Age: 37

Donovan Jones had come to CounterPath Solutions at a time when the VoIP (voice- over-Internet protocol) and video-over-Internet protocol software developer was experiencing dramatic change. Revenue had started to decline, and one of the founders was leaving the company, which was then called Xten Networks Inc.

He had discovered the company while working for boutique investment firm WindyPoint Capital in April 2005.

“And instead of offering them capital, the technology interested me enough to join the company,” Jones said.

He began as CounterPath’s vice-president of marketing and business development and in May 2006, became the company’s president and COO.

Since joining the company, he’s helped to reverse the company’s fortunes, achieving greater than 20 per cent revenue growth for five consecutive quarters, It now employs 62 people with 210 customers in 49 countries.

For Jones, the key to the company’s turnaround was creating and sticking to a marketing strategy focused on selling to large telecommunication companies and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers).

While Jones credits the success of the company to his staff gaining clients like British Telecom, Cisco Systems and AT&T, he also credits his eight years’ experience at Telus in various roles from corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions and sales and marketing as providing a strong foundation for his career.

It also gave him the chance to meet one of his mentors, Mark Schnarr, president and CEO of Alpha Technologies Ltd., and a former Telus executive vice-president.

What limited free time he has is dedicated to spending as much time as possible with his wife and his three- and one-year-old sons.

Profession you would most like to try: Teaching English or philosophy at a major university

Favorite movie: Lawrence of Arabia

Favorite local restaurant: Chambar, a great Belgian restaurant

Mentor: Mark Schnarr; Mark has great integrity and a strong sense of ethics, coupled with an extremely disciplined thought process

Currently reading: Re-reading Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan

Toughest business or professional decision: Turning down business from a major customer in our industry because we could not get the economic model to make sense for our company

Car or chosen mode of transport: Acura TL

Person you would most like to meet: Richard Branson

Birthplace: Edmonton, Alberta

Last CD bought or music downloaded: The Very Best of Nina Simone

Highest level of education: MBA from the University of Calgary

What’s left to do: Successfully raising my two children with my wife Heidi while growing our company into a world recognized leader in application software with multiple hundreds of millions in revenue and industry leading profitability