing things no one else could compete with,” he said. “And they invested in you, gave you the opportunity to grow and try things. It was the start of something really good for me.”

In time, Anderson became a project manager at Nortel. Engineers built hardware and software for new platforms, and he led the team that developed their services, such as installation, training, technical support, and repair. As he gained experience, he realized that repair, refurbishment, and resale could drive Nortel’s service revenue. This was a promising insight, and he was asked to create a presentation about it for senior leadership.

“We worked on that presentation for months,” said Anderson. “Twice a day, our boss would come into the room, erase part of our progress, and offer us further direction. The emergent learning process was incredible. By the time we were done, we were able to deliver a really persuasive, succinct message.”

One of Anderson’s key takeaways was that the aftermarket of telecom gear was much bigger than anticipated. This presented an opportunity for Nortel, and they green-lit his initiative of reselling used gear. In 2008, the initiative’s first year, they sold a quarter billion dollars in used equipment.

It was an impressive feat, but Anderson knew this was still only a fraction of what was possible. When his desire to expand was met with resistance at Nortel, he quit with no severance package, got himself a new credit card, and started a business out of the corner of his bedroom. Soon, he found a company eager to part with a warehouse worth of gear for a modest sum, identified the premium items in the inventory, and flipped them to other clients. Renaissance Network Reinvent had been born.

In addition to reselling used telecom equipment, Renaissance found success in maintaining and repairing legacy infrastructure, from the first digital telephone switches of the 1970s to equipment that is recently out of warranty or discontinued. It’s a win-win situation for telecom companies, their end consumers, and the environment. As Jennifer Teoh, Partner at EY, wrote, Anderson’s “innovative reverse-engineering and refurbishment methods … breathe new life into legacy telecommunications equipment—reducing waste, cutting costs, and preventing nearly a quarter million pounds of equipment from entering landfills each year.”

Anderson recognizes the role Algonquin College has played in his success and has employed co-op students and alumni across a broad swath of areas at Renaissance. “Obviously, I’m an avid supporter of Algonquin College,” he said. “It’s been fabulous to have alumni and students in our team. We understand where they’re starting from, and we have a great culture to support their growth at Renaissance.”

Now in its 15th year, Renaissance boasts many telecom and technology giants in its client portfolio. But it’s not done growing. “We’re ramping up the business and scaling,” said Anderson. “Like one of my mentors used to say, ‘You’re either growing or you’re dying.’ And I want to keep growing.”

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