About the Hall of Fame
The BC Innovators Hall of Fame recognizes the key role of innovation to BC’s economy and the leaders that have left a legacy on this province, enriching our technology and innovation ecosystem and building a stronger BC economy. Presented in partnership with the Government of British Columbia.
Growing in Tehran, Shahrzad Rafati had limited access to things like cable TV and other content sources until she moved to Vancouver at the age of 17. Her background proved a source of inspiration in launching BroadbandTV, a media-tech company enabling creators to distribute, manage and monetize their content. In 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Rafati as the Canadian representative on the G20 Business Women Leaders task force.
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.
Described as a serial cleantech entrepreneur, Jonathan Rhone has a knack for partnering with industrials to solve tough energy and environmental problems through the development of large-scale projects. Co-founder and CEO of Axine Water, which established a new industry standard for treating toxic industrial wastewater, until 2022, this year he started C0280 aiming to help businesses reduce their carbon footprint.
Born in Orillia, Ontario and having obtained an MD from the University of Western Ontario in 1957, Dr. Don Rix interned at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver and began his medical career as a general practitioner. He founded and became the chairman of MDS Metro, the first private lab to computerize in the 1970s, and the predecessor to LifeLabs Medical Laboratory Services BC.
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.…
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.
With no background in computer science, Warren Roy founded Global Relay, a software company providing electronic message archiving, instant messaging, compliance and supervision services, in 1999. Today its client list includes thousands of financial firms around the world and 23 of the top 25 international banks. Before Global Relay, Roy had a design-build business and despite not having any formal architectural training, built dozens of homes.
