For 15 years, Ryan Anderson built a career in one of the world’s toughest work environments: the ocean floor. As a commercial saturation diver, Anderson spent weeks living under pressure and descending hundreds of metres beneath the surface to repair offshore infrastructure in the oil and gas industry. When the sector slumped in 2014, bringing fewer contracts and shrinking wages, the bona fide entrepreneur changed course with the turning tide.
He joined Vancouver-based Canpac Marine Services, founded in 1965, to lead part of its subsea division. Four years later—after the business had cycled through three investment firms and dwindled to just six employees—Anderson made the bold leap to buy it out.
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“I jumped at it as soon as I could,” the 43-year-old says of his big bet. “I knew that the blue economy in the Pacific here and around the world was going to grow tenfold in 10 years.”
Today, Anderson’s conviction has transformed Canpac into one of Canada’s leading offshore marine services companies. The business now employs more than 50 people, and operates multiple vessels, commercial dive teams and remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs). Plus, it generated $47 million in revenue last year.
Canpac specializes in the kind of subsea work that happens far beyond the reach of human divers. It can install submarine fibre-optic and power cables, support offshore construction, conduct salvage operations and help scientists explore some of the least understood parts of the ocean.
At the heart of this work lies the company’s fleet of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs)—large underwater robots piloted from ships at the surface. Anderson pushed the technology even further by leading the development of Mantis, a world-class ROV capable of operating 6,000 metres below sea level. “These vehicles did not exist on the planet,” he says. “This is one of, I believe, three that have ever been built—and the first one ever built in North America.” Developed with several B.C. engineering firms, Mantis now helps Ocean Networks Canada study the Endeavour hydrothermal vents, 2,250 metres below the surface off Vancouver Island, where mineral-rich hot springs sustain an extraordinary array of marine life.
But Canpac’s expertise has also taken it around the world—from helping prevent an oil spill after the 365-foot Tenyo Maru sank in the Juan de Fuca Strait to salvaging Caribbean shipwrecks and even supporting the BBC’s Blue Planet series off Hawaii, where its crew captured the moment a deep-sea skate laid an egg.
Looking ahead, Anderson sees even greater opportunities beneath the waves. He expects autonomous underwater vehicles, offshore renewable energy and submarine cable installation to reshape the marine services industry over the next decade.
“The revenue growth here is sort of unlimited,” he says, clearly energized by the momentum behind Canada’s booming blue economy, with governments investing heavily in offshore projects in locations from B.C. to the East Coast and the Arctic.
What’s your dream alternate career?
As a youth, it was to be a professional soccer player.
What’s the best leadership advice you’ve ever received?
“You’re only as good as the people that work for you.”
What’s your favourite local business (besides your own)?
The undersea technology company Nuytco Research.
Check out the full list of Entrepreneur of the Year 2026 winners and finalists here.
