2014 Forty Under 40

2014

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What a bunch of overachievers...

But seriously - congratulations to the winners of the 2014 BIV Forty Under 40 Awards! Fasken Martineau looks forward to seeing what you achieve next.

We advise both young and established business leaders in our community, and our lawyers achieve great things for their clients. Think of us when you make your next move. We’d love to help.

VANCOUVER

CALGARY

TORONTO

OTTAWA

MONTRÉAL

QUÉBEC CITY

LONDON

PARIS

JOHANNESBURG

2013 Forty under 40 winners Forty under 40 turns 25 Profile | Forty under 40 gala MC Andrew Chang

7 8 9

WINNERS Arash Adnani 11 Jennifer Archibald 13 Kristan Ash 15 Lana Bradshaw 17 Kevin Campbell 18 Luis Canepari 19 Andrew Chan 20 Danny Chase 21 Bruce Constantine 22 Lynn Cook 23 Luke Evanow 24 Chelsea Ganam 25 David Gens 27 Sunny Ghataurah 28 Matei Ghelesel 29 Zeeshan Hayat 30 Branislav Henselmann 31 Alex Holmes 32 Peter Hudson 33 Cameron Laker 34 Matt Lennox-King 35 Joey Lin 36 Sarah Lubik 37 Sacha McLean 38 Justin Maxwell 39 Mark Melissen 40 Jeff Nugent 41 Daniel Popescu 42 Sukhi Rai 43 Drew Railton 44 Rasool Rayani 45 James Reyes 46 Sharadh Sampath 47 Amit Sandhu 48 Jennifer Schaeffers 49 Greg Smith 50 Jeremy Tiffin 51 Colin Topham 52 Ray Walia 53 Michael Ward 54

Selfie photography by award winners

FORTY UNDER 40 JUDGES LOOK BEYOND OBVIOUS BUSINESS SUCCESS Judges had to comb through more than 100 nominations for 2014’s Forty under 40 Awards.

They reveal what it takes to make a winner

THE 2014 JUDGING PANEL Fiona Anderson, editor-in-chief, Business in Vancouver

BY TYLER ORTON TORTON@BIV.COM

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asked with evaluating nearly 120 nominations for this year’s Forty under 40 Awards, judges all had different criteria for what it took to make a winner.

Just as they all had to apply high critical standards to the entries that came in, judges also kept their eyes open for nominees who might not have seemed like obvious choices for this type of business award.

Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Vancouver president David Katz said he was looking for someone who shared his strong devotion to social entrepreneurship and giving back to the community.

“I was looking at those applications not as the best entrepreneur of Vancouver but the best person in Vancouver,” he said. “When I looked at [the nominations], I said, ‘Who of these people best represents who we are?’”

Katz said the nominees who resonated with him the most were those who were able to build both a business as well as a life of meaning.

“And I looked for ones who had to overcome,” he added. “It’s inspirational to the rest of the community. I think that’s what needs to be shared. It’s not about money.”

When judging this year’s entries, Idea Rebel founder and president Jamie Garratt broke it down into three categories: where the nominees are in their careers, how much they’ve contributed to

Iain Black, president and CEO, Vancouver Board of Trade

Jamie Garratt, president, Idea Rebel

David Katz, president, EO Vancouver

Cybele Negris, co-founder and president, Webnames.ca

continued on page 6  Timothy Renshaw, managing editor, Business in Vancouver

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Copyright 2014 Business in Vancouver Magazines. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or incorporated into any information retrieval system without permission of BIV Magazines. The publishers are not responsible in whole or in part for any errors or omissions in this publication.

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6 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

Forty under 40 judges look beyond obvious business success  continued from page 4 Clarification A paragraph in BIV’s profile of 2013 Forty under 40 winner Blair Kennedy was unclear and should have read: “After building Fulmer’s business to more than $50 million in revenue and over 45 locations, which included Mr. Mikes, A&W and Pizza Hut operations, he branched out on his own, opening a brand-new Mr. Mikes in Duncan and building the foundations for Scooter World prior to joining Encorp.”

the community and the financial impact they’ve had on the Vancouver business scene.

“It didn’t necessarily mean that they had to be an entrepreneur and they were building a multimillion-dollar business, but there had to be some sort of bottom-line impact with their career or with what they were doing, whether that was revenue-wise, profitability or growth,” the former Forty under 40 winner said.

Garratt said community contributions are often overlooked or go without any critical examination.

“A lot of people will sign up for community involvement just to make it look good on paper, but I looked a little deeper to make sure they actually did something that was meaningful for the community,” he said. “It didn’t have to be raising money; it didn’t have to be donating time.

But … it was creating something or building something with results in the community.”

Cybele Negris, co-founder and president of Webnames.

ca, said her previous experience as a Forty under 40 winner made it very clear to her what she should be looking for when judging this year’s entries.

“Essentially I was looking for business/professional success,” she said in an email.

Negris added that revenue, profitability, number of employees, scale and performance of the nominees’ businesses were also very important.

“If the individual didn’t run a business, I looked at their level of responsibility and the scale of their work in their industry.”

Business in Vancouver editor-in-chief Fiona Anderson, who sat on the judges’ panel, said she had to constantly look for attributes that made nominees stand out, since all the submissions were amazing.

So she kept her eye on people who had clearly taken some sort of risk in their careers.

“It’s great to do well in a career, but it takes real courage to go beyond that, to step out of your comfort zone and try something new,” she said.

DAVID KATZ | PRESIDENT, ENTREPRENEURS’ ORGANIZATION VANCOUVER It’s inspirational to the rest community. I think that’s what needs to be shared. It’s not about money

Sponsor’s Message

Engaging Entrepreneurs to Learn and Grow EO Vancouver, Entrepreneurs’ Organization is, once again, a proud sponsor of the Business In Vancouver Top 40 Under 40 Awards for a 10th year.

As an international, world respected association of entrepreneurs, the EO Vancouver Chapter is pleased to have had many EO Vancouver members as winners of the 40 Under 40 Awards over the past ten years and we congratulate all the finalists for 2014.

As a global community of entrepreneurs EO has 10,000 members in 46 countries. Members must be the founder, co-founder, owner or controlling shareholder of a business with annual gross sales exceeding (US) $1 million.

EO offers members Direct Peer-To-Peer Learning, Once-In-ALifetime Experiences and Connection To Experts through member events and monthly Forum Groups. The Vancouver Chapter is one of the leading chapters in the world.

EO Vancouver also supports emerging entrepreneurs through the Accelerator Program and the awarding of Youth Scholarships presented annually at the 40 Under 40 Awards.

Congratulations to Business In Vancouver for their vision to profile the “best of the best” entrepreneurs in British Columbia at their annual awards.

Entrepreneurs’ Organization

For membership information visit www.eonetwork.org or contact us at 604-685-4888

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2013 FORTY UNDER 40 WINNERS Arash Asli, CEO, Yocale Terry Beech, co-founder and chairman, Hiretheworld.com

Jeremy Miller, principal/owner, Houston Landscapes Ltd.; Stone Event Imports Ltd.

Alice Chen, CEO, Export Ventures Group Inc.

Jeff Norris, chief advancement officer and executive director, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, KPU Foundation and KPU Alumni Association

Jamie Cheng, CEO, Klei Entertainment Inc.

Otis Perrick, president, Disruptive Media Publishers

Chris Day, CEO, Fully Managed Maninder Dhaliwal, executive director, Tradeworks

Robert Piasentin, general counsel and corporate secretary, Sierra Systems

Jamie Garratt, president and co-founder, Idea Rebel

Andrew Reid, founder and chief product officer, Vision Critical

Alexandra Greenhill, CEO and co-founder, myBestHelper

Stephen Robinson, CEO and chairman, ClearVision

Raminder Grewal, partner/department head, Keystone Environmental Ltd.

Serge Salager, CEO, OneMove Technologies Inc.

Matt Bilbey, SVP and group GM, EA Sports, Electronic Arts

Aaron Hefter, CEO, Nutrabolics Inc. Andrew Hungerford, partner, Hungerford Properties Erfan Kazemi, chief financial officer, Sandstorm Gold Ltd. and Sandstorm Metals & Energy Ltd. Blair Kennedy, vice-president, operations, Encorp Pacific Eugen Klein, principal, Klein Group, Royal LePage City Centre/ The Eugen Klein Group Inc. Andrew Knowles, vice-president, operations, Stemcell Technologies Inc.

Bobby Sangha, president and CEO, Carecorp Seniors Services Colin Scarlett, senior vice-president, Colliers International Paul Schaffer, head of nuclear medicine, TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics Shawn Smith, adjunct professor and founding director, RADIUS, Simon Fraser University Warren Smith, managing partner, The Counsel Network Travis Stevenson, president, JTS Consulting Inc. James Taylor, CEO, Precision NanoSystems Inc.

Lara Kozan, founder, Nectar Juicery

Shafin Diamond Tejani, the alchemist, Victory Square Labs Inc.

Miranda Lam, partner, McCarthy Tétrault LLP

Vanessa Timmer, executive director, One Earth

Peter Lukomskyj, chief operating officer, QuickMobile Inc.

Stephen Ufford, CEO, Trulioo

Justin Lussier, CEO and co-owner, Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria

Andrew Warfield, CTO, Convergent.io

Gregory Malpass, CEO and founder, Traction on Demand

Carlos Yam, chief financial officer, WesternOne Inc.

Congratulations to the 2014 BIV Forty Under 40 Winners Congratulations to the winners of the 2014 BIV Forty Under 40 Awards. We are proud to work with industry-leading people who understand that in order to succeed in business you need to be adaptable, efficient and able to capitalize on opportunity. Well done Forty Under 40 winners.

MNP is one of the fastest growing accounting and business consulting firms in Canada with 16 offices across B.C. Contact Mackenzie Kyle, Regional Managing Partner at 604.637.1596 or mackenzie.kyle@mnp.ca

8 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

FORTY UNDER 40 TURNS 25 S

The CBC’s Renee Filippone addresses winners during the 2013 Forty under 40 Awards ceremony | DOMINIC SCHAEFER, BIV FILES

ince its inception, Business in Vancouver’s Forty under 40 Awards have recognized almost 1,000 of B.C.’s most accomplished and promising young business leaders. On January 28, BIV will once again salute the province’s outstanding young entrepreneurs, executives and professionals during a gala dinner at the Fairmont Waterfront hotel.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of BIV’s Forty under 40 Awards honouring the cream of the crop in B.C.’s public and non-profit sectors. Winners are under 40 and have demonstrated excellence in business, judgment, leadership and community contribution. Each year, BIV’s distinguished panel of judges looks first at an individual’s professional success, then takes into consideration community service, education, participation in industry and business associations and other accolades and awards.

The result is a selection of impressive people from a wide range of industries who have achieved success, and given back, beyond their years – ascending the ranks of their company and industry or building their own business and demonstrating professional success and responsibility at a relatively young age.

Guests mingle at the 2013 Forty under 40 Awards gala. This year’s winners will be feted at the Fairmont Waterfront hotel on January 28 | DOMINIC SCHAEFER, BIV FILES

2007 Forty under 40 recipient Alex Read speaks during the 2013 gala | DOMINIC SCHAEFER, BIV FILES

CONGRATULATIONS!

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PROFILE | FORTY UNDER 40 GALA MC ANDREW CHANG T he MC of Business in Vancouver’s 2014 Forty under 40 Awards is Andrew Chang, anchor of CBC News Vancouver at 5 & 6.

Chang has been with the CBC for 10 years, beginning as an intern and video journalist. He was part of CBC’s broadcast team at Sochi 2014 and has hosted such other network shows as Radio One’s The Current, CBC News’ The National and CBC News Now. A graduate of Carleton University’s journalism program, Chang spent a successful decade with CBC Montreal before joining CBC Vancouver in July 2014.

As co-host of CBC Montreal’s suppertime newscast, he covered a number of memorable moments in Montreal’s history, including the 2012 election-night assassination attempt of Pauline Marois. Chang was also the first local English-language television announcer to tell Montrealers about the murder of mafia godfather Nicolo Rizzuto Sr. Chang and his wife, Carolyne, have a five-month-old daughter, Arianna.

“I enjoy the outdoors,” said Chang. “When I’m not working, I like to run, hike, go camping, and snowboarding in the winter.”

Chang says Forty under 40 is important because it shows the diversity and range of paths people can take to be successful.

“Most people live normal lives,” he said. “They aren’t born to rich or influential families. But success is accessible, and everyone can grow up to be successful.”

Chang says a great way to learn how to be successful is to emulate successful people.

“You can learn from everybody,” he said. “Observe everyone at the beginning of your career, and take the best lessons from them.”

Another valuable life lesson is learning how to learn.

“When you’re in school, develop the ability to learn quickly, even the things you don’t want to learn,” Chang said. “It’s a great skill to have when you get out into the real world.”

Andrew Chang

Congratulations!

Sponsor’s Message

Fasken Martineau is honoured to join Business in Vancouver in celebrating the winners of the 2014 BIV Forty Under 40 Awards.

T

he long hours and dedication have paid off for forty of the most driven, passionate and innovative leaders in today’s business community. To be ranked as a professional in this category while still William Westeringh, Q.C. under the age of 40 is an amazing feat which only a handful accomplish each year. Their achievements are Managing Partner properly celebrated by their peers.

Vancouver The winners of this award demonstrate Fasken Martineau professionalism, expertise and resourcefulness not only in their workplace, but to the communities beyond. Their ambitions are inspiring to say the least, and we are reassured with the knowledge that the future of BC’s business community is in their capable hands.

We at Fasken Martineau appreciate that highly motivated professionals are key to the success of any organization. This year’s BIV Forty Under 40 winners, corporate over-achievers, entrepreneurs and not-forprofit leaders demonstrate what motivation and talent can achieve. It is with this in mind that we introduced the “Emerging Executives” initiative, designed to support and encourage up-and-coming trailblazers

within our firm and the business community. Winners of the BIV Forty Under 40 award are certainly among our most inspiring business leaders, and we have no doubt their influence will continue to motivate those around them for years to come.

On behalf of Fasken Martineau, I would like to congratulate the winners and commend the achievements of each nominee for breaking ground on innovation and forward-thinking in our city, as well as across our province, our country, and indeed the world. Well done!

William Westeringh, Q.C.

JUST IMAGINE WHAT THEY’LL DO IN THE NEXT 40 YEARS. SARAH LUBIK Co-Director, Technology Entrepreneurship@SFU

Sarah Lubik and Amit Sandhu – and all winners of the 2014 Top 40 Under 40 award – will do things for an unknowable future: for business, for technology and innovation, for society.

Beedie School of Business Dean Blaize Reich sums up the School’s pride. “Sarah and Amit’s involvement in commercial and social ventures exemplifies Beedie’s innovation and entrepreneurship values; they are a true credit to the School. My most sincere congratulations to them both.”

Marketing Director, Lungfish Dive Systems

Sarah Lubik is co-director of the Technology Entrepreneurship@SFU program, and was instrumental in launching the new, interdisciplinary Entrepreneurship and Innovation concentration at SFU. Sarah earned her PhD at Cambridge and is currently Marketing Director of high-tech startup Lungfish Dive Systems.

Amit Sandhu is CEO of Ampri Group, a real estate development and investment group. As CEO, he continues to expand the company, acquiring retail, office and hotel development properties. Previously, he was General Manager of a division of the Ampri real estate development and investment group.

AMIT SANDHU Chief Executive Officer, Ampri Real Estate Development Group

Sarah and Amit join a prestigious group – past Beedie alumni who have been Top 40 Under 40 winners. These shining stars are moving our business and society forward in sweeping moves, and our congratulations go to – now – all 42 of them.

A PROUD HISTORY: BEEDIE HONOREES, PAST AND PRESENT SARAH LUBIK

MILUN TESOVIC

JADE BOURELLE

SHARKA STUYT

AMIT SANDHU

ROB WILDEMAN

STEVE MOSSOP

DAVID NICHOLS

SHAWN SMITH

CHARLES CHANG

BRANKO ZURKOVIC

BRENT NICHOLS

CARLOS YAM

RYAN BARRINGTON-FOOTE

DIVESH SISODRAKER

MICHAEL SHEIN

TERRY BEECH

SALIM KARIM

RICHARD KATRUSIAK

SANDRA MILES

GREG MALPASS

MARK FORWARD

ROBIN CHAKRABARTI

HARALD LUDWIG

JOSHUA ZOSHI

ROB CHASE

JOHN CAPUTO

GUY LOUIE

BENJAMIN SPARROW

DAVIS YUNG

RYAN BEEDIE

NICK STEINER

DIANA STIRLING

SHERRY TRYSSENAAR

JACQUI MACNEIL

MURRAY DUNLOP

ROBIN DHIR

DARREN LATOSKI

DAVE COBB

NEILS VELDHUIS

RYAN VOLBERG

MIKE CORDOBA

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ARASH ADNANI AGE

34

Owner, co-founder, Blender Media

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he owner and co-founder of Blender Media likes to use sports analogies when discussing his business. It makes sense, because Arash Adnani loves sports. Adnani became the sole owner of Blender Media around 2004.

The investor marketing company, which launched in 2001, now works with 500 private and publicly traded companies around the world to provide their web strategy, design, development and campaign management.

Within a few years of his purchase of the business, Blender Media became “a classic Rocky Balboa story,” Adnani said. “Rocky’s strategy in all those fights was just to stay up and make it through 12 rounds.”

He recalled the September 2008 Lehman Brothers collapse and the recession that followed as Blender Media’s turning point. “It was probably one of the most devastating summers or market crashes in history. We were able to weather that storm at a time when our clients were filing for bankruptcy and having to start over.”

T hey survived by focusing their energy on their remaining clients and set themselves apart by developing expertise building and managing “higher-end” websites that provided information portals between investors and large companies.

“Those websites are an essential and crucial part of what that company does from a communications standpoint,” he said, stressing that stakeholders rely on that information to make smart decisions about their money and livelihoods.

“To know that that is something we’ve created and helped craft, it’s such an important thing.”

Adnani admits that he can be an overthinker. He said his move to take over

Birthplace: Tehran, Iran Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: High school Currently reading: A Visual History of Typefaces and Graphic Styles by Alston W. Purvis, Jan Tholenaar and Cees W. de Jong, Grand Hotel: Redesigning Modern Life by William Baker, Todd Gannon, Bruce Grenville and Brad Johnson, Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye by David Ritz

the company in 2004 was the hardest step. “I don’t think it’s interesting or exciting to come into a marketplace and offer something that is similar to what’s already out there,” he said.

Adnani now leads a team of 20 staff, which he likens to a football team.

“Football is probably the only true team sport,” he said. “For a play to be executed, you need every player to execute their role in that play perfectly in order to get the job done.”

Blender Media works the same way, he said. “For us to succeed, every single person has to do their job.”

First album bought or music downloaded: The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: An inventor Profession you would most like to try: City/urban planner Toughest business or professional decision: Getting started. Taking that first step

I don’t think it’s interesting or exciting to come into a marketplace and offer something that is similar to what’s already out there

Advice you would give the younger you: It would be a quote from one of my favourite movies, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: “For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt

before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again” What’s left to do: Everything

Development

Hotel Management

Construction

Asset Management

Suite 204 – 10190 152A Street Surrey, British Columbia V3R 1J7 Tel: 604.580.1054 Email: info@rbigroup.ca www.rbigroup.ca

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JENNIFER ARCHIBALD AGE

39

CFO, Cardiome Pharma Corp.

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hen Jennifer Archibald was hired into the finance department at Cardiome Pharma Corp. in 2006, it was to help the company grow.

And when she was asked six years later to step into the chief financial officer’s role, it was to help it shrink.

Two years after Cardiome experienced a near-death experience, the biotech is back in growth mode, and Archibald is being credited for having no small part in bringing the company back from the brink.

“At the time, two years ago, we’re down to probably under $20 million in market cap,” Archibald said. “We’re at about $150 million now. We have two products that are selling worldwide in over 60 countries.”

Born in Hong Kong, Archibald came to Canada when she was eight with her older sister to live with their grandparents in Edmonton, while her parents remained in Hong Kong. When she was 11, she and her sister moved to Vancouver to live with family friends. Growing up without her parents forced her to become self-reliant.

“I’m a fairly independent and strong person. I think a lot of that does come from my childhood. If you have a problem you have to solve it yourself.”

After high school, she earned a bachelor of commerce from the University of British Columbia and articled for KPMG, where she got a full-time job after she graduated. She was then recruited by the Jim Pattison Group to manage the company’s accounting department.

In 2006, she was invited to come work for Cardiome. At its peak, Cardiome had 80 employees and had been valued at $800 million, thanks to a development deal the company had struck with

Birthplace: Hong Kong Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: Bachelor of commerce, UBC Currently reading: How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk

by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

Merck and Co. Inc. But in 2012, Merck withdrew from the deal, driving Cardiome close to bankruptcy. Mass layoffs shrank the company from 80 to eight, its valuation fell to $15 million, the company’s stock sank to $0.24 per share and Cardiome faced delisting on the Nasdaq.

Archibald was asked to step in as CFO. Over a two-year period, she was instrumental in completing a debt restructuring, a massive downsizing and the acquisition of another company – all while being a mom to two young children, aged six and four.

“I can say that very few CFOs can claim to have successfully completed this range of transactions over the course of two years … much less doing it in the first two years of a career as a public company CPO,” said Cardiome CEO Bill Hunter.

I think a lot of that does come from my childhood.

If you have a problem you have to solve it yourself

First album bought or music downloaded: She’s So Unusual by Cyndi Lauper

Toughest business or professional decision: To join and to stay at Cardiome

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: A judge

Advice you would give the younger you: Follow your heart and not your mind

Profession you would most like to try: Medicine

What’s left to do: To live and be grateful for every minute of it

Sponsor’s Message

‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ Progress: It’s the ability to unceasingly look forward while others look back. The belief that ‘good enough’ is never good enough and that the status quo should be left for someone else. It’s the courage to have a vision, and the conviction to see it through. For over 100 years, Audi’s approach to progress has been summarized my our motto, Vorsprung durch Technik – or, loosely translated, “advancement through technology.”

Congratulations to the winners of the Top Forty Under 40!

Terminal City Club - where you belong!

And the truly progressive not only look inwards for inspiration, but also seek out and recognize the achievements that exist around them. Because true progress commands recognition.

That’s why we at Audi are honoured to sponsor Business in Vancouver’s Top Forty Under Forty edition. The men and women featured in this publication have pushed themselves at a young age to achieve amazing feats to better our planet, our livelihood and our culture. They, too, emulate the mantra of Vorsprung, bringing advancement to new heights. To them, we extend our whole-hearted congratulations.

www.tcclub.com 837 West Hastings Street jsilver@tcclub.com Vancouver B.C. V6C 1B6 facebook.com/terminalcityclub 604.681.4121

The McLean Group

Congratulations to Sacha McLean

on this richly deserved recognition and thank you for your outstanding entrepreneurial leadership.

From all of your friends and family throughout the McLean Group of Companies.

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KRISTAN ASH AGE

39

Director, home health B.C., We Care/ CBI Home Health Services

T

hroughout her childhood, Kristan Ash watched her father struggle with lupus, a chronic condition that required repeated hospitalizations.

The experience inspired her to train to be a nurse, but she switched career tracks when she realized her true passion was in helping people to be as independent as possible and stay in their own homes.

After receiving her bachelor of business administration from Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, Ash started her own home care company, Generations Home Care Solutions.

“After taking care of my husband’s grandfather, I decided that home care was definitely something that there was a huge need for,” she said.

She sold t h at bu si ness to home health care franchisor Nurse Next Door and spent three years there as vicepresident of franchise and business development.

“It gave me the opportunity to help that many more people,” Ash said. “As a small-business owner I was limited in what I could do.”

Ash moved on to do consulting work and take a position with a group of rehabilitation clinics, which she expanded from two clinics to five. Two years ago, she switched up her career again, this time to don a hard hat and manage the construction of an independent living residence for seniors.

The project gave her new insight into the many details of designing a building for people with mobility challenges and who are at risk of social isolation.

“Even architects are not aware of some of the needs,” Ash said. “There are no building codes that are designed specifically for seniors.” There’s no

Birthplace: Humboldt, Saskatchewan Where you live now: Surrey Highest level of education: Bachelor of business administration, Kwantlen Polytechnic University Currently reading: If Disney Ran Your Hospital by Fred Lee, How Stella Saved the Farm by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble, Chronic Condition by Jeffrey Simpson

requirement, for instance, that doorways be accessible to wheelchairs, which can cause trouble if not addressed early in the design stage.

Ash now works for We Care Home Health Services, a company that offers home care as well as a range of physiotherapy and occupational therapy services.

“For me it goes back to why I’ve always wanted to be a nurse,” Ash said.

“I’ve always had a strong drive to make a difference.”

First album bought or music downloaded: Stay Hungry by Twisted Sister When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Nurse Profession you would most like to try: Teacher

After taking care of my husband’s grandfather, I decided that home care was definitely something that there was a huge need for

Toughest business or professional decision: In 2009 my son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and the daycare that he attended before and after school informed me that they would not be able to continue to provide care to my son.

I had to make the decision to adjust my work-life balance. At the time I thought this would hurt my career, but in the end it made me a much better mom and employer

Advice you would give the younger you: You can’t plan for everything What’s left to do: Help to discover the path to creating sustainable health care with access to all while ensuring quality of life to family caregivers

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LANA BRADSHAW AGE

36

Managing director, Holloway Schulz & Partners

L

ana Bradshaw grew up all over the world: raised by a single father, she called Fiji, Bermuda, New Zealand and Mexico home at one point or another.

Growing up in countries with unfamiliar customs and languages shaped who she is today, Bradshaw said.

“It forces you to become adaptable whether you like it or not,” she said. “It also forces you to become an extrovert because you have to make friends and you’re out of your comfort zone.”

Another huge influence for both life and business has been her father, who worked in real estate. He taught her that “belly-to-belly” communication is most effective – something Bradshaw has found to be a key to her success as a corporate recruiter.

Starting as an assistant to recruiters at Kelly Services, Bradshaw worked her way up and is now managing director at Holloway Schulz & Partners. A big part of her job is the challenging sales job of “poaching” potential candidates – getting people to consider a different job even though they may be happily employed already. “[My dad] taught me the value of building relationships and getting face to face with people, which is a skill and a trade that is slipping,” Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw is deeply involved with the Children’s Wish Foundation, a charity she has a very personal connection to.

“I was a Wish kid,” she said, describing how the charity helped her and her father when as a child she faced a serious heart condition.

Birthplace: Edmonton Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: BA in business, University of Westminster, London, England Currently reading: Zero to One by Peter Thiel, In a Rocket Made of Ice by Gail Gutradt

With her first child due in January, Bradshaw is musing about taking her career in a whole new direction. She’d like to start either a non-profit organization or her own business.

“I think it’s almost time, just to keep myself on my toes,” she said.

First album bought or music downloaded: [hangs head] The Best of Janet Jackson When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: A high school guidance counsellor Profession you would most like to try: Public relations, running Bradshaw Business or something in health care or not-for-profit

[My dad] taught me the value of building relationships and getting face to face with people, which is a skill and a trade that is slipping

Toughest business or professional decision: Remaining in Vancouver despite offers outside the province/country Advice you would give the younger you: Be patient What’s left to do: To name a few: have my first-born [ETA January 2015], visit Turkey, start my own company

18 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

KEVIN CAMPBELL AGE

39

Managing director, investment banking, Haywood Securities Inc.

K

evin Campbell was just 31 when he worked on his first billion-dollar deal as an investment banker with Dundee Securities Inc. Last year, as managing director of investment banking for Haywood Securities Inc., he brokered a $1.1 billion acquisition of CGA Mining by B2Gold.

A r ra ng i ng mu lt i m i l l ion-dol l a r investments, mergers and acquisitions is what Campbell does for a living – but his real passion is travel and philanthropy.

“Even before he was making as much money as he does now, he started building health clinics in Mali,” said his friend, David Tedman, co-founder of Hootsuite and Invoke Labs.

Campbell’s philanthropy includes forming the Lochmaddy Foundation, which funds social and econom ic projects in Africa and B.C. Plan International Canada Inc. puts Campbell in its top 1% list of donors.

Born and raised in B.C., Campbell earned a BA from the University of British Columbia, majoring in political science and economics. At the age of 19, while still in school, he went into investment banking with Yorkton Securities.

From there, he went to Canadian Western Securities, which later was acquired by National Bank Financial.

In 2003, he went to work for Dundee, focusing on the technology sector, then moved into mining and exploration, which had entered an unprecedented bull market, thanks largely to China’s massive growth.

“I like to credit the fact that I had stud ied so much Ch inese modern history and economics in university in the late ’90s that I felt like I had a pretty good handle on what was coming around the corner,” he said. “So I

Birthplace: Richmond Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: BA, University of British Columbia Currently reading: The Revenge of Geography by Robert Kaplan First album bought or music downloaded: Don’t Try This at Home

by Billy Bragg

pursued vigorously getting involved in the mining space, and Dundee was kind enough to let me participate.”

It was while he was with Dundee that he started his philanthropic work in Africa.

In 2007, he joined Haywood Securities, becoming managing director of mining banking. His job and his philanthropy have allowed him to pursue his passion for travel.

“I think I’ve probably been to about 60 countries by now.”

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: A writer Profession you would most like to try: Public policy Toughest business or professional decision: Leaving the safety of the nest at my previous firm at the age of 31 to take on more self-reliance, responsibility and leadership at Haywood

I like to credit the fact that I had studied so much Chinese modern history and economics in university in the late ’90s that I felt like I had a pretty good handle on what was coming around the corner

Advice you would give the younger you: To always remember that markets move in cycles and to be patient. … Being a fledgling broker in 2000 was no fun What’s left to do: Finish seeing the rest of the world and participate in something socially and economically constructive in B.C.

| 19

LUIS CANEPARI AGE

38

Vice-president, information systems, Goldcorp

T

wo years ago, when Goldcorp Inc. decided it needed to bring up its game on the technology, information systems and financial reporting front, the company hired a headhunter, who managed to find someone who was not only an IT expert, but who also had experience managing large projects.

Before being hired by Goldcorp to give the company’s IT system a major overhaul, Luis Canepari spent two years in Panama, where he was the project director for a $100 million tunnel construction project that brought water from a reservoir to a hydro plant.

While heading up the Esti tunnel project in Panama for AES Corp., he was in charge of a workforce of 650 people. He considers the Panama project one of the highlights of his career.

“We fed a lot of families for two years,” he said. “We built a park for the community and did a lot of community work.”

B o r n a n d ra i s e d i n Ve n e z u e l a , Canepari earned a bachelor of science degree with a major in systems engineering from the Universidad Metropolitana, then went to work for Exxon Mobil Corp., where he led an IT streamlining project that reduced costs for the company by 15%.

In 2003, he left Venezuela to take an MBA at Georgetown University in the U.S. and then went to work for SAP – the world’s largest enterprise software company. He spent five years there and ended up leading a 100-person team that was responsible for SAP support.

From there, he went to Panama to work on the Esti tunnel project. Then, in 2012, he was recruited to come to Vancouver to work for Goldcorp.

M i n i ng compa n ies have a reputation for being slow to adopt new

Birthplace: Caracas, Venezuela Where you live now: West Vancouver Highest level of education: MBA from Georgetown University Currently reading: The Real Business of IT by Richard Hunter and George Westerman, Leadership by Rudy Giuliani First album bought or music downloaded: The Joshua Tree, U2

technology, and Canepari said it didn’t take much to improve Goldcorp’s IT performance.

“The first four months were fairly easy,” he said. “I’d look at all the lowhanging-fruit contracts, and I renegotiated them and I got a better deal.

“In the first four months, we cut down 9% of expenses while providing more services, and the year after we provided a 7% reduction. And for next year we’re going to do another 7% reduction.”

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Engineer Profession you would most like to try: Construction, capital projects Toughest business or professional decision: Moving from my native country and embarking on an international career, leaving family and friends

We fed a lot of families for two years. We built a park for the community and did a lot of community work

Advice you would give the younger you: Learn to manage your temper and have a good life-work balance What’s left to do: Learn to kite surf in Squamish and heli-ski Whistler with my kids

20 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

ANDREW CHAN AGE

38

CFO, Gener8

F

or ei g ht ye a rs, A nd rew Cha n enjoyed the comforts of climbing up the corporate ladder of wellestablished video game developer Electronic Arts (EA).

W hen h is former E A boss, Rory Armes, departed the local office to launch the 3D software imaging company Gener8, Chan debated whether he would take his former manager’s offer to join him.

“I had to talk it over with the family because it is a risk,” he said. “I could be out of a job in a year because things didn’t work out.”

Things worked out. At Gener8, he helped oversee an initial public offering when he was in his mid-30s.

Chan admitted that while at EA he felt more like a cog in the machine.

“The higher-level role at Gener8 gives me the ability to make decisions – and [important] decisions,” he said, “[whether it’s] a direct influence on the bottom line or in terms of cash flow.”

When the company was going public, he was enlisted to help raise millions in capital for the startup. It was a challenging prospect in a country where venture capital is tough to come by in the tech sector.

“In Vancouver … it’s a very resource investor base. That’s their bread and butter. That’s what everyone knows,” he said.

“Especially in the industry we’re in, we had to really educate and try to tell investors this is the growth pattern to expect, and it’s going to be quite different compared to a mining company.

That was eye-opening. Some people

Birthplace: Hong Kong Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: Bachelor of commerce (accounting major), CPA-CGA designation Currently reading: Beyond Belief by Josh Hamilton First album bought or music downloaded: It’s About Time by SWV When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Hockey player

didn’t get it; some people did.”

But he said Gener8, which converts films from 2D to 3D, had the benefit of the Hollywood factor, which at least got the company a lot of meetings it may not have been able to secure otherwise.

Between the IPO and the private funding raises, Chan helped the company secure nearly $10 million. And within four years of its launch, he oversaw the company’s revenue growth from zero to $4 million.

His ambitions to help raise even more money for the startup are far from winding down. Chan is in the midst of negotiating a merger with a Chinese company that’s expected to fetch another $15 million in capital for Gener8.

Profession you would most like to try: Sports writer Toughest business or professional decision: Making the move to work for a startup and leaving the “comforts” of a well-established organization, as there is an inherent instability when joining a startup, bringing financial and professional risk

We had to really educate and try to tell investors this is the growth pattern to expect, and it’s going to be quite different compared to a mining company

Advice you would give the younger you: One of my first summer jobs was in accounts payable and that’s how my accounting career got started. So for those who are just starting out, make the best of every opportunity you are given, and you never know how far you’re going to get.

What’s left to do: I feel that I still have lots to learn – I would love to continue to help build and grow Gener8 to reach its full potential

| 21

DANNY CHASE AGE

39

President, Chase Office Interiors

T

o Danny Chase, running a business is a lot like being a hockey coach or playing on a soccer team.

“When I started running a business and hiring employees, my natural response was as if I was playing on a soccer team,” he said.

“I love the challenge of business and … executing strategy.”

Chase grew up in the Yukon, a member of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation. He came south to further his education and completed a bachelor of business administration degree at Trinity Western University in Langley.

Back then, Chase sa id, he never thought he would one day own his own business. When he graduated, he was simply looking for a good job. He found one running an office supply business owned by the Sto:lo First Nation.

After turning the struggling company around, Chase started his own business focusing just on office furniture and design. Chase Office Interiors now employs close to 50 staff.

While it’s clear Chase has boundless enthusiasm for his business, he credits much of his success to the team of good people he’s gathered around him.

For instance, in the early days, Chase said, he kept many of the orders in his head. That was fine until the number of orders reached a tipping point. The first employee he hired created a better system, still in use today to track projects from design to completion.

Birthplace: Smithers Where you live now: Chilliwack Highest level of education: Bachelor of business administration, Trinity Western University Currently reading: Great by Choice by Jim Collins First album bought or music downloaded: Hmm, I think Milli Vanilli, I’m ashamed to say

“My core philosophy is to build a team culture where people feel loved and appreciated and able to achieve levels that they’ve never realized they could achieve.”

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Engineer (but I had no idea what that even was) Profession you would most like to try: Glass blowing Toughest business or professional decision: To start my business. I was really scared to but God pushed me through the door and I am grateful

My core philosophy is to build a team culture where people feel loved and appreciated and able to achieve levels that they’ve never realized they could achieve

Advice you would give the younger you: Always take action because doors will open and close, but unless you stay active you will remain the same What’s left to do: Teach my son and daughter to be 10 times as successful as I ever will be

22 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

BRUCE CONSTANTINE AGE

39

President, Espro Inc.

B

ruce Constantine doesn’t miss a beat when you ask about the perfect espresso.

“It has a beautiful crema on the top.

It sticks to your upper lip,” said the president and co-founder of Espro, a Vancouver-based manufacturer of high-end espresso, coffee and tea instruments. “It’s got a balanced flavour that has good body that kind of soaks around your tongue, and not too much acidity.”

Constantine launched Espro out of a garage and a basement suite of a Vancouver special in 2004 with Chris McLean. Their origins were modest, Constantine said. “We quite literally built and shipped stuff from our garages for the first five years.”

Espro’s first product to market was a calibrated tamper. The duo then expanded the business, adding a steam pitcher and their current flagship product, the Espro Press, which is getting attention from all corners of the coffee world.

The company, which has eight employees, has most of its products for sale in small specialty coffee shops, but Constantine is aiming to transition into larger high-end kitchenware retailers.

They’ve recently reached a retail deal with the Bay and are now on kitchen store shelves in several countries, including South Korea and Australia.

“We’re getting there,” he said.

Constantine’s original motivation was to make espresso-making tools that “worked,” and eliminated – as much as possible – differences in quality caused by varying skill levels among baristas, which he calls a “major problem” throughout the coffee world.

Birthplace: Ottawa Where you live now: Divide my time between Vancouver and Boston Highest level of education: Master of business administration (technology management) and master of science (materials engineering)

“At our core, we challenge stuff that doesn’t work.”

They launched Espro without venture capital, and continue to use the crowdfunding website Kickstarter to innovate and market.

Prior to Espro, Constantine was on the fast track to corporate success at a major management consulting firm called McKinsey & Co. in Boston. But he didn’t belong in that world and he knew it. “I felt like I was spending every day at McKinsey becoming someone I wasn’t,” said the father of three, who enjoys skiing, playing the piano and “bugging” his kids.

“Stepping away from [my career] was very difficult because you’re stepping away from prestige and certainty towards passion and uncertainty.”

Currently reading: Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur First album bought or music downloaded: Born in the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Doctor

We quite literally built and shipped stuff from our garages for the first five years

Profession you would most like to try: Politics Toughest business or professional decision: Leaving McKinsey Advice you would give the younger you: Do not waste a single day becoming someone other than the real you

What’s left to do: Tons in food/ beverage. Starting a non-profit

| 23

LYNN COOK AGE

39

CFO, U.S., Colliers International

L

ynn Cook almost rejected the career path of accounting because she believed the profession was filled with dullards.

A Grade 12 internship at KPMG helped kill that stereotypical perception and convinced her that “no matter what job you have, who you are is your character.”

She joined KPMG full-time as an accountant following her accounting diploma at what is now Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Then she made a series of jumps that culminated in her promotion last summer to the role of Vancouver-based CFO for U.S. operations at Colliers International.

The first jump was to the troubled Loewen Group, just after the funeral home operator had filed for bankruptcy protection. What she called an intellectually draining environment drove her to apply for a job at Overwaitea Food Group, where she was an analyst, a supervisor in corporate accounting and finally a senior analyst.

Unfortunately, Overwaitea was based in Langley, and Cook longed to move from her native Surrey to the region’s centre.

Vancouver-based Intrawest lured her to the job of manager of financial reporting, and she worked up to be the $2 billion company’s director of financial reporting.

A couple years in, however, Fortress Investment Group bought Intrawest.

“They gave me the task to implement a consolidation system within 90 days, which was incredibly difficult,” Cook said.

So when a recruiter offered her what she thought would be her perfect job, she jumped. She wanted to be more involved with strategy, and a two-year

Birthplace: Surrey Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: CPA, CGA Currently reading: The Orenda by Joseph Boyden First album bought or music downloaded: Dream Academy by Dream Academy

stint as Colliers’ corporate controller for North America fit the bill.

Multi-year positions as Colliers’ global director of finance and global vice-president of corporate development followed.

A brief stint in Hong Kong as acting Colliers CFO in Asia last year similarly fuelled her wanderlust.

Married w ith no ch ild ren, Cook spends much of her time outside of work mentori ng you nger Col l iers associates.

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Architect Profession you would most like to try: Interior designer Toughest business or professional decision: Making the decision to fire someone when they are not a good fit

They gave me the task to implement a consolidation system within 90 days, which was incredibly difficult

Advice you would give the younger you: It’s not a race, and relationships matter more than accomplishments do What’s left to do: I’d like to travel more and learn French

24 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

LUKE EVANOW AGE

29

President, Pacific Restaurant Supply

L

uke Evanow is the kind of guy who likes to be in control.

But for a period of his life immediately following the 2008 recession, Evanow faced a mountain of uncertainty.

The president of Pacific Restaurant Supply was dealing at the time with the economic downturn while taking over the business from his father. Evanow was also battling cancer.

“It was a really, really hard period of time and there was a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of hard days where there were treatments and sick days,” said Evanow, whose trio of businesses design and supply many of the top kitchens, restaurants and cafés around the Lower Mainland. “Looking back on it now, I feel so fortunate to get through it and I just appreciate the balance that I have now.”

Now healthy, Evanow recalls “off and on hospitalization, under constant medical supervision” at a time that he and his father were not on the same page. “I wanted to grow and create business, and he was kind of wanting to maintain and not invest in the future.”

But Evanow bought out his father and partnered with his brother Jason Evanow and vice-president Jason Gilron.

Together they decided to pump more money into the business.

Pacific Restaurant Supply has tripled its business in the last five years and doubled its staff in the same time period. It now employs 47 people.

Evanow considers himself a natural leader. “As I get more mature in my business life, I like the idea of building a team,” he said. “I love figuring things out and I love leading. I always had this

Birthplace: Chilliwack Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: High school/UBC Sauder Executive Education

fascination with politics.”

In Grade 7, Evanow won a junior politician award and the chance to meet Liberal heavyweights Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin. They took the SeaBus downtown from North Vancouver and spent the day together on their campaign trail. “It was a pretty neat day,” he recalled.

Looking back, Evanow said, he can see how certainty emerged from the period of struggle.

“It was challenging but clarifying,” he said. “It was one of those things where I always knew that this is the company that I wanted to grow, and it really reinforced the relationships with the people … who stood by me.”

As I get more mature in my business life, I like the idea of building a team

Currently reading: Traction by Gino Wickman

Profession you would most like to try: Prime minister of Canada

First album bought or music downloaded: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Toughest business or professional decision: Buying my father out

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Prime minister of Canada

Advice you would give the younger you: Build a team before you take on a big challenge

What’s left to do: Continue to build Pacific and work on a couple of other startups

| 25

CHELSEA GANAM AGE

39

Clinical director, Monarch House Autism Centre

C

helsea Ganam dreamed of becoming a doctor when she was young.

That didn’t happen.

Instead, she became the clinical director of Monarch House Autism Centre, a private organization that assists and counsels families with children living with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

She said the role, which includes managing the centre’s Burnaby, Victoria and Abbotsford locations, has given her the unique opportunity to blend the clinical work that she loves with running and expanding a business.

Before Monarch House, Ganam spent years working with a shoestring budget helping families living with autism.

“We worked out of the trunks of our cars,” she said. “We went into these homes. It was not an ideal environment for these kids, for the programming or anything.”

Monarch House provides support from pre-diagnosis to adulthood, and about 300 families use the services of the three B.C. locations.

In the past, there was only a public route for families to have their children tested for ASD, and the public wait-list is now up to a year, said Ganam, who has spent 18 years working with autistic children.

But families don’t need to wait, she stressed. “The family can call us and within two weeks they can have the diagnosis and report in hand, completed, which allows them access to funding for up to a year, much sooner,” she said.

“The value of that is immeasurable,” she said, adding that the research shows the earlier a child is diagnosed, the better the outcome.

Her work can get emotional at times.

“It’s really painful to hear the stories

Birthplace: Edmonton Where you live now: Burnaby Highest level of education: Master’s in counselling psychology Currently reading: n/a First album bought or music downloaded: Xanadu by Olivia Newton John

and to have to walk through what these parents are experiencing … bullying, the stigma, the un-acceptance in the community.”

The rewards outweigh the costs. Just this year, one of Monarch House’s adult clients with ASD enrolled in Douglas College to study history. “That is why I’m here,” she said. “To see the gains and the impact on improving the lives of these families and these kids.

“This position has been a dream come true.”

It’s really painful to hear the stories and to have to walk through what these parents are experiencing … bullying, the stigma, the un-acceptance in the community

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Doctor

Advice you would give the younger you: Not to take things personally

Profession you would most like to try: Lawyer

What’s left to do: So much. Educating the community to get children at risk screened by 12 months and assessed appropriately as soon as possible afterwards

Toughest business or professional decision: Not compromising clinical best practice standards while maintaining a strong business model

EO Vancouver Chapter EO is a worldwide network of experienced entrepreneurs committed to personal and business enrichment as well as entrepreneurial mentorship and education. If you are the founder, co-founder, owner or controlling shareholder of a business with annual gross sales exceeding (US) $1 million, you qualify for EO. EO delivers a wealth of local and international benefits, programs and services to its membership including peer support through local monthly Forum groups, networking, exclusive learning events, and international programs. EO is an international network of over 10,000 entrepreneurs in 46 countries around the world. EO Vancouver Chapter is the premiere network for peer-to-peer interaction among Vancouver’s entrepreneurial community.

For membership criteria and information please visit our website at www.eonetwork.org EO Vancouver Administration Office 604.685.4888

Entrepreneurs’ Organization

Working Capital for Canada’s

Small Business • Funding in 1-3 days • No collateral required • Flexible payment structures • Partner program for referrals Call us at 1-866-240-3694 or visit us online at

www.merchantadvance.com VancouVer: 1151 W 8th Ave, 4th Floor Vancouver, BC

ToronTo: 10350 Yonge St, Suite 101 Richmond Hill, ON

| 27

DAVID GENS AGE

27

CEO, Merchant Advance Capital LP

D

avid Gens was a 21-year-old student helping to manage about $3 million worth of assets at the University of British Columbia (UBC) when the 2008 global financial crisis took hold.

As part of his commerce degree, he was accepted into the UBC Portfolio Management Foundation and tasked with investing capital in the year that started about a month before the bottom fell out of global stock markets.

“It was an incredibly crazy time to be doing it,” the 27-year-old told Business in Vancouver. “Needless to say, the fund did poorly and we lost a lot of money.”

Stocks he helped choose would bounce back and he would move on to a career in finance that includes his role as president and CEO of Merchant Advance Capital LP, which he co-founded in 2009. He expects the company’s revenue to jump about 88% to nearly $3.2 million in 2014.

“We’ve pretty much grown 100% every year since we started,” Gens said. “I obviously don’t expect that to continue because it’s harder to grow off a larger base.”

To finance Merchant Advance, Gens raised more than $4 million from retail and high-net-worth individual investors as well as $1.5 million in revolving debt capital.

His company lends money to small business clients who accept debit or credit cards. They then automatically pay him a percentage of each sale until their debt is repaid.

Other finance industry experience includes working for a couple of years at CAI Capital Management Co. as a private equity analyst, following his degree.

While building Merchant Advance, he took a second job as vice-president of finance at Nations Energy Corp., where

Birthplace: Vancouver Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: Bachelor of commerce, UBC Sauder School of Business Currently reading: Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty

he built financial models related to the company’s logging, sawmill and other operations.

Last year, he helped found Creditloans Canada Financing Inc., which lends money to consumers who are a higher credit risk. He remains executive chairman of that company.

As a private pilot licence holder, he flies a few times a year for fun. He also plays a lot of tennis and has been in different folk bands such as Portage and Main and Head of the Herd.

It was an incredibly crazy time to be doing it. Needless to say, the fund did poorly and we lost a lot of money

First album bought or music downloaded: (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis

Toughest business or professional decision: Firing people if they are not a good fit

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Locomotive engineer

Advice you would give the younger you: The legal fees to properly define commercial arrangements at the outset of a business deal are well worth it

Profession you would most like to try: Rock star

What’s left to do: A lifetime of work in business and the capital markets, wherever that may take me

28 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

SUNNY GHATAURAH AGE

35

CEO, Applied Engineering Solutions

A

pplied Engineering Solutions (AES) has made a habit of living up to sustainability standards years ahead of its time.

And if the last two to three years have been “hectic” for Sunny Ghataurah, it’s because he’s been leading the charge.

“A lot of the things that I push for are about sustainability. Everybody uses the word sustainability and green and all that good stuff. I mean true sustainability – really, really reducing the impacts on the environment.”

Ghataurah founded Applied Engineering Solutions’ Vancouver office in 2008 after a rapid rise through the ranks of Keen Engineering, where he made history by becoming the firm’s youngest associate at 26.

Starting in Vancouver as a one-man show, he quickly took AES to a fiveemployee operation with annual revenue of $800,000 in less than a year.

In five, he had built the company to an employee base of 40, with six times the annual revenue and 60% of Vancouver’s electrical consulting market share.

Project-wise, the CEO has many high-profile and award-winning facilities under his belt, including the head office for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, and Okanagan College’s Jim Pattison Centre for Excellence.

In his 21 years of industry experience, Ghataurah says the Penticton campus was “one of the most rewarding.”

“The client had a vision of designing a very sustainable project and they let us, as a design team, push the envelope.”

W hen it comes to sustainability, Ghataurah walks the walk. In 2011 he built his own home, and it has all of the eco-friendly features AES projects would have.

Birthplace: Roorkee, India Where you live now: Burnaby Highest level of education: Bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and in technology management Currently reading: Disney Baby Einstein collection for my oneyear-old

In terms of new projects, Ghataurah is again hoping to make a little piece of history. AES is currently working on turning Richmond’s Firehall 1 into a “living building” – a net-zero firehall that would be the first of its kind in the world, and an engineering feat given its energy-intensive nature.

But the challenge to make the “metres spin backwards” is on.

“That’s the world I play in when it comes to doing projects.”

Everybody uses the word sustainability and green and all that good stuff. I mean true sustainability – really, really reducing the impacts on the environment

First album bought or music downloaded: Back to Life by Soul II Soul

Advice you would give the younger you: Be patient, listen more and talk less

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Engineer

What’s left to do: More than there is time in the day

Profession you would most like to try: Supercar test driver Toughest business or professional decision: Trusting others to be able to delegate

| 29

MATEI GHELESEL AGE

36

President and owner, Sonic Enclosures

H

ired to oversee a Sonic Enclosures project, Matei Ghelesel was up front from the start.

He wanted to buy the company, and because he managed the delivery of 23 electrical houses for the Kitimat Modernization Project – a two-year, $17 million undertaking contracted by Bechtel – he made that clear to thenpresident Stan King.

“He was quite all right with that. In fact, he thought it was kind of funny.”

Only having joined the company in 2012, Ghelesel led a successful management buyout last year, becoming Sonic’s president, COO and majority shareholder. The rest, he said, has been “12 years and two minutes.”

Prior to Sonic – which specializes in electrical housing, mobile metal enclosures and industrial equipment servicing – Ghelesel ran his own engineering business.

Before that, he was a development engineer with Harley-Davidson in Milwaukee, which led to his being involved in major projects with the U.S. navy and OceanWorks.

During a stint in China working on a $2.8 million flow-battery system, he got a glimpse of the future.

“After living in China, I realized the companies that are making money now and are going to continue to benefit from all this green-tech stuff and renewable energies – battery systems, etc. – are ones that are electrically involved, not mechanically involved.”

Ghelesel has brought that mentality to Sonic and is adding to the company’s more than 40 years of projects by wiring things more electrically.

Based in Delta, he said Sonic is also poised to seize opportunities coming out of the province’s trades and LNG

Birthplace: Bucharest, Romania Where you live now: Delta Highest level of education: Bachelor of applied science, mechanical engineering, UBC Currently reading: Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi First album bought or music downloaded: Appetite for Destruction

by Guns & Roses (tape!)

push. While wary to not lose sight of the smaller projects that add up to the sum of $15 million in annual revenue, he’s excited.

“I really believe in the trades. I really believe in product that is big and is heavy, and it can’t be emailed. And I think the economy needs a lot more manufacturing to be stable and to be solid. You can’t build an economy on Facebook and Twitter. So I’m really proud of the fact that this business is really blue collar.”

When you were a child, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Own a race team – kind of like Roger Penske Profession you would most like to try: Building skyscrapers like Trump Toughest business or professional decision: Going all in on Sonic Advice you would give the younger you: Study finance sooner

After living in China, I realized the companies that are making money now … are ones that are electrically involved, not mechanically involved

What’s left to do: Own a race car team, build skyscrapers, find a lady, play more golf, live in California, take Sonic public and go global, retire my parents, buy an F430, give a TED talk, meet Obama, consider getting into government, shake Trump’s hand…

30 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

ZEESHAN HAYAT AGE

35

CEO, Prizm Media

B

ack when Zeeshan Hayat was still a child in elementary school, his grandparents would give him $3 a day for allowance.

“I used to spend $1.50 on my food,” he recalled. “The rest of the $1.50 used to go in my savings budget to buy my first car when I turned 16.”

That’s how the CEO of Prizm Media knew he wanted to be a businessman from a young age.

He co-founded the lead-generation business with his then-girlfriend (now wife) as a means to earn a little extra cash while they were students in the early 2000s at Douglas College.

Launched without any startup capital, Prizm Media zeroed in on the market for weight-loss supplements between 2004 and 2007. But instead of generating leads through newspaper or TV ads, the pair began creating online campaigns to entice more viable customers to contact the company’s call centre.

When the 2008 financial crisis forced many of Prizm’s competitors to out of business, Hayat returned to his initial approach of keeping the company as lean as possible.

Meanwhile, Prizm diversified and began focusing on leads for diabetic supplies. From 2009 to 2013, the company’s revenue leapt 1,285%, and it is expected to surpass $10 million in revenue by the end of 2015.

But Hayat said it wasn’t easy weathering the storm of the financial crisis while finding a work-life balance with his wife and co-founder.

“We don’t have a board of advisers.

We’re a self-funded, bootstrapped company. One thing we established as we started to grow is I’m the CEO, so I have to make the final decisions even

Birthplace: Lahore, Pakistan Where you live now: I moved to Vancouver when I was eight and have lived here ever since Highest level of education: Associate degree in arts (focus on economics) Currently reading: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

though we’re equal partners.”

The company’s results, he said, speak for themselves.

Prizm has generated 12 million leads and helped its 600 clients attain more than 300,000 patient enrolments.

“Some people may think we were lucky – I think we were also lucky – but at the same time, to this date and even through the downturn of 2008, we never ended up borrowing money from the bank or anyone else.”

First album bought or music downloaded: Step by Step by New Kids on the Block When you were a child, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Diplomat and fighter jet pilot Profession you would most like to try: Politician

Some people may think we were lucky … but at the same time, to this date and even through the downturn of 2008, we never ended up borrowing money from the bank or anyone else

Toughest business or professional decision: Rejecting a buyout offer in 2013 and forgoing my acceptance to SFU Advice you would give the younger you: Build an amazing culture, so hire slow and fire fast. Focus on your core business. There will be ups and downs, so be patient

What’s left to do: Too much left to do; I’m just getting started

| 31

BRANISLAV HENSELMANN AGE

39

Executive director, Ballet BC

A

s a child, Branislav Henselmann excelled at math and science and dreamed of becoming a scientist or doctor.

But along the way, he discovered a passion that overwhelmed everything else: dance.

“All along, I was dancing on the side.

It was sort of a hobby,” said Henselmann, who grew up in Belgrade and Munich.

“I started studying biology after high school, but I realized I quite liked dancing – maybe a little more than biology or mathematics.”

Being accepted into the prestigious Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in London sealed the deal. He went on to have a career as a dancer, choreographer and producer with several companies in England and New York.

Along the way, he furthered his education with a master of fine arts degree in dance and business administration.

In 2012, Henselmann learned that the executive director position was open at Ballet BC. The dance company was recovering financially after teetering on the edge of bankruptcy in 2008 and 2009. Henselmann had never even set foot in Canada, let alone Vancouver.

Never t heless, he ju mped at t he chance.

“Ballet BC does incredible work,” Henselmann said. “There are a handful of companies around the world that do it at that level.”

Henselmann is now focused on making the company financially sustainable through increasing ticket sales as well as corporate sponsorships and donations. Ballet BC’s season subscriptions over the past year rose by 25%,

Birthplace: Belgrade Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: Master of fine arts in business, dance and choreography, New York University Currently reading: The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson, Bury Me Standing by Isabel Fonseca First album bought or music downloaded: Bad by Michael Jackson

at a time when subscriptions for performing arts companies have largely been falling.

“We know that [our product] needs to be excellent, we know that it needs to be desirable, we know that it needs to be inviting, we know that it needs to communicate to our audience,” he said.

“But at the end of the day, we also knew that the landscape around us is changing so rapidly that we need to constantly adapt to it.”

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Initially I wanted to be a librarian, later a scientist Profession you would most like to try: Academic and/or diplomat Toughest business or professional decision: Retiring from dancing and transitioning to business

I realized I quite liked dancing — maybe a little more than biology or mathematics

Advice you would give the younger you: “Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop” – Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

What’s left to do: Everything! While we have some of the most globally prominent cultural workers, artists and arts organizations working and living in Vancouver, it is that civic pride that we are still missing.

Ultimately, the work ahead is about redefining and embracing the place of culture in the civic society, recognizing its economic impact, as well as its potential to transform societies. Creativity will, after all, be the currency of the 21st century

32 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

ALEX HOLMES AGE

38

Founding partner, Oxygen Capital Corp.

W

hether it’s the technology or mining sector, it’s comparatively easy to raise money in a bull market.

It’s the bear market that really tests the ski l ls of money men l i ke Alex Holmes, one of four partners in Oxygen Capital Corp., a three-year-old mining house co-founded by sector wunderkind Mark O’Dea. Despite a dearth of risk capital going into junior mining and exploration companies, Holmes and his partners have been able to raise $300 million for new mining ventures in West Africa’s Burkina Faso, as well as in Nevada and Ontario.

“We had to be creative,” Holmes said, when asked how Oxygen has been able to raise that kind of cash when risk capital has all but fled the junior mining and exploration sector.

Even in his first job, Holmes demonstrated an ability to find money.

Born and raised in B.C., he earned a bachelor of commerce from the University of Victoria and then went to work as a business analyst for WCG International Consultants, which ran JobWave, which runs programs designed to get people off welfare and into the workforce.

The company was paid by the govern ment on ly when it was able to demonstrate that cl ients had lef t the welfare rolls for employment.

But when no money was coming in, Holmes discovered what he felt was a flaw in the government’s reporting system. He came up with some modelling that demonstrated he was right, resulting in a $1 million payment to the company.

I n 2001, he a nd h is w i fe, Karen Boriss, moved to Eng la nd, where

Birthplace: Victoria Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: Master of science in investment management Currently reading: Heat by Bill Buford First album bought or music downloaded: Licensed to Ill by the Beastie Boys When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Pilot

Holmes earned a master’s degree in investment management from the Cass Business School, then spent eight months with a small boutique investment banking firm.

In 2010, Holmes joined a boutique investment bank in Toronto, NCP Northland Capital Partners Inc. Then, in November 2011, O’Dea – who had sold his mining company, Fronteer Gold Inc., to Newmont for $2.3 billion – approached him with an idea for a “shared-services, incubator mining house” that would find and finance new mining ventures. O’Dea needed an in-house banker with a talent for finding money, so Holmes joined Oxygen as one of four founding partners. The company now has a portfolio of three junior exploration companies.

Profession you would most like to try: Formula One driving Toughest business or professional decision: Leaving a well-paid investment banking career for an entrepreneurial partnership building a new mining house, all during a resource market downturn Advice you would give the younger you: Invest early, strategically and repeatedly in real estate

Despite a dearth of risk capital going into junior mining and exploration companies, Holmes and his partners have been able to raise $300 million for new mining ventures

What’s left to do: Leverage my business experience and professional relationships to help philanthropic organizations, such as the HomeStart Foundation

| 33

PETER HUDSON AGE

34

CEO, BitLit

P

eter Hudson almost dropped out of university in 2003 to devote attention to the first of two successful startups that he co-founded.

Instead, he stuck around for another year, completed his University of British Columbia undergraduate degree in engineering physics and then focused on expanding Aquatic Informatics into a stable, mid-sized, 100-employee company that he still co-owns.

Life took a turn in 2012, however.

He and a friend were grumbling about their inability to convert a paper book into a digital counterpart in the same way that content owners can convert compact discs into digital files. That led to him co-founding his current venture, BitLit, which provides owners of paper books with ebook versions of the same works for a reduced price or for free.

The company has attracted more than $1 million in angel investor funding from sources in Vancouver, Toronto and New York. Hudson has already signed deals with more than 200 publishers and has a catalog of nearly 40,000 titles.

BitLit’s user base has also been growing by about 40% month-over-month since its inception in early 2014. The company now has 10 employees and operates out of an office in Gastown.

“Part of what has helped us be a success was going through GrowLab’s accelerator program,” Hudson said.

“GrowLab said we’ll invest in you, mentor you and take you to Silicon Valley for three months.”

Hudson’s path to success started at 14, when he was granted an academic scholarship to attend Shawnigan Lake School.

Birthplace: Calgary Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: Bachelor of science in engineering physics, University of British Columbia Currently reading: The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

His athletic accomplishments include running a handful of marathons and plenty of mountaineering, including trekking to a Mount Everest base camp.

“My first and last triathlon was the Ironman,” Hudson said of the annual event that includes a four-kilometre swim, 196-km bike ride and a marathon. “I thought if you were going to do a triathlon, you might as well do the biggest one first.”

I thought if you were going to do a triathlon, you might as well do the biggest one first

First album bought or music downloaded: The Best of the Doors by the Doors

Toughest business or professional decision: Leaving the team at Aquatic Informatics to start BitLit

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Astronaut

Advice you would give the younger you: Do more yoga

Profession you would most like to try: Astronaut

What’s left to do: Walk on the moon

34 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

CAMERON LAKER AGE

35

CEO, Mindfield

C

ameron Laker admits to being a little green when he entered the corporate world in 2005 and founded his recruitment agency, the Mindfield Group. “[I had] lots of energy, but not a lot of thought behind what I was doing,” Laker recalled.

“I created a lot of chaos.”

Just 26 years old at the time, the British Columbia Institute of Technology graduate was itching to use a combination of psychometrics and technology to target the right talent for businesses at a much more economical rate. He had previously worked as a recruitment director across university campuses and came to believe the industry model was “broken.”

“I couldn’t understand why companies would go pay $20,000 to get someone headhunted,” Laker said.

Mindfield was bootstrapped from the outset, starting off with just a business card and a BlackBerry. But Laker said the tight business model meant the company never had to seek any equity financing.

And over the past nine years, the CEO has seen the company grow from a fiveperson operation to a team of 75 people that has helped facilitate the hiring of 50,000 Canadians.

The company’s revenue reached more than $5 million in 2013 and is expected to hit at least $8 million by the end of 2014’s fiscal year.

Laker said part of the key to success at such a young age was recognizing he had to take the opportunity to soak up every ounce of experience and knowledge he could get from mentors like Mindfield co-founder Jade Bourelle.

Today, he provides mentorship and is renting out extra office space as an

Birthplace: Vancouver Where you live now: East Vancouver Highest level of education: Diploma of technology from British Columbia Institute of Technology Currently reading: Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni, The 40 Hour Work Year by Scott Fritz

innovation hub for recruitment-related startups.

Laker pointed out the youth angle was extremely valuable when snagging some of Mindfield’s initial major clients.

“When I first pitched Mr. Lube, we were pitching on how we were going to use Myspace to attract talent for them,” Laker said.

“Do you trust the 50-year-old dude who wa l ks i n there ta l k i ng about Myspace, or do you trust the 26-yearold using it every day?”

First album bought or music downloaded: Ill Communication by the Beastie Boys When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Professional baseball player – first baseman for the San Francisco Giants Profession you would most like to try: Professional golf

[I had] lots of energy, but not a lot of thought behind what I was doing.

I created a lot of chaos

Toughest business or professional decision: n/a Advice you would give the younger you: Be more patient What’s left to do: Turn Mindfield into a household name

| 35

MATT LENNOX-KING AGE

38

President and CEO, Pilot Gold

F

or Matt Lennox-King, it’s always been about the science – in his role at Pilot Gold, at university, even as a kid growing up.

“I guess you could say I’m second generation as far as mining goes. My father has been involved in the industry essentially my entire life. So I was exposed to it growing up; he’d bring cool rocks back from mine tours, he’d bring hard hats and belt buckles, that kind of thing.”

Despite being unsure about what he wanted to specialize in, he knew he wanted to pursue a science-based education.

“I took introduction to geology and loved it, and got a summer job in the bush and loved it, and here I am 20 years later,” he said. “That’s the simplest way to put it.”

Now president and CEO of Pilot Gold, Lennox-King said the keys to his company’s success have been “good science, great geology and making discoveries.”

“Because really, it’s not just about going out and looking at rocks and drilling holes in the ground and trying to find some gold: it’s about creating something of value.”

And while at the helm of a business that faces capital markets as rocky as the grounds it excavates, Lennox-King has created a lot of value.

Since its inception in 2011, Pilot Gold has raised $72 million and made seven new gold and copper discoveries in Turkey and Nevada. Lennox-King is also responsible for executing $100 million worth of exploration programs since 2002.

But a proven track record in raising capital isn’t the only way Pilot creates value. Some of the work Lennox-King

Birthplace: Toronto Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: Bachelor of science, geological sciences, UBC Currently reading: The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson First album bought or music downloaded: Back in Black by AC/DC

is most proud of is his company’s sustainability and humanitarian efforts around its projects.

Whether at mines in Canada or Turkey, Pilot has poured effort into training local residents with the skills to work on the company’s projects, be it in tech positions or health and safety roles. Educational programs, ensuring clean water supply and bettering health and safety standards are all part of the package too.

“We make a difference in the market, we make a difference to our shareholders, but ultimately I’d love to translate that into something more meaningful, a more human difference.”

“I don’t just want a nice bio. I want to do something and help people.”

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: A doctor, a fireman and a sheep farmer in New Zealand Profession you would most like to try: Designing and manufacturing skis

I don’t just want a nice bio.

I want to do something and help people

Toughest business or professional decision: Restructure what had been a very successful leadership group to get the right skill sets and experience to advance the gold, copper and silver deposits that we have discovered in Turkey and Nevada

Advice you would give the younger you: Set specific goals but keep an open mind and follow the best opportunities as they arise. You never know where they will lead What’s left to do: Develop a gold mine, make a meaningful difference and ski Japan with my family

36 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

JOEY LIN AGE

32

CEO and owner, Taipak Enterprises Ltd.

J

oey Lin was still in university when he started to shop around Asianmade packaging products to local Vancouver food manufacturers.

“At that time, 12 years ago, the packages that I saw in retail stores were not that pretty,” Lin said. “They were not that high-end compared to the ones I saw in Asia.”

Lin’s father owns a packaging factory in Taiwan, and his family had been in the packaging business for over 30 years. But when Lin was in his midteens, the family moved to Coquitlam, and Lin completed high school and university in Canada.

Lin now runs Taipak Enterprises Ltd., a company with a foot in both worlds.

Today, the business employs 20 people.

The company also operates in Toronto and has plans to expand to markets like Calgary, Montreal or the United States.

Lin’s first customer in Vancouver was Superior Tofu; he estimates that about 30% of Vancouver-area food products companies are now customers. At the start, he kept a close watch on products in grocery stores and was always ready to make his pitch.

“If I saw something at the retail level where the packaging was not that good, I’d say, ‘Hey, can I do some packaging for you?’”

While he had some early success at making sales, it wasn’t easy for the recent university grad to make the decision to take the plunge and start his own company.

He now often hires young employees who have just completed school. His advice to them? Dream big – but make sure you’ve done your homework and are prepared to work hard.

Birthplace: Taipei, Taiwan Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: Bachelor of science, Simon Fraser University Currently reading: The Prize by Daniel Yergin First album bought or music downloaded: Use Your Illusion by Guns N’ Roses

He credits his family’s move to Canada with opening his eyes to all the possibilities that are out there, for both life and career.

“In Taiwan, we don’t really have a chance to do what we want to do,” he said. “But here in Canada I can decide what I want to do.”

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Scientist Profession you would most like to try: Accountant

Here in Canada I can decide what I want to do

Toughest business or professional decision: To start my own business all those years ago. It was pretty scary at that time as I just graduated from SFU and I was not confident that I could start a business. I was even thinking of working for technology companies. I made a tough decision to start a journey to start my own business, from my house

Advice you would give the younger you: It is good to dream big and we should dream big. However, we need to start with concrete foundations. Work hard and get ready. When opportunity comes, we are ready to go. Keep eye on the end goal, but never lose sight of our core values.

What’s left to do: I would like to challenge myself with Mount Everest

| 37

SARAH LUBIK AGE

31

Lecturer and director of technology entrepreneurship, Simon Fraser University

S

arah Lubik has always been fascinated by the idea of turning “science fiction into business reality.”

Lubik is a lecturer in entrepreneurship and innovation at the Beedie School of Business and the director of Tech E at Simon Fraser University (SFU). Tech E, short for the technological entrepreneurship program, is a joint venture between mechatronic systems engineering, which is under the faculty of applied science, and the Beedie School of Business.

“We are bringing students together from business and engineering to make market-driven products – to make things to be the next big tech startup.”

Lubik is currently working on redeveloping the university’s entrepreneurship program into a more “holistic offering” that would see all faculties working together, bringing together people with “disparate but complementary talents.”

Prior to joining SFU, Lubik most recently worked as a fellow of the NanoForum at the University of Cambridge.

That opportunity came almost by accident, as Lubik had gone to the worldclass university for a two-month co-op term that ended up with her being offered full tuition to earn her master’s degree and her PhD, both in the fields of technological entrepreneurship and social innovation.

She also holds a BBA in marketing and international business.

Lubik has been recognized for her academic work, having recently received the 2013 Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management’s Dr. Theo Williamson Award for her paper, “Market-pull and technology-push in manufacturing startups in emerging industries.”

Lubik said she usually has at least

Birthplace: Vancouver Where you live now: Port Moody Highest level of education: PhD, University of Cambridge Currently reading: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow First album bought or music downloaded: Get a Grip by Aerosmith When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: A lawyer (seemed glamorous)

two jobs going on at any time. In addition to her work at SFU, she is currently the director of Lungfish Dive Systems, a startup that developed and is now selling a rebreather system for divers.

Lubik is not sure what the future will hold for her work, but she knows that she wants to be involved in more startup companies.

“I always have a plan, but so far it has never worked out,” she said. “So far, it has always worked out way better than my plan.”

Profession you would most like to try: Rock star/drummer Toughest business or professional decision: To come back to Vancouver to be a part of something new or stay in Cambridge and continue to be part of an established, worldclass tech cluster

We are bringing students together from business and engineering to make market-driven products – to make things to be the next big tech startup

Advice you would give the younger you: In undergrad, get another major, like science or engineering along with business; more hands-on knowledge would be useful in the tech world. And take more advantage of networking opportunities and talks outside your sphere of expertise; you never know when those lateral connections to topics and people will come in handy – or just help shake up your thinking

What’s left to do: We’re just getting started. We still have to build SFU into the top innovation school in Canada, build Lungfish to an internationally recognized brand, help our students launch their own world-class startups, help Canada leverage and build its innovation capabilities somehow – and learn to play the drums

38 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

SACHA MCLEAN AGE

39

I

joined the family business for the wrong reasons, and I stayed because I wanted to,” said Sacha McLean, president and CEO of the company that bears his name, McLean Ventures.

With his father facing a major heart issue and his brother at law school, McLean’s initiation into the family business was “a freak of nature” at the young age of 21.

“It was a tough couple of years just trying to get my bearings and find my way and find my feet. But I was able to come up with some interesting ideas in terms of what direction we could take the business.”

Those ideas have transformed what was wholly a real estate and development business into a vertically integrated organization with divisions in aviation, real estate, construction and film. The largest business under the McLean Group of Companies – of which McLean is vice-chairman – is Vancouver Film Studios (VFS).

A big player in the development of Hollywood North, VFS has helped lure major productions to B.C., including XMen 3, 2012 and Fringe. It saw so much success, the company ran out of space.

So McLean turned to building content and, this fall, sold his first show: a reality series based on the company’s helicopter business. A self-professed “bricks-and-mortar guy,” McLean said the shift from physical to creative building has come with challenges but was the only way to go.

“It’s been a huge learning experience, but the thing about being an entrepreneur is that you have to learn this stuff, or you can’t take the business to the next level.”

As far as levels go, the McLean Group of 1999 a nd 2014 a re “apples a nd

“

President and CEO, McLean Ventures; vicechairman, McLean Group of Companies

Birthplace: Vancouver Where you live now: Vancouver/ Scottsdale Highest level of education: Bachelor’s degree, geography, Queen’s University; Families in Business program, Harvard University; commercial pilot licence (rotary and jet) Currently reading: The Great Years: Gold Mining in the Bridge River Area

by Lewis Green

oranges.” While the group still owns land – some one million square feet – it’s also developing a microbrewery, owns 22 helicopters and has expanded to employ 250 people full-time.

If the company’s ability to diversify and vertically integrate has kept it growing, it’s McLean who has kept it diversifying and integrating.

“I’m the differentiator, the guy that disturbs the normal way of thinking to take us to the next level.”

First album bought or music downloaded: The Thin Red Line by Glass Tiger When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Pilot Profession you would most like to try: Flying a fighter jet Toughest business or professional decision: Always following your instinct, especially on M&A deals.

All the analysis in the world doesn’t hold a candle to instinct

The thing about being an entrepreneur is that you have to learn this stuff, or you can’t take the business to the next level

Advice you would give the younger you: Live a balanced life – don’t work all the time. And look after your body – diet and exercise are critical What’s left to do: There is so much left to do, I’ve lost count

| 39

JUSTIN MAXWELL AGE

36

COO, Angus One Professional Recruitment Ltd.

J

ustin Maxwell has accomplished more in a wider range of businesses than most people his age accomplish in a single business.

In 2005, he helped execute the largest pre-sale real estate sales event in North American history, a $425 million sale of condos in Hawaii. Starting in 2009 he co-wrote a paper on oil spill response that was presented at the White House, as well as negotiated multimilliondollar contracts with British Petroleum.

Currently Maxwell is chief operating officer at Angus One Professional Recruitment, one of the largest staffing companies in Canada.

“I’ve always been one who pushed the comfort zone,” Maxwell said. “I’m an entrepreneur; I’m always looking at the next problem to solve.”

Born in Victoria, he began looking early for problems to solve. He did part of his Grade 11 year in New Zealand, then went to the University of Western Ontario to complete his education. His first position after school was working for ING in the Czech Republic.

“I’ve always had the travel bug and wanted to do something internationally, and through my school I had an opportunity to do the finance management training program with ING,” he said. “We got to explore different areas of the business working quarterly in different financial capacities and then came back and worked with them briefly here in Vancouver.”

It was here that Maxwell transitioned into real estate development, taking a job with Intrawest Resorts Holdings.

From 2003 to 2007 Maxwell moved up through the company and was part of the team that secured, in one day, the $425 million sale of 318 luxury condominiums on Kaanapali beach in Hawaii.

Birthplace: Victoria Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: Bachelor’s degree in business Currently reading: The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen First album bought or music downloaded: Graceland by Paul Simon When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Pilot

In 2008, prompted by the real estate meltdown in the U.S., Maxwell decided to join a startup in California and immerse himself in the oil business, getting connected with Blue Planet Water Solutions and developing and marketing oil spill management technology, presenting the product to the U.S. Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Aftter 10 years in the U.S., Maxwell returned to Canada to work with Angus One, where he has been COO since 2013.

Profession you would most like to try: Sports agent Toughest business or professional decision: Jumping into a startup with no foreseeable paycheque in an industry I had very little knowledge of

I’ve always been one who pushed the comfort zone.

I’m an entrepreneur; I’m always looking at the next problem to solve

Advice you would give the younger you: Identify a couple of strong mentors and seek advice early on. If you don’t like the direction you’re going then do something about it, don’t just talk about it What’s left to do: Lots. Explore the world, find new adventures and solve the business problems of today along the way

40 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

MARK MELISSEN AGE

33

Managing partner, Wildstone Group of Companies

S

crawled on a whiteboard in Mark Melissen’s office are the words “fail often, fail quick, and fail cheap.”

But for the 33-year-old managing partner at Wildstone Group of Companies and father of three, failure doesn’t seem to come much at all.

Since joining Wildstone in 2007, Melissen has steered the construction contractor from an annual revenue of $1 million in 2007 to $40 million in 2014.

Melissen quickly rose through the ranks at Wildstone to become its managing partner and has won the group several major contracts, including a $20 million RCMP detachment in Inuvik and a $12 million retirement home in Cactus Ridge.

“We’ve got some really ambitious stretch goals here,” Melissen said. “I can see us being one of the biggest and most well-respected players in some of the markets that we operate in.”

Melissen was born prematurely in Vancouver but grew up in Smithers.

His start in construction came from working with his uncle for the Lafarge cement company in northern Alberta during high school.

“I was essentially just keeping my ears and eyes open for opportunities.

Opportunity arises in funny places, funny times. That kind of opened my eyes to the construction sector, and I just ran with it,” Melissen said.

At 18 he moved to Vancouver to attend college, where his entrepreneurship developed.

“During that time I started a company which was essentially a marketing agency and a distributor for an action sports line from Australia. So I did that and helped put myself through college,” Melissen said.

From there he transitioned to working

at Lafarge full-time and was promoted to a sales position in Edmonton.

“That definitely opened my eyes to the resource and different infrastructure markets,” Melissen said. “It definitely taught me a lot of lessons on attracting and retaining customers.

Those are things you definitely learn when times are booming.”

Balancing his time between helming a quickly growing business and raising a young family, Melissen has a lot on his plate, but “living in Penticton certainly helps,” he said.

“I can leave the office, drive to my house, take my kids to school and be back, all in a 20-minute round trip.

Family’s really grounded me, it’s been the major spark in my life. Personally I’m trying to learn as much from my kids as they’ll learn from me.”

Birthplace: Vancouver, but only because I was a preemie. I was raised in Smithers

First album bought or music downloaded: Use Your Illusion by Guns N’ Roses, two-tape set

Where you live now: Penticton

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Fighter pilot

Highest level of education: International business, Langara Currently reading: Jimmy: An Autobiography by Jimmy Pattison with Paul Grescoe

Profession you would most like to try: Actor Toughest business or professional decision: Investing everything on the brink of losing everything

I was essentially just keeping my ears and eyes open for opportunities.

Opportunity arises in funny places, funny times

Advice you would give the younger you: Use integrity to steer your moral compass. Set stretch goals for everything you find valuable in your life What’s left to do: Inspire my kids, travel and keep learning

| 41

JEFF NUGENT AGE

38

Chief strategy officer, Industry Training Authority

I

t’s a good bet that most liberal arts students who pursue degrees in German literature and philosophy don’t expect to end up with a successful career in business management – but that’s what happened to Richmond resident Jeff Nugent.

After finishing his undergrad, Nugent took a job with the Alberta government, where he got a taste of the career he would spend the next decade working in.

After gaining his MBA in 2001, Nugent got his first industry job at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, where he acted as an analyst/ lobbyist for three years.

“I have to admit I was always afraid of policy roles because I only knew of policy wonks, and I wanted to do something more practical,” Nugent said.

However, his background in policy research came as an advantage when, in 2004, he was asked to join the newly formed Industry Training Authority (ITA), a Crown corporation that standardizes training, certification and programs for the trades industries.

Nugent’s biggest achievement while working at the ITA, where he is now chief strategy officer, has been a major realignment of the organization following an in-depth mandate review from the government as part of the Skills for Jobs Blueprint.

“We were given some big changes to implement, which we did, and we were asked to put together a 90-day implementation plan and to make some fairly big changes. I was quite familiar with the file and the organization, having worked there for some time; I also kind of had a sense of some of the internal changes that would need to happen at ITA in terms of structure and staffing

Birthplace: Edmonton Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: Master of business administration Currently reading: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver First album bought or music downloaded: Don’t remember but the first CD I bought was by DeeeLite

to support the direction,” Nugent said.

When he started working at ITA, Nugent was 28.

“I just remember meeting one of the people who had come from the previous system and he was a bit older, and I think on my first day his comment was, ‘I’ve got socks older than you,’” Nugent said. “But once I got some momentum going and got over my own ideas of what my age was doing or not doing for me, I’ve certainly been well respected and it’s not been an issue.”

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Psychiatrist (among other possibilities) Profession you would most like to try: Architect or chef Toughest business or professional decision: Making the decision that it’s time for someone to move on

I have to admit I was always afraid of policy roles because I only knew of policy wonks, and I wanted to do something more practical

Advice you would give the younger you: Don’t impose limits on yourself.

Teams of people accomplish great things, not individuals on their own What’s left to do: Continue to focus my energy on meaningful projects (personal and professional) where my skills can be of use, where I can learn and grow, and that allow me to work with amazing people

42 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

DANIEL POPESCU AGE

39

President and CEO, Harbourfront Wealth Management

W

hen Daniel Popescu moved to Vancouver in 2001, he knew he wanted to be part of an investment advisory business but didn’t know how to begin. Not knowing anyone in the city, Popescu stood on the street downtown and began talking to business people on their lunch breaks about tax and investments with a little survey he would give out. By 2011 he was one of the top national advisers at Wellington West Capital, and by 2013 he had started his own investment firm, Harbourfront Wealth Management.

“Every business nowadays is competitive, every business is difficult, yet people constantly thrive, so it’s just a matter of being unique in your own particular industry,” Popescu said.

“It’s every little detail. I don’t really do anything different, but I do everything differently.”

Popescu started working as a bank teller at age 23 in Toronto, where he started to learn the ropes of the industry and began moving up. He moved to Vancouver, and after a year of meeting people via surveys on the street, he started building his own investment practice, until in 2008 he joined Wellington, where he cut one of the biggest deals of his career.

“In 2011 we sold that firm to a major bank, and that was a pretty good transaction,” Popescu said. “We got $333 million for it, and I was a partner in it. I got a reasonable chunk of it and all along the way I continued to build my client practice.”

That deal led to Popescu founding Harbourfront in 2013.

“We do have a goal of building a national firm with billions of dollars under management. We have a 10-year goal of reaching $5 billion in assets under

Birthplace: Bucharest, Romania Where you live now: West Vancouver Highest level of education: Brock University Currently reading: Principle-Centered Leadership by Stephen Covey First album bought or music downloaded: Thriller by Michael Jackson

management. I’ve already opened branches in multiple provinces,” he said.

Popescu said he doesn’t pat himself on the back and tries to give back as much as he can.

“I do attribute part of the success to the way I’m wired. My personality might have to do with genetics or whatever. I’m probably more fortunate than a lot of people that I’ve been given this talent to do a lot with my brain and my career, and it’s just nice to give back when you’ve got the means and the infrastructure.”

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Can’t remember, too long ago. Probably a firefighter Profession you would most like to try: Professional athlete Toughest business or professional decision: Coming to a conclusion on which path to take usually comes quickly. It’s the execution that’s often challenging, but there’s always an element of fun in the most difficult situations

I do attribute part of the success to the way I’m wired

Advice you would give the younger you: Understand the motivations of others. This will help overcome any obstacles they put in your way or help you show them their strengths to assist you in getting closer to the end goal What’s left to do: Lots. Climb a couple of the Seven Summits, show my kids how fun it is to play the game of life, learn to love kale

| 43

SUKHI RAI AGE

35

President, RBI Group of Companies

I

f diversification is the cornerstone of sound investment, then Sukhi Rai, president of RBI Group, has built an empire upon a proverbial Rock of Gibraltar. But unlike that European monolith, Rai’s realm continues to expand beyond its own borders.

“I have three sister companies under which I run my business,” explained Rai. “RBI Construction is one of Western Canada’s biggest hotel development companies. PHI Hotel Group is my management company. It operates the hotels I build.”

The third is a forming company, RBI Forming, which operates on a steady stream of concrete construction projects in B.C., with an emphasis on the Lower Mainland.

It’s a business model Rai has built out of necessity. RBI Construction has been in steady operation since 1989, but he said the volatility of the construction market creates challenges that can prove difficult to manage. The housing industry slump of 2008 convinced him that broadening his operations would help mitigate risk.

“You always have to have a secondary cash flow, and if you don’t, if there’s a downturn in the market, you won’t be able to pay your bills. Development only pays once the hotel is open.” Rai added that the ability to pool resources from all three divisions is key.

His formula has been working well.

RBI Construction builds two to three hotels each year in Alberta and B.C. and has over $100 million in construction projects underway in Alberta alone.

Rai’s PHI Hotel Group, which has been running since 2002, maintains the economic momentum his construction company creates. Rai described it as a full-service enterprise, encompassing

Birthplace: Campbell River

management operations, fiscal and accountant services, new hotel development, hotel sales and marketing, advertising, feasibility studies, asset management and consulting.

“We’re bringing three components under one roof, from architects to interior designers,” said Rai. “We do all of it.”

He has plans to do more. “I want to own about 40 hotels in Western Canada; that’s the aim that I have for the next 10 years.”

Highest level of education: Marketing diploma

First album bought or music downloaded: All I listen to is the business channel and the weather so I know what the conditions are on my construction sites

Currently reading: Nothing. I’m too busy

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Architect

Where you live now: South Surrey

Profession you would most like to try: Lawyer

You always have to have a secondary cash flow, and if you don’t, if there’s a downturn in the market, you won’t be able to pay your bills

Toughest business or professional decision: Committing to a big land deal without even knowing how the financing was going to work out Advice you would give the younger you: I should have started swinging a hammer when I was 18, not when I was 23. I would have been five years ahead of the game

44 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

DREW RAILTON AGE

39

Managing partner, Caldwell Partners

T

he fact that Drew Railton, managing partner at Caldwell Partners, calls his career choice an accident imbues his success as an executive job search agent with an exquisite sense of irony. “I didn’t even realize that recruiting was a career option,” he said.

“I just fell into it.”

In fact, he was recruited into it.

Twelve years ago, after turning down a job with Telus, he was convinced by another recruiter to join a boutique Calgary firm. After learning the ropes, he jumped to a larger firm; then, nine years ago, he joined Caldwell, Canada’s largest executive job search provider.

Caldwell boasts a huge list of corporate clients around the world, mostly executive boards and CEOs who are looking to find a very specific skill set, experience base and personality for senior executive positions.

“We look for very particular qualities,” said Railton. “We look for people with, for example, 20 specific experiences and a certain set of attributes.

Then we pitch to them and convince them to move to where the new job is.”

For Railton, the key to working successfully with clients is trust. And the honesty, he said, goes both ways. “Most of our clients aren’t necessarily sharing their frustrations with their outgoing CEO. But they’ll share it all with us.”

That honesty is critical, insisted Railton, who said he often has a better idea of what his clients need than the clients themselves. “We have a really impressive track record of finding that needle in a haystack.”

There are times, said Railton, when after hearing everything clients have to say about their particular situation,

Birthplace: Calgary Where you live now: North Vancouver Highest level of education: Undergraduate degree in political science and business from the University of Calgary Currently reading: Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know by Meg Meeker (I have three kids, aged eight, four and one)

he can provide them with someone who not only meets those requirements, “but also has some other attributes that satisfy things that they haven’t even thought of.”

Providing that kind of extra service has earned Railton the type of seniority that usually only comes after many years in the business. “This is not a business that traditionally has a lot of youthful leaders. I was the youngest partner when I joined, and I’m still the youngest partner today.”

First album bought or music downloaded: I think it was John Cougar Mellencamp When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Besides a superhero and James Bond, a judge would have been the first real job I aspired to Profession you would most like to try: Private equity

This is not a business that traditionally has a lot of youthful leaders

Toughest business or professional decision: It all revolves around people and relationships. When to say no to work or, even tougher, having to fire a client

Advice you would give the younger you: Embrace adventure, travel, experience the world. It will only help you appreciate how good we have things in Canada. And don’t limit yourself in terms of your aspirations; it is amazing what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it and work hard

| 45

RASOOL RAYANI AGE

39

Owner and president, Heart Pharmacy

H

eart Pharmacy owner and president Rasool Rayani is tapping into the nurturing spirit of his father’s legacy.

“I have fond recollections of seeing my father late at night and early in the morning, working in the pharmacy, engaging with the customers.”

But it wasn’t always so. Notwithstanding the adolescent appeal of the apothecary, Rayani decided at an early age that he didn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps.

“I didn’t pursue it in my undergraduate education. I went into the high-tech field.”

Following university, after a start­ up, a sell-off, and then a reacquainting with the pharmacy on the heels of an illness his father suffered, Rayani rediscovered his love for the family business.

“I spent 2010 getting reacquainted with the business,” said Rayani.

But when he stepped into the role of president, he envisioned a future for the company that expanded significantly on what his father had started in 1991.

At the time, the pharmacy had two locations. That would soon change.

“I n 2011, we ex pa nded by th ree additional locations. That kicked off a three-year process of rebranding the business and learning to unravel the regulatory framework of a rapidly changing industry.”

He secured the name Heart Pharmacy after a re-evaluation of the company’s vision and goals. Creating an opportunity for customers to engage with a pharmacist personally is the goal of the service, said Rayani.

“The core of the management team met repeatedly over three months to decide on that vision,” said Rayani, who

Birthplace: New Westminster Where you live now: Victoria Highest level of education: Bachelor of arts in psychology from UBC Currently reading (include author’s name): The Zero Marginal Cost Society by Jeremy Rifkin First album bought or music downloaded: Crossroads by Cream

heralded the success of the company’s teamwork. “There’s a real joy in having a team of deeply engaged collaborators who share a common bond through the family connection.”

Heart Pharmacy now operates five locations, offering specialized services for diabetes care and heart health.

Rayani has also added a natural market component, which he plans to expand.

“It’s a heavier emphasis on healthy eating and nutrition to have that whole spectrum of healthy engagement.”

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Astronaut Profession you would most like to try (outside your current one): Chef Toughest business or professional decision: Each time I have had the opportunity to sell a company, I have found separating the emotional issues from the rational business decisions extremely challenging

There’s a real joy in having a team of deeply engaged collaborators who share a common bond through the family connection

Advice you would give the younger you: Risks are worth taking. In hindsight, you see that the risky decisions were often the best ones

46 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

JAMES REYES AGE

37

Vice-president, strategy and business development, The Active Network

W

alking his dog by Langara College in the mid-1990s, James Reyes couldn’t help but notice the computers lining the windows of one of the classrooms. He was instantly hooked.

“Early on, I was just curious about how the Internet worked, how email worked,” recalled The Active Network vice-president.

“I watched a couple movies growing up like Sneakers, like Hackers, and I’m like, ‘I need to know what’s going on here.’”

He dropped his biomedical engineering studies at the British Columbia Institute of Technology and transferred to Langara to hone his technical skills before earning a bachelor’s degree in commerce at Concordia University.

After landing an entry-level job at The Active Network in 2002, Reyes scaled up the corporate ladder over the next 12 years – a rare feat in an age where people rarely stick it out with the same company for life.

“I had relationships with the right people that helped my career here, that’s really what it came down to,” he said.

Before helping to boost annual revenue from $28 million to $49 million as the head of strategy and business development, Reyes started off testing The Active Network’s software in a quality-assurance position.

As he climbed to an executive position, he recalled sometimes being met with skepticism by peers at the company.

“One of my biggest challenges in any of the roles I have had was to be a sales manager of a sales team without ever having sold,” Reyes said. “At the end of the day I reverted back to the skills and

Birthplace: Vancouver Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: Bachelor of commerce, management information systems and finance Currently reading: Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden First album bought or music downloaded: Thriller by Michael Jackson on vinyl

the approach I relied on in the past.”

That meant reminding himself not to be afraid to fail while constantly pushing to earn his team’s respect.

“I got on the phone with them and kind of fought the battle with them shoulder to shoulder versus from a command post.”

Just as he sought out mentors as he was rising through the ranks, Reyes said part of how he judges his own success is by looking at those he guided early in their careers. That means setting time aside to coach people one on one.

“There’s not enough of that going on in the workplace. Like real, honest, direct feedback.”

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Professional boxer Profession you would most like to try: I’d love to own and run a steelhead fly-fishing lodge in northern B.C. Toughest business or professional decision: Eliminating departments and jobs during the economic downturn in 2008-09. Having to make the right decisions for the business at the cost of individuals is not easy but is a reality that we

One of my biggest challenges in any of the roles I have had was to be a sales manager of a sales team without ever having sold

all have to face at some point in our careers. This made me realize the importance of a strong vision, mission and purpose. It’s very important to keep teams inspired during tough times Advice you would give the younger you: Be aggressive and hungry, but practise patience and have a plan while doing so

What’s left to do: Next on the list is building a non-profit organization that introduces and exposes youth to fly-fishing. The sport has taught me several life lessons including patience, mastery, caring for the environment and overcoming challenges

| 47

DR. SHARADH SAMPATH AGE

37

Head, department of surgery, Vancouver Coastal Health – Richmond

D

r. Sharadh Sampath, head of the department of surgery at Richmond Hospital, represents a new generation of critical thinking in surgery: the doctor who embraces the broad role of patient-centred caregiver and physician as business person.

“It starts with identifying an unfilled niche, then developing partnerships with groups and advocates who can help you to get the resources you need to fill that niche,” he said.

Hippocrates, himself a champion of pragmatism and exactitude, would approve.

During training, Sampath realized that nobody in B.C. was performing bariatric surgery, despite the fact that the procedures were regularly done in most other parts of the developed world, including other Canadian provinces.

Colloquially referred to as weight-loss surgery, bariatric surgery includes a set of procedures aimed at achieving weight loss. This is accomplished by reducing the size of the stomach using a lap band, removing a portion of the stomach or rerouting the small intestines, also called gastric bypass.

“The outcomes are just so good,” Sampath said. “Conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, as well as obesity and others are all helped by this procedure. You can take care of four, five, six problems at once.”

So, why was nobody doing it here?

“I struggled to find a place that would let me explore the idea of starting a bariatric surgery program,” Sampath said.

However, he was undaunted in his belief in the efficacy of the procedure.

He collaborated with a provincial health economist who identified the number of patients who would benefit

from the surgery, where they were, how much it would cost and what would be the expected return on investment.

“We had data from both Canadian cities and multiple locations in the U.S. that demonstrated the procedure’s costeffectiveness,” said Sampath. “And we discovered we have over 100,000 patients who qualify for the procedure in B.C.” The market research that supported Sampath’s belief in the value of the procedure was enough to convince Richmond Hospital to back the idea.

Sampath became the first surgeon to perform laparoscopic gastric bypass in the Lower Mainland. He also developed the province’s first multidisciplinary surgery program to treat obesity and diabetes.

Birthplace: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

When you were a child, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Surgeon

Where you live now: Richmond

Profession you would most like to try: Chef

Highest level of education: Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons Currently reading: Fall of Giants by Ken Follett First album bought or music downloaded: n/a

It starts with identifying an unfilled niche, then developing partnerships with groups and advocates who can help you to get the resources you need to fill that niche

Toughest business or professional decision: Going into surgical training knowing that I would be committing to six or more years in an incredibly gruelling training program at more than 100 hours per week. That meant putting on hold many of the hobbies, family time and non-medical interests that I enjoy

Advice you would give the younger you: Take the time to better organize the infrastructure of your practice.

Redevelop your electronic medical records system, train your staff, invest in advertising and invest in a nurse who can serve as a translator for patients from other backgrounds

48 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

AMIT SANDHU AGE

29

CEO, Ampri Group of Companies

A

s CEO of the Ampri Group of Companies, Amit Sandhu has overseen the development of hundreds of homes. His role also involves overseeing real estate holdings such as investments in apartments and shopping centres.

He is also now overseeing his company’s renovation of Westbrook shopping centre.

Sandhu admits that he has been fortunate to be able to join a family business that morphed from one that his father, Parm Sandhu, launched in 1991.

Ampri officially launched in 1999, and the younger Sandhu spent spare time working on job sites and cleaning up lumber while still in high school.

“Basically, growing up in a family business, it’s your life,” he said.

To get an outside perspective and explore a bit, Sandhu did the first two years of what he thought would be a commerce degree at Toronto’s Ryerson University.

Restless to apply what he was learning, he returned to B.C. in 2005 so he could finish what turned out to be an honours degree in business administration at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business.

As soon as he graduated, he dedicated himself to being Ampri Construction’s general manager and then its vice-president.

Current projects include selling the 18-unit Vogue and 34-unit Riga residential developments in Richmond. One on the drawing board is, at 96 units, set to be the company’s largest to date.

Sandhu also has a lengthy list of ways he gives back to the community.

For example, along with friends Rattan Bagga and Punit Dhillon, he created the non-profit foundation Youth Entrepreneur Leadership Launchpad,

Birthplace: Richmond Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: BBA honours, Simon Fraser University Currently reading: Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb First album bought or music downloaded: ATLiens by OutKast

or YELL, which provides accredited entrepreneurship courses for public high school students in grades 11 and 12.

He has been a member of organizations such as the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, The Indus Entrepreneurs and Tourism Richmond.

Perhaps one of the most significant items on his resumé, however, is being the youngest businessman ever appointed by Richmond city council to the city’s economic advisory committee. Outside work, he and wife Reena Sandu spend time with eight-monthold daughter Suhana.

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Automotive designer Profession you would most like to try: Industrial designer Toughest business or professional decision: Restructuring a business established by my parents

Basically, growing up in a family business, it’s your life

Advice you would give the younger you: Dream big and don’t be afraid to fail. Reframe failure as part of the process – a building block rather than an end point What’s left to do: Take on larger development projects, grow my investment portfolio and scale YELL’s collaborative model of education to reform business education across Canada

| 49

JENNIFER SCHAEFFERS AGE

36

Executive director, CKNW Orphans’ Fund

E

ven while working in the corporate world for such companies as Intrawest and Canucks Sports & Entertaiment, Jennifer Schaeffers was always involved in the non-profit sector, having first started volunteering when she was 15 years old.

Now, in her role as executive director of the CKNW Orphans’ Fund, she can devote even more of her time to making a difference in an area she feels passionate about.

And make a difference she does.

In 2013, Schaeffers’ third year with the organization, the fund raised more than $1.9 million – almost double the fund’s annual donations of around $1 million prior to her taking over.

T h i s i s pa r t icu l a rly i mpressive given that she is the non-profit’s sole fundraiser.

Of the $1.9 million raised, $1.7 million went directly to special-needs children and other non-profit organizations.

The best part of her work and what keeps her motivated, Schaeffers said, is seeing exactly how the Orphans’ Fund benefits individual children.

“On a monthly basis, we turn around grants to a lot of vulnerable children in the province who are suffering from behavioural, physical and mental challenges,” she said.

“The work that we do can help benefit those children’s lives. Sometimes it’s a game-changer for them; sometimes it just eases the burden, financially, for their parents.”

Her achievements have not gone unnoticed. In 2014 she was granted a Telus Women of Promise Award, and she has been a finalist in the YWCA Women of Distinction Awards in the community building category and the Vancouver Board of Trade’s Spirit of Vancouver

Birthplace: Richmond

volunteerism award, among others.

Her charity work does not end with her role at the CKNW Orphans’ Fund as she is still involved with many other groups. She has worked with several children’s charities, including Ronald McDonald House BC and the Canucks for Kids Fund.

She founded and is still actively working with the Steveston Moms Network, Women Leaders in Non-Profit and NetworkinginVan.com. She has also worked with the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, the Women’s Leadership Circle and the Vancouver Board of Trade Leaders of Tomorrow, just to name a few.

Outside of work, Shaeffers loves to spend time with her children, spin, walk her dog and read.

Highest level of education: Bachelor of business, La Trobe University, Australia

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: My happy place is being out on the water – I always thought as a child I would become a marine biologist when I grew up

Currently reading: Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

Profession you would most like to try: Pastry chef

First album bought or music downloaded: The Joshua Tree by U2

Toughest business or professional decision: Leaving the excitement of sports marketing and embarking on a career in philanthropy

Where you live now: Richmond

The work that we do can help benefit those children’s lives. Sometimes it’s a gamechanger for them; sometimes it just eases the burden, financially, for their parents

Advice you would give the younger you: Vulnerability is not a weakness; it’s a strength. Embrace what you think you cannot do – everything you want is on the other side of fear.

Practice self-awareness and don’t care so much about what others think of you. Smile and the world will smile with you

What’s left to do: I feel like I am just getting started. Continue to raise two children and teach them the importance of loving themselves and giving back in the world, keep my career moving forward in whatever direction that takes me, find new projects to dedicate myself to and keep and grow the genuine connections I have had the pleasure to make in the last 36 years

50 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

GREG SMITH AGE

38

President, CEO and co-founder, Anthem United Inc.

S

ometimes the road not taken can turn out to a real break – especially when that road leads to the tech bubble burst of the early years of the last decade, Greg Smith will quickly tell you.

That’s because, as a newly minted chartered accountant, he made a decision to take the path to Canadian mining, which itself had been in the dumps for a few years. Smith has made his mark as president and CEO of Anthem United, a promising gold company, and as a director of Cheasapeake Gold Corp. and Lowell Copper.

“I ended up getting a job at KPMG in Vancouver, and at the time – in 2000 – the tech boom was in full swing. Everybody had gone into high tech for the two years before that, but I wasn’t really interested. I was more interested in mining and forestry and the commodity group. Mining was a pretty small [practice] group and had good people, so I requested placement with mining.

At the time the [mining] market was pretty dead.”

History tells us where high tech went.

Meanwhile, mining was enjoying a bit of a revival, Smith said.

“Because mining had been dead for so long, nobody was going into mining, and so you ended up with this really strange demographic: the over-50 set and a few young guys like me coming in. It afforded a whole lot of opportunity for younger guys and girls, because when mining really took off and they needed mining engineers, chartered accountants and geologists, there just weren’t that many out there.”

Smith has gone on to fully immerse himself in the business, founding the Young Mining Professionals association

Birthplace: New Westminster Where you live now: North Vancouver Highest level of education: Canadian chartered accountant (CA); bachelor of commerce with specialty in international business, University of Victoria Currently reading: Intrepid Explorer: The Autobiography of the World’s Best Mine Finder by J. David Lowell First album bought or music downloaded: The Joshua Tree, U2

with a KPMG colleague in 2007 to help young mining professionals get the skills and knowledge to advance their careers and to network within the industry.

He personally found networking valuable in advancing his own career.

In fact, the prime lesson he has learned – the hard way – is to not ignore the experience and wisdom of others when it’s offered.

“I am still a young guy; I’ve been in the industry my whole career but I haven’t been through multiple [mining cycles] and some of these guys have seen this movie before. They are a wealth of information that we need to take into account.”

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Was always changing. Everything from a fireman to a lawyer to running a surf hostel in Brazil. That one has stuck. One day I’ll get there!

Profession you would most like to try: Geologist or carpenter Toughest business or professional decision: There have been more than a few, but leaving a great company like Goldcorp to join the much smaller Minefinders was probably

Because mining had been dead for so long, nobody was going into mining, and so you ended up with this really strange demographic: the over-50 set and a few young guys like me coming in. It afforded a whole lot of opportunity for younger guys and girls

the one I internally debated the most. No regrets, though

yourself with great people is also, if not the most, important

Advice you would give the younger you: I am going to paraphrase Winston Churchill and say to never give in, never, never, never … except to convictions of honour and good sense. No matter the objective, things can (and often do) get tough, especially in mining. It is incredible the results perseverance and tenacity can attain. There are plenty more but surrounding

What’s left to do: We have a company to build at Anthem United and in that sense we are really just getting started. The precious-metals market is such that there is plenty of opportunity and so we are excited to keep growing

| 51

JEREMY TIFFIN AGE

38

CEO, Horizon Recruitment Inc.

S

ometimes even the most high-powered careers can get their start in the most inauspicious ways.

For Jeremy Tiffin, it was a friendly game of hockey that got him involved in the recruiting industry and led to him building a company that went from zero to $7 million in annual sales in a little more than seven years.

“I had a buddy of mine who went to [the British Columbia Institute of Technology] with me who got hired by one of the world’s largest recruitment firms,” said Tiffin, adding his friend offered to take Tiffin’s resumé to his employer.

One interview later, Tiffin was on his way to becoming a recruiter.

“I kind of happened into the industry,” he said. “It would be an anomaly for most people to do otherwise.”

That doesn’t mean that Tiffin is casual about whom he hires to his team or whom he places on his clients’ teams.

“One of my most important jobs is determining who is and who is not on my team, because that is of utmost importance to our organization, to our growth and delivering on what we say [to our clients].”

Tiffin, whose Burnaby-based Horizon Recruiting Inc. now has 13 full-time employees, says personally supervising the hiring for his own firm is critical if he is going to hire for his clients, who include BC Hydro, ICBC and Seaspan Corp. (Nasdaq:SSW).

“In the recruitment business, if you aren’t making hiring decisions yourself, I don’t know how you can have a full appreciation of what it means to have your customer hiring someone from you.”

Tiffin says in hiring for his own firm and for his clients, he ranks character above competency.

“Competency needs to be there, but

Birthplace: Surrey Where you live now: North Vancouver Highest level of education: Diploma, marketing management, BCIT Currently reading: The Lean Startup by Eric Ries First album bought or music downloaded: Hysteria by Def Leppard. Loved the hair bands in school

that person doesn’t necessarily need all the skills right from Day 1,” he said.

“I care about who the person is, what is their character, what is their ability to follow through on what they say and what they are like to work with.”

He says another quality he looks for is commitment and passion. “If I am going to be bringing somebody on and I am going to invest the time and effort to bring them up to speed, and introduce them to our clients, if they don’t have a long-term view, then that is not congruent with our values.”

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Hockey player – but realized in my teens I wasn’t good enough to make any money at it so decided to pursue business Profession you would most like to try: I love what I do but have always thought it would be interesting to be a landscape architect Toughest business or professional decision: Going “all in” and creating Horizon Recruitment

In the recruitment business, if you aren’t making hiring decisions yourself, I don’t know how you can have a full appreciation of what it means to have your customer hiring someone from you

Advice you would give the younger you: Two things: No. 1 – start earlier.

Don’t wait as there is less to lose when you’re young. No. 2 – risks, fears and the loneliness of starting a business come with the territory, so ensure you channel it into motivation

What’s left to do: Too many things to list. My main focus for the foreseeable future is to continue growing Horizon Recruitment … across Western Canada

52 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

COLIN TOPHAM AGE

37

Managing director, Agrocorp International Canada

W

hen Colin Topham was 14, his fat her, a ba n ker w it h R BC, moved his family to Taiwan to accept a posting there. Topham spent four years in Taiwan, becoming fluent in Mandarin.

After returning to Vancouver, he pursued Pacific Asian studies at the University of Victoria, focusing on Chinese economics and politics. His knowledge of China and fluency in Mandarin would later come in handy as an agricultural commodities trader.

After a stint working for a tech start­ up in Singapore, he returned to Canada and briefly got involved in politics, serving as executive director for B.C. of the Liberal Party of Canada.

In 2005, he landed a job as a senior trader with IT&T Trading Inc., a small, family-owned agricultural commodities trading company run by a friend, Ann Takagi, whom he married in 2008.

While with IT&T, Topham developed markets in China for western Canadian pea farmers and carried those relationships over to Singapore-based Agrocorp International PTE after IT&T had to be dissolved when Takagi’s parents divorced. About 25% of Agrocorp’s market is now in China.

“That was my main objective at IT&T – to develop the China market,” Topham said.

In 2009, Topham negotiated a merger between the financially troubled IT&T and Agrocorp International to found Agrocorp International Canada.

The company’s Singapore operation in Canada buys commodities from larger suppliers, such as Cargill Canada and Paterson Grain, while Agrocorp Canada buys directly from farmers.

Canada is the world’s largest exporter of lentils, but Topham identified a

Birthplace: Vancouver Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: Bachelor of arts, major in Pacific Asian studies, University of Victoria Currently reading: The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney and Sean Covey

major gap in the speed with which they can be processed. With financing from Agrocorp International, Topham oversaw the construction of a new, $10 million, high-speed processing plant and elevator in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

It went into operation in December 2013, after one of the largest bumper crops in western Canadian history.

Agrocorp also bought an elevator in Innisfail, Alberta, in 2013. Agrocorp Canada’s shipments of lentils and grain increased 75% over 2012, bringing in $33 million.

Agrocorp’s business also got a major boost when the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly came to an end in 2012, allowing farmers to sell directly to commodity traders.

“It was huge,” Topham said. “With the privatization and deregulation, we were given access to buy directly from growers and trade our own wheat.”

Agrocorp employs 25 people full-time in Canada and is on track to have revenue of $60 million in 2014.

First album bought or music downloaded: First Offense by Corey Hart When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Batman Profession you would most like to try: Residential building developer

It was huge. With the privatization and deregulation, we were given access to buy directly from growers and trade our own wheat

Toughest business or professional decision: HR decisions are always the toughest because they have so much influence on the business for such a long time; culture is so important Advice you would give the younger you: Don’t take things too personally – when encountering problems, solve them and move on

What’s left to do: Achieve connectivity between our domestic program and our international operations

| 53

RAY WALIA AGE

37

Co-founder and executive director, Launch Academy

T

he path from ru n n i ng a Dairy Queen to running a tech company probably wouldn’t appear linear to most people, but for Ray Walia, it’s the natural course of an entrepreneurial spirit.

Before co-founding the Launch Academy business accelerator and serving as CEO of Razor Technology, Walia got his start in the business world as a franchisee of two fast-food outlets, one of which was in downtown Vancouver.

The turning point came when Walia enlisted a friend to build an online ordering platform in 2002 targeting corporate offices. From there they branched out and began offering coupons on customers’ cellphones.

“I just got bit by the [tech] bug by looking at new and innovative ways to offer my business and engage my customers,” Walia said.

For a decade, he oversaw more than 50 employees and earned awards from Dairy Queen for sales at his Lower Mainland locations. At the same time, the vision for Razor Technology was changing: instead of offering coupons over people’s phones, it would offer movie trailers and music videos on mobile devices.

“That just kept the fire going and it grew from there,” he said. “The further and further I went into the tech startup world, the less interested I was in the traditional brick-and-mortar world.”

But that desire to be an entrepreneur eventually led him to mentoring others, and he co-founded Launch Academy in 2012.

Since then, the business accelerator has grown from just a dozen desks to a

Birthplace: Vancouver Where you live now: Vancouver Highest level of education: Certified professional accountant Currently reading: Zero to One by Peter Thiel First album bought or music downloaded: Invisible Touch by Genesis

120,000-square-foot centre that has helped more than 180 startups get off the ground and raised $25 million.

Part of his strategy for leading this growth was bringing in partners like Microsoft, Lighthouse Labs, the Business Development Bank of Canada, Garibaldi Capital and his own LX Ventures all under one roof.

“Everything that we offer here [at Launch Academy] is everything that the entrepreneurs that run this space, that work in this space, wish we had when we were building our startups,” Walia said.

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Neurosurgeon Profession you would most like to try: Astronaut Toughest business or professional decision: Decision to step away from family business in order to focus on tech ecosystem

The further and further I went into the tech startup world, the less interested I was in the traditional brick-and-mortar world

Advice you would give the younger you: Think big. Now think even bigger What’s left to do: Continue to build the Centre for Entrepreneurship in Vancouver and establish Launch Academy as the pipeline to Silicon Valley for tech companies

54 | FORTY UNDER 40 2014 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER

MICHAEL WARD AGE

34

Senior vice-president and general manager, Grosvenor Americas

M

ichael Ward has had an influential role in developing about $1.3 billion worth of assets for Grosvenor Americas since he joined the real estate developer in 2002.

In his current role, he is in charge of the company’s western Canadian projects as well as general manager of about 30 staff in the Vancouver office.

“I’ve been given a lot of opportunities in the past decade to be able to grow in the company,” Ward said. “I haven’t had to jump around for opportunities, so that’s been special to me.”

Grosvenor liked Ward’s performance during an internship he did in 2001, so it hired him as soon as he completed his University of British Columbia commerce degree.

First came a couple of years in Vancouver as a real estate analyst, then two more as an assistant development manager and another two as development manager.

One ea rly success was h is work stickhandling Grosvenor’s successful mixed-use project the Rise, at Cambie Street and West 7th Avenue.

When an opportunity arose to go to Washington, D.C., to be Grosvenor’s vice-president of development, Ward grabbed the promotion and stayed three years. He then moved to Calgary for another three years in the same role.

As one of, if not the youngest, senior vice-presidents in Grosvenor’s history, he was able to move back to Vancouver in March.

Several large projects that he is now overseeing include the $350 million Grosvenor Ambleside mixed-use project in Vancouver, the $150 million Avenue Condominiums project in Calgary and the $100 million Edgemont residential project in Vancouver.

Birthplace: West Vancouver Where you live now: North Vancouver Highest level of education: Bachelor of commerce, University of British Columbia Currently reading: Triumph of the City

by Edward Glaeser First album bought or music downloaded: I can’t remember, to be honest

“Being born and raised in Vancouver, at one point it was an ultimate desire of mine to be able to come back, so it has been a positive move,” he said.

Outside of work he has a passion for cars and he owns two European sports cars.

“I’d love to say I’ve done a lot outside work, but outside some speaking engagements there’s not that much,” he said. “My focus over the past few years has been growing and mentoring the teams internally.”

I’ve been given a lot of opportunities in the past decade to be able to grow in the company. I haven’t had to jump around for opportunities, so that’s been special to me

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: Truck driver

Advice you would give the younger you: Admit that you don’t know

Profession you would most like to try: Race car driver

What’s left to do: Continue to grow Grosvenor’s Vancouver and Calgary development business and then consider an international move

Toughest business or professional decision: The decision to move to Washington, D.C., where I had no experience or contacts, to grow Grosvenor’s development program in that city

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