Clayton Zekelman is a Canadian businessman and billionaire from Windsor, Ontario, best known as one of the three brothers who own Zekelman Industries, one of North America’s largest steel pipe and tube manufacturers. While his brother Barry is the company’s public face, Clayton has built a substantial career of his own in an entirely different industry — telecommunications, through Windsor-based MNSi Telecom — and he remains one of the least publicly visible billionaires in Canada.
| Full Name | Clayton Zekelman |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Base | Windsor, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Businessman; co-owner of Zekelman Industries; founder of MNSi Telecom |
| Known For | Co-owning Zekelman Industries (Atlas Tube, Wheatland Tube) with his brothers Barry and Alan; founding MNSi Telecom |
| Family | Father Harry Zekelman founded Atlas Tube; brothers Barry Zekelman and Alan Zekelman |
| Net Worth (est.) | Around US$2.2 billion (Forbes estimate) |
The Zekelman Family of Windsor
The family business began with Clayton’s father, Harry Zekelman, who founded Atlas Tube in 1984 in Harrow, Ontario, not far from Windsor. When Harry died suddenly in the mid-1980s, the young company passed to his sons. Barry, the brother who would become the group’s driving executive, took over the steel business at just 19 years old, according to Forbes, with Alan and Clayton growing into ownership alongside him. It was an improbable start — three young brothers, a small Ontario tube mill, and a father’s unfinished plan — that became one of Canadian industry’s great family success stories.
Building North America’s Steel Tube Giant
Over the following three decades the brothers turned that single mill into a continental manufacturer. The company that became Zekelman Industries now reports some 3.3 million tons of annual production capacity and more than 3,200 employees, with annual revenues that Forbes puts at roughly US$3.3 billion. Its brands are the industry’s household names: Atlas Tube, a leader in structural steel hollow sections; Wheatland Tube; Sharon Tube; Western Tube; and Picoma. Headquartered on Chicago’s North Wacker Drive, with plants across the United States and Canada including the original Harrow site, the group’s tubing has even been used in stretches of the US-Mexico border wall — a contract that drew national attention on both sides of the border.
The Carlyle Sale — and Buying the Company Back
In 2006 the family sold a majority stake in Atlas Tube to the Carlyle Group, in a deal valued at about C$1.5 billion, and the business was merged with the John Maneely Company and Sharon Tube to form JMC Steel Group. A planned US$3.5 billion sale of the group to Russia’s Novolipetsk Steel collapsed in late 2008 amid the financial crisis, ending in a 2009 settlement that paid Carlyle US$234 million. The Zekelmans, who had stayed involved throughout, bought back majority control of the company in 2011 — a rare second act of family ownership. In 2016 the group took the name Zekelman Industries, putting the family name on the door, and it has since invested more than US$1 billion in Z Modular, its modular housing business.
Clayton Zekelman’s Own Venture: MNSi Telecom
Clayton’s individual story runs through a different kind of network. In 1995 he founded MNSi Telecom, an internet and telephone provider serving the Windsor-London corridor of Ontario that became one of the region’s oldest independent service providers, building out fibre-optic internet for homes and businesses. In 2016 he acquired Nexicom, another Ontario telecom company, from its retiring owners, the Downs brothers. Canadian business coverage of Windsor’s richest residents notes that while Clayton shares ownership of the steel empire with his brothers, his own day-to-day focus has centred on these telecommunications ventures — a quieter, regional empire of fibre lines rather than steel mills.
A Low Profile, by Design
Anyone researching Clayton Zekelman quickly discovers how little verified personal information exists about him — and that scarcity is itself part of his story. Unlike Barry, who gives Forbes interviews, races boats named Man of Steel and has been drawn into US political coverage, Clayton rarely appears in the media, gives few if any public interviews, and keeps his family life private. His name surfaces mainly in three places: Forbes’ billionaire rankings, Windsor-area business reporting about MNSi and Nexicom, and the ownership structure of Zekelman Industries. This profile reflects that reality: it reports what is documented about the family business and his telecom career, and invents nothing about the man beyond it.
Clayton Zekelman Net Worth
Clayton Zekelman is a billionaire in his own right on Forbes’ reckoning: recent Forbes billionaires data estimates his net worth at around US$2.2 billion, placing him among the wealthiest people in Canada. The figure rests on the same foundation as his brothers’ fortunes — Forbes reports that Barry, Clayton and Alan split 100 percent ownership of the privately held Zekelman Industries between them — together with his telecommunications holdings. Because the company is private, Forbes’ numbers are modelled estimates rather than disclosed accounts, and they move with steel prices and the wider market; his brother Barry’s fortune, for comparison, has been estimated by Forbes at well over US$3 billion in recent lists.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Clayton Zekelman Barry Zekelman’s son?
No — Clayton is Barry’s brother. The three brothers, Barry, Alan and Clayton Zekelman, own the steel company founded by their father, Harry Zekelman, in 1984.
What does Clayton Zekelman do?
He is a co-owner of Zekelman Industries, one of North America’s largest steel pipe and tube makers, and the founder of MNSi Telecom, a Windsor-area internet and phone provider he started in 1995. He also acquired the telecom company Nexicom in 2016.
What is Clayton Zekelman’s net worth?
Around US$2.2 billion, according to recent Forbes billionaires estimates. The figure is based mainly on his share of the family’s privately held steel company, so it is a modelled estimate, not a disclosed account.
Where is Clayton Zekelman from?
Windsor, Ontario, Canada. His father founded Atlas Tube in nearby Harrow in 1984, and Clayton’s own telecom companies are based in the Windsor area.
Related Biographies
Dave Portnoy and Jay Shetty — more profiles in our Entrepreneurs & Authors collection.
Sources
Net worth and salary figures are estimates based on publicly available sources and may change over time.
