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In 2009, U. Gary Charlwood was inducted to the Hall of Fame of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), a world-leading body representing the travel industry. It is the highest honour ASTA bestows on individuals. Past recipients include JW Marriott Jr., Sir Edmund Hillary, M.S. Oberoi and Walt Disney.
In 2008 Gary was inducted to the Hall of Fame of the International Franchise Association (IFA) - its highest honour - recognizing those who have contributed significantly to the advancement of franchising. Other Hall of fame inductees include Ray Kroc (McDonald's), Fred DeLuca (Subway) and Henry Bloc (H&R Block).
In 1998, Gary was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the IFA - the first non-U.S. citizen to hold this post - and in 1991 was the first Canadian to receive the prestigious IFA Entrepreneur of the Year award.
 
Fluent in German, English and French and conversant in Spanish, Charlwood attended Southampton University on a scholarship before converting his part-time summer job as a tour guide into a full-fledged career in the travel industry. In 1966, Charlwood decided to come to Canada working for Western Airlines (now Delta), quickly moving up management ranks to become Director of Consumer Affairs for CP Air (now Air Canada). Charlwood wanted to go into business for himself and focused on selling residential real estate. From there, he was able to buy his own real estate company, fullfilling a lifelong dream.

In 1975 he and a partner bought the master franchise rights for CENTURY 21 Real Estate Canada. He later bought out his co-founder and has built CENTURY 21 Canada™ into one of the largest real estate companies in the country, with more than 400 locations with more than 9,807 salespeople. In 1980 Gary founded UNIGLOBE Travel International. He has guided the growth of the franchise travel organization to the point where today it is active in more than 60 countries on six continents.

In 2003, Gary expanded CENTURY 21's reach into the Asia Pacific Theatre with offices in Taiwan, Hong Kong/Macao, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, The Philippines and Brunei. There are now more than 446 offices in this Region. Adding to his already successful real estate franchise business, Gary and his team created Centum Financial Group Inc., a mortgage brokerage network that is one of the fastest growing organizations in the Canadian mortgage industry today.

His newest franchise venture is Real Property Management, for which he owns the Canadian master franchise license and rights to future expansion in countries in Europe and Latin America. As founder of the family-owned Charlwood Pacific Group (CPG), Gary is joined in business by his sons, Martin and Christopher Charlwood. Martin currently serves as President of UNIGLOBE Travel International LP and vice chairman and CEO of CENTURY 21 Canada™. Christopher is currently a Member of the Board of Directors and oversees the family's property development wing.

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The Charlwood Pacific Group (CPG) owns the master and/or territory
franchise rights to leading brands in travel, real estate and mortgage brokerage
businesses in Canada and around the world. CPG’s success comes from
excellence in franchising and the desire to build successful business strategies.		 Uniglobe Travel  |  Century 21  |  Centum |  RCPM
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