Jack Cowin was born July 13th 1942 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada and has been an Australian citizen since 1981. He graduated in 1964 from the University of Western Ontario (London, Canada) and in 2000 received an Honorary Degree – LLD from the University. In 2011 he received the University Alumni Professional Achievement Award.
Jack started out in Toronto, Canada selling insurance but always had a clear desire to get into his own business, to have control over his own destiny. Jack moved to Australia at the age of 26 and opened his first KFC store in 1969 Jack is now the chairman and managing director of the CFAL group of companies which has sales revenue of $1.4 billion and net shareholders funds of $600 million. Jack is also the owner of Hungry Jacks, the Burger King master franchise holder for Australia, with 360 restaurants and five manufacturing plants which produce frozen meat products and processed vegetables for the supermarket and food service industry and exports to 26 countries for which it has won several Australian Export Awards.
Jack is a former director of the TEN Television Network and Chandler MacLeod. He is currently a director of Fairfax Media and Chairman and largest shareholder of Domino’s Pizza Enterprises. He also is a Director and 40% shareholder of BridgeClimb – a major tourist attraction in Sydney.
Jack has business interests in Canada including being the major shareholder in Lone Star Texas Grill restaurants and Skyway, which supplies scaffolding and related products to the Canadian construction and industrial market. He is a Director and Shareholder of the SirCorp Restaurant Group (Jack Astor’s).
In the U.S Jack is the major shareholder in a transportation company called RCX (Rail Crew Express) based in Kansas that operates 1000 vehicles as a crew hauling service to the major USA railways.