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BC CEO Awards: Brad Liski

Chief executive helps household products company stay true to its goal of protecting the planet, while driving rapid growth
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Brad Liski, CEO, Tru Earth | Submitted

Tru Earth began in April 2019 with two $15 consumer packaged goods. Since then, Brad Liski has scaled the organization to revenue that is predicted to reach $64 million for the current fiscal year.

In its first 30 days of operation two years ago, Tru Earth sold 10 times the number of subscriptions than it had forecast. It realized in that moment that it had more than a great product.

As it leaned into the growth and tested country after country, the vision started to form that it was a movement disrupting a multibillion-dollar household product industry, reducing carbon emissions by up to 94% and caring for the planet and people. Its vision is a critical cause, making true lasting change that helps save the planet.

And the two key performance indicators (KPIs) it tracks for the critical cause are the number of loads of laundry it donates and the number of plastic jugs it eliminates from landfills and oceans. Those two KPIs drive everything, including corporate expansion, hiring, maintaining a competitive advantage and profit.

This was done by adding top-tier talent within the now 200-plus employees while maintaining profitability. In two years, the organization has become a movement with 338,000 #TruChangeMakers that buy direct on its e-commerce platform and 500,000 followers on its social channels. It maintained profitability during the rapid growth and stayed true to its commitment to donate laundry detergent to those in need. Tru Earth has donated more than eight million loads to date, equating to over $4 million.

Recently nominated for Canada’s Top 100 Employers for 2022, Tru Earth sees this as a sign that its innovative programs that attract and retain talented employees are working. The award-winning company, which began with seven employees and now employs more than 220, offers competitive wages, excellent benefits and location flexibility.

Liski believes that the best thing we can do to save the planet is to educate young people. He is a mentor with entrepreneurship@UBC, working with several ventures.

The mentorship program, Lab2Launch, focuses on climate-change solutions and connecting entrepreneurs to the best resources. Liski is also on the board of the Salish Sea Research and Education Society (SSRES). Liski and the SSRES created a curriculum focused on plastic pollution in our oceans with the goal to educate children in middle schools in B.C.’s Lower Mainland. •

For more information about this year's BC CEO Awards, click here.