Judy Bishop
The native Ontarian moved to Vancouver in the 1980s to study biochemistry at UBC. A co-founder of the BC Technology Association, Judy Bishop had a hand in creating several local start-ups, such as customer relations management specialist Galeforce Solutions, where she was president and chief marketing officer. Relocating to Kelowna in 2015, she consulted and invested in tech industry companies, and currently applies her expertise as a corporate director to a range of businesses.

Kathy Butler
Kathy Butler is the managing director and head of BC Capital Markets at CIBC where she has spent the last 27 years. Though the UBC and University of Toronto graduate studied finance and business rather than technology, she often works with clients in the sector admiring their passion, drive and commitment to building innovative businesses. Since 2003, Butler has been a partner with Social Venture Partners, which engages in socially driven venture philanthropy.

Andrew Harries
Co-founding Sierra Wireless in 1993, Andrew Harries grew the multinational wireless communications equipment designer from inception through TSX and Nasdaq public listings to more than $200 million USD in annual revenues. Currently, he is the Tom Foord Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, at his alma mater the Simon Fraser University Beedie School of Business, passing on expertise in entrepreneurship and innovation, product management and resourcing new venture programs to students.

Don Mattrick
Starting out as an independent video game developer, Don Mattrick and Jeff Sember co-founded Distinctive Software in their parents’ basements making racing and sports titles for the Amiga, Apple II, Commodore 64 and PC DOS. Electronic Arts bought them out in 1991 and Mattrick eventually went on to be become president of EA Worldwide Studios. In subsequent years he also worked on Xbox Kinect wireless controller at Microsoft and served as CEO of mobile gaming giant Zynga.

Firoz Rasul
In 2021 Firoz Rasul stepped down as the president of Aga Khan University after growing the footprint of the school to six countries on three continents with 2,500-plus students. Prior to the position he was CEO and chairman of Ballard Power Systems, a world leader in clean energy hydrogen fuel cell solutions. No stranger to start-ups, in 1981 he assumed the role of president of sales and marketing for mobile data products manufacturer MDI until a takeover by Motorola in 1988.

Shannon Rogers Roy (1968-2023)
Shannon Rogers Roy was the president and general counsel of Global Relay, which delivers cloud communications archiving, messaging, supervision and eDiscovery solutions to the financial and other regulated sectors. A lawyer by trade, she partnered with Warren Roy to build the technology company from the ground up, eventually scaling it to 1,300 employees and $200 million in annual revenue. Rogers Roy has been named to the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada list three times. She still holds the record at Global Relay for the most deals closed in one day.

Geordie Rose
Geordie Rose has an impressive resume, just some of the more notable entries being as founder of both D-Wave Systems, which produced the first-ever commercially-viable quantum computer, Kindred, a robotics and AI company that makes intelligent robots to enhance the industrial workforce and Sanctuary AI that makes humanoid general purpose robots. A two-time Canadian national wrestling champion, he holds a PhD in theoretical physics from UBC as well as, for a short time, the Guinness Book of World Records honour of most yogurt eaten in one minute.

William (Bill) H. Thompson (1922-1986)
In the 1960s and 70s, Bill Thompson owned the largest electronics parts distribution company in western Canada. He founded Eldevco, a personal holding company investing in early-stage B.C. tech companies and made a point to build relationships with everyone in the then-fledgling industry, including those providing support services behind the scenes. The eponymous lifetime achievement award was established by the BC Electronic Manufacturers Association to recognize individuals who went out of their way to help young companies and entrepreneurs to succeed.