VOTE ELECTRONICALLY FROM September 10, 2021 @ 9:00 am to 4:00 PM September 17, 2021. An email has been sent to the primary contact of your company membership account to complete their account activation.

INSTRUCTION:

Get to know the Board of Director Nominees by reading bios and watching video submissions below!
Check your email! Each company member gets one vote and your vote should be cast by your CEO or the primary contact for your VIATEC membership. If they have not already received their email account activation from SmartBallot after Sept 10 at 9am please contact info@viatec.ca. Electronic voting runs from Sept 10, 9am to Sept 17, 4pm.
Register to attend VIATEC's AGM on Sept 23, 4:30-7pm virtually or in-person right here.

Questions? Contact info@viatec.ca

2021-22 VIATEC Board Nominees

JIM BALCOM

Redlen Technologies

Bio & Video

[Click here for Jim's video submission]

Jim Balcom has spent his career in the technology industry in Silicon Valley, Seattle, Vancouver and now Victoria as COO of Redlen Technologies. Redlen has become a major technology success story, developing world-leading medical and security imaging technology, tripling staffing, quintupling revenues and attracting talent and customers from around the world. Jim has worked in various roles over the past 30 years including manufacturing, engineering, sales and venture capital, and has developed and launched disruptive products and technologies into the consumer electronics, alternative energy and medical and security industries. Jim has a Systems Engineering degree from Waterloo and an MBA from Harvard and has learned a lot along the way from his successes and failures. He has helped raise over $200M in financing for numerous companies from angels, VCs, government programs and IPOs and has been a board member, angel investor and advisor to several companies over the years.

ROBERT BOWNESS

BC Pension Corporation

Bio & Video

[Click here for Robert's video submission]

Robert is a designated Chartered Accountant with extensive experience in governance, financial reporting and operation excellence. He is currently the Director of Employer Operations at the BC Pension Corporation where he leads a team to work with over 1,000 employers across Canada to generate over $4 billion of annual contributions and collect pension data for more than 400,000 pension plan members. Previous to the Pension Corporation, Robert articled at an international accounting firm serving public and private clients primarily in the technology and mining industries. Robert brings a background in governance, risk, compliance and operations leadership blended with a technical knowledge of accounting. He enjoys building strong governance and operational structures in organizations and always understanding the "why" behind each decision. To date, Robert’s involvement with VIATEC has been as a member for over 8 years and a board member for four serving as the chair of the finance committee. In his spare time he can be found exploring the mountains and oceans of British Columbia.

MARIA DAVIDSON

Udutu

Bio & Video

[Click here for Maria's video submission]

Maria Davidson is the CEO of Udutu, an e-Learning software company. Over the past 15 years she has had a variety of roles at Udutu and been involved in all aspects of business ranging from training development, project management, HR, operations management, management, business development, marketing strategy, and social media. She has worked with Udutu’s biggest clients including WorkSafeBC and BC Hydro helping them plan, develop and successfully launch their training initiatives. As CEO, she oversees strategic direction, ensuring the products remain innovative while maintaining client satisfaction. In 2008, Maria joined the VIATEC board of directors where she served 3 consecutive terms. During her time on the board, she both served on and chaired the governance committee. Maria remains an active member of the VIATEC community. In 2020 during the pandemic, Udutu became a virtual company. Working from home allows her to successfully run a company while maintaining work/family balance.

BILL ENGLAND

FTS Forest Technology Systems

Bio & Video

[Click here for Bill's video submission]

Bill England is currently the Director of Sales at FTS, an environmental monitoring solution provider for fire-weather, hydrology and meteorological applications based in Langford. Bill joined the FTS leadership team in 2016 to spearhead the company’s sales division. After substantial growth, FTS was acquired by Union Park Capital, a Boston based private equity firm in 2019, and added to their Advanced Environmental Monitoring (AEM) group. With two decades’ experience in management, business development and sales and marketing, Bill is known for successfully building teams to launching new products, opening new geographic and vertical markets, and expanding sales. Prior to joining FTS, Bill had a range of experience from start up to publicly traded companies, from telecom and defence hardware to software to consulting. In his spare time outside of work, Bill enjoys coaching hockey, shuttling kids around, and running a completely unsuccessful hobby farm side hustle with his family.

SACHEN MACDONALD

Checkfront

Bio & Video

[Click here for Sachen's video submission]

Sachen Macdonald, VP Product at Checkfront, a local growth stage SaaS start-up in the travel and tourism reservation technology sector. Sachen builds teams and inspires them with trust and confidence in the vision and mission; and supports people with clear direction, repeatable processes, and continuous improvement. Most recently, she has been focused on building and empowering a professional product team and discipline at Checkfront, to offer the market a flexible booking platform that makes reservations a breeze for anyone. Prior to that, she supported the growth and development of the Workday team from 45 to over 100 people in Victoria, opening up career opportunities for our local tech community.

MASOUD NASSAJI

DoubleJump

Bio & Video

[Click here for Masoud's video submission]

In 2014 Masoud dropped out of university and co-founded DoubleJump, a bootstrapped mobile gaming studio. Masoud has been able to create a diverse team of individuals who have been able to solve challenging technological and creative problems to build world-class products that compete on a global stage. To date, DoubleJump's products have been played by millions of people around the world and have generated millions in revenue.

SCOTT PHILLIPS

StarFish Medical

Bio & Video

[Click here for Scott's video submission]

Scott Phillips is the CEO of StarFish Medical, the largest medical device development services company in Canada, and a long time stalwart of the tech industry in Victoria. He is also the CEO of the StarFish Group with 4 group operating companies. Last year StarFish responded to the federal government’s call and developed a critical care ventilator for COVID. He is also the chair of Lifesciences BC and a sits on a few other private company boards. He is a big believer in the value of VIATEC to amplify the technology sector in Victoria. In particular he believes that the combination of community building, normalizing entrepreneurship, delivering programs, facilitating groups, providing programs, creating celebration opportunities and advocacy creates an exponential boost to the tech industry to help all of us be better.

RASOOL RAYANI

Heart Pharmacy

Bio

Rasool Rayani is a purpose-driven entrepreneur who takes great joy in working with and enabling others to follow their entrepreneurial path. Rasool started his entrepreneurial career in 2001, when he co-founded Metalogix Software, which won North America's largest new venture competition and achieved triple-digit and profitable growth for over a decade. In 2009, he began angel investing and venture investing. He continues to invest in and acquire businesses with a focus on tech, health innovation, pharmacies, cpg food and food retail (50+). Rasool has served on a number of boards over the years - private and not for profit. His philosophy on spending time on board work is that it is an investment in building an organization’s capacity and impact by supporting strategy and leadership.

SCOTT ROBERTS

National Research Council

Bio & Video

[Click here for Scott's video submission]

Scott Roberts is the Director of Astronomy Technology at the National Research Council Canada in Victoria. Scott currently leads a world class, highly collaborative team of 90 people, located in Victoria and Penticton, who conduct research and development and design and deploy cutting edge astronomical observatories and instrumentation. He is recognized internationally as an expert in engineering design and development, systems engineering and project management of large complex projects. Scott leads the directorate in building and maintaining partnerships with many Canadian and international organizations. After completing B.A.Sc. and M.A.Sc. degrees in mechanical engineering from UBC, Scott held engineering leadership positions at startup companies before moving to NRC. He is a champion of equality, diversity and inclusion. Scott is actively involved in mentorship of early career researchers, outreach to the community, and works towards policies and practices that encourage women to choose careers in science, technology, and engineering and math.

SEAN WALLBRIDGE

Regroove Solutions

Bio & Video

[Click here for Sean's video submission]

Dad. Husband. Drummer. Learner of Things. As Chief Troublemaker and 10-time Microsoft MVP at Regroove, my day job is to shake things up by relentlessly encouraging organizations to change the way they do business through cloud technology. I then spend my remaining time focused on making an impact in music with Rockstar Bingo and Rockstar Nights, in nutrition with Ballsy Foods, and in sport with Shelterball. "Do the right thing and do the thing right." Learn more here: https://wallbridge.com

2021-22 VIATEC Board Nominees

JIM BALCOM

ROBERT BOWNESS

MARIA DAVIDSON

BILL ENGLAND

SACHEN MACDONALD

MASOUD NASSAJI

SCOTT PHILLIPS

RASOOL RAYANI

SCOTT ROBERTS

SEAN WALLBRIDGE

Victoria Innovation, Advanced Technology & Entrepreneurship Council