Matt Fraser has grown Yyoga from a startup to a seven-outlet chain of yoga studios with 350 staff and $8.5 million in revenue.
His involvement with the chain, which Terry McBride founded in 2008, stemmed largely from his passion for physical activity.
He attended the University of Victoria on a rugby scholarship and then went to Whistler to become a ski instructor.
After working up to be the supervisor of the Whistler Blackcomb ski school, he managed Whistler Blackcomb’s 1,400 beds of employee housing as well as a $3 million budget.
His MBA from the prestigious London Business School enabled him to get various jobs at Intrawest.
“I’ve been very lucky that I’ve been able to work with two amazing products, one being skiing and the other being yoga,” he said. “Both make people feel good.”
The other product that Fraser has worked with wasn’t as uplifting: junk.
1-800-GOT-JUNK lured Fraser to leave Intrawest in 2006 to manage all eight corporate locations and a $5 million budget. He also oversaw the junk removal company’s top 10 franchisees.
McBride lured Fraser to join Yyoga first as COO and then promoted him to be both COO and president last year.
“It’s an amazing product. We have a simple vision here: to make the world a better place,” he said.
“Our clear plan is to have 20 locations across Canada within five years, and 50 locations within the next 10 years.”
Outside work, Fraser is a director of the Squamish Health Care Foundation and the Squamish Oceanfront Development Corp. •
