Welcome to Business in Vancouver’s 15th annual round-up of 40 outstanding business leaders under the age of 40. For over-40s like me, it’s a time to dream of what might have been. For young entrepreneurs and future 40 Under 40 inductees, it’s a shot of inspiration and a glimpse of what’s possible.
If there’s a lesson to be learned this year, it’s that change is good. A sizable number of this year’s winners weren’t content to make their mark in a single business, but have excelled in second or even third careers.
Alex Garden, for example, had yet to hit his 30th birthday when the co-founder of Vancouver video-game developer Relic Entertainment cashed out in 2004. Today he keeps an active hand in the button-down business world, with an interest in real estate development. But he also has the luxury of tackling a matter near to his heart: finding a parking spot in downtown Vancouver. His latest venture is iValet Systems Inc., which offers drivers the opportunity to pay extra for premium spots in participating parking lots.
Then there’s Mark Grambart. In his previous career, he helped Mercedes Benz deliver a prototype fuel cell vehicle for the 1999 Frankfurt International Motor Show. Then he moved to Atlanta to manage a multinational pharmaceutical conglomerate with 550 employees. Today, at the age of 33, he has stepped off of the corporate treadmill and runs a Victoria company that makes electronic pet-control devices. Grambart is president and CEO of Contech Electronics, which keeps pets on your property – and unwanted animals out – by zapping them with low-voltage current when they stray across the property marker.
Having made his mark in commercial real estate, at the age of 35 Doug Pulver took an about-face and bought a company that makes cardboard boxes. He liked his new role as business owner so much that he bought another company: this time one that makes plastic packaging.
If change is one of the secret ingredients to early success, opportunity is certainly another key ingredient. And with today’s hot market, it’s no surprise that this year’s super achievers include a handful who have found their fortune in real estate.
Jason Craik and his MAC Marketing Solutions team were involved in more than $600 million worth of real estate sales in 2005. He manages sales teams that have sold projects such as Kelowna’s Barona Beach and Burnaby’s Park 360.
After graduating from Concord Pacific, where he spent eight years developing False Creek North, Robert Fung devoted himself to preserving Vancouver landmark buildings. Today he is president of The Salient Group, whose projects include the development of the Taylor Building in Gastown, the redevelopment of the Flack Block at Hastings and Cambie Streets and the Bowman Block, formerly the Marquise Block, near the Sun Tower building.
Then there are this year’s two youngest winners: the brother-sister team of Sendip and Tony Gill, who made their money in real estate, buying deeply discounted homes in McKenzie when a recession hit that town in the 1990s. This under-thirty duo hasn’t given up their interest in real estate to pursue second careers: the two also run SRS Packaging Services, a plastic-packaging company that the two bought earlier this year.
Others who have had the wherewithal to pounce on the real estate boom include Colin Bosa, who at the age of 32 runs the 60-employee Bosa Properties Inc., a real estate developer that generates several hundred million dollars a year in revenue.
David Jordan
Features Editor
