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Entrepreneur of the Year 2014: and B.C.’s winners are…

By BCBusiness /

The 21st annual EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards is a unique chance to peek under the hood of B.C.’s finest businesses. Some of the 30 entrepreneurs featured here are self-made; others are inheritors of a family business; and still others have taken another person’s enterprise and made it their own. What unites them all is a willingness to take risks—and succeed. Below, we’ve grouped 2014’s finalists by industry. Winners, who were announced September 30, are in purple

 

BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS // CLICK HERE >>

Tom Leavitt (OVERALL WINNER)
President and CEO, Leavitt Machinery

Rick Gibbs
President, Neutron Factory Works

Scott Edmonds
President and CEO, Webtech Wireless Inc.

 

BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMER // CLICK HERE >>

Charles Chang
President and founder, Sequel Naturals Ltd.

Natacha Beim
President, Neutron Factory Works

Brad, Mike + Mitch Trotman
Trotman Automotive Group

 

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY // CLICK HERE >>

Ho Kim
President and CEO, CAMACC Systems Inc.

Stephane Bourque
President and CEO, Incognito Software Inc.

Jack Newton
CEO, Clio

 

EMERGING // CLICK HERE >>

Lisa Tuningley
President, T-Rail Products

Vern Brownell
CEO, D-Wave

Franck Point
Owner, Faubourg Paris

 

MINING // CLICK HERE >>

Mark O’Dea
Founder and chair, Oxygen Capital Corp.

Bradford Cooke
CEO, Endeavour Silver Corp.

Devinder Randhawa + Ross McElroy
Fission Uranium Corp.

 

MANUFACTURING // CLICK HERE >>

Jake Fry
Founder and president, Smallworks

Steve Curtis
Founder and CEO, Zag Global

Dan Eisenhardt + Hamid Abdollahi
CEO; CTO, Recon Instruments Inc.

 

HOSPITALITY / ENTERTAINMENT // CLICK HERE >>

Sacha + Jason McLean
The McLean Group of Companies

Thomas Haas
Owner, Thomas Haas Chocolates and Patisserie

Sergio Cocchia + Wendy Lisogar-Cocchia
President; CEO, Crew Management Ltd.

 

ENERGY // CLICK HERE >>

Aaron Rokstad
CEO, Rokstad Power Corp.

Larrie York
President, Frontier Power Products Ltd.

Carlos Villavicencio
CEO, Natural Trade Ltd.

 

PHOTOS: THE GALA // CLICK HERE >>

More than 1,600 guests attended the EY Entrepreneur of the Year gala at the Vancouver Convention Centre, making it the largest Ernst & Young EOY gala in the world. The Pacific awards gala brings together our region’s entrepreneurs, influential business leaders, educators and the media in one room. A cocktail reception kicked off Tuesday evening, followed by dinner and award presentations.

 

VIDEO: THOUGHT LEADERSHIP EVENT // CLICK HERE >>

A quick look at the November 2014 event, an evening panel that featured intimate interviews with three EOY 2014 winners. Panelists talked to, and networked with, roughly 175 BCBusiness readers. Plus, there was good food and drink. Watch this short video to see how the event went (and consider coming next year).

 

How the winners are chosen

The EY Entrepreneur of the Year is an annual global competition 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 finalists for Canada’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year; the Canadian winner advances to the World Entrepreneur of the Year with 50 country finalists, this year held in Monte Carlo. Details of the nomination process and judging criteria are available here.