Ottawa Business Journal January 2019

LOCAL FIRM HONES IN ON DRONES

THE LOOKAHEAD ISSUE

What to watch in 2019

HILL VISITORS GOING WEST

PAUL LOUCKS BACK IN THE C-SUITE

CONDOS RISING AGAIN January 2019 Vol. 21, NO. 24

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PROSPECTUS THE QUEEN IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE QUEEN Standing at the corner of Queen Street and O’Connor Street is a somewhat disorienting experience these days.

For years, the street was nondescript at best.

On a cold December evening, you can start to imagine the future of the street that sits above LRT’s Confederation Line.

At the east end, the $100-million spent rejuvenating the National Arts Centre is brilliantly on display. The 20-metre-high Kipnes Lantern is lit up like a giant Christmas present.

And, at the intersection in question, a Christmas light-like display is also illuminating entrances into the train tunnel below.

Back at street level, barren asphalt streets are now dressed up with paving stones, giving the area a much more walkable feel.

Finally, the dark curtains that once cloaked Hy’s Steakhouse have been thrown away, revealing the much more boisterous Queen St. Fare food hall accompanied by the thumpthump of live DJ music. (The 9,000-squarefoot blend of upscale eateries, a cocktail bar and a live music stage opened in early December in the space Hy’s vacated three years ago. Before the food hall, the only boisterous activity on Queen Street was likely the rabble around the Glue Pot Pub and Barbarella’s.)

The owners of Sun Life Financial Centre (a.k.a. 50 O’Connor and 99 Bank) have clearly brought into Queen Street’s future, spending

millions on renovations and attracting new tenants such as Telfer EMBA and Nelligan O’Brien Payne LLP. (The building is also Ottawa’s first to gain LEED Platinum and BOMA Best Platinum status for green building efficiency.)

Now look farther west. This is harder to see.

At the end of Queen Street is the future site of the joint City of Ottawa and Archives Canada library, the so-called “super library.” The $193-million project took a step closer to reality in mid-November when Diamond Schmitt Architects of Toronto and KWC Architects of Ottawa won the design competition. (It’s interesting this is the same design partnership that undertook the NAC’s transformation at the other end of Queen Street.)

The NAC and super library will neatly bookend Queen Street, creating a much more lively corridor than ever before.

With LRT, better buildings, improved entertainment options and a trend for burgeoning tech companies such as Klipfolio and SurveyMonkey to settle downtown, it’s easy to see a more promising future for this once-tired old street.

The Queen is dead, long live the Queen.

@objpublisher Michael Curran

ON THE STREETS The Networker is the official publication of the Kanata North Business Association and includes news, features and events from Canada’s largest technology park.

The latest issue looks at InGenius CEO Dale Gantous’s tech bubble-bust-boom survival story, goes behind the University of Ottawa’s western expansion, explores Kanata’s budding cannabis cluster and takes stock of the area’s growing number of craft breweries.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE EMPLOYEES’ CHOICE AWARDS Meet Ottawa’s top employers, as selected by these leading organizations’ own staff, and learn how to boost engagement in your workplace, starting on page 20.

OBJ.SOCIAL Columnist Caroline Phillips has a multimedia behind-the-scenes look at Ottawa’s top galas, fundraisers and networking events, starting on page 29.

TECHOPIA Craig Lord makes his predictions on the Ottawa tech firms that will be dominating headlines in 2019 on page 34 and runs down 2018’s top stories in tech from the latest episode of Techopia Live on page 37.

Le Baccara JANUARY 2019

Bold gastronomic pleasure If you’re a foodie, you’ll love CAA-AAA Five Diamond rated Le Baccara. You can watch the team in the open kitchen prepare succulent and inventive dishes with local products.

A gourmet experience Le Baccara offers French-inspired cuisine for an unforgettable dining experience. You will be well served with our prize-winning cellar, where thousands of fine wines are stored, ready to tantalize your palate.

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FEB. 12

Mayor’s Breakfast

JAN. 17

Local Breakfast Series

This new breakfast series, brought to you by the Ottawa Board of Trade and Ottawa Business Journal, will be particularly focused on suburban communities in Ottawa, such as Kanata, Nepean and Orl​éans. It will explore local business issues and provide OBOT members in these communities with nearby networking events. The first event of 2019 will be a political panel with city councillors from the west end. Confirmed panelists include councillors Allan Hubley and Eli El-Chantiry. Visit www.ottawabot.ca.

FEB. 8

Kaleidoscope of Hope Soirée

Sharon and Tony House founded Kaleidoscope of Hope in 2011 in direct response to the shortage of support facilities and programs for youth as well as parents who are desperately seeking help.

Through their research, they discovered the Youth Services Bureau walk-in clinic, which, at the time, was open only one day a week. Realizing the critical importance of this program, the couple organized the inaugural Kaleidoscope of Hope Gala to raise money to expand the reach and capacity of the walk-in clinic. To date, the Kaleidoscope of Hope has raised $755,000 for its beneficiaries. In February, the gala takes place at Infinity Centre with a theme of “Start A Fire.” Visit www.kaleidoscopeofhope.ca.

FEB. 9

Sens Soirée

This annual event is the highlight of the year for the Ottawa Senators Foundation and its VIP attendees.

This year is sure to be extra special as a new crop of young Sens stars get up close and personal with fans at this posh gala. Ferguslea Properties is back as lead sponsor to help “change the game” for youth in our community by providing mental health support and resources. The theme for 2019 is “Saturday Night Fever” and the event takes place at the Westin Ottawa. Visit www.sensfoundation.com/soiree.

is within us.

Read our story at bit.ly/Merkburn

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www.merkburn.com

Success

JANUARY 2019

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1969-2019

Carleton University has a new president, and he will make one of his first public presentations at the Mayor’s Breakfast in February. Dr. Benoit-Antoine Bacon was appointed as the university’s 15th president and started his five-year term in July.

Before this appointment, Bacon served as provost and VP academic at both Queen’s University and Concordia University.

At Queen’s, Bacon was responsible for developing the university’s budget, a skill that might become even more important as Ontario’s Conservative government looks to tackle the provincial deficit. He holds a PhD in neuropsychology and researched the links between brain activity and perception in the visual and auditory systems. Visit www.ottawabot.ca.

EXECUTIVE BRIEFS

LOCAL

Council backs pot retail in Ottawa

M&A

CareWorx acquires Vancouver IT firm

An Ottawa-based provider of managed IT services and senior care technology now has a presence from coast to coast after acquiring a Vancouver firm in midDecember.

CareWorx, a local company founded in 2006 that now employs about 175 people in eastern Canada and the United States, bought West Coast managed services firm Fully Managed Technology in a cash-and-stock deal that closed Dec. 10. Financial terms were not released.

CareWorx CEO Mark Scott will remain chief executive of the newly combined firm. Fully Managed founder Chris Day will sit on the combined firm’s board of directors, while the company’s former CEO, Joel Abramson, will become executive vice-president and general manager of the managed services division.

Now known as CareWorx Fully Managed, the company will have 270 employees in the managed services, enterprise service management and senior care sectors, including about 70 in Ottawa. The combined operation will have more than 2,000 customers across North America.

It’s hard to believe nobody’s perhaps thought of this before.

–​ BENTALL KENNEDY VP AND GM SEAN O’SULLIVAN ON QUEEN ST. FARE, ​ OTTAWA’S FIRST FOOD HALL

TECH

Matthews leaves Mitel board Mitel’s anticipated $2-billion acquisition

by Searchlight Capital in December saw the company’s co-founder Terry Matthews leave his role as chairman.

The company’s board of directors has resigned alongside the tech titan, while CFO Steve Spooner and vice-presidents Gregory Hiscock and Stavros Pethakas will join the new board.

Matthews, a Wales-born entrepreneur, co-founded Mitel in 1972 with partner Michael Cowpland. He went on to found Newbridge Networks, investment firm

Wesley Clover International and more than 100 other firms – all while remaining as Mitel’s chairman. He also owns KRP Properties, the Brookstreet Hotel and the Marshes Golf Club in Kanata.

The acquisition also means the end of Mitel’s second run as a public company. CEO Rich McBee told OBJ earlier in 2018 that the return to private operations will allow the company to focus on its longterm strategy of converting on-premise customers to its cloud-based solution.

Mitel shareholders voted 98 per cent in favour of the acquisition this past summer.

City councillors unanimously voted to allow pot storefronts in Ottawa, though the decision was not a smooth one.

A staff recommendation projected market demand for between 34 and 69 cannabis shops in Ottawa and included the results of a recent online survey, in which three-quarters of respondents indicated support for local pot shops.

Many of the city councillors expressed concern with a lack of zoning bylaw control over where cannabis storefronts will be placed. Applications to open a pot shop anywhere in the province are to be reviewed by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.

Municipalities get to vote on opting out of allowing cannabis retailers to set up shop, but once a city has opted in, the decision can’t be reversed.

Mayor Jim Watson was among those who voiced concerns over allowing cannabis retail in Ottawa, but ultimately said opting out wouldn’t be realistic – especially with Gatineau selling cannabis across the river.

Ot

JANUARY 2019 OBJ.CA

IDENCE BUSINESS CONFTA IN THE CAPI L MARKET OUTLOOK

HIRING INTENTIONS

WORKPLACE TRENDS

MAYOR’S RATING

Download the full report at www.ottawabusinesssurveyreport.ca

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The RISING MINIMUM WAGE is having a negative impact on more than two in five local businesses

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with our clients that drives their success and ours,” says Lyons.

SHIFTING TO NEW MARKETING TRENDS

Navigating new media landscape, Ottawa’s Alphabet® Creative bolsters executive ranks with CEO Regan Mathurin brings leadership, extensive industry experience to growing agency

How to make the most of your ad dollars Many businesses question how to position their brand on a limited budget. Lyons recommends using the following equation: Share of Voice + Share of Mind = Share of Market. He says the focus should be on strengthening the emotional message – the Share of Mind – in order to optimize your connection with customers and maximize your reach.

“You want a message that really resonates with your audience because you won’t be able to reach everyone,” says Lyons.

JANUARY 2019

As new digital tools continue to reshape the marketing industry, successful creative agencies are using their advertising and communications expertise to help their clients tackle complex business challenges.

And, in the case of Ottawa-based Alphabet®, they’re also investing in top talent to stay ahead in a shifting market.

In 2015, the creative services agency hired seasoned marketing executive Regan Mathurin as its account director, capitalizing on her more than 15 years of experience at advertising agencies across Canada.

This year, the company took another step forward and promoted Mathurin to become the agency’s new CEO. “We wanted someone with senior leadership, that has a focused approach on business, is ambitious and

creative,” says Alphabet founder Tony Lyons. “Regan has had a positive impact on our mentorship and leadership. As a result, we’ve grown our revenue and our client base significantly.”

In addition to bolstering internal processes around client service and recruitment, Mathurin sharpened Alphabet’s focus on industries and sectors in which the agency specializes.

“We think more like a big company now,” says Mathurin. “We should never want to be everything to everybody. Instead, we want to define who we are, what areas of business we want to focus on and invest in people.”

What makes Alphabet unique is its approach to business. The agency uses the creative process as a method to address its clients’ desired business outcomes, specifically building marketing campaigns in which companies can make emotional connections with customers.

“It’s that level of empathy and holistic thinking that help us build really strong long-term partnerships

The diverse associations sector is one industry in which Alphabet has honed its expertise. Association marketing is about more than serving members and increasingly encompasses the positioning of associations within their industry and creating strong brands. Alphabet has worked with major national associations to help build highly resonant brand messaging that drives not only member and customer behaviour, but also connections to key government decision makers.

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is one of Alphabet’s clients. Alphabet took a 360-degree approach, creating a content marketing campaign driven by market research that included online success stories, video storytelling and social media engagement to raise awareness and drives sales leads for .CA domains.

“Alphabet helped us crystallize our message and react quickly to ever-changing market conditions,” says David Fowler, CIRA’s vice-president of marketing and communications. “We’ve seen increased sales as a result, which in a highly competitive market like domains is quite an accomplishment.”

Tourism marketing is another core sector for Alphabet that’s rapidly evolving. Alphabet partner Cathy Kirkpatrick says tourism marketing is no longer limited to attracting out-of-town visitors.

“Telling the authentic story about a place is important to locals as well,” says Kirkpatrick. “Tourism marketing is also about attracting a workforce.”

Need help with your marketing campaign? Visit Alphabet at https://www.alphabetcreative.com/.

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UP CLOSE

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT MIKE CLELAND AND BOB JARDINE:

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One of Cleland’s favourite projects was his pro bono work on the building of Roger Neilson House, a pediatric palliative care and respite home located on the grounds of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. He got involved through his friend, the late Roly Hein of R.E. Hein Construction.

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Jardine started working at age eight in his parents’ fish and chips restaurant and general store in St. John’s. He sold candy and cigarettes, if you can believe it. And when the potato peeler for the french fries broke down, he was called in to peel the taters by hand.

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Cleland and his wife of 41 years, Karen, have three children and seven grandchildren.

4 Bob Jardine (left) and Mike Cleland have been business partners at Cleland Jardine Engineering since 1993.

Engineering an enduring partnership Twenty-five years after launching their business, consultants Mike Cleland and Bob Jardine aren’t taking their legacy of success for granted JANUARY 2019

BY CAROLINE PHILLIPS

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caroline@obj.ca

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ometimes, if you really want to get ahead, you have to break from the pack.

That’s what structural engineer Mike Cleland realized as he convinced his colleague, Bob Jardine, to make the jump into entrepreneurship with him.

Together, they tossed around their

thoughts and ideas, and weighed the pros and cons of starting their own business.

Most of their discussions took place at the Lieutenant’s Pump, a popular Ottawa pub on Elgin Street.

“I was an associate at the firm we were both working at and I knew it was going to take years for me to get to the point where I would have control,” says Cleland, who was also raising a family at the time.

“We decided, ultimately, to give it a

go,” says Jardine. “Ninety per cent of the battle is having the guts to go do it.”

The men launched their structural engineering consultancy firm, Cleland Jardine Engineering, on March 1, 1993.

Cleland’s role model and mentor was the late John Adjeleian, a preeminent structural engineer in Ottawa. He was saddened to see Cleland and Jardine leave the firm and strike out on their own.

“But he was quite understanding and supportive,” says Cleland, who is company president while Jardine is chief operating officer.

Cleland Jardine Engineering started from humble beginnings; the founders barely earned a salary during their first couple of years as they invested everything back into the company. Today, the company has the largest structural

Jardine took up martial arts to spend time with his twin boys, who are now 23 years old. Not only did he earn his third-degree black belt, he also learned many useful instructional and leadership concepts that he still uses today.

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Cleland is part-owner of a hunt camp near Ompah, but he goes there just to socialize and get away with his buddies. He doesn’t even own a gun.

office in the region. It employs 55 fulltime staff, with offices in Ottawa and Toronto, and has handled some 20,000 projects over its 25 years, from condo and office buildings to single-storey strip malls, schools and hospitals in places throughout the region such as Pembroke, Winchester, Hawkesbury and Kingston.

It’s done work on all three campuses of the Ottawa Hospital and was involved with the recent $180-million expansion of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.

Since 2006, the company’s office space at 580 Terry Fox Dr. has undergone three major expansions and is preparing to grow again. It’s all part of the company’s philosophy to keep improving and changing.

“Complacency kills business,” says Jardine. “If you get complacent with your

clients, there’s always somebody else waiting in the wings to take over. If you get complacent with your employees and take them for granted, they’ll go somewhere else. If you get complacent with running the business as it relates to day-to-day operations, things will go astray.”

Says Cleland of change: “You have to stir the pot, otherwise everything just gets stuck to the bottom.”

Complacency kills business.

–​ Bob Jardine, co-founder of Cleland Jardine Engineering

‘SYMBIOTIC’ BOND

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Cleland Jardine Engineering has also grown its partnership group over the years to include André Marcoux, Matthew Jaynes, Brian Johnson, Rob Nevin and Ryan Munden.

While engineering has traditionally been a male-dominated profession, the number of female hires is on the rise due to their strong technical qualifications and communication skills, Jardine and Cleland say.

The founders describe their working relationship with one another as “symbiotic.” Cleland is an expert in the design of new buildings while Jardine’s specialty is in repairing and fixing existing ones.

Cleland, 63, of Almonte, earned his engineering degree from Carleton University and currently sits on the faculty’s advisory board. Jardine, 58, is originally from St. John’s and came to Ottawa to find a job after graduating from engineering at Memorial University. He met Cleland when he started working for their former employer in 1986.

Cleland Jardine Engineering recently celebrated its 25-year anniversary with a big bash for 300 people at the Infinity Convention Centre. Its first employee, associate Sharon Hagen, remains with the company after a quarter of a century.

“We’re just two people; that’s all we are: two people,” says Jardine. “There are 53 other people that make the company what it is. It’s the efforts of those people that contribute to the success and to where we are today.”

REAL ESTATE

Condo market trending skyward in capital: Experts JANUARY 2019

Supply glut is gone and builders are ready to respond to pent-up demand in 2019, realtors and developers say

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BY DAVID SALI

david@obj.ca

D

uring a stopover in Ottawa in late summer, Toronto-based condo developer Brad Lamb made it clear he believed condos were a commodity on the rise ​– literally and figuratively –​ in the National Capital Region.

After years of overbuilding that created a condo glut earlier in the decade, Lamb predicted developers would soon be scrambling to meet pent-up demand in a red-hot market with a robust local economy and a housing supply that was still relatively affordable in comparison with larger centres such as Toronto and Vancouver.

“As the inventory gets down close to zero and it tightens up, you’re going to see more and more developers announcing projects,” said Lamb, adding he was hearing “bold new ideas” for future properties in Ottawa.

“Part of it is price, but more of it is a general sense of well-being. If you feel that you’re going to have a job tomorrow, you might rent. If you feel you’re going to have a job in three years, you might buy. You make long-term plans. I think people in Ottawa were not making long-term plans four years ago, maybe even two years ago, but now they are.”

And as a result, so are condo builders.

Lamb’s second local development, the 20-storey, $90-million SoBa development on Catherine Street, features 209 suites and is slated to open in February.

The man known as Toronto’s “condo king” is among several developers set to bring new properties on the market or break ground on condo projects in Ottawa in 2019, keen on delivering new product to a market with Ontario’s highest annual median income at more than $86,000 and an unemployment rate south of five per cent.

Mastercraft Starwood, for example, says it will put shovels in the ground later this spring on its long-awaited Soho Italia building. The 30-storey, 250-unit project at 500 Preston St., just steps from the Carling LRT station, has been in the planning stages for more than half a dozen years and now appears to finally be a go.

A block south at the corner of Preston and Carling Avenue, Claridge’s 45-storey Icon tower is taking shape. The 147-metre highrise will be Ottawa’s tallest building when completed, and is an apt metaphor for a condo market that’s trending upward again.

Rick Eisert, a broker at Royal LePage Team Realty and a past-president of the Ottawa Real Estate Board, said condos – particularly in the more affordable $175,000-to-$350,000 range – are being snapped up at a rate that could exhaust the city’s supply before too long.

TWO MONTHS’ INVENTORY Local realtors sold 101 apartment units in that price bracket in November, Eisert said, representing two-thirds of all condo transactions in the city. With just 198 listings in that segment left in Ottawa’s resale inventory, he said that equates to

roughly two months’ supply.

The condo glut of a few years ago has “all been eaten up and there’s very little left,” the veteran realtor explained. “It’s ridiculous.”

The market has become just as tight for newly built units. According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., the total number of completed and unsold condos in Ottawa has plummeted from nearly 700 at the beginning of 2016 to just 176 in November, the lowest total in nearly four-and-a-half years.

“Demand has strengthened, both on the new home market for condominium apartments as well as on the resale front,” says Anne-Marie Shaker, a senior market analyst with CMHC. Industry insiders say tougher mortgage rules and rising interest rates mean people looking to jump into the housing market for the first time are increasingly turning to condos as a way to get their foot in the real-estate door.

“It truly is now the most affordable option,” said Ross Tavel, an agent at Coldwell Banker Sarazen Realty. “I think people are more comfortable with condos. Young people want to be in the market, and this is truly the best avenue for them. The baby boomers are taking a lot longer to get into the condo market, but they certainly are fuelling it as well.”

Eisert says with the federal government continuing to add to its payroll and the downtown tech sector on a roll, 2019 could be the year of the condo in Ottawa.

“There’s reasons for people to want to move to Ottawa, and part of it too is that we’re still No. 1 in terms of affordability nationally,” he says. “We have lots of buyers coming into the market. Two months of inventory, that’s not a good market for anybody to be in. In order for us to have a healthier market, we are going to need more inventory.”

Tavel agreed, saying he’s “bullish” on the local condo market’s prospects for the year ahead.

“There seems to be this migration of people who are saying, ‘Ottawa, there’s jobs there,’” he notes. “They’re coming with money; they’re getting good jobs. These are people who want to be downtown, they want to be central. To them, relative to where they’re coming from, (the condo market is) incredibly affordable in their eyes.”

REAL ESTATE: YEAR IN REVIEW

Urban tech makes its mark on Ottawa real estate market F

ollowing a year highlighted by a growing downtown tech presence, local real estate observers say they’ll be watching whether Ottawa’s central office market can continue to accommodate an expanding public and private sector in 2019.

Bolstered by the likes of Telesat, SurveyMonkey, Klipfolio and Shopify, Ottawa’s downtown office vacancy rate fell from 9.5 per cent in December 2017 to 7.5 per cent at the end of the third quarter in 2018, according to statistics from CBRE. It’s particularly notable that it’s these tech firms – not just the federal government – that are taking large blocks of space, said Bernie Myers, senior vicepresident of real property at the Regional Group.

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Explore the trends and developments shaping the capital’s commercial property market.

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Thanks to our sponsors Mann Lawyers and CBRE Ottawa.

“(The industry is not) just waiting for growth in the government,” he said.

“The private sector is doing its part and absorbing space, making downtown their home and reducing vacancy.”

The tenant mix in Ottawa’s central

business district is also shifting and reached a tipping point in 2018, said Shawn Hamilton, a senior vice-president and managing director in CBRE’s Ottawa office.

“Urban technology now occupies

more space in our downtown core than the legal and accounting communities combined,” he says.

LOOKAHEAD Despite the growth of urban tech tenants, the federal government remains the region’s largest space user and continues to hold significant influence over the market.

Myers said Public Services and Procurement Canada is continuing to transition out of some of its older buildings and move federal staff into newer accommodations.

“You’ll see increasing demand for better-quality real estate for government employees,” he said.

All these factors are combining to reduce the number of options available to large tenants and push rents up close to a level that could trigger the construction of a new downtown build, Myers said.

“We’re not quite there yet,” Myers said. “As long as there is existing space available that can compete for those needs, it’s highly unlikely you’re going to see a new build. But that can change.”

WHAT LEGAL ISSUES WILL SHAPE THE REAL ESTATE SECTOR IN 2019?

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Ted Mann is the managing partner of Mann Lawyers

JANUARY 2019

Watch the Ottawa Real Estate Show

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ARTS

Studios fuelling cartoon boom in capital Vancouver-based company the latest animation powerhouse to tap into Ottawa’s world-class talent and facilities

BY DAVID SALI

david@obj.ca

F

rom his office in what used to be known as “Animation Alley,” Chris Wightman sees an industry drawing momentum.

Wightman, a digital media expert and former Olympic athlete, is the manager of the city’s newest animation studio, Atomic Cartoons Ottawa.

The production hub for Vancouverbased multimedia firm Thunderbird Entertainment Group opened on Wellington Street West in early December with a handful of employees

and big plans to expand.

Noting that the city’s first animation studio, Crawley Films, was located just a few blocks away on Fairmount Avenue, Wightman says it’s fitting that Atomic chose to set up shop in Hintonburg in a space once occupied by another key local player in the animation industry, Amberwood Entertainment.

“We’re really excited to be back in the neighbourhood and continuing that animation heritage where it all began,” he says.

Founded nearly two decades ago, Atomic Cartoons now employs 500 people in Vancouver. With its West Coast

office bursting at the seams and a major new contract with a huge U.S. streaming service on the horizon, the firm scouted potential expansion sites across Canada.

“I know Ottawa; I love Ottawa,” says Thunderbird Entertainment CEO Jennifer Twiner McCarron, a journalism graduate of Carleton University who attended film school in Vancouver and joined Atomic in 2011, four years before it merged with its parent company. “It just felt right on every level.”

OTTAWA’S ANIMATED HISTORY Wightman and Twiner McCarron say the capital’s rich animation history and

critical mass of companies were key factors in Thunderbird’s decision to come to the city.

The Ottawa International Animation Festival, held each fall, is North America’s largest such event.

Meanwhile, seven major studios now call the city home, employing almost 1,000 animators who create content for companies from Disney to Marvel.

“They’re bringing world-class productions in and there’s world-class talent coming here,” Wightman says.

Twiner McCarron says the office will grow slowly at first, employing about half a dozen people in the early going.

But she expects Atomic’s Ottawa branch to be buzzing with up to 200 employees in the not-too-distant future as more projects come down the pipeline.

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Hydro Ottawa donation helps open doors of new Rose Ages Breast Health Centre at The Ottawa Hospital Centre will accommodate up 1,000 breast cancer patients per year

cancer patients per year and up to 20,000 patients through the centre for diagnostic imaging.

The donation to the Rose Ages Breast Health Centre illustrates how Hydro Ottawa recognizes the important role the company can play in creating a strong, supportive community. To learn more about how Hydro Ottawa gives back, visit http://bit.ly/ Hydro-Ottawa-giving.

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the enthusiastic support of Hydro Ottawa employees, suppliers and industry partners at its annual charity golf tournament.

“We’re a local company, and we believe it’s our responsibility to help make our community a better place. It’s thanks to our employee’s commitment to our community that Hydro Ottawa was able to commit to raising this donation,” says Bryce Conrad, president and CEO at Hydro Ottawa. “The new Breast Health Centre is certainly delivering the very best care to patients. We’re proud to support this warm and welcoming facility that must bring a great deal of comfort and hope to patients and their families.”

The centre can accommodate up to 1,000 breast

JANUARY 2019

It’s hard to find someone who hasn’t been touched by breast cancer. According to the Canadian Cancer Society, one in eight women will battle the disease during their lifetime.

To help improve care, The Ottawa Hospital recently opened the Rose Ages Breast Health Centre, which offers expertise in breast imaging, diagnosis, risk assessment, surgical planning and psychosocial support. The centre – now the largest of its kind in Canada – was made possible in part through the generosity of many.

Hydro Ottawa employees, for one, have pledged $1 million over a five year period to fully equip an entire mammography room. This donation is based on

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Small business and the tax revolt The dust has settled: Where do we stand?

When Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced proposed changes to federal income tax legislation in 2017, he infuriated owners of small and mediumsized businesses, the backbone of the Canadian economy.

What Morneau framed as a tax on the rich was nothing of the sort, said business owners. It was, they said, an attack on those who risk everything to start a business, and for whom long-standing supportive tax legislation can be an economic lifeline.

As the furore built, the Senate National Finance Committee launched its own cross-Canada tour to seek input from stakeholders, and, among other recommendations, urged the government to put the changes on ice for a year to better assess the ramifications.

Morneau also invited input from the business community during his own in-person “listening tour.”

At issue were tax on split income (TOSI) rules and income from passive investments (i.e., investments not directly related to the business enterprise).

Faced with a sustained backlash, Morneau softened the proposed measures – a little – and went ahead with cuts to the small business tax rate. In 2019, the combined federal/Ontario small business tax rate will be 12.5 per cent, compared to its precut high of 15 per cent.

So, what do those owners of small and mediumsized businesses need to know now that the dust has settled?

Chad Saikaley is a partner at GGFL and the firm’s head of tax.

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JANUARY 2019

Good news

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“The measures are not as punitive as they were initially,” says Chad Saikaley, a GGFL partner and the firm’s head of tax. “But, if the government had waited for that year recommended by the Senate, they could have arrived at better solutions.”

“When people go into business, they put everything on the line,” says Saikaley. “They have no pension plan and, initially at least, are often not drawing a full salary. Income splitting with a family member offers some financial support to the entrepreneur.”

Saikaley concedes that some tightening of the

TOSI rules was justified.

“Some wealthier people were abusing income splitting; so, to a degree, you could understand the need for changes,” he says. “But, the government measures went way beyond what was necessary.”

The bad news today is that the tax picture is bleaker for small and medium-sized business owners.

The good news is that tax reduction and deferral opportunities are still available.

“Even with the passive income rules, you can

still defer tax for an operating business that uses earnings to re-invest in the business,” says Saikaley.

“And don’t abandon the idea of a family trust,” he advises. “They still have value.”

“At the outset, many incorrectly assumed that there was no longer a benefit to having a family trust. We never believed that at GGFL, because there was always more to a trust than income splitting.”

Among other benefits, a trust can offer creditor protection of assets, opportunities to move wealth from one generation to the next, and can minimize the tax implications on death.

“The bottom line is that the federal changes have left small and medium-sized Canadian businesses worse off, but not without opportunity to alleviate their tax burdens,” says Saikaley.

“The changes do make it less attractive to be an entrepreneur in Canada,” he adds. “You have to be more sure of your financial prospects, and that means less risk taking.”

TOURISM PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON

PHOTO PROVIDED

PHOTO PROVIDED The refurbished Government Conference Centre is now the new home of the Senate and will be open to the public for the first time in decades.

Tourism officials on board with old station’s new look

Newly named Senate of Canada Building open to the public for the first time in a generation starting in February

BY DAVID SALI

david@obj.ca

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t’s opened its doors to the King of Rock and Roll, the Queen Mother and Winston Churchill over the past century, but practically no ordinary Canadian has been inside Ottawa’s former train station across from the Chateau Laurier in more than a generation.

That’s about to change. The iconic Beaux-Arts structure that spent the past 50 years hosting high-level Canadian government meetings and landmark

and arched Diocletian windows from the inside.

“Once they know that they can get in that building, I think there will be a lot of people who want to see it,” the local tourism agency’s chief spokesperson says.

Opened in 1912 as Union Station, Ottawa’s latest downtown tourist attraction nearly met the wrecker’s ball when trains were rerouted to a new suburban station in 1966. It was saved, renamed the Government Conference Centre and hosted a multitude of

momentous closed-door discussions ​– including talks that set the stage for the repatriation of the Constitution in 1982 ​ – over the next several decades.

Now it’s back, with upgrades that include a new six-storey facade on the east wall featuring Indiana limestone pillars and walnut panels in the Senate chamber with carved shields of Canada’s provinces and territories gilded in gold leaf.

“It’s a beautiful space, and I think that it helps Canadians reflect on their heritage and history and the meaning of these buildings to our landscape and to our heritage, our history and our future,” says Rob Wright, assistant deputy minister for the parliamentary precinct for Public Services and Procurement Canada.​ Whether Canadians will flock to see it is still an open question, but local tourism officials are optimistic the novelty factor will come into play. In

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international conferences is set to become the home of the Senate for the next decade or so while Parliament Hill’s Centre Block undergoes a multibilliondollar refurbishment.

After six years of work and almost $220 million in renovations, the newly christened Senate of Canada Building will begin welcoming the public for tours on Feb. 1. Ottawa Tourism’s Jantine Van Kregten is pumped that visitors to Canada’s capital will finally get the chance to check out the building’s majestic five-storey-high coffered ceiling

PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON

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Ottawa Tourism: Five trends to follow in 2019 See what’s new for visitors and residents alike in Canada’s capital

JANUARY 2019

Changes to the capital’s most recognizable landmark, the opening of several new attractions and major anniversary celebrations by some of the city’s most popular festivals are among the milestones in store for Ottawa’s tourism sector in 2019.

Jantine Van Kregten, Ottawa Tourism’s director of communications, says “2019 will be a pivotal year in tourism because we have so many changes ahead.”

Here’s what to watch in 2019:

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1Changes on Parliament Hill

Visiting Parliament Hill is a classic Canadian experience that will change significantly for visitors over the coming years.

Renovations to Centre Block are scheduled to start early in 2019 and last a decade, closing the iconic building to the public.

But the Centre Block renovation doesn’t mean Parliament Hill is off limits. On the contrary – a brand-new Visitor Welcome Centre, located between West Block and Centre Block, is scheduled to open when the new tours begin. Tours are already available for booking through the new online reservation system at visit.parl.ca.

Additionally, the long-awaited new temporary House of Commons, located in the West Block courtyard, will open to the public. And, just down Rideau Street, the former Government Conference Centre inside Ottawa’s former train station will reopen as the temporary home of the Senate, marking the first time in a generation that the historic building will be accessible to the public.

“It’s a gorgeous space,” says Van Kregten, noting that it was modelled on New York’s historic Penn Station and was where the country’s political leaders came together to negotiate the Meech Lake Accord. “It’s a great opportunity to go, even if you’ve been to Parliament Hill before.”

2 Light rail opens

The new LRT line is expected to be a boon to the tourism sector. Van Kregten says organizers and attendees of downtown conventions will benefit as the rapid-transit line helps visitors move around the city.

“Neighbourhoods like Wellington West or St. Laurent will be more accessible to tourists,” says Van Kregten. “People are more open to go on a train instead of a bus. A few stops on the train from the Rideau station to different malls and attractions will be a huge improvement.”

3Festival anniversaries

Some well-known music festivals will be marking major anniversaries in 2019. Ottawa Bluesfest and Chamberfest both turn 25 this year. Chamberfest – the world’s largest chamber music festival – has already started its celebrations with special performances throughout the year. Elsewhere, Music and Beyond, a classical music and arts festival that was named the 2018 Event of the Year

by Ottawa Tourism, is marking its 10th anniversary.

The National Arts Centre will celebrate its 50th anniversary with the launch of a new Indigenous theatre program. La Nouvelle Scène Gilles Desjardins, home of four different French theatre groups, marks its 20th anniversary.

And, this spring, the Canadian Tulip Festival will devote an exhibit to mark the 20th anniversary of the sister city agreement between Ottawa and Beijing by featuring a floral display dedicated to the friendship between Canada and China.

4New canal walkway

A new pedestrian bridge will link Old Ottawa East and the Glebe across the Rideau Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Flora Footbridge is located between Fifth Avenue and Clegg Street and is expected to be completed in late summer.

Van Kregten says the bridge will give people different alternatives to getting to Lansdowne Park while improving connectivity between two of the city’s central neighbourhoods.

5New attractions

The Canada Science and Technology Museum (which opened after renovations just over a year ago) will open its Collection Conservation Centre next door starting in 2019. The centre holds the majority of the museum’s artifacts and will offer guided tours.

Back downtown, the new memorial to the victims of communism is expected to open near Library and Archives Canada on Wellington Street.

When planning your next adventure, check out www.ottawatourism.ca for more information.

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Once they know that they can get in that building, I think there will be a lot of people who want to see it. ​ – Ottawa Tourism spokesperson Jantine Van Kregten on the former Government Conference Centre, now known as the Senate of Canada Building

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That’s music to Crockatt’s ears, but the city’s tourism boss is already looking ahead to 2020 and beyond. Ottawa Tourism is lobbying the feds hard for a decorative trompe l’oeil to cover Centre Block and the Peace Tower and give visitors a photo-worthy replacement.

A spokesperson for Public Services and Procurement Canada, which is responsible for the renovation project, says a decision on whether such a shroud will be used will be made closer to the installation date.

Crockatt says the feds are well aware of the Hill’s importance as a tourist draw, and he’s confident they’ll make the right call.

“Are people still going to be able to come and take that iconic shot of the most photographed, the most Instagrammed, building in our city?” he says.

Van Kregten says the local tourism industry should be in for a healthy 2019, with noteworthy events such as the 25th anniversary of Bluesfest helping drive traffic to the capital.

“You’re still getting the grandeur of Parliament Hill (this summer),” she says.

“It’ll be a nice transition year.”

JANUARY 2019

addition to the new home of the Red Chamber, curious onlookers will also have the chance to roam the halls of the refurbished West Block, where the House of Commons will meet for the next decade or so, and tour a brand-new visitors centre nearby.

“No one’s ever had a tour of the Government Conference Centre,” says Ottawa Tourism CEO Michael Crockatt.

“I think it’s going to be pretty exciting for people to see that. Same for West Block.

It sounds like it’s unbelievable. So it’s not like this is a second-rate basement sort of temporary space that we’re shoving our parliamentarians into. It’s some pretty astounding space, and people are going to really enjoy those new opportunities.”

Industry insiders are also breathing a sigh of relief that downtown Ottawa’s marquee photo op – Parliament Hill – will still be available until after this summer, giving tourists one more chance to get their selfies in before

Centre Block becomes a full-scale construction zone.

Other popular Hill attractions such as Canada Day celebrations, the Changing of the Guard, the Dominion Carillon and the sound and light show will also continue as planned in the summer of 2019, government officials confirm.

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Steve Lavigne (left) and Chris Smith (right) of OPIN Software help participants at Kids & Code event.

OPIN builds new pipeline of Ottawa tech talent through Kids & Code

JANUARY 2019

Local businesses have unique opportunity to support next generation of developers

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As Ottawa’s tech sector continues to grow, so does the industry’s need for new talent. How and where companies cultivate that talent goes beyond universities and colleges. In fact, it starts earlier than you think.

Four years ago, Steve Lavigne, the firm’s director of technology, began Kids & Code, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching kids between the ages of six and 17 the basics of coding. Classes are free and run monthly in different parts of the region.

“As a mentor at Kids & Code, I have witnessed many children find their passion for coding,” says Chris Smith, founder and CEO of OPIN Software. “I believe the program is fundamental to our community as it

encourages young people of all ages and backgrounds to experiment with software programming.”

The story of Kids & Code began with a desire to help in the business community. Lavigne saw the need, but couldn’t find any organizations that helped both boys and girls in STEM from a young age. In his search, he even discovered that the college in his hometown no longer offered computer science programs.

“In high schools they stopped teaching coding and now colleges aren’t offering it,” Lavigne says.

He wanted Kids & Code to be free, so that members of low-income families could attend. The

event is BYOD (bring your own device) but Kids and Code also provides equipment for families who may not have laptops or tablets.

At the inaugural workshop, only two attendees showed up. Now the organization regularly teaches 75 students each month. Shopify donated space to host the workshops but Lavigne says they regularly hit capacity with registration sold out within 48 hours of posting a new workshop.

Demand is so high for the workshops that children are turned away due to a lack of equipment or space capacity. Lavigne hopes to partner with businesses for bigger venues to accommodate more children.

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What you can do to support Kids & Code The demand for Kids & Code workshops continues to increase but the organization needs your help in supporting its programs.

Here’s what you can do:

CREATING PROGRAMMERS FOR THE NEXT GENERATION

The goal of Kids & Code goes beyond free training for children. With demand for talented tech employees outstripping supply, the city needs to produce more skilled workers. Through Kids & Code, a new pipeline of talent is emerging.

“I believe the program is fundamental to our community as it encourages young people of all ages and backgrounds to experiment with software programming.”

- Chris Smith, founder and CEO of OPIN Software

• Software - Kids & Code pays for premium accounts to allow children to save their projects.

Volunteers hope to continue this program free of charge.

• Venues - Kids & Code’s current capacity is due to limited space.

Additional space provided from other businesses would allow for more children to participate.

• Staff support - Kids & Code receives multiple requests for summer and March break programming but space is limited due to volunteer time. Additional funding would enable volunteers to hire a project coordinator and other support staff for these programs.

To donate to Kids & Code, please visit http://www.kidsandcode.org/

JANUARY 2019

Young programmers learn Python, HTML, CSS, JS, Swift, Drupal, Wordpress, PHP, and SQL & Database Administration before they even reach their senior high school years and become interested in pursuing a career in technology. This approach of teaching at an early stage is the same approach in OPIN’s Software’s internship program. Interns are taught and certified in Drupal as part of their mentorship.

“We know it’s hard to find talent,” Lavigne says. “So where are we going to find people? We train our interns so we can give them opportunities to learn something new. Children need the same opportunity.”

Part of Lavigne’s work is to influence the school curriculum in order to have children exposed to computer programming at an early age. His goal is to incorporate computer programming into the existing curriculum. For example, Lavigne worked with schools in Ottawa to incorporate coding in science and math programs.

“Only a handful of schools teach kids how to code,” says Lavigne. “If you only start by high school, it’s too late.”

Workshops run for three hours through the help of volunteers. Most children learn how to code with Scratch, a kid-friendly program developed by MIT to learn the basics of computer programming.

“Cognitive learning begins early, around the time you start to learn to read and write,” says Lavigne.

“You’re old enough that you can follow along and see if computer programming is a good fit for you. Plus, our kids are already spending time in front of screens. If they’re going to play video games, why not build a video game instead?”

• Hardware - Ten percent of kids arrive at the workshops without any device and have to be turned away. Kids & Code wants to purchase laptops and especially tablets, which have special programs available on learning how to develop programs in the Apple iPad software. Rocket hubs, which are portable wi-fi devices, are also needed.

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EMPLOYEES’ CHOICE AWARDS TOP FIVE TRAITS OF THE TOP TEN The average satisfaction with leadership and planning for all surveyed companies is 77%.

TOP TEN:

95%

Of all companies surveyed, 81 per cent said their organization treats them like a person, not a number.

TOP TEN:

98%

Of all companies surveyed, 78 per cent said they have fun at work.

TOP TEN:

97%

Of all companies surveyed, 67 per cent said their organization provides them with enough ongoing training.

TOP TEN: JANUARY 2019

90%

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The overall satisfaction with employer for all companies surveyed was 86 per cent.

TOP TEN:

99%

Attendees at the Employees’ Choice Awards included Andrea Gregoire of Vision2Voice, Sara Purdon of Martello and Barb Moffitt of Vision2Voice (above); Clariti Group’s Tara Azulay and Kevin Barwin (top right); and the Board of Trade’s Rob Campbell and Kerri Brooks of Keynote Group. PHOTOS BY MARK HOLLERON

Culture key to worker satisfaction at ‘best of the best’ Ottawa employers ECA recipients do more than just pay lip service to need for ‘constant communication’ with staff

BY ROSA SABA rosa@obj.ca

A

fter a year of hard work that propelled them to the top of their class, Ottawa’s “elite” workplaces got a chance to savour their achievements in early December.

Ten of Ottawa’s best employers were honoured at the 12th annual Employees’ Choice Awards Dec. 6 at The Marshes Golf Club.

The awards, sponsored by Ottawa’s Meldrum Horne & Associates, celebrate companies whose employees say they’re engaged in their work and feel connected to their place of employment.

With new research partner Best Companies Group, employees from companies across Ottawa were surveyed about their workplace’s culture, communication strategies, focus on wellbeing and many more markers of engagement and support.

Attending the ceremony was Peter Burke, CEO of Best Companies Group, who flew all the way from Texas to congratulate the 10 award recipients.

Burke says the average level of engagement of the top 10 companies – 96 per cent – is something to be proud of, especially compared with the 86 per cent average of all the surveyed companies and the 41 per cent average he says most research firms agree the overall workforce would report.

“This is really an elite group,” he says.

“It’s the best of the best.”

That group includes seven tech companies, a service provider, an engineering firm and a family business: Rewind, Martello Technologies, SOLINK, Crank Software, Fusebill, InGenius Software, and Decisive Technologies on the tech side, employee search firm Keynote Group, engineering outfit Dilfo Mechanical and the Fireplace Center & Patio Shop.

LABOUR OF LOVE Martello CEO John Proctor says the company’s workplace culture has been top of mind during a busy year that saw the communication services provider make numerous acquisitions and go public via a reverse takeover.

“When you have that vision established, people can buy into it,” says Proctor, adding two words that were key to successfully making Martello’s acquisitions part of the family: “Constant communication.”

When hiring, Proctor says he’s “much more interested in the person than the resum​é,” and that he often asks

candidates about the tech projects that drive them.

“When people tell you about their tech projects, you can then get a feel for that passion,” he says.

One of InGenius Software’s newest hires was there to celebrate her company’s award. Maya Roscoe, who has been a senior account executive at InGenius for just a month, says she felt confident joining the company after hearing nothing but positive feedback about the workplace culture from several other employees.

“I think it’s very well deserved,” she says.

Burke says it’s not about team charity fundraisers, office fitness centres or any of the myriad ways companies today try to keep workers engaged. The top firms, he explains, have one thing in common: they ask their employees for feedback and make plans for improvement based on the results.

“These best places to work, they focus on that word ‘culture,’” Burke says. “They want to know what their employees are thinking and feeling … and then they use the information.”

Members of Crank Software (above) and Rewind celebrate their firms’ Employees’ Choice Awards.

Put yourself in our shoes.

Employees’ Choice Awards 2018-2019 Winner

JANUARY 2019

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ingenius.com/careers

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Ottawa Insights: local data released to businesses, broader community

JANUARY 2019

Ottawa Community Foundation relaunches popular tool to support evidence-based decisions

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Are you looking to recruit new talent? Will these new employees need to drive to get to work or will they depend on public transit?

What if they need to find housing or want to know more about the city first? Having answers can make a difference to your recruitment efforts.

Evidence-based decision making is a key component to success but collecting data on issues like community engagement or housing can be time consuming. The Ottawa Community Foundation (OCF) is giving businesses and nonprofit organizations a better understanding of the city in which they operate with its relaunched Ottawa Insights website.

“The data we share through Ottawa Insights is meant to support and empower us all to make evidence-based decisions as we work to improve the quality of life in our city,” says Anita James, the director of strategic initiatives at OCF and lead on Ottawa Insights. “Our goal is to help create positive change through shared understanding and collaboration among service providers, policy makers, funders, elected officials, community leaders and others.”

The key benefit of Ottawa Insights is access to local information in a detailed, easyto-understand format. Mengistab Tsegaye, executive director of World Skills Employment Centre says there are several barriers, such as affordable transportation, for immigrants to access programs and services. “Having local statistics from a credible third-party source helps advocate for employment supports,” says Tsegaye.

Ottawa Insights can be used to build alliances across the public, private and philanthropic sectors around a particular issue.

It can also be used to determine what programs and services are best suited for the community and other related activities. To access the data, visit www.ottawainsights.ca.

Ottawa Insights contains data on the economy, the city’s standard of living and wider community. Here’s a sample: Unemployment Rates for Immigrants by Year of Arrival, 2016

Although unemployment rates are high for new immigrants in Ottawa, they fall off with length of residency. For more information on employment in Ottawa, see the Economy and Employment theme at www.ottawainsights.ca.

Cost of OC Transpo Fares (Monthly passes, 2018)

OC Transpo transit fares are high and continue to rise. Single transit fares are the highest among Canada’s largest cities.

For more information on mobility in our city, see the Basic Needs and Standard of Living theme at www.ottawainsights.ca.

TECHNOLOGY

Huawei partners keeping tabs on controversies

BY CRAIG LORD

collaborating on new 5G technologies and talent training programs.

A

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Asked whether CENGN would reconsider Huawei’s involvement in R&D efforts, a spokesperson stressed it is an “independent body” designed to reflect Canada’s ICT ecosystem. CENGN said it “will continue to monitor the situation with Huawei.”

In light of security and espionage concerns earlier in the year, whereby former Canadian security officials joined warnings from U.S. counterparts about integrating Huawei’s technology in the county’s 5G infrastructure, CENGN stood by the Chinese multinational.

“Huawei are not only an important employer and member of the technical ecosystem in Ontario, they are on the leading edge for 5G development,” it said in March, adding that the organization “works diligently to ensure all of our members are treated with the appropriate level of security.”

The Globe and Mail reported that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service cautioned a group of Canada’s universities about research relationships with Huawei at a meeting in October.

During last year’s delegation visit, Ottawa’s Carleton University extended its eight-year research partnership with Huawei. These joint research projects, which received government funding, exposed Carleton students to emerging 5G network technologies and provided Huawei with access to the university’s academics.

A Carleton spokesperson echoed CENGN’s position that the university would monitor the ongoing situation.

– With files from Canadian Press and Associated Press

JANUARY 2019

s Huawei’s Canadian operations come under increasing scrutiny amid an international brouhaha, the Chinese firm’s Ottawa-based research partners are adopting a holding pattern until the political skies are cleared.

Canada stepped firmly in the middle of global trade tensions in December with the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver. The U.S. has accused Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company to sell equipment to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions and sought to have her extradited.

Meanwhile, three Canadians have been arrested in China. Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor were detained within a week. A third citizen, Sarah McIver, was detained the following week, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said later in December her arrest appeared to be unrelated to national security issues.

The second-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, Huawei is also an important equipment supplier in Canada’s telecom industry. The company has set up its Canadian R&D hub in Kanata, where the firm employs some 275 people today.

Roughly a year ago, a delegation of Ottawa-based organizations accompanied then-premier of Ontario Kathleen Wynne on a trip to Shenzhen to announce and renew partnerships with Huawei. Among them was the Centre of Excellence for Next Generation Networks (CENGN), which announced last year that Huawei would join its consortium of government agencies, startups and multinational corporations

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Marking milestone, Merkburn Holdings celebrates 50th anniversary Ottawa-based commercial real estate firm reflects industry’s evolution

M

JANUARY 2019

erkburn Holdings cofounder William Burnside has a humble explanation for the firm’s longevity in Ottawa’s property market: “Happenstance.”

But in an industry that’s constantly changing, luck can only take a company so far. As Mr. Burnside recounts his firm’s journey – which started with a cluster of industrial buildings leased to Parks Canada on Liverpool Court and has since expanded to include close to a million square feet across the National Capital Region as well as 65,000 square feet in the U.S. – themes of quality, integrity and relationship-building quickly emerge.

This year marks the 50th anniversary for the commercial real estate firm, which was co-founded by Mr. Burnside and the late Cameron Merkley, both of whom were later joined by Frank Dooher.

Over its five decades in business, Merkburn has acquired a sizeable portfolio of buildings across Ottawa, developed new properties in the region and earned a reputation as a landlord trusted by tenants and brokers alike.

“What I’m most proud of is Merkburn’s reputation,” says Kevin Rougeau, one of the firm’s current managing partners. He works in concert with Peter Dooher, Merkburn’s other managing partner.

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A LEGACY OF EXCELLENCE From the handshake deals of Mr. Burnside and Mr. Dooher’s early careers to the network that the firm’s current leadership has formed with Ottawa’s brokerage and business community, real-life relationships remain at the core of the Merkburn business.

In their formative years, Mr. Burnside and Mr. Dooher worked at Fuller Construction, a longstanding Ottawa contractor and developer. There they made many valuable business connections, including their future business partner, Mr. Merkley.

Fuller was also where Burnside came to be the

namesake for a building, aptly named the Burnside Building, which is located at 121 Slater St. in Ottawa’s downtown core.

After leaving Fuller, Mr. Burnside founded both Merkburn Holdings and William S. Burnside (Canada) Ltd., a construction company. Through much of its early history, Merkburn owned and managed buildings developed by William S. Burnside (Canada) Ltd. “It was a good model,” Mr. Burnside recalls, noting that his construction firm continued to take on other contracting projects such as the restoration of the historic Lisgar Collegiate Institute, originally built in 1874.

During their partnership, Mr. Dooher led the firm’s leasing activities and quickly forged relationships with commercial realtors and tenants alike. He also worked to kick off new builds by creating custom spaces for clients such as Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell Controls, Gulf Oil, Hodgins Lumber and the federal government.

Following Mr. Merkley’s retirement in 1996, Mr. Burnside and Mr. Dooher purchased their partner’s shares and continued the successful expansion of the business for another 15 years – remaining, to this day, the closest of friends and partners.

Whether acquiring an existing property or working with Burnside’s construction company to develop a wholly new one, Merkburn has always been focused on making space work for its tenants.

Though Mr. Burnside and Mr. Dooher, now in their late 80s, have largely stepped back from their roles with Merkburn, their legacy persists in the firm’s current managing partners, Peter Dooher and Kevin Rougeau.

Mr. Dooher and Mr. Rougeau intend to continue to expand the firm’s portfolio through acquisitions and development.

“The sky’s the limit,” says Mr. Dooher on Merkburn’s future.

1952 Armed with a civil engineering

degree, then 21-year-old Burnside immigrates to Canada from Scotland.

1952 Frank Dooher is hired by Fuller Construction.

1954 Burnside is hired by Fuller Construction, where he spends the formative years of his career.

Burnside and Dooher work together at Fuller’s until 1969 when Burnside leaves to found Merkburn Holdings Ltd. with Cameron Merkley.

1966The Burnside Building, a Fuller

Construction development, opens at 121 Slater St.

1969 Burnside leaves Fuller to found

Merkburn Holdings Ltd. with Cameron Merkley.

1972 Frank Dooher joins Merkburn Holdings 1970s Merkburn Holdings begins to grow

its portfolio. New properties include Liverpool Court in the city’s east-end and the re-development of the Star Top Drive-In Theatre with John Tavel into five multi-use commercial buildings.

1984 Burnside and Dooher develop

436 Hazeldean Dr. It is the first building in Ottawa to have a clean room for the assembly of electronic components.

1996 Cameron Merkley leaves Merkburn Holdings.

2000s Peter Dooher and Kevin Rougeau join the Merkburn team.

2011 Rougeau and Dooher become full partners in Merkburn Holdings. Eventually, the pair become the firm’s managing partners.

2019 Merkburn Holdings celebrates 50 years of business in Ottawa.

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TECHNOLOGY

Calian, Mitel and Ford moves driving ‘domino effect’ in tight Kanata office market

MITEL MOVES IN ON OLD FORD SPACE

New construction likely as vacancy rate shrinks to levels not seen since dot-com boom of the ’90s, experts say

BY ROSA SABA rosa@obj.ca

JANUARY 2019

W

OBJ.CA

26

ith Kanata’s office vacancy rate at its lowest level in more than a decade, some of the west end’s largest tenants are signing new leases to accommodate growth – setting in motion a string of moves as other firms quickly snap up the recently vacated space.

Calian, Mitel and Ford are among the major employers that have found new space in Kanata. Elsewhere, InGenius, Trend Micro and Ranovus are also expanding.

“There is a domino effect in the park,” said Amy MacLeod, Mitel’s vicepresident of communications. “When space frees up, it quickly becomes available for others.”

The first big move was in September 2018, when professional services firm Calian moved from its former home at 340 Legget Dr. to 770 Palladium Dr., a Kanata South location close to the Canadian Tire Centre. The new space, formerly occupied by IBM, saw the firm’s footprint expand from nearly 27,500

the main tenant will be the Ford Connectivity and Innovation Centre, which will be moving from its current location of one floor at 4000 Innovation Dr. and will occupy 40,000 square feet in Cominar’s new building. Part of the Ford facility is already located near the new building at 700 Palladium Dr., where the automaker leased 62,700 square feet in another Cominar property earlier this year.

The centre opened in 2017, bringing 295 jobs to the park as part of Ford’s $1.2-billion investment in its Canadian operations. Its main focus is on developing autonomous and connected vehicles.

The Kanata North Business Park is likely to see new buildings emerge in the next few years.

PHOTO BY FAN SONG

square feet to 35,000 square feet.

Marc Shank of Cominar, the building’s manager, told OBJ in August the company revamped the property for Calian’s move, adding new conference and training rooms as well as a cafe, gym and yoga studio available to residents of 700, 750 and 770 Palladium Dr. The move reflects the company’s recent growth – Calian made its seventh acquisition in six years this fall and posted its 68th consecutive profitable quarter in the three-month period

ending fiscal 2018.

Cominar also has another project under way right next door, thanks to another big-name lead tenant that’s agreed to take a significant chunk of space at the new property.

At 100,000 square feet, 800 Palladium Dr. will be significantly bigger than the other three properties the firm owns on the street. The building is slated for completion in 2020, and pre-leasing has already begun, Shank told OBJ. Cominar confirmed in late December

Ford’s planned move put 4000 Innovation Dr. up for grabs, but the space was quickly snapped up by Mitel, which had been eyeing new locations for its headquarters for about a year, said MacLeod. The telecom giant is taking all three floors of the building for a total of 150,000 square feet.

Though the move from 350 Legget Dr. – colloquially known as “the Mitel building” – doesn’t change the company’s square footage, MacLeod said the firm wanted to have a building to itself after sharing its current home with several other tenants for many years.

However, it was important that the company didn’t venture too far, MacLeod said.

“Of course we’re staying in the tech park, which has been our home and heritage for 45 years,” she said. “That’s a given.”

The new location, which Mitel will take over in late 2019, boasts outdoor space on every floor and will undergo renovations to meet the company’s technical standards. Mitel currently employs about 550 people in Kanata, and the new space will have room for more.

“We certainly always build for the future,” said MacLeod.

Also vacating 350 Legget Dr. is InGenius Software, which currently operates out of multiple units in the building. The firm’s significant growth – from 19 people in 2012 to 65 today – means it’s ready for its own space, said

CEO Dale Gantous.

The company found room just around the corner from the Mitel building, where Calian’s departure has left almost 27,500 square feet ready for the computer telephony integration firm. That’s an increase of about 13,600 square feet from InGenius’s current location.

The company is effectively doubling its physical footprint after eight years in the tech park, with room to double its headcount as well. And that growth is almost certainly bound to happen, Gantous said.

“We’re constantly acquiring more and more enterprise customers,” she said, naming Expedia, LinkedIn and The Gap as some of the firm’s clients. The company made this year’s Growth 500 list of Canada’s fastest-growing firms with a five-year revenue jump of 446 per cent.

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Across the park, another global enterprise is also expanding its operations in Kanata. Cybersecurity firm Trend Micro recently took over all five floors of 40 Hines Rd. from a previous two, a total of 78,300 square feet, as it looks to expand and acquire more talent.

The company grew from 150 employees in 2016 to 225 as of July 2018.

And, on the edge of Kanata, optical hardware firm Ranovus is anticipating a big move in early 2019.

The 40-plus-person company’s headcount is set to double by the middle of next year, founder and CEO Hamid Arabzadeh told OBJ in November. Its new manufacturing and R&D facility, which will include all of Ranovus’s operations, will also be located in the west end – possibly closer to the tech park.

Arabzadeh predicts the firm will eventually employ up to 500 people.

But if the commercial real estate market in Ottawa’s tech-heavy west end is any indication, his company may be hard-pressed to find space for all those workers.

As MacLeod notes, commercial space in the tech park, and in Kanata in general, is quite limited.

“The tech companies that are here continue to grow and to drive expansion

for our park and for the city at large,” she says.

Kanata office vacancy rates are near a 10-year low, falling from 16 per cent five years ago to 4.4 per cent today, according to CBRE’s 2018 outlook. That’s the lowest it’s been since 2006, prior to the financial crisis.

Bruce Wolfgram, a principal at Proveras Commercial Realty, said a number of major commercial property managers are ready to follow Cominar’s lead and break ground on new properties in Kanata to meet that growing demand once they secure lead tenants.

KRP Properties, Colonnade BridgePort and the Regional Group all have land primed for development, he said.

“We’re experiencing scenarios we haven’t seen in many years where we need to bring new build options into the mix because there’s just not enough existing space any more,” said Wolfgram, who predicted more than half a million square feet of inventory could be built in Kanata over the next few years.

KRP Properties, the tech park’s largest commercial real estate manager, currently operates 35 light industrial and office buildings in and around Kanata North and manages notable locations such as Mitel’s current space on Legget Drive.

KRP’s portfolio includes 3.2 million square feet of space as well as land on Terry Fox Drive next to the Stealth Building that looks ripe for the park’s next big development. KRP leasing director Linda Sprung told OBJ in July that the company’s next build will add 150,000 square feet to its portfolio.

Wolfgram said today’s red-hot market is reminiscent of the dot-com boom of the late ’90s, when the vacancy rate was virtually zero and new tenants were filling offices literally the day after their predecessors left.

“We haven’t even come close to that point until now,” he said. “So either companies are going to have to plan ahead … or else they need to leave the west end. But it’s not as if there’s scads of vacant space elsewhere necessarily either. It’s an exciting time for business in Ottawa – it’s just going to be challenging for tenants.”

– With files from David Sali

OBJ.CA

28 JANUARY 2019

OBJ.social STORIES AND PHOTOS

BY CAROLINE PHILLIPS

MOTORS

FUNDRAISER

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James Malizia, who is an assistant commissioner with the RCMP. He also captained the Sleepless Mounties, who raised $13,303.

There are an estimated 1,400 youth in Ottawa who are homeless, meaning they have no permanent address. The No. 1 reason they end up on the streets is related to conflicts with their family.

Funds raised from SleepOUT are going toward YSB’s housing support programs.

The agency provides emergency shelter for youths seeking temporary housing and also offers transitional and long-term housing programs.

29 OBJ.CA

“You still feel warm inside, just seeing the young people getting involved and showing an interest in helping others,” he told OBJ.social.

Rhéaume’s 17-member team raised $15,000-plus, topped only by the teens at Lisgar Collegiate Institute. The high school students collected more than $16,000. One of its members, 17-year-old Fiona Murray, was the event’s secondhighest fundraiser, at $7,639. Her mom, Rebecca Murray, is a senior development officer at Carleton University and sits on the board of the Youth Services Bureau.

She also participated.

The weather this time was more favourable than in 2017, when it rained and many participants got wet – and stayed wet. At the same time, the mercury did continue to drop throughout the evening. By morning, the crowd awoke to double minus digits.

On hand that night were: YSB executive director Joanne Lowe and board chair Scott Lawrence, COO of HealthCraft Products, and YSB Foundation executive director Patti Murphy and her board chair,

JANUARY 2019

Nobody’s saying that the YSB SleepOUT for Youth –​ where participants spend a night outdoors in sub-zero temperatures – compares with the authentic experience of living on the streets. But what the unique fundraiser for the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa does do is create a collective capacity for empathy when it comes to homelessness.

The seventh annual SleepOUT returned in early December to the field at TD Place Stadium, bringing together up to 650 people, most of whom were students, corporate sponsors and YSB supporters. Together, they braved the cold to help the YSB Foundation raise $229,683, or about 91 per cent of its quarter-million-dollar goal.

It was the fifth year of pitching a tent for Robert Rhéaume, a partner at accounting consultancy BDO Canada.

He once again hauled in the most dough, at $10,275. He was later rewarded by organizers with a faux fur-trimmed aviator hat to add to his growing collection (he had on the huge furry trapper given to him last year).

The cold doesn’t get to him.

OBJ.social

MOTORS

STORIES AND PHOTOS

BY CAROLINE PHILLIPS

EVENT

National Gallery’s master of the art of curation honoured at farewell dinner Thank goodness for pictures, because no amount of words could paint just how beautiful the farewell dinner was for Marc Mayer, outgoing director and CEO of the National Gallery of Canada.

The gala evening was hosted in early December by the National Gallery of Canada Foundation to celebrate Mayer’s

10 productive years at the helm. The dinner also helped to raise $3 million in support of the gallery’s national and international outreach efforts.

The guest list read like a who’s-who of Canadians. Former governor general Adrienne Clarkson was there. So were Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Abella

Beverley McLachlin, Vicki Heyman, Frank McArdle and Adrienne Clarkson.

and her former colleague Beverley McLachlin, who retired as chief justice a year ago.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau and his wife, Nancy McCain, attended, as did former prime minister Joe Clark and his wife, Maureen McTeer, and former B.C. premier and diplomat Gordon Campbell.

As well, galagoers included former tech executives Jozef Straus (wearing his trademark black beret) and Zita Cobb, who has successfully put the small Newfoundland community of Fogo Island on the map through her Shorefast Foundation. Also spotted were Rob Sobey, chair of the Sobey

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Art Foundation; prominent Toronto theatre producer David Mirvish; French Ambassador Kareen Rispal; Bruce Heyman, former U.S ambassador to Canada, with his wife, Vicki; and National Arts Centre president and CEO Christopher Deacon.

The evening began with a reception in the contemporary galleries before continuing into the Scotiabank Great Hall for a dinner that was sprinkled with tributes to Mayer by Thomas d’Aquino, chair of the National Gallery of Canada Foundation board; Françoise Lyon, chair of the National Gallery of Canada board of trustees; the gallery’s former board chair, Michael Audain, who is also a distinguished patron of the gallery; and Karen Colby-Stothart, the chief executive of the National Gallery of Canada Foundation.

Capping off the evening was a powerful performance by young cellist Bryan Cheng, accompanied by his sister, classical pianist Silvie Cheng.

Mayer, 62, was first appointed director and chief executive of the National Gallery in 2008. He is stepping down once his second term wraps up in January.

The room heard how Mayer grew up in Sudbury but that his mother’s favourite sister lived in Hull. They visited her often and he became familiar with the National Gallery.

“This is the place where I fell in love with art as I grew older,” he said, speaking in both official languages.

“I thought I had a good sense, and that’s why I applied for the job,” said Mayer, whose 33-year career has taken him to art museums and galleries in New York, Paris, Toronto and Montreal.

“It’s a hell of an honour, the National Gallery of Canada.”

Guests heard how Mayer played an important role in building a national collection of art from across Canada and around the world, and in keeping the collection accessible to, and appreciated by, as many people as possible.

Part of the outgoing director’s legacy will be the historic re-imagining of the Canadian and Indigenous Galleries to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary, and the enhancement of the newly restored Canada Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, which provides global exposure for Canadian artists.

OBJ.social

MOTORS

STORIES AND PHOTOS

BY CAROLINE PHILLIPS

ANNIVERSARY GALA

FRENCH CONNECTION: EMBASSY CELEBRATES NATION’S FRIENDSHIP WITH CANADA It almost felt like Trivia Night at the Embassy of France, to the extent that one couldn’t imagine anyone departing the premises that evening without having acquired additional knowledge about Canada and France and the relationship between the two.

Ambassador Kareen Rispal hosted a reception for about 400 guests in early December to celebrate our two countries’ 90 years of diplomatic relations and our common language, history and values.

No sooner had coats been checked than guests had their pictures taken via

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instant camera. They were encouraged to hang their snapshots on the giant Christmas tree on display in the entrance hall. Rispal, an unfailingly fashionable diplomat, wore a sparkly, multicoloured cocktail dress.

Special guests included Helen Vari, who was on hand for the unveiling of a plaque recognizing her late husband, George W. Vari, a real estate developer and philanthropist who immigrated to Canada after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

His developments included the Tour Montparnasse in Paris.

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University of Ottawa’s MakerLaunch propels startups to new heights Faculty of Engineering ‘expands funnel for entrepreneurship’

The program is a perfect complement to the new innovative complex, which features six different design and prototyping facilities including: • the Simon Nehme Design Commons for ideation • the MakerLab and Manufacturing Training Centre for training • and prototyping spaces such as the Richard L’Abbé Makespace with its 3D printers, laser cutters, virtual reality equipment, as well as the Brunsfield Centre equipped with mills, lathes, bandsaws, drill presses and even welding and fabrication tools.

Along with the extensive support provided by the program, participants of the MakerLaunch will have the opportunity to access up to $50,000 in seed funding upon reaching preset milestones.

FINANCING “We’re looking for students or recent alumni that might have their first contract and they’re looking to scale their business,” says Kyle Bournes, the alumni relations officer at the university’s Faculty of Engineering who has worked extensively with alumni and tech leaders to design, build and rally support for this program. “We are

super excited to see so much enthusiasm from uOttawa alumni for this program. Many want to get involved and are very eager to see MakerLaunch startups succeed.”

While software development can happen in a relatively short time, product testing can be time consuming and costly.

“It takes much longer to launch hardware products than software,” says Prof. Anis. “Those startups need more time to get to the marketplace. We want to bridge the gap and help them get ready for investors.”

The University of Ottawa is seeing demand grow for its entrepreneurial programs. Anis’ course on tech entrepreneurship began with eight students in 2012 and has quickly scaled to more than 250 students.

“This new program is built on a strong entrepreneurial foundation and ecosystem. It is designed to empower entrepreneurs with the tools, resources and network to help them thrive to a new level.

The program is not a typical one-model-fits-all, but rather a customizable approach to create a growth environment to propel startups,” says Midia Shikh Hassan, Manager of the MakerLaunch.

Applications are open for individuals and teams interested in the MakerLaunch program. To apply, visit makerlaunch-uOttawa.ca.

JANUARY 2019

Developing and launching a product that fills a need in the market is a challenging task on its own, now scaling a startup and making it sustainable for the long run is another challenge altogether. The new MakerLaunch program, a startup growth program for makers, aims to help startups scale up and access global market.

Over the past years, uOttawa Faculty of Engineering, with its Centre of Entrepreneurship and Engineering Design (CEED), has established a strong design culture and entrepreneurial ecosystem; from their first years, students are required to help solve issues presented to them by clients from the community by using design and entrepreneurial principles.

Students wishing to develop their ideas can tap into the faculty’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, which will assist them every step of the way. uOttawa Engineering students can work on their ideation to validation stages through the various entrepreneurial competitions, support networks and fast prototyping design spaces available in the new STEM Complex.

They can also build their startups through the Launching Entrepreneurs competition and Startup Garage, and now to assist them with the next step of scaling, they now have access to the MakerLaunch program.

“We want to expand our funnel for entrepreneurship,” says Hanan Anis, a professor at the Faculty of Engineering and an NSERC Chair in Entrepreneurial Engineering Design.

“Ottawa used to be a hardware city and we still have the capabilities to develop good hardware. We want to provide support for people developing deep technology.

Plus, there’s an added bonus when we imagine the possibilities of combining the hardware and software expertise in this city. The next generation of startups are so lucky to have that wealth of knowledge available to them!”

This new program, dubbed MakerLaunch, is a complete nine-month program starting in April 2019 that surrounds startups with coaches and special advisors, all industry experts, some funding along with workspace and access to the facilities of the new uOttawa STEM Complex.

33 OBJ.CA

CONNECTING TECH IN OTTAWA

Tech firms to watch 2019:

Hardware’s comeback

BY CRAIG LORD craig@obj.ca

JANUARY 2019

T

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34

echopia’s annual tech-firms-towatch list is about more than high-potential startups. It covers rising industries, disruptive technologies and risky moves from Ottawa’s established tech players.

Last year’s list reflected the hype surrounding emerging technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence with four companies firmly rooted in the software space: Martello Technologies, MindBridge AI, Leonovus and Solink all proved to Ottawa why 2018 was their year.

At first glance, the six firms on this year’s list may seem like a throwback to the golden years of Ottawa’s telecom industry, when the city made its name on the back of hardware leaders such as Nortel Networks.

In fact, a decade after Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection, Ottawa’s tech sector is seeing a resurgence in the physical industries – some from the ashes of Nortel itself. The city’s expertise in legacy telecom systems has opened up opportunities to develop the nextgeneration of fibre-optic connectivity solutions.

Then there’s the Internet of Things sector, which combines Ottawa’s emerging expertise in embedded software

applications with the development of physical end-devices – Walter Knitl, principal consultant at Praxiem, wrote for Techopia last year that the capital was building a “world-class” IoT ecosystem.

Meanwhile, universities and accelerators alike have embraced “maker culture” and have invested in new prototyping and research labs.

Though software startups were long in vogue thanks to the ease of scalability and low barrier to entry, the time has never been better to launch a hardware startup in Ottawa.

Techopia has compiled a list of six Ottawa tech firms that we believe will make a hard impact in 2019.

GIATEC SCIENTIFIC There’s no industry more physical than concrete, and Giatec Scientific has become one of Ottawa’s fastestgrowing companies by disrupting the sector’s foundations through its embedded sensors. Giatec’s devices can communicate with a project manager’s smartphone to relay real-time data about a concrete installation’s structural integrity.

Though the 40-person firm has been growing at an impressive clip on its own as of late, it’s the addition of Ottawa tech veteran Paul Loucks that has us the most intrigued.

Loucks took over the CEO role from

Software veteran Paul Loucks is diving into the concrete and IoT industries as the new CEO of Giatec Scientific. Photo by Mark Holleron co-founder Aali Alizadeh in late 2018, stepping back into the limelight for the first time since departing Ottawa’s Halogen Software in 2015.

Named OBJ’s CEO of the Year in 2013, Loucks earned acclaim for his decade and a half of work at Halogen, during which he brought the HR management software firm from obscurity to publicly traded powerhouse.

While the new chief may have made his name in software, he told OBJ he’s “super excited” to dig into IoT, adding that certain business fundamentals such as decision-making speed carry over between sectors. Loucks also left the

door open to raising Giatec’s first round of venture capital.

< CLEARFORD WATER SYSTEMS Perhaps the most established company on this list, Clearford Water Systems is worth watching in 2019 to see if its gambit to become a full-service water and wastewater utility service provider pays off.

Cleantech firm Clearford has a 30-year history in Ottawa that even saw Canopy Growth co-CEO Bruce Linton take the reins at the water treatment company for a while. Despite inroads in India, Clearford has struggled in recent years, pushing the

firm’s current management to embark on a turnaround strategy centred around mergers and acquisitions.

In short, Clearford’s goal is to become a full-suite water and wastewater management systems provider for municipalities and private developers. It’s been building out its services portfolio since mid-2017, acquiring Ontario-based companies as part of its aggressive M&A play. The firm has seen some success locally, landing a contract to provide wastewater services to Amazon’s massive new distribution facility on Boundary Road.

While its efforts have indeed yielded revenue growth in recent quarters, deeper net losses are also sinking the company’s bottom line. Investors have so far been underwhelmed, with Clearford’s shares losing some two-thirds of their value over the course of 2018.

In Clearford’s most recent quarterly earnings report, however, CEO Kevin Loiselle said that the company has “turned a corner” and “significant revenue growth” is expected to start in 2019. This coming year may be the one that determines whether Clearford sinks or swims under its new business model.

RANOVUS >

technology award in 2018.

The Kanata-based firm is growing quickly – from just under 20 people in 2012 to 65 today – and is taking over Calian Group’s old offices at 340 Legget Dr. We’re looking forward to seeing how far InGenius can grow from its telecom roots.

INGENIUS SOFTWARE >

A pivot into the booming field of cybersecurity led Corsa Technology to a new line of products and series-C round of $9 million last year.

The Ottawa firm develops a pizza box-like solution that plugs into a server network to alert the proprietor of any potential cyber attacks and can shut down infiltration attempts on the spot. CEO Bruce Gregory told OBJ in 2018 that cybersecurity has a much bigger revenue upside and faster time to market than Corsa’s previous focus on software-defined networking.

Though just 30 employees strong in mid-2018, Gregory added that Corsa is engaged in a “full-on press” for marketing and sales hires and that engineering talent in Ottawa is second to none.

Corsa is on course to be cash-flow

The sole software entry on this year’s list, InGenius Software’s tech remains tied to a highly traditional industry: call centres.

Working with clients such as Gap and Expedia, InGenius’s application plugs existing phone systems into CRMs such as Salesforce. Its tech allows salespeople to start a call with a more fulsome profile of the person on the other end of the line, raising the odds of a successful sale.

Though the decades-old company began as a professional services firm focused on Nortel, CEO Dale Gantous told Techopia Live last year that a bet on its own software meshed well with the firm’s “high tech blood.” That software would go on to win the West Ottawa Board of Trade’s

CORSA TECHNOLOGY >

positive by the end of 2019, making this coming year the one to watch for this emerging cyber player.

AIRSHARE Ottawa startup AirShare arose from the fears of pilot Rick Whittaker, who told Techopia in 2018 that the idea of a drone gliding into his airspace and gumming up his engines terrified him.

With a little help from the folks at MadeMill – Bayview Yards’ on-site prototyping lab – Whittaker developed a 3D-printed guided missile that could get close enough to a drone to neutralize it with a cloud of latex. A parachute then collects all the debris and delivers it safely to the ground.

Apart from being a very cool visual, the AirShare technology has garnered the interest of the Canadian military and private industry players. Whittaker mentioned an unnamed pop star’s team approaching AirShare about disabling drones that were illegally recording concerts from above stadiums.

In the fall of 2018 the Department of National Defence awarded AirShare a pair of contracts worth more than $1 million in total for further R&D. Also a member of Invest Ottawa’s accelerator program, AirShare may be set up to reach new heights in 2019.

35 OBJ.CA

plan, the company could add up to 500 jobs in the coming years.

On top of all that, an independent research institute run out of the University of Toronto named Ranovus to its 2018 “Narwhal” list of Canada’s most financially attractive firms – those expected to hit a valuation of $1 billion.

JANUARY 2019

Ranovus ended 2018 with $20 million in fresh financing from the federal government and plans to put 10 times that amount back into its own research and development in an attempt to dominate the data transfer market.

The 50-person firm, which has raised nearly $60 million in financing to date, develops a fibre-optic cable that it purports can transfer data at speeds tenfold today’s standards, but at one-tenth the cost and energy demands. The firm’s backers include the likes of OMERS Ventures and the Business Development Bank of Canada, and Ranovus has worked with some of the biggest data centre service providers in the world such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft.

Ranovus CEO and ex-Nortel engineer Hamid Arabzadeh told OBJ the company plans to pour $200 million into R&D over the next decade, including moving into a brand-new development facility in Ottawa next year. If everything goes according to

AirShare co-founders Shanaz Sigouin (left) and Rick Whittaker. Photo by Mark Holleron

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2018-08-22 3:06 PM

Techopia Live looks back – and ahead – on the year in Ottawa tech

B

efore signing off for the year, Techopia Live assembled a panel to share the highlights from the year in tech that was and give predictions on what 2019 might have in store.

Joining Techopia editor Craig Lord were OBJ’s print editor David Sali, head of content Peter Kovessy and reporter Rosa Saba as well as Susan Richards, co-founder of SaaS accounting firm numbercrunch and co-chair of Invest Ottawa.

2018 AWASH IN VENTURE CAPITAL, M&A ACTIVITY

independent streak as an Ottawa firm with its landmark $2-billion acquisition by private equity firm Searchlight Capital and space tech company MDA bought Kanata’s Neptec in a $42-million deal.

Speaking of handing over the keys to the business, 2018 also marked a few instances of founders stepping aside as CEOs of their companies. PageCloud’s Craig Fitzpatrick, Giatec Scientific’s Aali Alizadeh and Klipfolio’s Allan Wille all stepped down from their chief executive positions, letting another seasoned exec take the company to the next level.

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JANUARY 2019

There was only one place to start when SECTORS TO WATCH IN 2019 it came to Ottawa’s 2018 tech highlights: Assent Compliance. Richards said the In the coming year, smart cities, artificial compliance software firm’s $130-million intelligence and cybersecurity could shape series-C round helped put Ottawa’s tech the conversations around water coolers at scene on the map in Canada, and that the Ottawa’s tech firms. firm’s rapid growth and massive funding Sali mentioned AI firms such as Raven rounds are making it a “great champion” of Telemetry, which repurposes big data in the city. the manufacturing sector, as emerging But as Sali pointed out, Assent was not disruptors in the field. Artificial intelligence alone in raising venture is also key to the rise of capital this year. You.i “smart” tech applications TV, Corsa Technologies in cities, health and TECHOPIA and Agrisoma government – a trend LIVE Biosciences also raised that Richards highlighted delivers weekly their series-C rounds in as an opportunity for interviews with Ottawa’s 2018, with companies Ottawa firms. hottest startups and such as MindBridge Saba said she’s coolest tech execs. Visit AI and Slice Labs all keeping her eye on bit.ly/TechopiaLive taking in venture capital. cybersecurity firms for the latest episodes.

Together, Ottawa firms in the capital such as raised more than $200 Crypto4A. Given their million in venture proximity to the federal capital over the course of the year – a stark government, which can set the agenda and contrast from recent years when Ottawa’s drive demand in security applications, 2019 tech leaders decried a lack of access to could be a breakout year for Ottawa’s cyber cash in the capital, Sali noted. firms.

A number of Ottawa companies went Ottawa tech companies such as on acquisition streaks this past year as well, MindBridge AI and Leonovus have publicly Saba noted. Calian Group alone had seven discussed their challenges growing amid acquisitions in 2018, and companies such a tightening talent pool in the capital, as Martello Technologies and Clearford concerns echoed by the annual Ottawa Water Systems continued executing on Business Growth Survey. Kovessy said he’s M&A strategies of their own. looking to see whether efforts from the The acquisition pendulum swings both likes of Invest Ottawa to attract talent to the ways, however. Mitel ended its 45-year city will bear fruit in the coming year.

(613) 238-2022 www.perlaw.ca

SPONSORED CONTENT

Ottawa Real Estate Board launches commercial Realtor visibility campaign.

One of the biggest decisions a business will make is where to set up shop. Finding the right property – whether it is moving into a new office, finding a storefront or setting up a new industrial workspace – can have a significant impact on employee engagement, productivity and operational efficiencies.

Finding the right Realtor to help your business select its next space is where the Ottawa Real Estate Board (OREB) comes in.

Known for its expertise in the residential property market, it is not necessarily known that OREB is also made up of some of the City’s top commercial real estate salespeople and brokers who service the commercial real estate market by helping to connect businesses and individuals interested in buying, selling and leasing space.

“The Ottawa Real Estate Board is known for residential real estate, but we also have many Realtor Members who specialize in the commercial side of real estate,” says Janice Myers, Chief Executive Officer of the Ottawa Real Estate Board. “They are uniquely positioned to meet the needs of business clients.”

JANUARY 2019

Hiring a Realtor

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38

OREB commercial Realtors are members of the Commercial Services Network (CSN) and are required to meet the high ethical and professional standards set by the Canadian Real Estate Association, as well as the Real Estate Council of Ontario. OREB Realtors can also access comprehensive databases of property listings, accessible only to them, which help to ensure that their clients can weigh multiple relevant options and find the right fit.

“Commercial real estate is different from residential, both in the complexity of the transaction and the length of time it can take deals to come together,” says Myers. “However, when it comes down to it business clients have the same requirement as residential clients, and that is to have an expert on their side who is a problem solver and who understands the market inside and out.”

Additionally, OREB Realtors are highly qualified professionals who can assist clients in understanding zoning, environmental issues, financing options and much more.

OREB Membership Only Realtors can be members of OREB. One of the major benefits of membership is access to the Multiple Listing Service database. OREB is currently redesigning the database to more closely match the unique needs of commercial real estate listings.

The CSN provides members not only exposure as commercial Realtors but also with leads that are generated through their membership in the Canadian Commercial Network.

Professional development is also critical in order to keep Realtors informed and up-to-date about the latest technology, tools, and tends in the industry.

Several commercial courses are held throughout the year, as well as an annual Commercial Summit, which is attended by OREB members and other industry professionals.

Looking to buy or sell commercial real estate?

Find a commercial Realtor at https://www.oreb.ca/ find-a-realtor/.

What is a Realtor?

Realtor is not a job description. It is a trademark of the Canadian Real Estate Association and stands for service, competence and high ethical practice.

Not every real estate salesperson or broker is a Realtor. Realtors are members of local boards, provincial associations, and the Canadian Real Estate Association. If a real estate salesperson or broker isn’t a member of OREB, they can’t call themselves a Realtor.

Only Realtors have access to the MLS System, and only Realtors can post listings on the MLS System.

1 2

Nokia 600 March Rd. Ottawa, ON K2K 2E6 613-591-3600 nokia.com

2,200

James Watt vice-president

2006

Y NASDAQ Helsinki: NOKIA NYSE: NOK

Ciena Corp.

385 Terry Fox Dr. Ottawa, ON K2K 0L1 613-670-2000 ciena.com

1,700

Dino DiPerna vice-president of research and development

1992

Y NASDAQ: CIEN

Cisco 1700-340 Albert St. Ottawa, ON K1R 7Y6 613-788-7200 cisco.com/ca

550

Sanmina 500 March Rd. Ottawa, ON K2K 0J9 613-886-6000 / 613-886-6001 sanmina.com Company/Address/ Phone/Fax/Web Lumentum Operations LLC 61 Bill Leathem Dr. Nokia Ottawa, ON Rd. K2J 0P7 600 March 613-843-3000 / 613-843-2800 Ottawa, ON K2K 2E6 lumentum.com 613-591-3600 nokia.com

450

THE LIST 4 3

51 6 2 3 7 4 8

15 19

Telecommunications

Ciena is a networking systems, services, and software company. Our clients include wireline and wireless service providers, undersea cable operators, internet content providers and large enterprises.

LARGEST PHOTONICS COMPANIES 1984

Y NASDAQ: CSCO

Government; small, medium and large enterprises; service providers

Borderless networks; collaboration; data centre and virtualization; routers and switches; security and surveillance; home and small business services

Y NASDAQ: SANM

Aerospace and defence; telecommunications; industrial; medical; renewable energy

Manufactures optical and radio frequency/microwave products. Develops custom end-to-end supply chain, manufacturing processes, tests and tools.

Major clients WND Service providers; traditional telcos; webscale operators; over-the-top providers; large enterprises

Product description Manufactures optical and photonic products. Virtually all communications networks rely upon components and modules.

ComHardware and services forour anyoptical type of network. Helps service providers, mercial lasers and enable advanced manufacturing from semiconductors governments, large enterprises deliver on the promise of 5G, the to automobiles. sensingofsolutions Cloud and the3D Internet Things. for consumer electronic and industrial applications.

(RANKED BY NUMBER OF LOCAL EMPLOYEES) 1980 Year established in Ottawa 2015 2006

Publicly traded?/ Listing Y NASDAQ: Y LITE NASDAQ Helsinki: NOKIA NYSE: NOK

OZ Optics Ciena Corp.

219 Rd. 385Westbrook Terry Fox Dr. Ottawa, 1L0 Ottawa, ON ON K0A K2K 0L1 613-831-0981 613-670-2000/ 613-836-5089 ciena.com ozoptics.com Cisco Iridian Spectral Technologies 1700-340 Albert St. 2700 Swansea Ottawa, ON K1RCres.

7Y6 Ottawa, ON K1G 6R8 613-788-7200 cisco.com/ca 613-741-4513 / 613-741-9986 iridian.ca Sanmina Juniper Networks Canada 500 March Rd. Ottawa, ON K2K 0J9 100-340 Terry Fox Dr. 613-886-6000 / 613-886-6001 Kanata, ON K2K 3A2 sanmina.com 613-287-1700 juniper.net Lumentum Operations LLC 61 Bill Leathem Dr. Ottawa, ON K2J 0P7 Lumenera Corp.

613-843-3000 / 613-843-2800 7 Capella Crt. Ottawa, ON K2E 8A7 lumentum.com 613-736-4077 / 613-736-4071 lumenera.com OZ Optics 219 Westbrook Rd. Pleora Ottawa,Technologies ON K0A 1L0 300-340 Terry/ 613-836-5089 Fox Dr. 613-831-0981 Kanata, ON K2K 3A2 ozoptics.com 613-270-0625 / 613-270-1425 pleora.com Iridian Spectral Technologies 2700 Swansea Cres.

Light Machinery Ottawa, ON K1G 6R8 1-80 Colonnade Rd. N. 613-741-4513 / 613-741-9986 iridian.ca Nepean, ON K2E 7L2 613-749-4895 / 613-749-8179 Juniper Networks Canada lightmachinery.com 100-340 Terry Fox Dr. Kanata, ON K2K 3A2 Optelian 613-287-1700 1juniper.net Brewer Hunt Way Ottawa, ON K2K 2B5 613-287-2000 optelian.com Lumenera Corp.

7 Capella Crt. Ottawa, ON K2E 8A7 Honeywell 613-736-4077 / 613-736-4071 100-303 Terry Fox Dr. lumenera.com Ottawa, ON K2K 3J1 613-591-7777 / 613-591-7789 Pleora Technologies honeywell.com 300-340 Terry Fox Dr. Kanata, ON K2K 3A2 BMV Optical /Technologies 613-270-0625 613-270-1425 26 Concourse Gate pleora.com Ottawa, ON K2E 7T7 613-228-2442 / 613-228-4003 Light Machinery bmvoptical.com 1-80 Colonnade Rd. N. Nepean, ON K2E 7L2 Optiwave Systems 613-749-4895 / 613-749-8179 7 Capella Crt. Ottawa, ON K2E 7X1 lightmachinery.com 613-224-4700 / 613-224-4706 optiwave.com Optelian 1 Brewer Hunt Way Ottawa, ON K2K 2B5 Luminos Industries 613-287-2000 5-11 Tristan Crt. Ottawa, ON K2E 8B9 optelian.com 613-225-7661 / 613-225-3391 luminos.com Honeywell 100-303 Terry Fox Dr. PixeLINK Ottawa, ON K2K 3J1 410-1900 City/Park Dr. 613-591-7777 613-591-7789 Ottawa, ON K1J 1A3 honeywell.com 613-247-1211 pixelink.com BMV Optical Technologies Diffraction Limited 26 Concourse Gate / SBIG B-59 Grenfell Cresc.

Ottawa, ON K2E 7T7 Ottawa, ON K2G 0G3 613-228-2442 / 613-228-4003 613-225-2732 / 613-225-9688 bmvoptical.com diffractionlimited.com Optiwave Systems Westboro Photonics 7 Capella Crt. Ottawa, ON K2E 7X1 301-1505 Carling Ave. 613-224-4700 / 613-224-4706 Ottawa, ON K1Z optiwave.com 7L9 613-729-0614 wphotonics.com

259 1,700

Omur DinoSezerman DiPerna president and CEO vice-president of research and development

1985 1992

N Y NASDAQ: CIEN

Telecommunications; Telecommunications military/aerospace; oil and gas; industrial; medical and pharmaceutical

Fibre-optic components; test equipment; sensor systems Ciena is a networking systems, services, and software company. Our clients include wireline and wireless service providers, undersea cable operators, internet content providers and large enterprises.

550 160

Subir Chadha George Laframboise Susan George president

1984 1998

Y N CSCO NASDAQ:

Government; small, medium and large enterprises; WND service providers

Borderless networks; collaboration; data centre and virtualization; routProvides optical thin film solutions and coating services to abusiness wide variety ers and switches; security and surveillance; home and small of industrial and research sectors. Global supplier for applications in services telecommunications, spectroscopy and the entertainment industry.

450 93

Geoff Beale Robert Keys of vice-president vice-president of operations and plant engineering manager Paulo Lima director software DougofAlteen engineering vice-president of product line management, Huw Leahy telecom president Dany Longaval vice-president of sales Omur Sezerman president and CEO George Chamberlain CEO Harry Page president George Laframboise president John Hunter president

1980 2000

Y NYSE: JNPR NASDAQ: SANM

Manufactures optical and radio frequency/microwave products. Develops Simplifies networking with chain, products, solutions and services tests in theand cloud custom end-to-end supply manufacturing processes, era. Removes traditional constraints of networking to enable customers tools. and partners to deliver automated, scalable and secure networks.

2015

Y NASDAQ: LITE

Aerospace and defence; telecommunications; Bell Canada, Verizon, NTT, Vodafone, industrial; medical; renewable energyTelefonica, AT&T, Orange, Qwest, Rogers, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Liberty Global, Cablevision, Silicon Reliance, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Twitter, SalesForce, Facebook, Sunguard, Workday, eBay. WND

2002

N

Industrial; scientific; intelligent traffic; machine vision; aerial imaging worldwide

B-Con Engineering Luminos Industries Inc. 14 ONK2E K2E8B9 7V6 5-11Capella TristanCrt. Crt. Nepean, Ottawa, ON 613-727-0021 613-727-0493 613-225-7661 // 613-225-3391 bconeng.com luminos.com

17

PixeLINK WND = Would not disclose.

410-1900 City Park Dr. Ottawa, ON K1J 1A3 613-247-1211 pixelink.com Diffraction Limited / SBIG

331 65 259 55

160

1985

N

2000

N

Telecommunications; military/aerospace; oil and gas; industrial; medical and pharmaceutical Industrial automation; medical imaging; security/ defence

Manufactures optical and photonic products. Virtually all communications networks rely upon our optical components and modules. Commercial lasers enable advanced manufacturing from semiconductors to Develops and3D manufactures digitalfor cameras for industrial, and automobiles. sensing solutions consumer electronicscientific and industrial surveillance applications.applications; offers custom design services to OEM partners requiring specialized hardware and software features.

Fibre-optic components; test equipment; sensor systems Supplier of GigE and USB 3.0 video interface products for highperformance factory automation, medical, transportation, and security imaging systems.

1998

N

WND

2002

N

Medical device manufacturers; government labs

Provides optical thin film solutions and coating services to a wide variety of industrial and research sectors. Global supplier for applications in Pulsed gas lasers (Excimer and TEAand CO2); optics;industry. high-resolutelecommunications, spectroscopy theprecision entertainment tion spectrometers

Robert Keys vice-president of engineering David Weymouth Paulo Lima directorCEO of software engineering

2000

NYSE: JNPR

2002

N

Bell Canada, Verizon, NTT, Vodafone, Telefonica, AT&T, Orange, Qwest, Rogers, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Liberty Global, Cablevision, Silicon ReliTelcos; MSOs; Amazon, Enterprise ance, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, SalesForce, Facebook, Sunguard, Workday, eBay.

Simplifies networking with products, solutions and services in the cloud era. Removes traditional constraints of networking to enable customers and partners to deliver automated, scalable and secure networks.

Develops, sells and services optical networking solutions for access, metro, long-haul, and mobile (front-mid-backhaul) hardened for outside plant.

Huw Leahy president Marina Mississian Dany Longaval senior director,ofComvice-president sales Dev Canada Defense andChamberlain Space George CEO Harry Page Tom Millen president president Terry Vineham vice-president John Hunter president

2002

N

1974

Y NYSE: HON

Industrial; scientific; intelligent traffic; machine vision; aerial imaging worldwide CSA; DND; NASA

2000

N

Industrial automation; medical imaging; security/ defence

2001

N

Industrial; telecommunication; miltary; medical; research and development

2002

N

Medical device manufacturers; government labs

Develops and manufactures digital cameras for industrial, scientific and surveillance applications; offers custom design services to OEM partners Designs and builds optical spaceand instruments and microsatellite missions requiring specialized hardware software features. for application in areas such as earth remote sensing, astronomy, atmospheric sciences and space situational awareness.

Supplier of GigE and USB 3.0 video interface products for highperformance factory automation, medical, transportation, and security imaging systems.

Manufacturer of precision optical components and systems used primarily in laser based applications. BMV has complete in-house optical, thin film and mechanical design to compliment our manufacturing and assembly Pulsed gascapabilities. lasers (Excimer and TEA CO2); precision optics; high-resolution spectrometers

1994

N

2002

N

General Dynamics; Huawei; NTT; Fortune 500 companies; universities and government research labs; US, Japanese, European markets Telcos; MSOs; Enterprise

Murray Harman chief technology officer and founder Marina Mississian senior director, ComDevLisanne CanadaGlavin Defense general manager and Space

1996

N

Photonics; oil and gas; instrumentation

1974 1992

Y NYSE: HON N

23 13

Tom Millen Douglas George president TerryCEO Vineham vice-president

2001 1993

N N

Industrial; telecommunication; miltary; medical; NASA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology research and development Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory University of Toronto, European Space Agency

Manufacturer of precision optical components and systems used Develops and manufactures scientificBMV imaging systems and tools, optical, includprimarily in laser based applications. has complete in-house ing cameras, wheels, adaptive optics systems, thinlow-light film andimaging mechanical designfilter to compliment our manufacturing and control and processing software, and observatory control and protection assembly capabilities. systems.

20 11

Jan Jakubczyk Tim Moggridge CEO president Bryan Tipper vice-president of sales and marketing

1994 1994

N N

General Dynamics; Huawei; NTT; Fortune 500 compaAutomotive; avionics; display testing nies; universities and government research labs; US, Japanese, European markets

Provider of software design tools for optoelectronic and optical system Designs, engineers manufactures to measure and engineers, hosting aand suite of simulationinstrumentation software products. characterize light emission, reflection and transmission. Creates faster, more accurate and more informative light measurement equipment.

10 16

Brian Creber Murray Harman chief chief technology technology officer officer and andpresident founder

1988 1996

N N

Aerospace industry Photonics; oil and gas; instrumentation

Optics manufacturing company producing aspheric, diamond-turned, Flexure-based positioners/stages; moving optical fiber switches; optical free fiberform, handplastic tools optics, and using advanced metrology techniques to provide advanced optical components and optical systems. Biggest area: telescopes for space applications

14

Lisanne Glavin general manager

1992

N

Machine vision; welding; inspection; traffic and surveillance; research

Designs and manufactures digital cameras for the scientific and industrial markets.

13

Douglas George

1993

N

NASA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Develops and manufactures scientific imaging systems and tools, includ-

46 93 35

65 30 55 23 46 20 35 16 30 14

Jan Jakubczyk CEO Bryan Tipper vice-president of sales David Weymouth and marketing CEO

CSA; DND; NASA Machine vision; welding; inspection; traffic and surveillance; research

Provider of software design tools for optoelectronic and optical system engineers, hosting a suite of simulation software products.

Develops, sells and services optical networking solutions for access, metro, long-haul, and mobile (front-mid-backhaul) hardened for outside plant.

Flexure-based positioners/stages; moving optical fiber switches; optical fiber hand tools Designs and builds optical space instruments and microsatellite missions for application in areas such as earth remote sensing, astronomy, atmoDesignssciences and manufactures cameras for the scientific and indusspheric and space digital situational awareness. trial markets.

39 OBJ.CA

20 16

Geoff Beale vice-president of operations and plant manager Key Ottawa-based executive(s) Doug Alteen vice-president of prodJames Watt uct line management, vice-president telecom

Hardware and services for any type of network. Helps service providers, governments, and large enterprises deliver on the promise of 5G, the Cloud and the Internet of Things.

JANUARY 2019

5 9 6 10 7 11 8 12 9 13 10 14 11 15 12 16 13 17 14 18

No. of Ottawa employees 331 2,200

Subir Chadha Susan George

Service providers; traditional telcos; webscale operators; over-the-top providers; large enterprises

FOR THE RECORD

JANUARY 2019

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

OBJ.CA

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By her own admission, Heidi Hauver gets bored easily. But she doesn’t see that becoming an issue at her new gig any time soon.

Hauver, the new vice-president of human resources at Invest Ottawa, has tackled a series of diverse roles in a career that’s spanned nearly two decades. She built the HR department at the non-profit Canadian Internet Registration Authority from the ground up and later spent half a dozen years as VP of human resources at IT services firm Pythian, expanding its department from one person to 20 and winning a slew of industry awards.

In September, Hauver resigned as a managing partner at talent search firm Keynote Group –​ the fastest-growing company in town, according to OBJ’s survey last spring​ – and headed to Bayview Yards to join the crew at the city’s main economic development agency.

Though her impressive CV includes several stops so far, Hauver says she’s in it for the long haul at IO. “This is probably the coolest HR gig in the city,” she tells OBJ with a smile. “To have that ability to work in an organization that has made such an impact on our community is huge for me. It’s the perfect fit.”

Hauver’s latest assignment defies easy description. Job No. 1, she says, is ensuring IO’s employees are given the tools they need for long-term success, whether it’s training opportunities or monthly meetings with managers to continuously track where an employee is at in his or her career journey.

She also serves as an adviser to

Heidi Hauver/Invest Ottawa the portfolio companies at the agency’s Bayview Yards accelerator, answering questions and offering suggestions when asked.

“It’s an intimidating place to be when you’re that first HR professional to join an organization,” she says.

“I love being able to provide that guidance and support. I can kind of take the lessons that I’ve learned and the wisdom that I’ve gained from my mentors and be able to pass that along.

It’s a pretty cool role.”

Hauver understands that having set procedures for key functions such as welcoming new hires to a workplace and evaluating employees might not be a priority for founders who are devoting every waking hour to generating revenue and keeping the

lights on. But it should be, she says.

The “war for talent” is real, Hauver says, and the firms with the best chance of long-term success are the ones that take the time to ensure employees feel their contributions are valued and they’re in synch with the company’s leaders and their goals.

“I would say to organizations, ‘Start with something, and build on it.’ I think that’s really critical,” Hauver says.

“I feel like a big part of my role here is to help the founders that we engage with and the CEOs that we work with to change their mindset on that and to see the strategic value (of HR). We spend so much time and energy and money and focus on bringing in great talent, and then we basically say to those folks, ‘Good luck.’”

Invest Ottawa often partners with post-secondary institutions and other local agencies such as World Skills Employment Centre, a non-profit organization that provides training and job search support to new Canadians.

Hauver says tapping into the knowledge other partners have gained over the years helps IO and its portfolio companies up their own HR games.

“The unique role I have, which is why I think it’s the coolest HR gig in the city, is I get to say, ‘Wow, that’s an incredible program we get to benefit from and now I can go tell 50 companies about it because they should also be benefiting from it.’

I feel really fortunate that I get that opportunity.”

– David Sali

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE Local creative agency McMillan announced a number of changes.

Former president Rob Hyams will replace founder Gord McMillan as chief creative officer, with McMillan taking on the roles of chair and “chief disruptor.” Theresa Forman, previously the firm’s vice-president of strategic services, becomes the new president.

McMillan also relinquished his role as CEO, turning it over to former Sid Lee partner Pierre Paul Samson, who joined the company as VP of client experience in 2018.

Carleton University has appointed Yaprak Baltacioglu as its 12th chancellor. The Carleton alumna earned a master’s degree from the School of Public Policy and Administration before joining the federal civil service, where she held leadership roles in various departments and served as an adviser to four prime ministers. Baltacioglu has been honoured by the Public Policy Forum and has twice been recognized by the Women’s Executive Network as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women.

The Ottawa Real Estate Board has named its board of directors for 2019.

The new board will be comprised of president Dwight Delahunt, pastpresident Ralph Shaw, president-elect Deborah Burgoyne and vice-president Dominique Milne. Joining them are directors Ken Dekker, Mitch Gauzas, Paolo Farago, Tim Lee, Andrew Ouellette, Peter Sardelis, Anne Scharf, Penny Torontow and Debra Wright.

CONTRACTS The following contains Ottawa marketing firm Compass Rose has made four additions to its team. Ken Polk has nearly 30 years of communications experience as a senior political aide, having served under former PM Jean Chrétien and as a senior official with Health Canada.

He specializes in regulatory affairs, strategy, crisis and issues management and speechwriting. Kathleen Walsh brings a decade of experience in policy, non-profits and operations, with a focus on science policy. Sara Hubberstey and Valerie Boucher are also joining the firm, specializing in design, strategic partnership building and branding and communications.

Richard B. Fadden has been named chair of ADGA Group’s strategic advisory council. Fadden held a series of senior leadership positions with the government of Canada, serving as the national security adviser to prime ministers Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau, deputy minister of national defence and director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. He also held deputy minister titles with Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Natural Resources Canada.

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

Motorola Solutions Canada Inc. 1720-360 Albert St. Miscellaneous communications equipment Buyer: PWGSC $100,000,000 S.i. Systems Ltd. 300-170 Laurier Ave. W. Application development professional service Buyer: RCMP $14,534,558 Veritaaq Technology House Inc. 100-1111 Prince of Wales Dr. Description Buyer: RCMP $13,394,568 TPG Technology Consulting Ltd. 100-887 Richmond Rd. Application development professional service Buyer: RCMP $12,613,512 General Dynamics Information Technology Canada Ltd. 30 Camelot Dr. Communications security

equipment and components Buyer: DND $12,271,300 ADGA Group Consultants Inc. 110 Argyle Ave. TBIPS Tier 2 IT professional services Buyer: DND $7,956,579

Get your OBJ at Hillary’s Cleaners

Colliers Project Leaders Inc. 2720 Iris St. Project management support services Buyer: PWGSC $490,000

TRM Technologies Inc., BP&M Government IM and IT Consulting Inc., in joint venture 1000-280 Albert St. IT professional services Buyer: PWGSC $1,619,200

EMSEC Solutions Inc. 6497 Waddion Dr. Communications security equipment and components Buyer: DND $447,042

Service Star Building Cleaning Inc. 3971 Greenbank Rd. Janitorial services - Uplands Buyer: PWGSC $1,091,699

EMCON Emanation Control Ltd. 360 Terry Fox Dr. Communications security equipment and components Buyer: DND $422,724

The AIM Group Inc. 126-130 Albert St. Project management support services Buyer: PWGSC $746,667

MASONRY REPAIRS WATERPROOFING CAULKING COATINGS CONCRETE REPAIRS

JONAS •RON Masonry Repairs • Waterproofing 3717 ST. JOSEPH BLVD, ORLEANS, ON, K4ARepairs 0Z7 Caulking • Coatings • Concrete TEL: 613-837-0111

FAX: 613-837-6724

www.jonasrestoration.com RON JONAS

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

3196663

JANUARY 2019

OBJ’s new monthly newsmagazine can conveniently be picked up at select Hillary’s locations, including World Exchange Plaza, Constitution Square and Place Bell

QMR Consulting & Professional Staffing 906-75 Albert St. TSPS - Financial specialist (level 3) Buyer: DND $586,696

SOMOS Consulting Group Ltd. 410-1545 Carling Ave. Events planning and management Buyer: Veterans Affairs Canada $5,932,500

HATS OFF

ADGA Group chief executive Françoise Gagnon has been named one of the Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women for 2018 by the Women’s Executive Network. Gagnon has been • CEO since 2014 and leads a national team of 800 employees and consultants who offer strategic consulting,

Adirondack Information Management Inc. and The AIM Group Inc., in joint venture 126-130 Albert St. Project management support services Buyer: PWGSC $686,000

41 Offices in Perth, Prescott and Ottawa

OBJ.CA

Visit www.Hillarys.ca for complete list of locations

LAST WORD

Career success is in the eye of the beholder

Great River Media, 250 City Centre Ave., Suite 500, Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 6K7 obj.ca TELEPHONE Phone: 613-238-1818 Sales Fax: 613-248-4564 News Fax: No faxes, email editor@obj.ca PUBLISHER Michael Curran, 238-1818 ext. 228 publisher@obj.ca

Money and titles are often the scales by which society measures if someone has made it, but the best employers know it’s the intangibles that really make employees feel valued, Mischa Kaplan writes MISCHA KAPLAN

JANUARY 2019

news@obj.ca

OBJ.CA

42

For most individuals, identifying the characteristics that make someone professionally successful is easy: a senior rank within the organization, depth and breadth of one’s professional network, significant responsibility for people or projects, a high income. Asked to describe this successful individual, many of us will envision a dynamic and powerful leader, one who acts with confidence and leads by example. If she’s not already sitting in the CEO’s chair, then certainly she’s destined to be there sooner or later.

Rarely do we associate professional success with more subtle characteristics such as personal satisfaction, collegiality, a feeling of authenticity and attachment to her role or a high level of intrinsic motivation. Sadly, these understated but meaningful traits are often sidelined in a society obsessed with celebrity entrepreneurs and leadership gurus.

From an academic perspective, the difference between the two types of individuals outlined above is the difference between what researchers term objective career success (OCS) versus

subjective career success (SCS). In the former, success is measured by mostly visible and tangible metrics ​– job title, earning power and level of responsibility, for example. In the latter, the metrics are mainly intangible and relate to how an individual perceives herself and her career.

For example, a person who feels that she is highly valued by an organization might have a high level of SCS, without necessarily occupying a senior position or receiving a high salary. Conversely, a

Rarely do we associate professional success with more subtle characteristics such as personal satisfaction, collegiality, a feeling of authenticity and attachment to a role or a high level of intrinsic motivation

CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER Terry Tyo, 238-1818 ext. 268 terry@greatriver.ca EDITOR, PRINT CONTENT David Sali, 238-1818 ext. 269 david@greatriver.ca WEB EDITOR Craig Lord, 238-1818 ext. 230 craig@obj.ca HEAD OF CONTENT Peter Kovessy, 238-1818 ext. 251 pkovessy@obj.ca CONTENT CREATOR & CAMPAIGN MANAGER Julie Sobowale, 238-1818 ext. 222 julie@obj.ca NEWS RELEASES Please e-mail to editor@obj.ca.

highly paid senior executive who perceives herself as being generally mistreated by her employer might have a low level of SCS. Of course, not everyone can have a high level of objective career success.

There can only be so many CEOs and senior executives, and it is a simple statistical fact that any workforce will have half of its members falling below the median on any objective variable. And since such objective variables are usually associated with finite resources, there is an obvious and quantifiable limit on how much an organization can deploy such resources.

Subjective measures of success, on the other hand, are nearly limitless in terms of their ability for distribution, meaning that it is entirely possible to have a workforce fully composed of subjectively successful individuals.

Thankfully, there is no cap on employee satisfaction or engagement, and no budgeting is required to make a member of your team feel valued. If there is a single resource to consider in terms of fostering a high level of subjective career success, it is managerial and organizational effort.

Mischa Kaplan is Manager, People and Corporate Culture at Ottawa Tourism, and a part-time professor in the School of Business at Algonquin College.

ADVERTISING SALES General Inquiries, 238-1818 ext. 286 sales@obj.ca Wendy Baily, 238-1818 ext. 244 wbaily@obj.ca Cindy Cutts, 238-1818 ext. 240 cindy@obj.ca Victoria Stewart, 238-1818 ext. 226 victoria@obj.ca CREATIVE DIRECTOR Tanya Connolly-Holmes, 238-1818 ext. 253 creative@greatriver.ca GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Celine Paquette, 238-1818 ext. 252 celine@greatriver.ca Regan Van Dusen, 238-1818 x254 regan@greatriver.ca FINANCE Jackie Whalen, 238-1818 ext. 250 jackie@greatriver.ca PRINTED BY Transcontinental Qualimax 130 Adrien-Robert, Parc Industriel Richelieu Gatineau, QC J8Y 3S2 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR We welcome opinions about any material published in the Ottawa Business Journal or issues of interest to local businesspeople. Only letters with the writer’s full name, address and telephone number will be considered for publication. Addresses and phone numbers will not be published, but they might be used to verify authenticity.

Letters can be e-mailed to editor@obj.ca.

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David is passionate about client service and is committed to helping Jacob entrepreneurs and not-for-profit organizations. is successfully achieve their financial goals. responsible for a variety of tax related matters including personal and corporate tax planning and compliance based filings, corporate Jacob joined HW in 2008 and has gained reorganizations, estate planning, GST/HST matters extensiveand experience in taxation for small and and appeals. assisting clients with audits David is keenly focused on providing private companies and medium sized owner managed businesses theirand owner managersorganizations. with value-added in the areas of not-for-profit Jacobadvice is responsible for a variety of tax related matters As a Chartered assurance, accounting, valuation and taxation. including personal and corporate tax planning Business Valuator, he is skilled in assisting companies assess their and compliance based filings, corporate value whether it be for tax and estate planning, intergenerational Blair joined in 2007 and specializes in audit reorganizations, estateHW planning, GST/HST matters transfers, or business succession.

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Blairpersonal has experience with to a variety Chartered Business Valuators. of industries including and technology, commercial accounting taxation needs.

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real estate, and professional services. Blair

David enjoys volunteering in community-based initiatives focused primarily on understands what it takes to assist clients in engaging youth. managing and growing their businesses and

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43 OBJ.CA

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JANUARY 2019

ASSISTANCE WITH PURCHASE AND SALE OF BOOKKEEPING A BUSINESS

Partners Ian Hendry, Dan Warren, Marie Fraser and Nancy Nicks are pleased to welcome two new partners to our firm. Both are passionate about helping entrepreneurial business owners with accounting, taxation, succession planning, restructuring and managing growth.

2018 JANUARY 2019

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44

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE KANATA NORTH BUSINESS ASSOCIATION

BUSINESS ASSOCIA Winter 2019

LIVE, WORK, PLAY,

Kanata North welcomes University of Ottawa

EXPERIENCE BROOKSTREET MORE THAN JUST A HOTEL • 276 Four-Diamond Guest Rooms & Suites • Extensive Meeting & Conference Facilities

• Award Winning Restaurant

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• B Café Featuring Starbucks Coffee BROOKSTREET HOTEL

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DISCOVER THE MARSHES 2 KANATA NETWORKER WINTER 2019

OPEN ALL YEAR • Indoor Trackman Golf Simulator

• Dining at Ironstone Grill

• Weddings & Events

• Winter Golf Academy

• Live Music

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THE MARSHES GOLF CLUB

320 Terry Fox Drive | Kanata, ON | www.marshesgolfclub.com

welcome

I

TECH, TALENT AND IMPACT better scale the level of support provided to our members, the association has added to its small and mighty team. In October, Alycia Douglass – our new digital media and community coordinator – joined Deborah Lovegrove, lead for events and marketing, and Vanessa Baillie in administration, to support KNBA’s members and strengthen our role as a unifying voice for Kanata North.

GROWTH AND SUCCESS

Over the summer, the KNBA board established a set of strategic priorities that will reinforce the organization’s mission in “phase two” of Kanata North’s evolution and inform KNBA’s work plans for the next three

Veronica Farmer Director of Operations, Kanata North Business Association

WINTER 2019 KANATA NETWORKER 3

am always amazed how fast time flies when you are having fun! At the end of October, I started a new role as director of operations at the Kanata North Business Association.

Hugely humbling, it has been a wonderfully thrilling, fast-paced and productive start.

Last year was filled with transformation, momentum and growth for the KNBA and the Kanata North business community. Success really does happen here.

Jamie Petten – who is currently on maternity leave and enjoying her role as a mom – joined as KNBA’s president and executive director in May. Alongside our dynamic team and board, Jamie set in place a new vision for our Kanata North community to thrive. To implement this vision and to

to five years. Anchored by three pillars – talent, tech and impact – the strategic and work plans focus the association’s efforts to ensure “by 2022, Kanata North is recognized as the destination of choice for technical and business talent seeking world-class work with world-class companies.”

Signs of continued economic growth and business success are everywhere in Kanata North.

The results of our recently released 2018 Economic Impact Analysis report, completed by Doyletech, are impressive and solidify Kanata North as an integral part of the economic growth and innovation agenda of the economies of Ottawa, Ontario and Canada.

As Canada’s largest technology park, Kanata North is now home to more companies and more people working in and around the park every day.

This includes more than 23,000 employees and 543 companies, collectively contributing $13 billion to Canada’s GDP and making Kanata North Canada’s capital of technology and innovation! But this unprecedented growth and economic impact could not have happened without the amazing efforts of the Kanata North businesses, leaders and their teams.

These positive results are attributed to your efforts and should be shared and celebrated! Thank you!

2019 will be another busy year working with our strategic and community partners. Several initiatives in collaboration with Invest Ottawa, Ottawa Tourism and others focus on the unified goal of attracting businesses, talent and investment to Ottawa to generate economic growth and opportunities for our city.

I look forward to the continued work with each of the educational partners and others in our community to advance how the bright minds of the future connect to the opportunities that are abundant in the Technology Park. The recent announcement of the close partnership with the University of Ottawa creates a stronger connection between academia and industry in the Kanata North community. We look forward to the opening of its new presence in February 2019!

The future is very bright for Kanata North and I am honoured to work with an active board, passionate team and engaged group of partners to cultivate further opportunities for businesses in Kanata North. Together in 2019, we will continue to strengthen existing pride, build national and international recognition of this thriving tech hub and attract diverse talent to the region as a part of phase two of the KNBA’s next chapter!

BUSINESS ASSOCIATION

what’s inside

“He showed up at my door with a box of business cards that said ‘Dale Gantous, President, InGenius.’

I told him at the time, ‘Buzz off, I’m going on vacation.’”

– Dale Gantous, recalling her reaction to her future employer’s initial overture. Read the full profile on page eight.

CONTENTS 6

WHAT’S NEW, WHAT’S NEXT Upcoming events and key dates

7

BEHIND THE NUMBERS Kanata North’s economic impact

10 WHERE WE WORK

University of Ottawa comes to Kanata North 12 WHAT WE’RE GEEKING OUT ON

Capitalizing on cannabis 14 WHERE WE LIVE

Kanata North’s growing crop of craft breweries 16 BUSINESS BRIEFING

News from Canada’s largest tech park 18 AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

New institute launched in Kanata North 19 AWARDS

Celebrating Kanata North’s top performers

4 KANATA NETWORKER WINTER 2019

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE KANATA NORTH BUSINESS ASSOCIATION

BUSINESS ASSOCIATION Winter 2019

LIVE, WORK, PLAY,

Kanata North welcomes University of Ottawa

The Kanata Networker is the official publication of the Kanata North Business Association.

Learn more at kanatanorthbia.ca All reporting by Rosa Saba

Sponsored Content

A HOME BETWEEN HOMES: How Premiere Suites helps Kanata companies attract top talent to the city Along with making a new hire’s move less stressful, studies show that a smooth relocation is also good for business As businesses in Kanata North continue to boom, so too does their need to hire top-tier talent.

And for many companies, particularly those in tech, that often means looking beyond Ottawa to find the best person for the job.

Moving within a city can be difficult enough, but relocating from another place – whether a different city, province or even country – creates a whole new set of challenges.

As a strategic partner of Kanata North’s business community, Premiere Suites is positioned to address those challenges head on.

“We are here for people who need more than a hotel room,” says Alex Cumminger, the firm’s director of business development.

Premiere Suites has more than 30 short-term rental properties in Kanata, with more scattered throughout the rest of Ottawa. With a variety of townhomes and condos to choose from, the company is set up to host anyone from single professionals to those with families and even pets.

“Pets are a major part of people’s lives,” says Cumminger. “If they had to make secondary arrangements for their pets that would just be another cause of stress, particularly if they’re travelling with kids.”

More than a property management company, Premiere Suites offers fully furnished short term rentals

with full-sized kitchens, in suite laundry and all the other amenities needed to feel at home.

Cumminger and his team work with HR departments, executive assistants and relocation managers to find the best location and unit for an incoming hire and their family in terms of number of bedrooms, accessibility and for families, proximity to local schools and activities.

As a short-term rental provider with a typical stay length of more than 30 days, Premiere Suites offers a healthier and more cost-effective alternative to a hotel or home sharing service. Though they are less common, the company is also equipped to host guests for stays of seven nights or more.

Units come equipped with a full kitchen, so guests can do groceries and enjoy home cooked meals rather than relying on take out or room service.

“It’s a really turnkey operation,” he says. Guests benefit from full service in the units, which includes all utilities, unlimited internet access, VIP Rogers Cable, linens and towels and housekeeping.

And for hiring companies footing the bill for a new hire’s relocation, Premiere Suites offers competitive rates, with stays of 30 days or more exempt from all taxes.

Additionally, the company is fully insured and accredited, so hiring firms can rest easy knowing their newfound talent is in good hands with Premiere Suites.

WHY DOES A SMOOTH RELOCATION MATTER? For businesses hoping to attract top talent to Ottawa, a successful relocation can be the first step to a long, happy career with the hiring company.

Along with making a new hire’s move less stressful, studies show that a smooth relocation is also good for business.

In a recent study conducted by the Canadian Employee Relocation Council, selecting a neighbourhood and securing a residence were ranked as the top two causes for lost productivity among relocated employees.

Those companies that offer relocation decision assistance see an increase in acceptance from first-choice candidates. Overall, they also see a decrease in refusal.

When polled, 37 per cent of respondents cited concerns over housing or a mortgage as a reason for refusing a role in a new city.

You can read CERC’s report at

bit.ly/relocation-report.

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WINTER 2019 KANATA NETWORKER 5

After being offered relocation decision assistance, 81 per cent of respondents accepted a new role, a stark contrast to the 50 per cent that agreed to move without it.

what’s new - what’s next?

CANADIAN CONFERENCE FOR UNDERGRADUATE WOMEN IN PHYSICS (CCUWIP)

THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION GRANT PROGRAM

The Ontario Business Improvement Area Association (OBIAA) has launched the Digital Main Street program and is rolling it out across the province. The program provides $2,500 to qualifying small main street Ontario businesses to purchase and adopt digital tools and technologies.

There is also a Digital Service Squad Grant Program that provides $10,000 to qualifying municipal and business associations to set up Digital Service Squads to provide one-on-one assistance to small main street businesses in communities across Ontario. For more details on the programs visit: www.digitalmainstreet.ca/ontario/

Jan. 18-20, 2019 from 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

A regional three-day conference for undergraduate physics majors, the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) helps undergraduate women continue in physics by providing them with an opportunity to experience a professional conference, information about graduate school and professions in physics, as well as access to other women of all ages in physics with whom they can share experiences, advice and ideas. For more information on the event, please visit our events calendar or get in touch with the University of Ottawa Department of Physics.

NEW WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP FUND

6 KANATA NETWORKER WINTER 2019

The Government of Canada is looking to advance gender equality and women’s economic empowerment as well as support women entrepreneurs through the new Women Entrepreneurship Strategy that was announced in the 2018 federal budget. The Women Entrepreneurship Strategy aims to double the number of majority women-owned businesses by 2025.

The $20-million Women Entrepreneurship Fund provides up to $100,000 in non-repayable contribution funding for 12 months to women entrepreneurs with the objective to grow their businesses and facilitate their pursuit of opportunities in markets abroad. You

AIR SERVICES FOR KANATA NORTH

Kanata North’s tech hub can benefit from the quality and quantity of air services for shorter and quicker flights. Do you

can find more information about the Women Entrepreneurship Fund on the Government of Canada website. need to attend a meeting in Waterloo or other areas of Toronto? Charter Air Services from Carp Airport (YRP) is only 14 minutes from Legget Drive in Kanata. Save up to four hours by avoiding Toronto’s Pearson Airport and take a ride in a quiet, high-performance turboprop aircraft with on-board privacy and departure times to suit your own schedule. Contact Omer Majeed: omer. majeed@srs.aero

TEDXKANATA TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE!

Feb. 28, 2019 from 3:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Speakers have been announced for the upcoming TEDxKanata event under the theme “IMAGINE.” Check the TEDxKanata website for bios on each of the speakers. We look forward to welcoming you to the fifth edition of this annual event. Enjoy the inspirational talks of eight new speakers who will encourage attendees to dream, to question, to be vulnerable and to gain new perspectives as they hear ideas worth spreading.

PRODUCTIVITY $391,000

ECONOMIC IMPACT $13 BILLION

Net value-add of Kanata North to Canada’s GDP

2018

2015

Average net contribution per employee in Kanata North Note: $90,000 is the average contribution per employee in Canada

+66%

+53% since 2015

EMPLOYMENT IMPACT 19,477

Tech/export sector

4x

National average

(includes jobs in Kanata North only)

+18% compared with 16,513 in 2015

increase over $7.8 billion in 2015

13

$ C

BILLION

29,376

Total tech/ export sector (includes jobs in Kanata North and acrossthe region) Note: 10,000+ indirect and induced jobs have been generated in Ottawa/Eastern Ontario region due to the Kanata North success.

New study shows Kanata North’s growing economic impact, highlights need for investments in talent and transportation

READ THE REPORT

Veronica Farmer, KNBA’s operations manager, attributed this in part to Clearford Water Systems, which boosted revenues and employment numbers in 2018 due to a series of acquisitions.

Business leaders say that growth can be felt in day-to-day life in the park.

“We can feel it. We can see it,” said Farmer. “We see more companies announcing themselves.”

However, it’s also felt in ways that present new challenges. With close to 3,000 new employees in the park since 2015, traffic congestion on streets such as March Road has never been so bad, the KNBA said. Addressing traffic congestion and improving public transit service is an area that Sudds, who was recently sworn in as the area’s city councillor, has pledged to tackle.

The report also calculated the amount of taxes generated by Kanata North for all levels of government. Thanks in part to the area’s dramatic growth, it’s risen 16 per cent municipally, 40 per cent provincially and 47 per cent federally over the past three years.

TOTAL JOBS 33,236 = 29,376 Total Tech/Export Sector + 3,860 Total Local Sector

with 26,325 in 2015

+9% compared

with 30,679 in 2015

“We need a little bit of it back,” said Amy MacLeod, KNBA’s board chair and Mitel’s corporate diversity officer and vice-president of strategic communications, at a December presentation. “We need infrastructure.

We need investment in our transportation.”

As well, the need for tech talent is stronger than ever, Farmer said. She said traffic and talent will be key to continuing the growth highlighted in the study, adding she sees a strong argument for the provincial and federal governments to fund improvements such as traffic infrastructure.

“If we don’t do this, we’re going to lose … momentum,” said Farmer.

WINTER 2019 KANATA NETWORKER 7

ompanies in Kanata North are outposts for many multinational firms. growing rapidly and scaling up These offices typically do not generate revenues, but traffic congestion and revenues directly, so Doyletech counted competition for talented staff threaten the budget allocated to these local to hinder that growth if left unchecked, operations to account for the value according to a new report. generated by the R&D work done in The study, performed by OttawaKanata North. based Doyletech Corp., found “These are big companies, and that the park’s total economic the research that Kanata North impact on Canada’s GDP is doing is vital to those was $13 billion, a 66 per companies’ interest,” said cent increase over the Doyletech partner Rick $7.8 billion reported Clayton.

Visit impact2018. in 2015 when Jenna The report found a kanatanorthbia.ca Sudds, then the executive nine per cent increase to see more findings. director of the Kanata in jobs in Kanata North, North Business Association, as well as 30 per cent spearheaded the first review of revenue growth and 13 per Kanata North’s economic impact. cent more companies, over the Doyletech used a database of past three years. The park’s anchor companies in the park and interviews sectors – telecommunications, wireless with 40 companies to complete the and photonics – collectively saw study, gathering information such as revenues jump 95 per cent. Elsewhere, employment numbers, product offerings cleantech – a sector comprised of just and a broadly defined measurement of nine companies, according to Doyletech “revenue.”

– saw revenues increase 146 per cent and Kanata North is home to R&D employee numbers climb 119 per cent.

+12% compared

The company’s relationship with Mitel proved fruitful. When the firm asked InGenius to take over its custom application development, Gantous saw it as an opportunity to find out what customers were missing and how InGenius could fill the gap.

SCALING UP

Dale Gantous is the CEO of InGenius Software. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON

‘I have never looked back’ CEO Dale Gantous steers InGenius Software through tech bust to Growth 500

8 KANATA NETWORKER WINTER 2019

I

n Dale Gantous’ own words, the story of how she became the CEO of rapidlygrowing tech firm InGenius Software is a great one.

Equally great is the Kanata North company’s trajectory, from a high-growth beginning to a shrewd tech-bubble-burst survival story to another period of high growth that saw InGenius on the Growth 500 list in 2018 with a five-year revenue jump of 446 per cent.

But before all that, InGenius was essentially one person – founder Rich Loen, who met Gantous through her role at Telesat Canada. Gantous, who studied math and computer science at McGill University, worked at Telesat for 14 years in satellite communications and later business management.

InGenius – then a software developer and R&D provider – was hired to help

Telesat build a system for an Aboriginal TV network, a challenging project that required giving equal weight to each of the communities involved. Loen’s solution was to build a token-passing system, which impressed Gantous.

“I thought, ‘This is the best engineer I’d ever worked with in my life,’” she says. Over the years, Loen worked with Gantous on several more projects.

In 1992, the federal government sold its shares in Telesat to Alouette Communications, a company majorityowned by Bell, which would outright buy Telesat in 1998. Bell was looking to shut down any divisions competitive to its own services. Word spread that the Telesat higher-ups would be leaving, and Gantous knew she would soon be out of a job.

Unfazed, she planned a driving vacation to California. Then Loen came knocking.

The common need InGenius identified was a connection between phones and customer-relationship management programs such as SalesForce, often used in call centres and customer service departments.

FUN FACT “We helped them develop Gantous also has her own specifications that made it easier tech-bubble-burst survival story: and easier to tie phone systems into after working together for seven SalesForce,” explains Gantous. But years, she and Loen started to after finding out just how useful date. They’re now married, with that capability proved, InGenius 15-year-old twin boys. took the solution a step further.

InGenius also had a relationship with SalesForce and was helping the company develop its new application interface program. So when SalesForce released OpenCTI in September 2012, InGenius had a release of its own: Connected Enterprise, a program that integrated phone systems with SalesForce.

“We’ve got customers that say their “He showed up at my door with a box agents are able to handle twice the number of business cards that said ‘Dale Gantous, of calls,” explains Gantous.

President, InGenius,’” she says. “I told The company had 19 employees in him at the time, ‘Buzz off, I’m going on 2012. Now, they’re at 65, and are moving vacation.’” in January from the Mitel building into But when Gantous returned, the offer Calian’s old space at 340 Legget Dr., which was still there. After seeing her management can hold up to 120. Its list of enterprise style, Loen wanted Gantous to help him customers keeps growing, including grow InGenius.

Expedia, LinkedIn and The Gap. “He had told me, ‘Come and work for As the company scales up, Gantous yourself. You’ll never look back,’” Gantous says the workplace culture she and Loen says. “That was 25 years ago. And I have set out to uphold years ago is still top of never looked back.” mind. Loen greets every new hire in person, She and Loen set about growing and Gantous holds town-hall-style lunch the firm, starting with its three core meetings regularly. competencies: software development, What does Gantous look for in new telecommunications systems and multihires? “The light behind the eyes,” she says. vendor computer networking. At the time, Skill is important, but Gantous says the Nortel was the biggest player around, and changing nature of technology means a they quickly became preferred consultants drive to learn is equally important. She’s for the firm – at one point, Gantous says also looking for people who care about InGenius had approximately 50 people making customers happy. working exclusively on the Nortel file.

Gantous adds that InGenius wouldn’t be When Nortel imploded, InGenius where it is without the strong relationships shrank down to around seven people. “We the firm has built with its customers and went back to our roots,” says Gantous. The partners. company built up its relationship with “We work together with them. And Mitel, mostly on research and development together we provide better solutions than products. either of us do on their own.”

SPONSORED CONTENT

Upcoming Sens Soirée a must-attend on Ottawa’s social calendar

M

any of the region’s business and community leaders – as well as Ottawa’s top professional athletes – are dusting off their jumpsuits, flared pants and platform shoes in preparation for one of the biggest fundraising events of the year.

The annual Ferguslea Properties Ltd. Senators Soirée, presented by Bell, will attract 600 plus attendees and will give guests the opportunity to rub shoulders with the city’s NHL stars while supporting programs and initiatives focused on children and youth.

One of those programs aimed at youth mental wellness and funded by the Ottawa Senators Foundation is the new Well-Being Program to benefit oncology patients at CHEO. When a family hears the devastating news that their child has cancer, there are many things to consider. Children may be coping with the stress of treatment, anxiety about their future or worries about missing school or the sports they enjoy.

This was the pressing issue facing young patients at CHEO. Children suffering from a cancer diagnosis didn’t have timely access to a much needed service mental health counselling.

To meet the need, the CHEO Foundation set up the Well-Being Program to offer free mental health resources to cancer patients.

“We know that cancer treatments can affect cognition or physical ability,” says Jacqueline Belsito, Vice President, Philanthropy and Community Engagement at the CHEO Foundation. “As soon as someone is diagnosed, the whole family is affected.

The psychological impact is profound.”

Launched in 2017, the Well-Being Program has given more than 900 free counselling hours to families. The Ottawa Senators Foundation donated $50,000 to the program to ensure kids in 2019 would continue to have access to counselling.

Support for programs such as the Well-Being program is generated by events like the Senators Soirée. Scheduled for Feb. 9, 2019, the “Saturday Night Fever”- themed event will transform the Westin Hotel into the city’s hottest nightclub complete with live music, velvet ropes, a disco ball and plenty of sequins.

But in addition to good-natured fun and networking, the Sens Soirée has a serious goal.

“The funds raised at this event will help us further our mission to empower children and youth

by investing in social recreation and education programs focused on physical and mental wellness,” says Danielle Robinson, President and CEO of Ottawa Senators Foundation. “By investing into programs like the Well Being Program we will provide support to families in our community when they need it most.”

You can help the Ottawa Senators Foundation be Game Changers for Youth by joining them on February 9 for the one-of-a-kind Ferguslea Properties Limited Senators Soirée, presented by Bell. For tickets and event information please visit http://www.sensfoundation.com/soiree/.

— Danielle Robinson, President and CEO of Ottawa Senators Foundation.

WINTER 2019 KANATA NETWORKER 9

“The funds raised at this event will help us further our mission to empower children and youth by investing in social recreation and education programs focused on physical and mental wellness”

where we work

10 KANATA NETWORKER WINTER 2019

From left, Hanan Anis, a professor at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Engineering, with Sylvain Charbonneau, the school’s vice-president of research, and Faculty of Engineering Dean Jacques Beauvais. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON

University of Ottawa T sets up shop in Kanata North Closer ties between academy, businesses expected to accelerate innovation

he University of Ottawa is poised to be the first post-secondary institution with a physical presence in Canada’s largest technology park, filling a gap that Kanata North industry leaders say will increase access to cutting-edge research and highly skilled graduates.

In early 2018, Sylvain Charbonneau – the school’s vice-president of research – commissioned a consultation of companies in the tech park. He says three needs came back loud and clear: a need for talent, a need for retraining and lifelong learning, and a need for access to research.

“The technologies are changing so rapidly now that reskilling is extremely important,” says Charbonneau. “We wanted to be right in the middle of it.”

Charbonneau says the world’s leading tech parks all have something in common: a post-secondary presence, such as Stanford University in Silicon Valley.

“You live, work and play in Kanata.

And now you’re going to start learning,” says Charbonneau, echoing the theme he introduced at the official announcement during November’s Tech Tuesday: “Live, work, play, learn.”

“Learn” is a piece that’s been missing

from Kanata North, Charbonneau says, and business leaders in the park agree.

A governance committee comprised of directors and deans from the university as well as representatives from the Kanata North Technology Park, including Veronica Farmer and Jamie Petten of the Kanata North Business Association, has been meeting for months to plan the initiative.

The committee meetings served a basic but important purpose: “Getting to know each other,” says Amy MacLeod, a Mitel vice-president and KNBA board chair.

“It seems silly,” she says. “They’re only 25 minutes down the highway. But there’s a basic introduction that needs to happen.”

Until she joined the committee, MacLeod says she wasn’t aware of just how many U of O alumni work in Kanata – some 5,000, according to the university.

“The partnership has proven valuable even before the presence has been established,” she says. “It’s always been part of the community.”

MacLeod says establishing a university presence in the tech park will help more people realize just how much of the talent there today is homegrown.

“This is a great time to really start to think about who we are and where innovation comes from,” she says. “A big part of it is already coming from uOttawa alumni.”

PHYSICAL PRESENCE

The initial physical space in Tower C at 555 Legget Dr. will have an office and classroom, with an open, coworkingstyle feel, says Charbonneau, adding that he envisions a full Kanata North campus

in the future.

Though the space isn’t open yet, the university has already made its mark on Kanata North – in early December, the school held a co-op fair at You.i TV. Heather Tyrie, You.i TV’s vicepresident of employee experience, says holding the fair in Kanata North gives students a chance to see that the tech park is more than just a collection of office buildings.

“WE WANT MORE THAN OUR FAIR SHARE OF UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA GRADUATES.” — KNBA board chair Amy MacLeod.

“It’s a great opportunity for them to see what Kanata’s all about, and to see that it’s probably a little different than what they thought,” she says.

There were 178 University of Ottawa co-op students working in Kanata during the fall 2018 semester, according to the school.

Tyrie says the university’s physical space in Kanata will also serve as a place for co-op students to meet up, helping

them establish a network in the tech park during their time there.

“The social connections are really important for co-op students,” she says.

But it’s not just the university’s co-op students that stand to benefit from the initiative. MacLeod says partnerships between researchers and industry experts could bridge the gap between long-term research and the short-term constraints of commercial technology.

“Universities are brilliant at longterm, pure research,” she says. “(But businesses) have to deliver a product quickly and get it to market quickly.”

Jacques Beauvais, the dean of the university’s Faculty of Engineering, echoes those sentiments, adding that the university’s ability to perform dedicated long-term research could allow them to work on problems identified by industry experts, especially in the constantly evolving fields of autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and cybersecurity.

“High-tech companies need to innovate,” says Beauvais. “The only way we’re going to accelerate the process to support them is to get our students working directly with them.”

MacLeod hopes the partnership will help solve one of the Kanata tech industry’s biggest challenges.

“We need talent,” says MacLeod.

“We want more than our fair share of University of Ottawa graduates out here employed in the park, making a career in the park.”

MacLeod says she sees the initiative as a catalyst for the tech park’s future growth.

“We’ve done really, really well.

Imagine what we can do now that we’ve got that missing piece.”

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The fifth annual TEDxKanata event – themed “Imagine” – will highlight technology, leadership, relationships and humanity.

Jim Perkins of the Capital City Condors will talk about “finding contentment in unexpected places,” while Shopify’s Anna Lambert will speak about the fundamental things that make us human.

Katherine Cooligan of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP Ottawa will be tackling the timely topic of women in leadership, and Dr. Phil Wells of the Ottawa Hospital will talk about predictive analytics in the field of medicine.

Mindbridge Analytics CEO Eli Fathi is set to speak about how his childhood dream became his career, and Mitel’s Amy MacLeod will give career advice for teenagers.

Connor LaRocque, an author and CEO of SocialRise Revenue Marketing Agency, will talk about the pros and cons of social media, and Martello CEO John Proctor will share how his military career prepared him for the world of business.

Tickets for the Feb. 28 event are $20.

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what we’re geeking out on

“THERE’S A LOT OF DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGIES THAT GO INTO A DISPENSARY OR GROW-OP.” – Peter Strom CEO, March Networks

Kanata’s cannabis cluster Pot producers, security companies and law firms look to dominate emerging market from base in tech park

12 KANATA NETWORKER WINTER 2019

A

MARCH NETWORKS’S SOFTWARE USES VIDEO ANALYTICS TO TRACK CANNABIS FROM GROWING FACILITIES TO DISPENSARIES.

mong the Legget Drive towers that house a community of established and growing technology companies, one name stands out: Tweed.

Though not a tech company in its own right, Tweed and its parent company Canopy Growth have connections to Kanata North through its founder, local tech entrepreneur Bruce Linton.

And while a tech park may seem a strange fit for a cannabis firm, Canopy Growth is actually right among the hardware and software engineers it’s currently leveraging to develop high-tech vaporizing devices and seize on other opportunities as the recreational market prepares for the next wave of legalization in late 2019.

The Tweed office is also neighboured by a collection of companies poised to provide for the budding industry.

One such company is video

surveillance tech firm March Networks.

Best known for its work in helping to secure banks and large retailers, March Networks’s start in the cannabis industry came not in Canada, but in the U.S., where 10 states have legalized the drug for recreational use since 2012.

U.S. regulators are highly concerned with compliance when it comes to tracking cannabis plants from seed to sale.

To March Networks, this was an opportunity.

“We got in early and built a brand around it,” says March Networks CEO Peter Strom, adding that the Kanata company’s strategy is to target microverticals and tailor its products to address the specific needs of those industries.

Strom says March Networks identified early on the need for video surveillance tools in the cannabis industry, but soon after realized the technology would need to be more involved than that.

Because of the strict regulations in the U.S. arising from the discrepancy in cannabis’ legality between various states, “we realized very quickly that you’re going to need software to track this stuff,” says Strom.

March Networks’ software,

READYING FOR RETAIL

Another Kanata North company that’s keeping a close eye on the regulations –

and opportunities – surrounding the cannabis sector is Momentum Law. Founder and CEO Megan Cornell says the firm is offering an online-based training program for those interested in getting into cannabis retail.

With 13 modules to begin with at a monthly cost of $100, Cornell says the program targets anyone interested in the upcoming opportunity to sell cannabis in Ontario, applications for which opened in December. The modules will include topics such as the three-step application system, legal and community considerations for picking a location, and point-of-sale technology.

It’s a brand-new industry with a lot of moving parts, she says. “Because of the time pressure … we are trying to take all of these little pieces.”

For example, when it comes to choosing a location, there’s more to the decision that meets the eye.

“They could potentially lose months and a huge investment if they end up signing a lease in a space that ultimately doesn’t get a license because of community opposition,” explains Cornell. “So those are some of the pieces that we’ll be bringing in the external expertise to deal with.”

Cornell says the modules will draw upon outside sources, including interviews with various industry experts and producers.

“We want to make sure that on the legal side, everyone’s really prepared to be compliant,” says Cornell, adding that her firm is constantly updating itself on the changing legislation.

The Canadian recreational cannabis industry may be new, but it offers opportunities for companies who already work in a variety of sectors such as retail, agriculture and security – sectors with which many Kanata North companies are familiar.

Strom says though March Networks discussed the optics of getting into cannabis retail at an early stage, they didn’t see any negative implications on the horizon for their business.

“At the end of the day, we’re a technology company,” says Strom.

“There’s a lot of different technologies that go into a dispensary or grow-op.

I don’t think anybody’s going to vilify that.”

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SearchLight, uses video and data analytics to track cannabis from grow facilities to dispensaries using partner Zebra’s RFID tag, an industry-regulated process that requires each plant and package to be tagged from seed to sale.

“We’ve actually built a unique application that not only includes our video surveillance system, but also includes software which allows the grower to track that plant as it goes through its growth phase,” explains Strom. “We know exactly where that plant is at all times.”

The company has also provided video surveillance to dispensaries in the U.S. Just as in more traditional storefronts – if not more so – security is a top priority for cannabis retailers. Strom says the company is also looking at leveraging that technology using analytics to provide retailers with a better understanding of customer patterns, an offering the firm is already starting to market.

For example, March Networks’s technology would gather data on how many customers frequent a store, how long they spend in line, and other metrics common to the retail space. Using data analytics, cannabis retailers could make business decisions about how many points-of-sale to operate, which products people spend the most time perusing, and how they like to shop.

In Canada, March Networks is rolling out these video surveillance tools to be used in growing facilities, vehicles transporting cannabis and retail dispensaries now that recreational marijuana is legal nationwide.

Seed-to-sale tracking isn’t mandatory in Canada, but the security requirements for cannabis retail are still high, and Strom says March Networks recently signed a deal with a national producer, which he did not name, to supply surveillance technology in both dispensaries and production facilities.

“That market keeps growing for us …

As other countries legalize recreational use, and as Canadian companies go out and acquire companies around the world, they’re going to be relying on us to continue to provide video surveillance in those locations,” says Strom.

where we live

LON LADELL IS THE OWNER AND FOUNDER OF BIG RIG BREWERY. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON

14 KANATA NETWORKER WINTER 2019

From big tech to beer tastings Growing number of craft breweries adds new flavour to Kanata North

O

nce Kanata North’s only craft brewery, the arrival of Big Rig Brewery hearkened the beginning of what’s quickly becoming a destination for beer lovers from Kanata and beyond.

Big Rig opened its Kanata North location some four years ago, expanding beyond its original brew pub location to include a larger production facility. What began as a four-person operation now has 44 employees, says owner and founder Lon Ladell.

He wasn’t worried about the location – Ladell says the employees of the tech park seemed like the perfect demographic for his tap room.

“To have the tech community right next door is fantastic,” says Ladell. “It’s a great demographic for craft beer.”

In fact, it’s a win-win situation for the brewing company, where technology is an important part of the process, and analytical equipment is getting more technical by the year. Everything from the

internal systems to the machinery relies on tech, says Ladell, and having employees from the park around comes in handy when he’s got technical issues.

“I’ve got a bunch of tech guys who come in and sit at the bar,” says Ladell. “I’ll hit them up for advice.”

Now, Big Rig ships beer across Ontario and even to other provinces. Ladell says the growing industry is fed by beer lovers’ curiosity – essentially, he says, the more the merrier.

“Consumers of craft beer … like to experiment and try new things. And that’s really the basis of what craft beer is all about,” says Ladell, adding that he’s happy to see more breweries opening up in Kanata.

“There’s room for growth,” he says.

A CRAFT BEER DESTINATION

SMALL PONY BARREL WORKS SPECIALIZES IN SOUR BEERS AT ITS BREWERY AND TASTING ROOM ON SCHNEIDER ROAD. organize the October West beer festival in 2018, bringing brewers from all over Ottawa together and taking in donations for the Kanata Food Cupboard’s tornado relief efforts.

As for Evergreen, the sour beer collaboration went over so well with Samuel’s customers that he decided to keep offering sours. Coincidentally, he’s also moving from a licensed operation in his own garage into a new commercial space just on the other side of Highway 417 from the Kanata North tech park, next to the Costco and Home Depot.

Like McVeigh, Samuel likes experimenting with beers in small batches.

“My specialty so far has been not having a specialty,” he says. “In the two-and-ahalf years we’ve been open, we’ve brewed almost 65 different beers.”

Also a former Kanata North tech worker, Samuel says he hopes Evergreen will help add interest to the area, helping to turn it into even more of a destination for craft beer fans.

“We’re hoping that this brewery will be this little oasis of authenticity in the middle of all the big-box places,” he says.

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Next to Big Rig, Kanata North’s second brewery opened up in December 2017.

Small Pony Barrel Works is owned and operated by Sean McVeigh, who previously spent 10 years working in the tech park, most recently at BlackBerry. Now, McVeigh runs what’s believed to be Canada’s only brewery exclusively dedicated to sour beers.

While many breweries are beginning to brew sours – beers made with wild yeast that ferment for months at a time, usually in barrels – Small Pony does nothing but sours, something McVeigh developed a passion for during his time as a home brewer.

After collaborating with Chris Samuel of Evergreen Craft Ales on a couple of sour beers to test the waters, McVeigh felt confident there was a market for what he wanted to do. Since opening, he’s had his beer on LCBO shelves, as well as served in several restaurants in Ottawa and Toronto.

“The opening was ridiculously busy,” says McVeigh.

He says Ottawa’s increasingly diverse and supportive craft beer industry make it possible for such a unique venture to succeed. Next-door neighbours Ladell and McVeigh visit each other’s breweries, he says, often lending each other ingredients or machinery.

A stone’s throw away, Calabogie Brewing Co. has chosen Kanata North for its second brewery location, and McVeigh says that having a cluster of breweries will create a craft beer destination for people from Kanata and beyond.

Calabogie Brewing’s 7,000-square-foot space includes a 20-barrel brewery and a tap room that seats 85 people, overlooking its operations.

Lindsey Osborne of Calabogie Brewing says the company is excited about growing the craft beer cluster in Kanata, and about being closer to their Ottawa clientele.

“We’re making our own … little brewery market,” she says. “It draws people into the area, so the more little breweries in the area, the better.”

The three breweries collaborated to

Kanata North’s top employers honoured with Employees’ Choice Awards PHOTO SUPPLIED ALL PHOTOS BY MARK HOLLERON

Five Kanata North companies were recognized as some of the city’s top employers – as selected by their own staff – and honoured with Employees’ Choice Awards in December.

The 12th annual awards are presented to companies whose employees say they feel engaged in their work and supported by their employers.

Martello Technologies, InGenius Software, Crank Software, SOLINK and

Fusebill were among the companies receiving awards.

This year, the surveys were conducted by a new partner, Best Companies Group.

The firm’s CEO Peter Burke flew all the way from Texas to celebrate the awards.

Burke says the average level of engagement of the top 10 companies – 96 per cent – is well above average.

“This is really an elite group,” he says.

“It’s the best of the best.”

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BlackBerry QNX and L-Spark launch new accelerator BlackBerry QNX and L-Spark have teamed up to create a startup accelerator targeting early stage companies in emerging technology fields such as Internet of Things, autonomous transport and medical devices.

With the support of the National Research Council, the six-month program will pair six companies with mentors.

BlackBerry QNX’s software is used in many of the tech fields the accelerator is targeting, and the program will give companies access to that expertise and product.

Unlike many accelerators, the startups do not give up any equity in their company, according to Leo Lax, executive managing director at L-Spark.

“This will actually create a mechanism by which the global capabilities and reach of BlackBerry and the innovation and enthusiasm and passion of early-stage companies can come together,” Lax said.

Communications services firm Martello Technologies, cybersecurity company Bluink and automotive software developer Evolved Vehicles Environments will join four other companies from across Canada in the first cohort.

Cybersecurity company Irdeto has teamed up with the African Wildlife Foundation to fight poaching and wildlife crimes online.

Using Irdeto’s technology and services, the partners plan to disrupt the sale of illegal animal parts online as well as join forces with local law enforcement partners to locate the criminals performing the sales.

According to Kaddu Sebunya, president of AWF, the illegal wildlife industry generates between $7 billion and $23 billion every year.

“Together with Irdeto, we have an incredible opportunity to bring about a positive change, disrupt this illicit industry and make a positive impact on wildlife in Africa as well as across the globe,” Sebunya said in a statement.

Irdeto CEO Doug Lowther added that his company’s employees were eager to get involved in the cause.

“The passion from our team was there, we just needed a like-minded

partner that shared our enthusiasm for this cause,” he said. “I am proud that we can harness our expertise and technology for a good and just cause.”

The global company, which has a location on Solandt Road in Kanata

North, has almost five decades of experience in the security industry.

Irdeto recently opened a new location in Pontiac, Michigan, positioning itself among a leading cluster of connected vehicle innovation and expertise.

Wind River honoured Embedded software company Wind River received the Bronze Stevie Award in the 2018 American Business Awards for their product Edge Sync.

Wind River Edge Sync is an intelligent over-the-air update and software lifecycle management product used by auto manufacturers.

The product helps manufacturers manage and maintain the software that will underpin today’s generation of connected vehicles, as well as those to come. The information also helps manufacturers to analyze data patterns to make bigger, forwardthinking business decisions.

In a statement, the company states that “the ability to securely update vehicle systems through the entire life cycle of the car will be more critical than ever before.”

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Irdeto helps combat wildlife poaching

AV Institute launched in Kanata A

Kanata-based AV consultant is spearheading the creation of the Canadian Autonomous Vehicles Institute (CAVI) to support and promote Canada’s autonomous vehicle capabilities and ready the country for the arrival of AVs. Scheduled to launch in early 2019, the not-for-profit, industry-led organization – modelled after similar institutes in Australia and the Netherlands – will help Canada gain more recognition for its work in AV, says CAVCOE executive director Barrie Kirk.

“There’s a lot of really good things happening in Canada in the AV and CV ecosystem,” he says. “We’re not waving the flag enough at an international level.”

International recognition aside, he says there’s also a lot to be done to help bring together Canada’s “fragmented” AV hubs.

“Through CAVI, we can provide inputs to the policy planning by all levels of government,” says Kirk. “I think we need to

Data Dynamics

Kanata North was home to the first autonomous vehicle test on a public road in late 2017. knit together the Canadian autonomous and connected vehicle ecosystem better than it is now and at the same time link it to the rest of the world.”

The founding partners of CAVI speak to the national focus of the institute: the Alberta Council of Technologies, CAVCOE, DOT Technology, Kanata North

Business Association, Invest Ottawa, and movmi. With companies like these and the emergence of AV test beds across Canada, Kirk says CAVI does not intend to replicate any of the work already being done.

Instead, the institute will perform research and help advance what’s already going on both nationally and internationally.

SAVE THE DATE:

DISCOVER TECHNATA The 2019 Discover TechNATA expo and career fair will offer companies a chance to display their products and services as well as recruit local talent.

The fourth annual fair, sponsored by the Kanata North Business Association, will be held on March 28 at the Brookstreet Hotel, highlighting opportunities available at some of Kanata North’s most exciting firms.

Last year’s event saw almost 2,000 attendees and more than 70 exhibitors.

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Tomorrow’s technology is shaping business today.

To stay ahead, contact Sean Murphy, CPA, CMA, FCMC, PMP, Regional Managing Partner and National Leader, Digital Services, at 613.271.3700 x 500 or sean.murphy@mnp.ca

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Several of Kanata North’s top companies and executives were honoured at the Best Ottawa Business Awards including, clockwise from top, representatives from Intouch Insight, the Kanata North Business Association, Purecolo and Martello. ALL PHOTOS BY MARK HOLLERON

Kanata North shines at Best Ottawa Business Awards

S

firm has established a growing presence in Kanata North, was named CEO of the Year. Matthews, meanwhile, paid tribute to Mitel chief financial officer Steve Spooner, who was named the inaugural CFO of the Year.

In his remarks, Spooner recounted how he initially turned Matthews down when the local tech mogul offered him a job. He thanked Matthews and Peter Charbonneau, Matthews’ emissary when it came to recruiting Spooner a second time.

“We started as colleagues, they became my mentors and we ultimately became good friends,” said Spooner. “I’m truly blessed. Thank you both for investing in me.”

Elsewhere, Swedish design firm Syntronic and customer experience management company Intouch Insight

each won #SeriousTechLivesHere awards, sponsored by the Kanata North Business Association. Syntronic won for Team of the Year and Intouch Insight won for Company of the Year.

As well, independent data centre Purecolo won for Best New Business. Its founders, James Mackenzie and Rainer Paduch, were the entrepreneurs behind Granite Networks, an independent data centre that was eventually purchased by Rogers.

Network performance management company Martello, which went public this year via a reverse takeover and closed a $7.5-million private placement in June prior to its listing on the TSX, won two awards: Deals of the Year: Private Equity, as well as Best Business. Martello’s new CEO John Proctor was there to receive the awards.

WINTER 2019 KANATA NETWORKER 19

everal Kanata North companies and executives took their place among Ottawa’s top business performers at the 2018 Best Ottawa Business Awards gala, held at the Westin Hotel in midNovember.

The awards, presented by the Ottawa Business Journal and the Ottawa Board of Trade, honour a wide variety of local businesses and organizations. The roughly 760 attendees heard words of wisdom from local leaders such as Wesley Clover’s Terry Matthews and Canopy Growth’s Bruce Linton.

“Twenty-five years later, I’m still trying to learn,” Linton told the crowd. “One of the people in the company said to me, ‘Bruce, you’re not stupid, you just don’t know anything.’ I think that’s a very good way to approach life.”

Linton, whose cannabis production

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