Every year since 1994, BCBusiness has partnered with Ernst & Young (EY) to produce the definitive look at entrepreneurship in British Columbia. The EY Entrepreneur of the Year program honours the very best in our business world—the risk-takers and game-changers whose visionary leadership and exemplary performance put them a step above the rest. Below, you’ll meet the 30 entrepreneurs who made the cut this year—including the 10 category winners and our overall Pacific Region winner
BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Dr. Allen Eaves (Pacific Region Overall Winner)
President and CEO, Stemcell Technologies Inc.
Bhawnesh Mathur + Geoff Reed
CEO + Chair, Creation Technologies
Geoff Chutter
CEO and President, WhiteWater West Industries Ltd.
FINTECH
Cody Green
Founder and Co-CEO, Canada Drives
David Gens
Founder, President and CEO, Merchant Advance Capital Ltd.
Hamed Shahbazi
CEO, Tio Networks Corp.
CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY
Roger Hardy + Sean Clark
CEO + CTO, Shoes.com
Trent Shumay + Ryan Peterson
CTO + CEO, Finger Food Studios
Lance Priebe
CEO, Hyper Hippo Productions Ltd.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Paul Dunstan
President, Plenary Group (Canada) Ltd.
Jonathan Whitworth + Kyle Washington
CEO + Executive Chairman, Seaspan ULC
Jeff Stibbard
CEO, JDS Energy & Mining
MARKETING TECHNOLOGY
Matias Marquez
Founder and COO, Buyatab Online Inc.
Johann Starke
President and CEO, FCV Interactive
Morgan Carey
CEO, Real Estate Webmasters
CONSTRUCTION
Todd, Scott + Jason Jacob
Principals, Jacob Bros. Construction Inc.
Ken Mayhew
Owner and President, Penfolds Roofing and Solar Inc.
William (Bill) Downing
President, Structurlam Products Inc.
RETAIL/HOSPITALITY
Kate Ross LeBlanc + Jean-Pierre LeBlanc
CEO and Co-Founder + Chair and Co-Founder, Saje Natural Business Inc.
John Neate
CEO and Founder, JJ Bean Inc.
Daniel Frankel
Founder and CEO, Tap & Barrel Brands Ltd.
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
Tim Berman
President and Founder, Fluxwerx Illumination Inc.
Casey O’Neill
Founder and CEO, Cypress Solutions Inc.
Philip Vanderpol
President and Founder, Vitalus Nutrition Inc.
HEALTHCARE SERVICES
Ken Sim + Cathy Thorpe + John DeHart
Co-founder + President and CEO + Co-founder, Nurse Next Door
Zeeshan + Karina Hayat
CEO + President, Prizm Media Inc.
Cameron Fleming + Robert Boscacci
Directors, HME Mobility and Accessibility
BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMER PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Elana Rosenfeld
CEO, Kicking Horse Coffee
Ian Walker
Founder and Owner, Left Coast Naturals
Ray Russell
Founder and Owner, Fresh Slice
HOW THE WINNERS WERE CHOSEN
The EY Entrepreneur of the Year is an annual global awards program administered by Ernst & Young (EY). Canada’s Pacific Region competition is overseen by the Ernst & Young LLP Vancouver office, which selects judges from among business leaders and past EOY winners. Judges look for a number of factors, including vision, leadership, financial performance and social responsibility. The Pacific Region winner is among five regional winners for Canada’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year; the Canadian winner advances to an annual competition for World Entrepreneur of the Year from among 60 country winners, each year held in Monte Carlo. Details of the nomination process and judging criteria are available online. Nominations are accepted year-round.
2016 Pacific Region judges
Ryan Beedie, President, Beedie Group
Charles Chang, President + Founder, Lyra Growth Partners
Ashley Cooper, President, Paladin Security
Christine Cooper, Corporate Finance Head, BMO Bank of Montreal
Debra Hewson, President, Odlum Brown
Shannon Rogers, President, Global Relay Communications Inc.
Lisa Shields, Founder + CEO, FI.SPAN
Bill Tam, President, BC Technology Industry Association