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Florist biz ready to blossom A local entrepreneur thinks he’s found the secret to reviving a moribund industry with a high-tech delivery tool — and he’s got the backing of big-time investors who agree > PAGES 4-5

February 16, 2015 Vol. 18, NO. 7

For daily business news visit obj.ca

Playing a new card

Two separate Ottawa groups put their own spin on business cards with the aim of making networking easier. > PAGE 6

Green growth Coldwell Banker Rhodes & Company’s Ned Rhodes has seen plenty of changes in a real estate career that spans nearly six decades. PHOTO BY COLE BURSTON

Rhodes home to tradition, innovation Trailblazing firm that helped launch MLS system celebrates 75 years in business Despite advances in technology, ‘personal aspect’ of real estate still the key to company’s success, founder’s son says > PAGES 12-13

FORTY UNDER

Wakefield couple’s plastic-free products gaining traction in U.S., thanks to rising demand for environmentally friendly alternatives. > PAGE 8 Canada Post Publications Mail: Agreement No. 41639025

2015 NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN!

— ADVERTORIAL CONTENT —

GIVE YOUR WEDDING THE ROYAL TREATMENT

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hen it comes to planning your wedding, few decisions will be as important as making sure you choose the right venue for such an elegant and memorable occasion. You deserve the wedding you’ve always dreamt of—so why not give it the Royal treatment?

For the newly engaged, it’s not long after you say “Yes” to the big question that you begin to find yourself stressing over how little time you have left before the day you say “I do.” With many things to iron out in the coming months, choosing the right wedding venue will likely be one of the first major decisions you will make.

If you’re planning to get married in a metropolitan area you’ll quickly find you have near infinite options for venues. Hotels, conference halls, churches, vineyards, parks and golf courses are just some of the many options that exist in the OttawaGatineau region alone. In the end, making the right choice often comes down to your vision as a couple, your budget, and, in many cases, the influence of your family and soon-to-be family members.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015

Look at the big picture and think logistics.

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In the beginning, it’s very easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of choosing a venue, but remember to ask yourself a few questions first: How many people will this venue seat? Are there any accessibility issues for any of my guests? In the early stages of planning it may not be possible to have a confirmed list of guests to your wedding, so it’s important that, as a couple, you decide on an invite list before you book your venue so that you have a guideline of the maximum number of people (and their guests!) who could be attending.

Finding a venue that offers you a dining room for a sit-down meal as well as ample space for a cocktail reception is also an important consideration. In addition, if your wedding is in the summer, be sure to visit the venue in the summer in order to get the full experience. For out of town guests, look into hotel accommodations. Does the venue have on-site accommodations, or is there a nearby hotel that you can arrange preferred rates for?

When it just “feels right.”

Ask any couple about choosing a venue and sometimes “it just feels right.” For many couples, that’s all that truly matters—the rest is just details. As long as you are within budget and the location offers the sorts of amenities you’re looking for, you’re in the clear.

Better yet, if you have an idea as to your wedding theme before you shop for a venue, you’ll be in an even better

position to find a place that already has some of the style that suits your wedding theme.

The “Royal” treatment is all about the details.

Let’s face it: the details matter—from table design, menu and décor to the experience of the wait staff. Save yourself time, stress and money by choosing a venue that offers fullservice event coordination, such as The Royal Ottawa Golf Club, which offers free parking for guests; linens, tables and chairs to seat 20-175 guests; separate cocktail space for up to 400 guests; creative and personalized menus crafted by the club’s Executive Chef; audio and visual equipment; and attention to every detail from the ceremony to reception.

The Royal Ottawa Golf Club is the ideal venue for couples looking for

a combination of old world charm and modern day refinement that is unmatched by any other venue in Ottawa. The club’s dramatic scenery, velvety green fairways, spacious entrance, gorgeous fireplaces and the grand staircase will serve as the backdrop for you to create memorable photos while your guests mingle in one of the club’s elegantly decorated cocktail reception areas.

If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by your to-do list, you can make use of The Royal Ottawa Golf Club’s Event Coordinator, who can help address all the details and handle day-of coordination and take down.

The Royal Ottawa Golf Club has been Ottawa’s premier golf and fullservice event destination since 1891.

To learn about event bookings, visit rogc.com/weddingsandevents.

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TECHNOLOGY App creators aim to give wilting florist industry a boost Ottawa entrepreneurs hope new delivery app helps solve sector’s woes

BY ADAM FEIBEL adam@obj.ca

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015

orth America’s florists have been slowly losing their bloom. But for one perennial entrepreneur and his new team of industry innovators, the hope is that spring will see business blossoming once again.

The Ottawa group behind a new app called Nectar Flowers, launched just in time for Valentine’s Day, says the florist industry as a whole is marked by an inherent flaw – and they think they’ve planted the seed that will fix it.

The app lets customers quickly pick out a bouquet with just a tap on their smartphone and send it, along with a video message to capture the emotion of the affair, to a spouse, mother, friend or whomever.

After a $250,000 funding round and potentially more investors on the way, chief operating officer Andriy Azarov has high hopes that the “florist on your phone” will be the solution to a number of industry problems with which he’s dealt over the last seven years.

When he came to Canada, Mr. Azarov got his start in the florist industry driving a truck for a local wholesale company, selling flowers to small shops around town. After a year, the native of Ukraine decided to start his own venture, so he picked up a copy of Web Design for Dummies and started

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building a portfolio of websites he could sell to local florists.

“It was a pre-Shopify kind of age, and pretty hard to get a nice-looking website with no money,” he says.

Half the flower shops he visited didn’t have a website, he recalls, but the recession made it a hard sell. In the meantime, he started trying out search engine optimization techniques he read about in the last chapter of his book. Then a funny thing happened.

“I was playing around, and then suddenly I started to get people ordering flowers from this portfolio website,” he says.

Mr. Azarov brought the orders to local florists he had gotten to know over the years. They delivered the flowers, and he took a piece of commission. It made him realize he could make a lot more selling his own flowers than he could by selling websites.

“Maybe (the decision) was wrong.

Maybe I could be another Shopify,” he says with a laugh.

Still, it would be wrong to say Mr. Azarov hasn’t found success in his own right. In just a few years, he grew his company, CanaFlora, to $3 million in revenues with two distribution centres in Ottawa and Calgary.

That also set the course for his new venture, driven by the forward thinking of chief investor Andrew Waitman along

Andriy Azarov, the chief operating officer of Nectar Flowers, launched the firm’s new flower delivery app just in time for Valentine’s Day. PHOTO BY ADAM FEIBEL

with a “power team” featuring Mr. Azarov, technology lead Dan Gagliardi and marketing strategist Samer Forzley, a 2010 OBJ Forty Under 40 recipient.

“This guy intrigued me,” says Mr. Waitman, CEO of Assent Compliance and formerly the head of Pythian and managing partner at Celtic House Venture Partners. “You don’t hear about people starting florist businesses that often.”

After all, it’s not exactly an industry that’s thriving. While Canada’s $1.4-billion greenhouse flower industry has grown modestly over the last couple of decades,

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storefront retailers are in a more thorny situation as they struggle to compete with big-box grocers and online stores.

Only two-thirds of small and mediumsized flower businesses are profitable, and revenues are decreasing by one per cent annually, according to Statistics Canada.

The floriculture industry continues to shrink at a similar rate in the United States, where the industry has wilted by 16 per cent since 2007, according to market research analysts at IBISWorld.

Mr. Waitman says he was impressed by CanaFlora’s success – but not as impressed as

“Why does FedEx allow you to track your package? Why does Uber succeed as well as it does? It’s because you know where the bloody cab is. From Ecuador to the receiver’s door, you need to understand how to get flowers from the farm to the recipient, and Andriy understands that in spades.”— ASSET COMPLIANCE CEO ANDREW WAITMAN, CHIEF INVESTOR IN NECTAR FLOWERS

he should have been after sending a bouquet to a colleague for a test run. (His colleague never got the flowers he sent him.)

He says the flower delivery business as a whole is “flawed,” since it doesn’t allow the customer interaction and feedback loops that consumers in other old-time industries have come to value so highly.

“Why does FedEx allow you to track your package? Why does Uber succeed as well as it does? It’s because you know where the bloody cab is,” says Mr. Waitman. “If I get to see the actual flowers I’m sending, that’s a feedback loop. I get to see when the order’s arrived. The recipient gets to control where and when it delivers.

So when you use technology to enable feedback loops, people have a much better experience.

“From Ecuador to the receiver’s door, you need to understand how to get flowers from the farm to the recipient, and Andriy understands that in spades.”

It’s probably more reliable than Mr. Azarov’s former strategy of rigging up his websites to fit Google’s algorithms and win page views. Among his tricks for increasing web traffic was creating a different website for each Canadian city – Rideau Florist here in Ottawa, for example – all acting as the local face of CanaFlora. After a few

years, though, Google made adjustments and bumped those sites way down, dealing a critical blow to the company’s revenues.

“It was very good for us, and it almost killed us,” says Mr. Azarov.

In a Google search for “Ottawa florist,” CanaFlora shows up on the seventh page – much deeper in the results than most users are willing to go.

The top result is Ottawa Flowers, whose general manager is Pavel Bogdanov. He says garnering that level of web traffic for his business means creating unique and rich content and working with other local businesses to promote organic growth. It’s all about showing the customer something that’s unique and easy to buy, he says.

“More and more people like to see this stuff online for convenience, therefore fewer people are walking into stores,” says Mr. Bogdanov, who has run the awardwinning company for more than 18 years.

It’s crucial for today’s florists to “find a niche or get out” lest they lose business to larger competitors with greater reach and resources, he adds.

“If you’re trying the old-school flower shop approach of doing it all, you cannot be competitive and therefore you cannot be sustainable,” he says.

The idea behind Nectar is that users

will find the app, download and install it on their phones, then use it any time they need flowers, rather than returning to Google every time there’s a special occasion or they find themselves in trouble with their significant other.

But it also needed features that would make customers enjoy the experience so much they would keep coming back, says Mr. Forzley. That’s why the app lets customers send flowers without even knowing the recipient’s address – the company will figure that out by checking the phonebook, finding their office address or just by contacting them to arrange a delivery – and include a video message that the recipient can likewise return with a thank-you.

“Flower buying is a very emotional thing,” says Mr. Forzley. “You might not know what to say because you’re not a good writer, but you can always articulate an emotion visually.”

Under its holding company, Beyond the Bloom, CanaFlora launched the app on the App Store and Google Play less than two weeks before Valentine’s Day, an occasion that brings in up to 30 per cent of CanaFlora’s annual revenues. Mr. Waitman says Feb. 14 and Mother’s Day are the perfect time to test out the app and learn

from customers.

“Ultimately, if we can prove that there’s good take-up, we’ll go out and raise money and roll this out,” he says.

It could be a make-or-break move for Mr. Azarov, who predicts that while specialty florists like those that cater to weddings and other special events will survive, mom-and-pop flower shops will continue to wither away.

“Future development of technology is the dynamic we’ll see in the future,” he says. “It’s going to be less and less local florists and more and more online flower deliveries.”

If that’s true, that will likely mean more competition for Nectar. The company says it hopes to secure more funding in another investment round after Mother’s Day and keep expanding to become a dominant force in the country’s retail florist industry.

Mr. Forzley says it’s hard to predict how the app will do before the Valentine’s Day rush, but the firm hopes to hit at least half a million dollars in revenues in 2015, and take it from there.

“There’s no No. 1 floral company in Canada,” says Mr. Azarov. “There’s no clear leader, but we think we have everything right now to become the No. 1 flower and gift delivery service in Canada.”

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015

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LAUNCH PAD

Welcome to the latest instalment of OBJ’s LaunchPad, a new monthly section dedicated to local startups and entrepreneurs. Story ideas and other suggestions can be sent to adam@obj.ca.

Launching their new app was a Handshake deal for (from left) Francis Lefebvre, Cedric Eveleigh and Craig Bryan. PHOTO BY ADAM FEIBEL

New Ottawa startups aim to revolutionize the way professionals meet and greet Changing the business card game

BY ADAM FEIBEL

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015

adam@obj.ca

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wo groups of Ottawa entrepreneurs have joined the ongoing race to make the business card obsolete.

Numerous companies have tried or are still trying to win over business professionals with mobile apps that offer various methods of digitally exchanging contact information with the heart of a business card and the body of a smartphone.

Perhaps most popular was Bump, which swapped info by bumping two phones together. In just a few years it raised more than $20 million in venture funding, was bought by Google for $30 million in 2013, and became one of the most downloaded mobile apps. But it never found any real revenue and Google shut it down after just four months.

Similar attempts will fail time and time again so long as they cause a disruption in the behavioural patterns of businesspeople, says University of Ottawa student and budding entrepreneur Cedric Eveleigh.

“Just pulling out your phone, people don’t like doing that,” he says. “Especially in the business world. People don’t like it when you change the way they socialize.”

Likewise, digital name tags used at some business events these days require a similarly unnatural interaction.

Mr. Eveleigh would prefer just to shake your hand. To that end, the 20-year-old mechanical engineering student invented a new app called Handshake, which combines mobile software with Bluetooth bracelet technology so that personal coordinates are transferred automatically when two people do just as the name says.

“Our solution is passive. It works in the background,” he says. “You don’t have to worry about anything, you don’t have to pull out your phone, it doesn’t change the way you socialize. You just shake hands and everything’s automatic.”

Zap’s creators Mike Mason (left) and Liam Williams. PHOTO BY ADAM FEIBEL

With other core members Francis Lefebvre, 21, and 26-year-old Craig Bryan, who leads the five-person software team, the startup plans to roll out the product in bulk at large events such as networking conferences and trade shows.

Handshake expects to demo its software by the end of April and test the bracelet technology in the summer. Once the product gets going, the team plans

to create additional revenue streams by offering premium services such as customer relationship management for salespeople and event analytics for the event management industry.

The company will rely on grants and startup competitions for continued financing while it partners with event organizers. It hopes to eventually reach a user density threshold that pays off in profits in two to three years’ time.

Meanwhile, the creators of Zap have a different approach.

Designed by Mike Mason, 26, and Liam Williams, 23, under the Gladmen company name, the app pulls from users’ LinkedIn accounts and builds personalized business cards on their smartphones. When they meet someone, they flick the card over to the other person’s phone via Bluetooth, and later they each get an auto-generated summary of where, when and how they met.

“The value is not necessarily in the initial flick. It’s everything that’s happening after,” says Mr. Mason, who runs the two-man startup with Mr. Williams at Maker Space North.

Zap has placed bets on its technology being attractive enough that early adopters will spread the word. Financed by a local angel investor, the company hopes to rack up 100,000 downloads over the next several months before locking into a firm business plan.

Zap and Handshake have each established a go-to-market strategy, but both envision later expanding into contact discovery – a “Tinder for LinkedIn” concept that shows users who is around and could make for useful introductions.

That’s an eventual step that will add tremendous value to that type of service, says Jason Daley of Axia Strategists.

“I haven’t been to a conference where I’ve gotten the most out of my leads for my money spent to be there,” says Mr. Daley, who is also a community leader at Startup Ottawa. “You spend several thousand dollars to get to an industry event, and you don’t know from the name tag who you need to meet. That’s quite wasteful if you’re only getting a few key introductions.”

Perhaps most notable in the business contact discovery wave is Weave Networking. The San Francisco-based startup raised $120,000 in seed funding for its mobile app last summer, although it hasn’t quite managed to gain any noticeable traction.

Zap’s founders say that’s because businesspeople want more than just the swipe-right-or-left model of Tinder – they want more personal connections and ongoing relationship management. It all comes down to eliminating stacks of cards on people’s desks and replacing them with a richer digital networking experience.

“I’m an engineering student, so I like to solve problems,” says Mr. Eveleigh. “And it was really bugging me that in 2015 when we all have computers in our pockets, we’re using pieces of paper to connect.”

“I’m an engineering student, so I like to solve problems. And it was really bugging me that in 2015 when we all have computers in our pockets, we’re using pieces of paper to connect.”

— CEDRIC EVELEIGH, CREATOR OF NEW HANDSHAKE APP

CALENDAR OF EVENTS CHANGE LOG Gymtrack raises $2.5 million in seed funding Fitness technology startup Gymtrack is on a hot streak. The 16-month-old company just pulled in $2.5 million from a first round of seed funding that co-CEO Lee Silverstone said will go toward hiring more staff and rolling out the firm’s personal fitness tracking product.

App wants to get you Hired Looking to fill an opening? A new free service called Hired aims to make things easier for job hunters and small businesses by gathering all Ottawa job postings into one place. The startup reached 1,000 users in its first month, quadrupling its projection. Hired plans to expand to Toronto by the summer and Montreal soon after, and eventually the rest of Canada.

Local mom says enough with wet beds Louise Miner was tired – literally – of losing sleep changing sheets for her young daughter. She invented the Rip n Go, a waterproof, removable and reusable pad that parents can lay under their child at night to keep leaks from soaking through. Sold online and at 11 retail locations around Ottawa, the Rip n Go has pulled in roughly $105,000 in sales after six months. The company has received mentorship support from Invest Ottawa and is now looking to collaborate with MaRS Discovery District in Toronto to develop its adult line for health-care use.

Girls’ entrepreneurship in focus at Carleton accelerator launch Led by Carleton University’s entrepreneurship guru Tony Bailetti, the school’s new business accelerator launched in mid-January with the goal of pushing students’ best business ideas to $1 million in annual revenues within three years. The launch event also introduced the 12-week Technovation program that takes aim at the under-representation of women in local entrepreneurship by getting young girls thinking about starting their own business.

StartUp Drinks Kanata Feb. 23 5-8:30 p.m.

The Royal Oak, 329 March Rd. Info and registration at twitter.com/ StartUpKanata TON of Demos Feb. 24 6:30-8:30 p.m.

L-Spark, 340 Legget Dr., Suite 140 Info and registration at l-spark.com/events A Night Out with Angels Feb. 24 5:30-9 p.m.

Centurion Conference & Event Center, 170 Colonnade Rd. South Info and registration at ottawa.tie.org/ upcoming-events How to Start a Business Feb. 25 6-8 p.m.

Ottawa Public Library, Rideau Branch, 377 Rideau St. Info and registration at biblioottawalibrary.ca/ en/program Startup Grind Hosts Dax Dasilva Feb. 26 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Microsoft Canada, 100 Queen St., Suite 500 Info and registration at startupgrind.com/ ottawa

HAVE THE INSIDE SCOOP ON A COOL STARTUP? Want to list an upcoming event that will benefit budding entrepreneurs?

E-mail adam@obj.ca today!

CAPITAL COLLABORATION

By Bruce Lazenby

At Invest Ottawa, our activities focus around a theme. In 2012 that theme was “Transformation”, in 2013 it was “Results” and in 2014 our theme was “Collaboration”. In just the last six months, we have been fortunate to participate in a number of collaborative proposals and projects that promise to enhance Ottawa’s innovation ecosystem in a significant way.

for Next-Generation Networks (CENGN). CENGN brings together representatives of every link of the supply chain as well as researchers to accelerate the commercialization of new network technologies. The federal government has awarded this consortium with $11.7 million in government funding ($46m total over seven years).

In August, the federal government announced a $14.9 million investment into the Medical Devices Commercialization Centre. The centre will help medical device innovations get to market faster, by creating a collaborative network that removes commercialization roadblocks, for devices designed and produced in Canada.

In November, Ottawa’s innovation ecosystem came together to present a comprehensive week of events for the annual celebration of entrepreneurs, Global Entrepreneurship Week. Once again Ottawa was among the top cities in Canada with 80 events on the calendar, just a few shy of first place Vancouver.

In October, Invest Ottawa played host to another important federal government announcement. $7.7 million in funding ($24 million total over five years) for a partnership involving Wesley-Clover that will deliver incubator-accelerator services to support entrepreneurs and start-ups in the enterprise software market through L-Spark. Companies that make it through the program will emerge ready to compete at an international level. L-Spark has the potential to be one of the best programs in North America.

In support of all of these tremendous collaborative partnerships, Ottawa’s four post-secondary academic institutions have come together to promote their co-op programs, encouraging local companies to hire locally and prompt business who don’t currently hire co-op, to add it to their hiring plan.

On the heels of L-Spark, came the launch for the Centre of Excellence

One of my favorite quotes is “no one succeeds unless a lot of other people want them to.” I see an ever increasing mood of collaboration in Ottawa where each group in our complicated business ecosystem is working hard to see the other groups succeed. Just the way it should be.

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OPIN lands Canada Winter Games contract It might be chilly in British Columbia for the Canada Winter Games this month, but an Ottawa firm got a hot deal out of it. The mobile website for Canada’s largest youth multi-sports event was built by Adrian Rylski of software startup OPIN.

Futurpreneur Canada Info Session Feb. 19 12-1 p.m. @TheSpace, 139 Bank St., Suite 200 Info and registration at futurpreneur.ca/events

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015

L-Spark picks its front-runners New Ottawa business accelerator L-Spark has picked two firms to enter its nine-month program and come out ready for series-A investments. The Better Software Company and FrontLines will be part of the first cohort, chosen from a pool of about 300 applicants.

Entrepreneur Q&A and Hangout Feb. 18 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Invest Ottawa, 80 Aberdeen St. Info and registration at investottawa.ca/events

COMMENTARY Plastic substitutes show plenty of staying power Wakefield couple’s home-based business picking up steam with more consumers going green

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PUBLISHER Michael Curran, 238-1818 ext. 228 publisher@obj.ca SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT OF SALES Don Mersereau, 238-1818 ext. 286 CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER Terry Tyo, 238-1818 ext. 268 EDITOR, PRINT CONTENT David Sali, 238-1818 ext. 269 david@greatriver.ca EDITOR, ONLINE CONTENT Tom Pechloff, 238-1818 ext. 291 editor@obj.ca COPY EDITOR Krystle Kung

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hy would two lawyers leave secure jobs with the federal government to launch a startup that was, at least initially, more crusade than enterprise?

Jay Sinha, who founded Life Without Plastic along with his wife, Chantal Plamondon, says they got the idea for the company after a health scare hit the young family close to home.

“A contributing factor to the creation of our business was a bad experience we had with toxic mould just before our son was born in 2003,” he says.

“We were living in an apartment that was mouldy. When we discovered the problem, we moved immediately, but were both sick for the following year, which started us looking for ways to live more healthily, with fewer environmental toxins in everyday life.

This included living with less plastic.”

But their search for more glass, canvas and metal substitutes for plastic quickly became an exercise in frustration. They soon discovered that while there were lots of places a consumer could buy, say, a thousand metal water bottles, there were not so many where you could purchase just one or two models such as the Klean Kanteen.

So in 2005, they created Life Wit hout Plastic to source and sell earth-friendly products in small quantities. It was goodbye to plastic and hello to items such as fast-flow silicone nipples on Evenflo glass nurser bottles for babies.

They operate the business, which is now approaching seven figures in annual sales, out of their home in Wakefield, about 25 minutes north of Ottawa. The lower level is the world headquarters.

As an aside, I think this trend toward not only working from home, but setting up micro-retail enterprises in residential areas, should be keeping owners of shopping malls and office complexes across North America up at night. In fact, the City of Ottawa is currently studying the legalization of micro-retail, at least in inner-city neighbourhoods.

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“More and more young people start businesses in order to improve their lifestyles; it is becoming a movement. What we have is a lifestyle business.”

—

LIFE WITHOUT PLASTIC CO-FOUNDER JAY SINHA

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Life Without Plastic’s main market is the United States, which accounts for 85 per cent of sales, one-quarter of them in California. The company sells directly to consumers on its website and also has a thriving wholesale business that supplies more than 500 stores from its Ogdensburg, N.Y., warehouse.

Cracking the massive market to the south presented its own unique challenges.

“We had to create a platform for U.S. sales – we learned to deal with duties, brokers, middlemen, distributors, retailers and shipping,” says Ms. Plamondon. “The U.S. market is so diverse and difficult to penetrate because

it’s really many different regions and submarkets.”

She believes they have created a platform that other micro-retailers in Canada and overseas, especially Europe, can use to help break into what is essentially an opaque U.S. marketplace.

Ms. Plamondon sees at least part of the company’s future growth coming from licensing this platform.

The issue of plastic debris infiltrating the earth’s oceans has been gaining traction in the media, with many celebrities drawing attention to the problem.

Musician Jack Johnson, for example, runs All At Once, a social action group

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Life Without Plastic co-founders Jay Sinha and Chantal Plamondon. COURTESY LIFE WITHOUT PLASTIC

that is pushing to ban plastic water bottles at concerts while encouraging fans to refill their jugs with tap water and bring reusable tote bags.

Mr. Sinha speaks passionately about

the couple’s support for 5 Gyres, an organization aiming to eliminate plastic pollution in the five giant swirling ocean current systems. Non-biodegradable debris builds up in these large bodies of

water, acting as a sponge for dangerous contaminants such as PCBs. Mr. Sinha, who was born and raised in Winnipeg, met Ms. Plamondon at McGill University, where they both studied law and worked for competing student newspapers.

Before joining the government, he worked for a large Toronto-based corporate law firm and hated it. He recalls his final assignment this way: “We had one enormous company hire us to do background research to determine what their legal liability might be because they were shifting to entirely nonrecyclable packaging. It never occurred to our senior partner to raise the question with them – whether this was a good idea. Our only job was to skirt existing legislation and help them avoid bad PR.” The couple’s next steps include opening a distribution centre in Britain, which has an even bigger per-capita market for online purchases than the United States. From there, they plan to sell to other European consumers and stores.

Ms. Plamondon understands the potential of the European market, where consumers are not only highly aware of the dangers of plastic, but also willing to

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pay for sustainability.

“We expect better margins there than from our U.S. business,” she says.

Apart from the couple’s own activism, website and blog, Life Without Plastic doesn’t do much marketing, although Ms. Plamondon hopes to change that.

She plans to do more advertising on social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram and Google to help grow the business and keep her three full-time employees, her bookkeeper, part-time graphic designer and tech guy busy.

But Mr. Sinha says that making millions was never the driving force behind the company.

“When we created this business, it was to achieve the goal of having more flexibility for our family and, hopefully, less stress as a result,” he explains. “More and more young people start businesses in order to improve their lifestyles; it is becoming a movement. What we have is a lifestyle business.”

A lifestyle and a mission.

Bruce M. Firestone is founder of the Ottawa Senators and a broker at Century 21 Explorer Realty. Follow him on Twitter @ProfBruce.

Moments like this are why we play the game. There’s no better place to slow down and savour every one—and no time like the present to join us.

WORLD-CLASS 18- AND 9-HOLE COURSES 10 MINUTES FROM DOWNTOWN RANGE OF MEMBERSHIP PACKAGES To learn more, contact membership rogc.com or visit rogc.com/2015 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015

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16936 ROGC AD_OBJ_PatioCouple_FINAL.indd 1

2/11/15 9:39 AM

REACH FOR THE SKY!

We’re looking for 40 young leaders who exemplify business success, professional expertise and community giving.

Nominate your colleague. Nominate a client.

Nominate your friend. Nominate yourself.

Visit fortyunder40.fluidreview.com

2015 NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN

FORTY UNDER

Nominations close Tuesday, March 31, 2015.

Recipients will be announced in late April.

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2015 SPONSORS

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015

#ott40

LEAD SPONSOR

Would you like the scoop on upcoming events?

Email us at info@ottawabusinessevents.ca Powered by Ottawa Business Events

OTTAWA’S BIGGEST AND BEST CELEBRATION OF BUSINESS EXCELLENCE Forty Under 40 Gala, Thursday, June 18 @ Hilton Lac-Leamy | Tickets: $175 Ottawa Chamber members/$195 non-members Get your tickets today at OttawaChamber.ca | For ticket info, email info@ottawabusinessevents.ca or call 613.236.7029 ext.135

BUSINESS BRIEFS Next-gen road show wraps up successful tour in Kanata Coming Fall 2015

O

IDC EYES BUYERS Ottawa-based International Datacasting announced last week it is in talks aimed at a possible acquisition of the company’s business.

The other party in the talks and all terms of the deal are protected by a nondisclosure agreement, the company said in a release.

IDC CEO Doug Lowther said the company issued the release as the conversation progressed.

“We felt that it was timely to make sure that everyone was on the same level playing field of information,” he said.

The IDC board has created a strategy committee to consider the merits of an acquisition – either from this initial party or someone else – or continuing to build its business on its own.

The company said talks are in the early stages, with no guarantee a deal will actually get done. Mr. Lowther said it’s not a process the company wants to drag out.

“I would say it’s weeks or months,” he said, adding IDC was working on making the right decision for the company’s shareholders, employees and customers.

IDC has cut international staff and seen executives come and go as revenues have declined in recent quarters.

All levels of Club Bell include:

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For an exclusive tour of the Club Bell Preview Centre, please call

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OBJ SEEKS OTTAWA’S TOP 40 Nominations are now open for this year’s Forty under 40, where OBJ, in partnership with the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, pays tribute to the up-and-comers who reflect the economic diversity, entrepreneurial spirit and future of Ottawa’s dynamic business community.

Nominations can be submitted to fortyunder40.fluidreview.com by March 31. Applications will be judged on the applicant’s professional accomplishment, expertise in his or her chosen field and community involvement.

Past winners have represented a wide range of industries, including homebuilders, high-tech CEOs and startup founders. Recipients will be announced in late April and the gala celebration will be held June 18 at the Hilton Lac-Leamy.

– OBJ staff

Club Bell will be Canadian Tire Centre’s premier club offering the best in premium hospitality and corporate business solutions.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015

ttawa’s new Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks had its biggest turnout yet when it wrapped up a five-city road show on Feb. 10 at its home base on Legget Drive.

About 125 people came to hear more about CENGN, an industry-led consortium backed by $11.7 million of federal government funding, and its goal to help 12 to 15 small to medium-sized businesses a year bring their technologies to market within three to 15 months.

CEO Ritch Dusome said the turnout across the country – 75 in Toronto, 60 in Vancouver and 25 each in Edmonton and Montreal – was pretty much what he had expected.

“I think it’s going to take some time to get the word out. We only went to five cities,” he said. “We’re also going to do a couple virtual sessions so that, let’s say, people in Halifax and Calgary and a few other cities that we didn’t go to physically will have an opportunity to hear this same message but just not in person.”

He said the group is already thinking of doing next year’s road show in segments to hit more cities.

Mr. Dusome said the purpose of the tour was to connect with companies who might be a fit and to let them know about the online application process, which began in early January. Applications close on Feb. 27. Successful candidates will be notified in March and will have until late April to get their presentations ready for a pitchfest, which will either happen live in Kanata or virtually for companies that are too far away.

The tour has also provided a great opportunity for prospective companies to connect with CENGN partner firms, potentially speeding up the process.

If a CENGN partner company finds a fit and the candidate meets all the criteria, that company will advance directly to the program without having to go through the subcommittee approval and pitchfest process.

Mr. Dusome said one company has already been fast-tracked but wouldn’t identify it yet.

“It’s kind of a nice ‘Made in Canada’ story,” he said.

REAL ESTATE “You can’t take the personal aspect out of real estate.

The skilled negotiator – and that is what I believe is our function in the transaction – I believe there will always be a place for.”

— NED RHODES, SON OF COMPANY FOUNDER E.N. RHODES SR.

A home for innovation for 75 years Coldwell Banker Rhodes & Company stands the test of time in ever-changing industry

BY ALEXIA NAIDOO SPECIAL TO OBJ

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015

I

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n a city of high-tech incubators and startup stars, Coldwell Banker Rhodes & Company stands out not just for its sheer longevity, but also for its continued spirit of innovation.

The well-known local real estate firm is celebrating 75 years in business in 2015.

And in seven and a half decades, it’s been at the forefront of major changes in the industry.

Started in 1940 by E.N. Rhodes Sr. – who went on to help develop and market several Ottawa family neighbourhoods, including Manor Park, Carlingwood and McKellar Park – Rhodes & Sons eventually joined Coldwell Banker to become Coldwell Banker Rhodes & Company in 1994.

In the early days, there were no video tours to view homes or Google Maps to scope out streetscapes. Instead, every Tuesday, the company’s agents would travel together by bus to tour listings.

By the 1950s, the agency helped set up what was originally called the Ottawa

Ned Rhodes. PHOTO BY COLE BURSTON

Co-operative Listing Service, which became known as the Multiple Listing Service in 1963. It was a new way for agents to share information on properties.

“MLS is a national system of marketing real estate. My father was in on the ground

floor of that,” says Ned Rhodes, son of the company founder, who joined the firm in 1957.

Every day the real estate board printed the MLS listings and fact sheets and delivered these “dailies” to all the real estate offices in the area. Each listing was the size of an index card, so a standard piece of paper would have a few listings printed on it. A staff member spent most of his day taking them apart and filing them in the appropriate binder. Any price reduction or correction had to be written in by hand.

“We kept all the listings by district and by price, by type of property, and so on,” says Mr. Rhodes. “It was a very laborious thing.

When the computer came in, it changed the game entirely.”

Jim McKeown, who joined the company in 1980 and is now a partner and broker of record, agrees computers dramatically changed the industry. But he says an even more monumental shift came when property data went online, allowing buyers and sellers direct access to information.

“Buyers felt they had some control over their searches. It took away a lot of the mystery,” says Mr. McKeown.

Today, the Ottawa Real Estate Board manages the local MLS system for about 150 member brokerages. While anyone with an Internet connection can view current listing information, access to the full database is

limited and carefully controlled.

“The MLS system is trusted because we have important guidelines to make sure that when data is on there it’s complete, it’s accurate, and it’s timely, which is why it’s the go-to source for people,” says board president David Oikle. “People looking for properties go there, appraisers go there, and banks rely on it because it’s the most trusted source of information for real estate.”

While the business might have gone digital, at the end of the day it’s still about people, Mr. McKeown says.

“People make better decisions when they have more information and they get to do the research,” he says. “But it’s challenging to negotiate face-to-face in an emotional sale or purchase of a house. There are a lot of steps in the transaction that an agent is better equipped to deal with.”

Mr. Rhodes agrees.

“You can’t take the personal aspect out of real estate,” he says. “The skilled negotiator – and that is what I believe is our function in the transaction – I believe there will always be a place for.”

Tools to help sellers present their property are constantly evolving: mobile apps, social media marketing, even drones to get aerial views of houses. They help give people a sense of the property before they invest time in going to see it.

But as yet there’s no app to replace the

23 Annual rd

Corporate

Ski-fest

Thank you for helping us raise $128,000 for Ronald McDonald House Ottawa!

GOLD SPONSORS

FACING PAGE: Ned Rhodes celebrates the 75th anniversary of the firm his father founded, far left; in the days before video tours and Google Maps, the company’s agents would tour listings by bus.

THIS PAGE: A 1964 newspaper story describes the advantages of the Multiple Listing Service, which the agency helped to launch. IMAGES SUPPLIED.

will connect in the future is anyone’s guess.

Emerging technology such as 3D printing, virtual reality tours, cloud collaboration for legal agreements and even how the Internet of Things can use consumer data and mobility tracking for strategic marketing are all part of an ever-changing business.

Whatever happens in the next 75 years, Mr. Rhodes thinks it will be exciting.

“You can’t dwell on the past,” he says.

“You have to look to the future.”

SILVER SPONSORS

BRONZE SPONSORS

Arnon Corporation | Burke Robertson | Colonnade Development Inc. Doran Contractors | FOTENN Planning and Urban Design | Giant Tiger KG Services | KPMG LLP | Mattamy Homes | Stewart Title Guaranty Company WestJet

Printing generously donated by

2741618

realtor’s expertise, local knowledge, staging information, pricing strategies and so on.

“In a time when information is so accessible, I think the realtor is even more valuable because they have to make sense of all this information that people have at their fingertips,” Mr. Oikle says. “The tools are there, but at the end of the day it’s applying them and using them to bring buyers and sellers together.”

Exactly how home buyers and sellers

3253333

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Mayor’s Breakfast Series A unique opportunity to enjoy breakfast with His Worship Mayor Jim Watson and hear from business and community leaders about issues critical to Ottawa.

Is your company celebrating a signature milestone this year?

Guest Speaker: Bruce Heyman, US Ambassador to Canada Thursday, February 26th Location: Ottawa City Hall Registration: 7:15 am Buffet breakfast: 7:30 am Presentation: 8:00 am

NON-MEMBERS Corporate table of eight: $350 + HST Individual ticket: $50 + HST

Visit ottawachamber.ca for online registration Info: info@ottawabusinessevents.ca Event Partners

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015

OTTAWA CHAMBER MEMBERS Corporate table of eight: $245 + HST Individual ticket: $35 + HST

13 OBJ.CA

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THE LIST Company/Address/ Phone/Fax/Web

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015

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17 18 19

Largest local film and TV production companies (Ranked by number of full time local staff)

No. of employees/ Year established

Key local executive(s)

Recent and current projects

Production services offered

Description

Gusto TV 203-66 Muriel St. Ottawa, ON K2S 4E1 613-730-1728/WND gustotv.com Blomeley Production Group 262-2039 Robertson Rd. Ottawa, ON K2H 8R2 613-596-9935/WND blomeley.com inMotion Production Group 891 Boyd Ave. Ottawa, ON K2A 2E2 613-723-5800/613-723-5803 inmotion.ca General Assembly Production Centre 102-1550 Laperriere Ave. Ottawa, ON K1Z 7T2 613-723-3316/613-723-8583 gapc.com

17 2013

Chris Knight, CEO and founder

WND

Broadcasting; production; distribution

WND

15 1988

Edward A. Blomeley, CEO and executive producer

WND

WND Television production; corporate/enterprise media production; commercial production; web development; video editing; camera rental; location production

14 1979

Patrick McGowan, CEO Sarah Fodey, vice-president and executive producer

WND

Commercials; TV series and documentaries; educational and government video and film production; animation; production services

WND

8 1983

Ken Stewart, president

WND

Full-service turn-key video and audio production as well as camera and editing services for other video producers and agencies.

Big Jump Productions 15-22 Gurdwara Rd. Ottawa, ON K2E 8A2 613-226-5287/613-226-9060 bigjumpent.com Skycron 16 Capella Crt. Ottawa, ON K2E 7X1 613-902-0134/WND skycron.com Slalom Productions 100-66 Muriel St. Ottawa, ON K1S 4E1 613-236-6006/613-236-6009 slalomprod.tv Sound Venture Productions Ottawa Ltd. 401-441 MacLaren St. Ottawa, ON K2P 2H3 613-241-5111/613-241-5010 soundventure.com Doomsday Studios Ltd. 212 James St. Ottawa, ON K1R 5M7 613-230-9769/613-230-6004 silverwatergoldensand.com Those Canadians Media Group 1142B Johnston Clapp Ln. Manotick, ON K4M 1A3 613-862-7351/WND thosecanadians.com Title Entertainment Inc. 200-428 Preston St. Ottawa, ON K1S 4N2 613-232-1255/613-232-9730 titleentertainment.com Capital Motion Picture Group Inc. 1825 Woodward Dr. Ottawa, ON K2C 0P9 613-656-3614/WND capitalmotionpicture.com Carte Blanche Films Inc. 2740B Queensview Dr. Ottawa, ON K2B 2A2 613-749-6157/WND carteblanchefilms.ca

7 2008

Rick Morrison, president

Brickleberry; Bounty Hunters; Magic Hockey Skates; Wild Grinders; F is For Family

Animation for film and online/interactive content.

Media production centre creating television shows, films, corporate videos and commercials, interactive applications, live event productions, computer-based training and web sites.

Producers of pre-school, tweens/kids and prime-time animated content.

7 2001

Cory Carlick, chief creative officer WND and CEO

6 2008

Marie-Pierre Gariépy, president and producer

Toi & Moi; Motel Monstre; Le rêve de Champlain; Garde-Manger; Ôchalet; Jérôme

Television; digital content production

6 1979

Tim Joyce, president and senior producer

Province House: A Building of Destiny; Drawn to Victory: The evolution of mapping in the First World War; L'anse Aux Meadows (Vikings): Completing the Circle

Turnkey video production services including script development, planning, shooting, editing, computer animation, sound recording and design, music scoring, web formatting and production management.

5 1985

Ramona Macdonald, president

Silver Water, Golden Sand; Her 9 Lives

Script writing; feature film development; feature film production; international sales; documentaries; consultation

Primarily involved in international projects for mass audience theatrical distribution

4 2013

Mike Wetmore, vice-president and partner

Ultimate Fighter Nations;

Full-service production collective

Full-service productions from concept to completion.

4 2004

Frank Taylor, president and CEO WND Sean Kiely, senior vice-president of operations

Original content production; mobile apps; games; educational tools; social media programs; large event management

WND

3 2011

WND Michael Dobbin, managing director Moretti Steve, corporate director

Theatrical, home and DVD distribution of Canadian entertainment.

WND

3 2008

Tracy Legault, president

Quiet Revolution Pictures 1825 Woodward Dr. Ottawa, ON K2C 0P9 613-656-3624/WND qrpictures.com Zed Filmorks 12-800 Industrial Ave. Ottawa, ON K1G 4B8 613-860-3030/613-860-3040 zedfilmworks.com GAPC Entertainment 102-1550 Laperriere Ave. Ottawa, ON K1Z 7T2 613-723-3316/WND gapcentertainment.com Mountain Road Productions 310 Beechgrove Ave. Ottawa, ON K1Z 6R3 613-237-4447/WND mountainroad.ca Kublacom Pictures Inc. 162 Hopewell Ave. Ottawa, ON K1S 2Z5 613-730-0823/WND kublacom.ca Parktown Studios 2-15 Antares Dr. Ottawa, ON K2E 7Y9 613-828-0505/WND parktown.ca

3 2000

Michael Dobbin, producer and managing director Andrew Rendall, operations manager

3 2007

WND

2 1999

Hoda Elatawi, senior producer

2 17 years

Tim Alp, executive producer

1 1996

1 2003

WND TV commercials; corporate videos; government videos; webcasting; music videos; training videos; product videos; live events; webcasting Presents stories that deal with French Canadians’ history, but that are also available and entertaining for all to watch. Incubator for established and new talent.

WND

Dramatic television in Northern Ontario. Production infrastructure that developed industry training programs and the creation of a local film and television workforce for northern Ontario.

Resolute; Away from Everywhere; Eddie Line producing; service production; executive Original motion picture producer, the Sleepwalking Cannibal; The Maiden producing; location services; motion picture service producer and specialist in international treaty co-production and Danced; Powerful: Energy for Everyone events management; story editing services; international film financing. development consulting services; training services WND Conception; research; scriptwriting; WND cinematography; sound recording; lighting and electrical; set design; editing; colour correction; titles and graphics; motion graphics; RedCode processing Canadian television production Produces television content across most MathPlosion; Muneeza in The Middle; genres, including docu-drama and children’s company creating programming for The Prime Radicals; SPELLZ; Life and national and international audiences Times of Christopher Plummer; Life and programs, performing arts, biopics, science across all platforms.

Times of Oscar Peterson; The Letters; The and history.

Great March WND Broadcast television; web series; web design; WND production services; post-production services; production management WND

English and French

Ed Kucerak, president

WND

Full range of video production services

WND

Richard Towns, president

WND

Studio space; equipment rentals; production services

WND

WND = Would not disclose Should your company be on this list? If so, please send details to research@obj.ca. This list is current as of Feburary 16, 2015 by Ottawa Business Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced by any method in whole or in part without written permission by Ottawa Business Journal. While every attempt is made to ensure the thoroughness and accuracy of the list, omissions and errors sometimes occur. Please send any corrections or additions by e-mail to research@obj.ca. OBJ lists are primarily compiled using information provided voluntarily by the organizations named. Some firms that may qualify for the list are not included because the company either failed to respond to requests for information by press time, because the company declined to take part in the survey or because of space constraints. Categories are drawn up in an attempt to gather information of relevance to the Ottawa market.

Research by Patti Moran. Please send questions and comments to research@obj.ca.

FOR THE RECORD People on the move Dean Faught has joined Collins Barrow WCM LLP as a principal.

His Cobden, Ont.,-area practice enlarges the firm’s foothold in the Ottawa Valley. Mr. Faught provides accounting, tax advisory and succession-planning services to owner-managed and mid-market businesses in farming, agriculture and manufacturing, in addition to not-forprofit organizations. e-djuster appointed Jeff Wissing as Director of Product Management, a new position in the company. Mr. Wissing will be the dedicated force behind the company’s product strategy and execution, setting the strategic vision and leading the

Contracts

The following contains information about recent contracts, standing offers and supply arrangements awarded to local firms.

Modis Canada Inc. 155 Queen St. Description: IT professional services Buyer: Canada Border Services Agency $9,978,038 S.i. Systems Ltd. 170 Laurier Ave. W. Description: IT professional services Buyer: Canada Border Services Agency $5,543,354 BluMetric Environmental Inc. 3108 Carp Rd. Description: Environmental impact studies Buyer: PWGSC $1,752,431

Rohde & Schwarz Canada Inc. 1 Hines Rd. Description: Test receiver Buyer: DND $1,483,259 Oracle Canada ULC 45 O’Connor St. Description: ADP software Buyer: RCMP $971,855

Tom McLeod, former vice-president of engineering services at Lytica, has been named the first CEO of Silecta, a new business spinoff of

Hats off Halogen Software has been recognized with two recent awards.

The company has been named category leader for its talent management solutions market segment in KLAS’s 2014 Best in KLAS: Software & Services report.

Halogen was also rated the topperforming talent management vendor in the KLAS 2014 report on human capital management.

Halogen was also named a leader by IDC Marketscape Integrated Talent

Management for both performance management and learning management.

Advanced Chippewa Technologies Inc. 802 Nesbitt Pl. Description: ADP

professional services Buyer: Canada Border Services Agency $942,420

Description: Underwater sound equipment Buyer: DND $308,308

Description: Generator maintenance Buyer: PWGSC $194,700

J.C. Sulpher Construction Ltd. 1525 Sieveright Rd. Description: Passenger elevator replacement Buyer: Canadian Space Agency $620,370

Computer Media Products Ltd. 1000 Thomas Spratt Pl. Description: Workstations and other components Buyer: PWGSC $269,424

St. Joseph Print Group Inc. 1165 Kenaston St. Description: Night order books Buyer: DND $183,529

Société Gamma Inc. 240 Bank St. Description: Translation services Buyer: PWGSC $264,442

Compuphile Systems Inc. 1530 Bank St. Description: ADP software Buyer: Department of Finance $172,217

Primex Project Management Ltd. 119 Walgreen Rd. Description: R&O deployable fire fighting unit Buyer: DND $565,000 Altis Human Resources (Ottawa) Inc. 102 Bank St. Description: Electro-optics specialist Buyer: DND $419,198 Solutions Informatiques D4 470 Vanier Description: General office help Buyer: PWGSC $400,000 Marcomm Systems Group Inc. 29 Antares Dr. Description: Communications security equipment and components Buyer: Correctional Service of Canada $362,030

FDF Group 193 Grey Fox Dr. Description: Commercial fitness equipment Buyer: DND $260,945 Anixter Canada Inc. 1550 Laperriere Ave. Description: Miscellaneous electrical and electronic components Buyer: Shared Services Canada $250,250 The Masha Krupp Translation Group Ltd. 1547 Merivale Rd. Description: Translation and editing services Buyer: Transportation Safety Board of Canada $229,950

Fawcett File & Storage Systems Inc. 2615 Lancaster Rd. Description: Mobile shelving units Buyer: Treasury Board of Canada $324,332

Sound Venture Productions Ottawa Ltd. 441 MacLaren St. Description: Audio visual production services Buyer: Parks Canada $225,943

General Dynamics Canada Ltd. 1941 Robertson Rd.

G.A.L. Power Systems Ottawa Ltd. 2558 Carp Rd.

Lowe-Martin Co. Inc. Box 9702 Description: Printing of C&I 1885 Buyer: Citizenship and Immigration Canada $166,643 Orangutech Inc. 116 Albert St.

Description: ADP software Buyer: Employment and Social Development Canada $150,353

software Buyer: DND $120,784

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

Excel Human Resources Inc. 102 Bank St. Description: TBIPS Web developer Buyer: DND $134,244 Dolomite Networks Corp.

123 Ossington Ave. Description: ADP input-output and storage devices Buyer: Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development $134,222 InfoVista Canada Inc. 71 Jean-Proulx Description: ADP software Buyer: RCMP $121,657

326 Moodie Drive 25,137 Square Feet (Can be subdivided) 100 On-site Parking!

www.clvrealty.com

• Masonry Repairs • Waterproofing • Caulking • Coatings • Concrete Repairs

RON JONAS 3717 St. Joseph Blvd, Orleans, ON, K1C 1T1 Tel: 613-837-0111 Fax: 613-837-6724 www.jonasrestoration.com

15 OBJ.CA

Veritaaq Technology House Inc. 2327 St. Laurent Blvd.

Description: Informatics

Stephan May has joined Welch LLP as head of its WelchGroup Consulting affiliate’s new M&A division. The former director of corporate development at TUC Brands, Mr. May will oversee a range of services for mid-market companies looking to buy and sell. Those include assistance with corporate financing, restructuring and partnerships. Mr. May comes to the position from Storeyworks Capital, where he was managing director.

Lytica’s supply chain consulting and services operations. Lytica’s former vice-president of sales and marketing, Mark Tayles, has been promoted to president and CEO of Lytica.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015

WPP Group Canada Communications Ltd. 55 Metcalfe St. Description: Digital engagement services Buyer: Health Canada $1,561,660

execution on all new features and products. He comes to the role from his recent position at ADTRAN and Objectworld, where he was a key member of the senior management team.

www.clvgroup.com 3196663

Celebrating our Top Achievers

Photo by: Jean-Marc Carisse

Congratulations to our successful 2014 Chartered Accountant Uniform Evaluation writers in our Ottawa and Kanata offices.

After much hard work and commitment, these talented KPMG professionals passed the demanding final examinations required to receive their Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) designation.

Left to Right Back Row: Pat Chiarello, Heruka Kumararatne, Ryan Kelso, Ghislain Leblanc, Wesley Bruchhaeuser.

Left to Right Middle Row: Vincent Trottier, Todd Chapman, Dennis Weatherdon, Abdirizak Abdi.

Left to Right Front Row: Colin Muir, Leah Swanstrom, Alanna Favretto, Nicole Van Oosten, Jessica Samson, Matthew Guido, Kiran Singh, Darren Macrae.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015

Absent from photo: Andra Radacina Rusu.

OBJ.CA

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These individuals have displayed talent, dedication and a commitment to excellence – qualities important to us and to the clients we serve.

Their success will be celebrated at the CPA Ontario Annual Convocation Ceremony in Toronto on February 28th. kpmg.ca © 2015 KPMG LLP, a Canadian limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved. 8385