Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024

It’s been 30 years since BCBusiness started profiling the winners of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year – Pacific Region competition. To say we’re proud to be continuing that tradition is a massive understatement. Our partnership with EY is bigger than anyone at the magazine and we’re so honoured to cover some of B.C.’s hardest-working and most innovative entrepreneurs. As part of the largest edition we’ve done in years, here are the winners and finalists from 27 different organizations. We hope you enjoy reading about them as much as we enjoyed putting these profiles together.

Winners

Tobyn Sowden, Redbrick

Joshua Gaglardi, Orion Construction

Gary Lenett, Duer

Barry Yates, Amielle Lake, Bill Schonbrun and Michael Carlson; Carbonet

Yvonne Anderson, Santevia

Randy Wu, Fantuan

Mike Maierle, Etro Construction Ltd.

Keith Ippel and Caroline von Hirschberg, Spring

Niilo Edwards, First Nations Major Projects Coalition

Finalists

Jeff McCann, Apollo Insurance

Annie Korver, Rise Consulting

Christy Wyatt, Absolute Security

Rain Zhang, Willowest Enterprise Co. Ltd.

Raminder Grewal, Keystone Environmental

Carole Herder, Cavallo Horse & Rider

Dominik Desbois, Spin Society

Andrew McLeod and Owen Madrick, Certn

Margaret Brodie, Rubicon Organics

Roumen Petkov and Gueorgui Anguelov, SMPC Technologies

Michael Green and Natalie Telewiak, Michael Green Architecture

Cyrus Greenall, Firstline

Stephen Robinson, DarkVision Technologies Inc.

Bahar Heravi Moussavi, The C.O.D.E. Initiative Foundation

Cyrus Symoom and Jake Dancyger, Clariti

Bruce Qi, Launchpad Technologies

Don Murray, Safe Software

Ryan Anderson and John Anderson, Anderson Air Ltd.

READ MORE: Entrepreneur of the Year 2023

How the Winners + Finalists Were Chosen

EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is an annual global awards program administered by Ernst & Young (EY). For Canada’s Pacific Region program, EY selects judges from among local business leaders and past program winners. Judges evaluate the nominees based on several factors, including entrepreneurial spirit, value creation, strategic direction, national and global impact, innovation and purpose-driven leadership. Details of the nomination process and judging criteria are available at ey.com/ca/EOY. Nominations are accepted year-round.

The Judges

With a deep passion for fostering innovation and digital transformation, Bill Tam has been at the forefront of advancing technology-driven initiatives that promote global collaboration. The incoming chair of the Centre for Digital Media in Vancouver, his extensive experience includes leadership roles in both private and public sectors.

Ryan Barrington-Foote is currently the president of the Jim Pattison Group, where his duties include oversight of several operating divisions within the group. He was previously the managing director, accounting, and has worked with the Jim Pattison Group since 2001. Barrington-Foote is a former member of the board of directors of Just Energy Group Inc. and was a director and treasurer of the Rick Hansen Institute.

As COO for Acuitas Therapeutics, Abi Coman-Walker develops and oversees the organization’s operational, finance and corporate/business strategy. A qualified accountant, Coman-Walker brings extensive leadership experience to her role at Acuitas, having spent more than 16 years in senior positions for HSBC in seven countries.

Stephen Lee is the CEO of Musqueam Capital Corporation, a wholly owned entity of the Musqueam Indian Band. He is responsible for overseeing Musqueam’s extensive real estate and business assets. His experience spans over 30 years in senior finance and leadership roles in various industries in private and public companies.

Curtis Braber is the owner of BE Power Equipment Inc., Canada’s largest manufacturer of industrial power equipment, with operations across Canada, the U.S., Australia and Asia. In 2022, Curtis was named a regional winner of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year – Pacific Region competition, recognizing his leadership and entrepreneurial spirit.