Nelson Mathew Skalbania (born February 12, 1938) is an engineer and businessman from Vancouver, British Columbia, who is best known for signing a then 17-year-old Wayne Gretzky to the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association, and for his high-profile real estate flipping.
In 1994, Skalbania incorporated Taurus Enterprises, Inc., on January 5, 1994, and re-incorporated in Nevada on August 20, 1996, as Salvage World, Inc. On December 17, 1997, then effecting a plan of reorganization and merger of Salvage World, Inc., into Solar Energy Limited, a private Delaware corporation, changed the company name and moved its headquarters from Nevada to Delaware, while also acquiring Hydro-Air Technologies, Inc., initially as a wholly owned subsidiary.
In 2007, Skalbania was CEO of Regal RV Resorts, Inc., a major shareholder in Planktos, Inc. and D2Fusion, Inc., subsidiaries focused on renewable energy sources, including cold fusion, with a facility in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
[6] The intervention of prominent friends who testified on his behalf enabled Skalbania to avoid a jail term and, instead, spent nearly a year on parole wearing an ankle monitor, which was removed in December 1999.
[7][8][9] Skalbania has married twice, first, to Audrey Anna Lynn Leschynsky (1938-2018), with whom he had two daughters, Rozanda Lyn and Taryn Gae Taylor,[10] and, later, to Eleni (1943 - 2013), a native of Santorini, Greece, who later founded Vancouver's Wedgewood Hotel & Spa.