Pacific region's legacy-building entrepreneurs advance to finalist stage of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ program

VANCOUVER, July 9, 2015 /CNW/ - Accelerating growth, driving innovation and building a strong legacy are what Canadian entrepreneurs do, every day. This year, EY is celebrating the achievements of 31 entrepreneurial stars in the Pacific region through the prestigious EY Entrepreneur Of The Year awards program. 

These inspiring category finalists were chosen by an independent panel of judges. One of these category winners will be named the overall Pacific winner, who will compete with winners from four other regions – Prairies, Quebec, Ontario and Atlantic – to become Canada's EY Entrepreneur Of The Year. The Canadian winner will go on to compete globally with more than 50 countries for the title of EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year in June 2016.

"We're proud to celebrate such inspiring and forward-thinking entrepreneurs," says Lui Petrollini, EY's Pacific Entrepreneur Of The Year program director. "Entrepreneurs are job creators, trailblazers and legacy builders. Each and every single one of them is helping to build a better working world."

The Canadian Entrepreneur Of The Year program is in its 22^nd year of recognizing, celebrating and telling the inspiring stories of the country's most impressive entrepreneurs from all areas of business and at different stages of their entrepreneurial journey. Award finalists are chosen based on their vision, leadership, innovation, financial success, personal integrity, and work in giving back to their communities.

The Pacific winners will be announced at a gala on 24 September 2015.

More information
Follow @EYCanada, #EOY and #EOYPacific on Twitter for the latest event updates
Visit ey.com/ca/eoy for more program details and a complete list of category finalists and gala dates in the regions. 

The 2015 PacificEY Entrepreneur Of The Year finalists

Business Services

Andrew Kemp
CMW Insurance Services Ltd. | Burnaby, British Columbia
www.cmwinsurance.com
An independent, employee-owned insurance brokerage, serving businesses and individuals and specializing in local sectors such as real estate, construction and manufacturing.

Tim Germain
T-Lane Nation | Mission, British Columbia
www.t-lane.ca 
Provides a one-stop shop for all clients' transportation and logistics requirements.

Steve Troyer
Troyer Ventures Ltd. | Fort St. John, British Columbia
www.troyer.ca 
A private energy service company that provides diversified fluid transportation services to oil and gas producers throughout Western Canada.

Business-to-business products and services

Delna Bhesania, Barry Ward
Bardel Entertainment | Vancouver, British Columbia
www.bardel.ca 
Bardel is the leading animation services provider in North America.

Harvey Tremblay
Hy-Tech Drilling Ltd. | Smithers, British Columbia
www.hy-techdrilling.com 
A diamond drilling company that provides drilling services to the mining and mineral exploration sectors.

Christopher Krywulak
iQmetrix | Vancouver, British Columbia
www.iQmetrix.com 
A leading provider of end-to-end retail solutions. Enhances front-end experiences with XQ Interactive Retail and streamlines back-end operations with RQ Retail Management.

Business-to-consumer products and services

Brian Scudamore
1-800-GOT-JUNK? | Vancouver, British Columbia
http://www.1800gotjunk.com/ca_en 
A full-service, residential and commercial junk removal company helping home and business owners across Canada, the U.S. and Australia get their space back.

Ian McIntosh
Kirmac Automotive Collision Systems Inc. | Coquitlam, British Columbia
www.kirmac.com 
Kirmac provides collision and autoglass repair services in the lower mainland of BC. 

Aaron Hefter
Nutrabolics | Vancouver, British Columbia
www.nutrabolics.com 
Nutrabolics® is a world leader in cutting-edge sports nutrition.

Emerging Entrepreneur

Arnold Leung
Appnovation Technologies Inc. | Vancouver, British Columbia
www.appnovation.com 
A global IT services firm that delivers innovative and creative open technology solutions using Drupal, MuleSoft, Alfresco, HTML5, MongoDB and Hadoop.

Trevor Styan
Northern Civil Energy Inc. | Nanaimo, British Columbia
www.northerncivil.ca 
A civil construction company with a strong portfolio of experience in civil work related to substations.

Trevor Dunn
Sea to Sky Gondola | Squamish, British Columbia
www.seatoskygondola.com 
The 10-minute gondola ride takes visitors up 885m to enjoy the100 metre suspension bridge, Summit Lodge restaurant, viewing platforms, hiking trails for all levels and year-round event programming.

Food and Beverage Distribution

Tony Singh
Fruiticana Produce Ltd. | Surrey, British Columbia
www.fruiticana.com 
The company is an importer and wholesaler of South Asian food and household products.

Frank Dennis
Ten Peaks Coffee Company Inc. | Burnaby, British Columbia
http://www.tenpeakscoffee.ca/ 
The company owns SWISS WATER Process, which delivers amazing coffee without caffeine to the very best coffee roasters in the speciality coffee Industry.

John Anderson
The Oppenheimer Group | Coquitlam, British Columbia
www.oppy.com 
A distributor of fruits and vegetables.

Hospitality and tourism

Mandy Farmer
Accent Inns & Hotel Zed | Victoria, British Columbia
www.hotelzed.com 
Accent Inns has five locations in BC and is also the parent company to the new and fun Hotel Zed, a re-positioned funky motel in Victoria.

Jim Wyse
Burrowing Owl Vineyards Ltd. | Oliver, British Columbia
www.bovwine.ca/ 
A grower and producer of a variety of wines that are sold all over Canada and internationally. The company also operates a restaurant and guesthouse. 

Jeff Donnelly
Donnelly Group | Vancouver, British Columbia
www.donnellygroup.ca 
Donnelly Group comprises 11 public houses, three cocktail taverns, and one nightclub.

Innovative technology – financial services

Lisa Shields
Hyperwallet Systems Inc. | Vancouver, British Columbia
www.hyperwallet.com 
Hyperwallet's goal is to simplify the payments process and reduce the barriers that stand between multi-national businesses and their globally disbursed payees.

Michel Giasson
NuData Security | Vancouver, British Columbia
www.nudatasecurity.com 
Predicts and prevents online fraud, protecting businesses from brand damage and financial loss caused by fraudulent or malicious attacks.

Hamed Shahbazi
TIO Networks Corp. | Vancouver, British Columbia
www.tionetworks.com 
A cloud-based multi-channel bill payment processor and serves the largest telecom, wireless, cable and utility network operators in North America. 

Real estate and construction

Nicholas Boyd
Fusion Project Management | Vancouver, British Columbia
www.fusion-projects.com 
A design, build and project management firm, specializing in tenant improvement for corporate and commercial interiors.

Raoul Malak
The Ansan Group | Richmond, British Columbia
www.ansangroup.ca 
Flagging, lane closure, traffic management plans and permits, traffic control equipment manufacturing, rental and sales, province wide dispatch services, municipal maintenance and landscaping.

Renee Wasylyk
Troika Management Corp. | Kelowna, British Columbia
www.troikadevelopments.com 
A full-service, progressive, future-focused land and real estate development company in Western Canada.

Technology

Morgan Carey
Real Estate Webmasters | Nanaimo, British Columbia
www.realestatewebmasters.com 
Custom technology provider serving real estate professionals across North America and offering custom websites, CRMs, marketing and consulting services.

Greg Malpass
Traction on Demand | Burnaby, British Columbia
www.tractionondemand.com 
A cloud technology consulting and software development firm with unparalleled expertise on the salesforce.com platform.

Shafin Diamond Tejani
Victory Square Labs | Vancouver, British Columbia
www.victorysquare.com 
A venture builder that builds start-ups in the web, mobile, gaming and film spaces, with a focus on funding socially responsible companies, international start-ups and female founders.

Turnaround entrepreneur

Ryan Benn
Alive Publishing Group Inc. | Richmond, British Columbia
www.apg.alive.com 
One of Canada's largest media companies.

Judi Hess
Copperleaf Technologies Inc. | Burnaby, British Columbia
www.copperleaf.com 
Working with organizations facing aging infrastructure, the company helps develop asset investment plans and processes to make higher value investment decisions.

Neil Woodyer
Endeavour Mining Corporation | Vancouver, British Columbia
www.endeavourminining.com 
A Canadian listed gold mining company with four operating mines in West Africa, producing 500,000 ounces of gold per year.

About EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential, and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 140 cities in 50 countries.

The 2015 Pacific independent judging panel consists of Ashley Cooper, President and CEO, Paladin Security and 2012 Pacific EY Entrepreneur Of The Year; Donald McInnes, Partner, Oxygen Capital Corp. and Entrepreneur Of The Year Cleantech/Information Technology category winner 2011, Pacific; Christine Cooper, Head, Corporate Finance Division British Columbia, BMO Bank of Montreal; Fred Davidson, President and CEO, Energold Drilling Corp. and EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Mining and Metals category winner 2012, Pacific; Launi Skinner, CEO, First West Credit Union; Ryan Beedie, President, Beedie Development Group and 2009 Pacific EY Entrepreneur Of The Year; Joyce Groote, CEO, Crossing Sectors Inc.

This year's national program sponsors are National Post, TEC Canada, La Presse, RDI, TMX, Merrill DataSite, Kira Talent, Air Canada, The Printing House Limited. Pacific regional sponsors are BC Business, Leone, Hunt Personnel/Temporarily Yours, Sauder School of Business and Four Seasons Hotel.

About EY's Strategic Growth Markets Network
EY's worldwide Strategic Growth Markets Network is dedicated to serving the changing needs of high-growth companies. For more than 30 years, we've helped many of the world's most dynamic and ambitious companies grow into market leaders. Whether working with international mid-cap companies or early-stage venture-backed businesses, our professionals draw upon their extensive experience, insight and global resources to help your business succeed.

About EY
EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. For more than 150 years in Canada, we've delivered the insights and quality services that help build trust and confidence in capital markets here and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

For more information about the program, FAQs and key dates, please visit ey.com/ca/EOY.

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EY refers to the global organization and may refer to one or more of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

SOURCE EY (Ernst & Young)

For further information about this press release, gala information and sponsorship opportunities, please contact: Erika Bennett, [email protected], 403 206 5157; Julie Fournier, [email protected], 514 874 4308; Sasha Anopina, [email protected], 416 943 2637