30 Under 30: Jake McGregor has had a quick rise to the top of Minerva Intelligence

The North Vancouver native's career path feels distinctly old school.

Jake McGregor

Jake McGregor, 28

President, Minerva Intelligence

Life Story: Jake McGregor’s career path feels old school—the type of trail that was blazed 50 years ago. You know the drill: university standout gets a job at a resources company right out of school and rises to the top of the ranks in short order. It wasn’t quite that simple for McGregor, but the bones are there. The North Vancouver native earned a geography degree (with distinction) from the University of Guelph before coming back to his hometown and becoming a GIS specialist with Minerva Intelligence, a software company that helps embed AI into more traditional industries like mining.

But it wasn’t long before McGregor was climbing up the executive ladder at the business. First, he was named head of geospatial technology, then chief operating officer. Last October, he became president. “I equate it to a lot of ambition, and just not staying in my lane so much,” McGregor says. “Being given the opportunity to say what I think the company should be doing and being listened to by our co-founder [chief software architect David Poole], CFO [Charles Jenkins] and others in the organization. They allowed me to speak my mind about our business strategy, even though I was in a technical role.”

Bottom Line: Vancouver-based Minerva was founded in 2017 and has just over 20 employees. Since McGregor has been part of the company’s leadership, revenues have quintupled.