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Meet the winners

Congratulations to the winners of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2019 Canada awards. 


Canada’s EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2019

Geoff Chutter is the President and CEO of WhiteWater. Located in Richmond, British Columbia, WhiteWater is the largest global designer of water parks and the biggest manufacturer of water park products — from the surf machines on the back of cruise ships, to the water play structures you see in renowned entertainment theme parks. In June 2020, Geoff represented Canada and competed with more than 50 country recipients for the title of EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year.

   

EY - Regional Winners 2019
Geoff Chutter - WhiteWater
Brent Macklin, Dennis Kellner and Darcy Amendt - Arctic Spas
Jim Estill - Danby Appliances
Noah Stern & Ayal Twik - MooseKnuckles Canada
Larry Puddister - Pennecon Ltd.


National Special Citations 2019

Tara Bosch - SmartSweets
Scott Gravelle - ATTAbotics
John Beck - Aecon
Andreea Crisan - Andy Transport
Manny Kohli - Matt & Nat
Michael O'Keeffe & David Cataford - Champion Iron Limited
John Chamberlaine - Action Car & Truck Accessories Inc.


Finalists

  • Pacific

    Business Disrupter 

    • Kristi Miller — First West Capital 🏆
    • Karm Sumal — Daily Hive 
    • Monty Sikka, Mark Catroppa — Monark Group 
    • Stephen de Jong — VRIFY Technology Inc.

    Business-to-Business 

    • Geoff Chutter — WhiteWater 🏆
    • Danny Chase — Chase Office Interiors Inc. 
    • Jay Evans — Keirton Inc. 
    • Haresh Bhatt — Natu'oil Services Inc.

    Consumer Products and Services 

    • Jack Nicholson — Otter Co-op 🏆
    • Amin Shivji — 123Dentist Inc. 
    • Vern Milani — Milani Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning
    • Dr. Caitlin Dunne, Dr. Jeff Roberts, Dr. Jon Havelock, Dr. Ken Seethram
      — Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine (PCRM) 

    Emerging Entrepreneur

    • Tara Bosch — SmartSweets 🏆
    • Don Konantz — Hops Connect
    • Christina Marcano — Silver Icing 

    Environmental Products and Services 

    • Thomas Ligocki MSc — Clevest Solutions Inc. 🏆
    • Raminder Grewal MSc — Keystone Environmental Ltd.
     

    Food and Beverage 

    • Dan Wilson, Kyle Tweter — Warehouse Group Inc. 🏆
    • Aaron Chin, M.IB — Organika Health Products Inc. 
    • Ryan Moreno — Joseph Richard Group 

    Natural Resources and Energy 

    • Kamal Sanghera, Suki Sanghera — San Group 🏆
    • Maryse Belanger, Steven Dean — Atlantic Gold Corporation (TSXV:AGB)
    • Todd Nicklin — Enex Energy Corporation 

    Social Impact 

    • Arthur Kononuk, David Luba, Derrick Emsley, Kalen Emsley, Stephen Emsley
      — tentree 🏆
    • Taylor Gemmel — Anita's Organic Grain & Flour Mill 
    • Peter van Stolk — SPUD.ca 

    Technology 

    • Laurie Schultz — Galvanize 🏆
    • Karina Hayat, Zeeshan Hayat — Prizm Media Inc. 
    • Morgan Carey — Real Estate Webmasters Inc. 
    • Greg Smith — Thinkific Labs Inc.

  • Prairies

    Business-to-Business 

    • Jesse van der Werf — Heavy Metal Equipment & Rentals 🏆
    • Blake Menning, Michael Doerksen — All Choice Rentals Ltd. 
    • Shauna MacDonald — Brookline Public Relations, Inc. 

    Business-to-Consumer 

    • Marcel Vouriot — Tank Traders 🏆
    • Cedric George — Custom Delivery Solutions Inc. 
    • Stephen McIntosh — The Factory Optical and Optiks International Group 
    • Brian Lowes — Pinnacle Auto Group 

    Communication Technology 

    • Desirée Bombenon — SureCall Contact Centers Ltd. 🏆
    • Brendon Cook, Cody Slater — Blackline Safety (BLN)
    • Kimberley Bishop — Prairie Mobile Communications 

    Emerging 

    • Scott Gravelle — Attabotics 🏆
    • Brandon Taylor, Paul Johnston, Dwayne Kushniruk, Tim Edward
      — OneSoft Solutions Inc. (TSXV:OSS) 
    • Conrad Ferrel, Louisa Ferrel — True Büch Kombucha 

    Energy Services 

    • Richard Hansen — Sky Eye Measurement Inc. 🏆
    • Len Johnson — AFTI WatchDog 
    • Mike Atema — Altek Supply 
    • Mitch Carlson, Brad Martin — Intelligent Wellhead Systems 
     

    Manufacturing 

    • Brent Macklin, Darcy Amendt, Dennis Kellner — Arctic Spas 🏆 
    • Noorudin Jiwani — Aliya's Foods Limited (Chef Bombay) 
    • Sheldon Dingwall — Dingwall Guitars Inc. 
    • Jeff Litster, Ryan Arseneau, Corey Homick, Joseph Brunelle — Fidelity Machine & Mould Solutions Inc.

    Real Estate & Construction 

    • Ken Achs — Mid-West Group of Companies 🏆
    • David DeBruin,Bert DeBruin,Jeanette DeBruin — Alta Pro Electric Ltd. 
    • David Kent — Nearctic Property Group

    Technology 

    • Doug van Spronsen — Versett 🏆
    • Sam Pillar — Jobber 
    • Aldo Zanoni — Riva CRM Integration 
    • Lance Miller,Matt Alston — Surex 

    Young Entrepreneur 

    • Courtney Buhler — Sugarlash PRO 🏆
    • Kiely Maclean — RJ Maclean 
    • Miguel Catellier — TruGreen Metal Recycling / TruGreen Energy

  • Ontario

    Business-to-Business Products and Services

    • Jason Wilcox — Waste Solutions Canada 🏆
    • Nish Bhalla — Security Compass Ltd. 
    • Manfred Conrad — The Cora Group 

    Business to Consumer Products & Services

    • Jim Estill — Danby Appliances 🏆
    • Dan Beach, Kevin Folk, Neetu Godara — SoCIAL LITE Vodka
    • Irini Mikhael, Halim Mikhael — Lullaboo Nursery and Childcare Center Inc. 
    • Chuck Kelly — Movati 

    Emerging Entrepreneur

    • Andrew Graham, Eva Wong — Borrowell 🏆
    • Eli Fathi — MindBridge Analytics
    • Mark Ang — Second Closet

    Health & Life Sciences

    • Joe Manget — EHN Canada 🏆
    • Dr. Dina Kulik — Kidcrew 
    • Keith Strachan, Patrick McCutcheon — MediPharm Labs (TSX:LABS)

    Manufacturing & Construction

    • John M. Beck — Aecon Group Inc. (TSX:ARE) 🏆
    • Ben Hogervorst , — Britespan Building Systems Inc. 
    • Steve Mai — Eclipse Automation 
    • Surjit Babra, Sam Diab, Pradeep Sood, Harinder S. Takhar — Highbury Canco Corp.

    Professional Services

    • Kevin Ford — Calian Group Ltd.  (TSX:CGY) 🏆
    • David Rogers — CBRE Caledon Capital Management Inc. 
    • Chris Rasmussen — Doxim 
    • Jon Spinks — Sourced Group Worldwide

    Young Entrepreneur

    • Joseph Gagliese, Mathew Micheli — Viral Nation Inc. 🏆
    • Michael Murchison — Ada Support Inc. 
    • Christopher Labelle, Derek Vogt, Mitch Debora — Mosaic Manufacturing Ltd. 
    • Margaret Coons — Nuts For Cheese 

    Technology

    • Tony Lourakis — Fleet Complete 🏆
    • Marc Porcelli — Curate Mobile Ltd. 
    • Alexander Hudek, Noah Waisberg — Kira Systems 
    • Sheetal Jaitly — TribalScale 

    Transportation & Logistics

    • John Mann, Vince Buckley — Fleet Optics Inc. 🏆
    • Theodor Daniel — Titanium Transportation Group Inc. 
    • Dunstan Peter — Trinity Tech Inc. 

    Special Citations

    • Master Entrepreneur: Annette Vershuren — NRStor Inc. 
    • Social Entrepreneur: Derek Woodgate, Jen Woodgate — cuddle + kind

  • Québec

    Business-to-Business 

    • Glenn Cotton — Bath Fitter Holdings 🏆
    • François Gaouette CFA — Les Entreprises Amilia Inc. 
    • Katie Bussieres — Nubik Inc.

    Business-to-Consumer 

    • Ayal Twik, Noah Stern — MooseKnuckles Canada 🏆
    • Guyaume Arseneault — CHOCOLATO 
    • Sam Kersheh — Jelli Fish Kids Inc. 

    Fintech 

    • Philip Fayer — Nuvei Technologies 🏆
    • Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf — Flinks Technologies Inc. 
    • Lennie Moreno — Sofdesk

    Accelerated growth (under 5 years) 

    • David Cataford, Michael O'Keeffe — Champion Iron Limited (TSX:CIA) 🏆
    • Steven Jast — Gazelle.ai Inc. 
    • Tara Akhavan Ph.D. — IRYStec Software

    Health / Life Science 

    • George Ambartsoumian Ph.D., D.V.M. — GA International Inc. 🏆
    • Jean Robichaud — Laboratoires Bodycad 
    • Adam Hofmann — Preventia Clinics 

    Manufacturing 

    • Patrick Pérus — POLYCOR INC. 🏆
    • Alexandre Poudrier — Atelier d'usinage Poudrier 
    • Elio Sorella — Ecolomondo Corporation (TSXV:ECM)
     

    Real Estate / Construction 

    • Renzo Fraraccio, Alexandra Choquette — Burovision Inc. 🏆
    • Allan Wiltzer, David Applebaum, David Laroche — Bellevue Management Group Inc. 
    • Simon Gervais Boyer Ing. — Gestion KnightsBridge

    Services 

    • Andreea Crisan — Andy Transport 🏆
    • Kyle Boulay, Wolf Kolhberg — Bus.com 
    • Jean-François Ducharme — Groupe CLR Inc.

    Sustainability 

    • Manny Kohli — Matt & Nat 🏆
    • Solenne Brouard — Polystyvert 
    • Marie-Claude Coulombe — SO Original

    Technology 

    • Peter Brereton — TECSYS Inc. (TSX:TCS) 🏆
    • Robert Nastas — PM SCADA Cyber Défense. 
    • Ludwig Melik — Planbox 

    Young Entrepreneur 

    • Orlane Panet — MicroHabitat 🏆
    • Philip Barrar — Mylo Financial Technologies Inc. 
    • Alexandra Toulch — Rebl House Media 

  • Atlantic

    Business Services

    • Larry Puddister — Pennecon Ltd. 🏆
    • Keith Howell — Howell Ventures Ltd.
    • Dion Finlay — The Leaside Group

    Consumer Products & Retail

    • John Chamberlaine — Action Car & Truck Accessories Inc. 🏆
    • JP Brun — Hockeyshot
    • Mark Crocker — Sportscraft 1990 Ltd.

    Emerging

    • Laurie MacKeigan — Backman Vidcom 🏆
    • Jeremy Taylor, Kelly Huizink, Mark Huizink — 2 Crows Brewing
    • Connie McInnes — Rock In Opposition Studio Inc.
    • Mark McAllister — VeroSource Solutions Inc.

    Health & Wellness

    • Chris Dobbin — Nova Leap Health Corp. (TSX:NLH) 🏆
    • Claudine Sweeney, Bruce Sweeney
      — Simply Fit Health & Fitness Consulting/Simply for Life Inc.
    • Shawn Leger — Tango Medical
     

    Professional Services

    • Gina McFetridge, Michael Stack — Archway Insurance Inc. 🏆
    • Greg Hemmings — Hemmings House Pictures Ltd.
    • Mark Baker, Michael Cairns — Starling Solutions Inc.

    Real Estate & Construction

    • Gloria Parsons — Progress Homes/Chancellor Park Inc. 🏆
    • Yves Bradet — Atlantic Group of Companies ICI Ltd.
    • Mario Allain — FundyPros

    Technology

    • Kevin Springer, Kyle Racki — Proposify 🏆
    • Saar Fabrikant — B4CHECKIN
    • Charles Benaiah — Watzan, LLC

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