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About Us

Corporate Mission

Our Mission is to entertain the world and make special effects magic available to all.

Thomas FX distributes a unique mix of expendable supplies, pyrotechnics, artificial snow effects, custom breakaway glass, and mechanical effects rental equipment. We also provide turnkey production services, and entertainment industry customers generally regard us as a world leader in artificial snow set dressing.

We manufacture the world’s best biodegradable snow products onsite and distribute Snow Business paper cellulose and polymer snow products throughout Canada. While Thomas FX has built a global reputation for biodegradable artificial snow, that is only the beginning of our story . . .

Over the years, Thomas FX has developed extensive lines of proprietary seasonal consumer retail products which we sell from our own retail store, and via the internet through this e-Commerce website. We also wholesale our products to many of the largest retail chains in the world for resale in their stores.

Many of our unique seasonally themed products are also used extensively by wholesale customers’ visual display and merchandising departments, and are also popular with special events, theatres, themed attractions, tourism destinations, and movie set dec and props buyers around the world.

Responding to a steady and growing demand from special event and themed attractions professionals, we have established an active special event division and regularly provide turnkey production services to complement sales of our quality special effects products and equipment.

Thomas FX Group Inc., launched in 1969 and established in 1973 as Thomas Special Effects, is credited as being one of the pioneers that built the Canadian film industry.

Today, having been involved in the production of thousands of successful feature films, television series and commercial productions, the Thomas name is well known throughout North America and internationally by leading entertainment professionals working on six continents.

Meanwhile, our consumer retail division is equally successful. Thomas FX consumer and display products are now sold by leading retailers in more than 40 countries, and used extensively by event planners and themed attraction organizers.

Since 1969, the Thomas FX Group has grown to become one of the most influential special effects service businesses in the entertainment industry, as well as one of the world’s leading distributers of cutting edge seasonal consumer retail merchandise.

Over the years, we have received dozens of awards and commendations for achievement and business excellence. At Thomas FX we believe in giving back to our community and regularly support a variety of educational initiatives and community job training programs.

Board Bios

Betty Thomas Quee

President & Board Chair

Betty Thomas Quee is widely recognized as one of the pioneers of the Canadian film industry. In addition to helping to establish the Thomas name as the premiere special effects company in Canada, and supporting dramatic effects for successful film projects around the world, she was the first female stunt performer, first female stunt coordinator, and first female 2nd unit director in Canada.

She has also accrued serious credits and experience as Director and Producer, including a year spent working as 2nd Unit Director on world-renowned Director John Woo's "To Catch A Thief".

Betty has been recognized nationally by her peers as "Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year" for her contribution to the local economy, and has received the international "Ambassador's Award" from Canada's Ambassador to the United States, in Washington DC.

Betty also received the "Award of Merit" from the British Columbia Film Commission for her "Contribution to the Development of the BC Film Industry", and awards from the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce for "Business Excellence"... for "Innovation", and for "Best Business".

Today, after more than three decades at the helm of Thomas FX, Betty's legacy of commitment to the film industry, fostering award winning business excellence, continues as she leads the Thomas FX Group in its ongoing contribution to the dynamic industry she helped to establish in Canada and delivery of a comprehensive array of services to the international entertainment industry.

Betty maintains her strong leadership role at the forefront of the company’s Film Services Division in addition to her role driving global expansion in our Consumer Retail Division. Betty oversees every detail from product design and global sourcing through to sales, manufacturing, customer service and global logistics.

Betty is a member of the International Women's Business Forum, an Honorary Lifetime Member of Canadian Women in Film & Video, and a judge for the annual Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

Contact Betty

John Quee, mba

Chief Executive Officer

John Quee brought his extensive background in fast track business development and change management to the Thomas FX Group in 2002. With more than four decades of ‘hands on’ entertainment industry management expertise, he is well versed in all aspects of the leisure and entertainment industry and highly effective at enabling dramatic growth within dynamic organizations.

John’s management expertise has earned numerous awards and has attracted extensive international media coverage. Subsequent to working with the world renowned IMAX Corporation, outfitting and launching the world’s first “commercial” IMAX Theatre, and establishing it as the first profitable IMAX Theatre in the world, John received recognition from the American Bus Association for producing one of the “Top 100 Events in North America”. In 2000, while Chief Executive Officer of a publicly traded multimedia software development corporation, the Government of Canada invited John to speak on behalf of Canada's high technology industry during a portion of the Canada Japan Free Trade Negotiations.

Since joining Thomas FX, John has been the driving force behind the company’s dramatic diversification and global expansion. In overseeing new product development, manufacturing and retail operations, and in orchestrating Thomas FX's corporate and international business expansion, John ensures that the company’s effectiveness is optimized while maintaining focus on the underlying fair-minded ethical business practices that have set Thomas FX apart from its local and global competitors for more than four decades.

John holds an MBA degree in International Management (with distinction), and membership in Mensa Canada. Formerly, an active volunteer with the Vancouver Board of Trade, John was a member of the Community Affairs Committee, the Economic Development Committee, and the Vancouver Downtown Eastside Task Force. He was also Co-Chair of the Board’s Annual Business & the Arts Awards Committee, Chair of the Tourism Leisure & Entertainment Committee, and Chair of the Board’s 2010 Olympic Bid Support Task Force, the initiative that proved overwhelming support from Vancouver’s business community for launching Vancouver’s successful 2010 Olympic Bid.

Despite challenging demands on his time as CEO of Thomas FX and an ambitious international travel schedule, John often makes himself available as a motivational speaker and personal development coach. John’s book "From Skid Row to CEO" ©, promotes the notion that nothing is impossible, and empowers people to embrace their fullest potential.

John is committed to making a difference in the world, creating a dynamic environment where ongoing innovation and business excellence can flourish, and forging 'win-win' relationships with clients and strategic partners worldwide.

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Contact John

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