| Jan Cameron | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1963 Melbourne, Australia |
| Residence | Bicheno, Tasmania, Australia |
| Occupation | Owner of Retail Adventures[1] Retired founder of Kathmandu |
| Net worth | A$318 million |
| Spouse | Bernie Wicht (divorced)[2] |
Jan Cameron, CNZM (born 1963) is Australia's forth richest woman and the founder of the Kathmandu clothing company. She currently lives in Bicheno, Tasmania. She currently runs various companies and business interests, which together span Canada, America, Britain, New Zealand and Australia. She is a philanthropist, and avid supporter of animal rights.[3]
In 2006, Jan Cameron sold 51% of her share of Kathmandu for $247 million Australian dollars,[4] making her the fourth richest woman in Australia.[5]
On the 14th of April, 2010 she was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit by the Governor General of New Zealand for "services to business and philanthropy."[6]
Jan Cameron recently gained media attention in Tasmania when she and Graeme Wood, founder of Wotif.com purchased the Triabunna native forest woodchip mill,[7] and began plans to turn it in to an eco-resort. After the the Premier of Tasmania Lara Giddings contacted her, it was agreed that the woodchip mill would continue for 4-5 years, before it is converted in to the planned eco-resort.
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Jan Cameron is currently the owner of Retail Adventures, the biggest retail chain in Australia, which brings in 1 billion dollars in revenue a year.[8] She also owns stakes in several other major retail companies; she owns 9% of Pumpkin Patch,[9] an unknown percentage of Macpac,[10] and 19% of the Postie Plus Group.[11] She also owns Nood (New Objects of Desire), a Canadian and New Zealand furniture retail company.
Jan Cameron is a philanthropist and stout supporter of animal rights and various charities. In 2010 she founded the Animal Justice Fund, donating five million dollars to start the organization,[12] which states its mission as "to promote the cause of animal welfare through strategic litigation, public awareness campaigns and the prosecution of persons or businesses who commit offences against animals used in intensive farming or through commercial and/or recreational practices."[13]
The following year, in May 2011, Jan Cameron donated 60 acres on the Freycinet Peninsula to start one of three Devil Islands; safe havens for Tasmanian devil breeding populations to be isolated from populations infected with the devil facial tumour disease.[14] She has also supported Brightside Animal Sanctuary, an animal sanctuary in Cygnet, Tasmania, through the Elsie Cameron Fund, for several years.[15] Jan Cameron has also continued to donate profits from all Chickfeed stores in Tasmania to various charities,[16] for the last two years.
Jan Cameron founded the Kathmandu adventure wear company alongside John Pawson in 1987 after selling Alp Sports, her first company. She started by sewing sleeping bags to sell in Alp Sports, before she and her ex-husband bought half of Kathmandu and changed to selling Chinese-produced products. In 1991 Kathmandu brought back Alp Sports, therefore expanding Kathmandu in to New Zealand, and then in 1994 John Pawson was bought out by Jan Cameron and her ex-husband Bernard Wicht, leaving Wicht and Cameron as the sole owners of Kathmandu. Two years later in 1996, Jan Cameron bought out her ex-husbands share of Kathmandu.[17]
In 2006 she sold 51% of her share in Kathmandu to a private equity firm for $247 million Australian dollars, and several months later she sold her remaining 49% of the company.[18]