John Thiessen
President - Executive Restorations Ltd.

Born and raised in Abbotsford B.C. a first generation Canadian raised by European immigrant Parents on a small chicken layer farm where Mother grew our own fruits and vegetables, milked our own cow, and together we lived self sufficiently with my Brother and 3 Sisters while my Father worked in Construction. My Father built our own barns and house on the side and farmed in his spare time. On the farm was a great place to learn of values, hard work, and getting things done on time while utilizing what resources we had at that time together with friends and Family.

When I was 9 my Father died and at 13 we had to sell the farm and move into the big city of Abbotsford where we built a new house. In that process I met a man while doing our aluminum siding who explained to me that he was going to try and work in every trade that it took to build a house and then he would build one for himself. I was impressed and intrigued with this notion and set out also to learn everything I could about construction. I finished high school with Honors and top achievement in both Construction and auto mechanics. After high school I drove a concrete mixer truck for 2 years, traveled Western Europe, Turkey, Egypt and did some Archeology in Israel.

I came home to be an assistant Forman on a commercial Construction site. When things slowed down in construction I went into Photo Copier sales for Toshiba. After achieving top sales in Canada for Toshiba I went into business for myself selling high efficiency gas fireplaces which after owning and managing for nearly 8 years I was awarded 4th fastest growing company in Canada (Profit magazine in 1991) and the prestigious “Top 40 under 40” business men in Vancouver award (I was under 30 at the time) I continued in that the business for another 3-4 years.