What's one thing that people
would be surprised to
learn about you?
I enjoy writing country music songs
Next year Ballard power Systems
turns 40, and in the words of its chief execu-
tive, "this is probably ballard 4.0 or 5.0, from
the different business models we've had."
Founded to develop lithium batteries, the
burnaby-based company pivoted in the 1990s,
focusing on hydrogen fuel cell technology.
back then, many observers thought fuel cell
passenger cars were the way of the future.
"i have a hydrogen fuel cell car here in
Vancouver; it's one of about 10," says toronto-
raised Randy macEwen, who managed other
cleantech companies in the u.s. and Canada
before becoming president and
CEO. "but
that's not the key market. the key market is
heavy-duty motive–so, buses, commercial
trucks, trains and marine-based vehicles."
macEwen, who holds a law degree
from Western university, leads some 450
employees at ballard. since his first full year
at the helm in 2015, the company has grown
from $56 million in annual revenue to more
than $121 million. "people are seeing the
value proposition for fuel cell electric vehicles
for heavy motive," macEwen says. –N.C.
R U N N E R U P
Randy MacEwen
p R E S I D E N T a N D C E O ,
B a L L a R D p O W E R
S y S T E m S
R U N N E R U P
Jamil Murji
p R E S I D E N T a N D C E O , I N T E R - u R B a N D E L I v E R y
S E R v I C E + a R G u S C a R R I E R S
Five years ago, Jamil murji decided to
buy a company. the stock analyst, who had
done his undergrad in computer science at
sFu and an mba at Western university's
Richard ivey school of business, had always
wanted to run his own business. so when the
Vancouver native noticed that abbotsford-
headquartered transportation and logistics
firm inter-urban Delivery service was up
for sale, he examined the books, liked what
he saw and put every penny he had into it.
Running a company in an industry he knew
nothing about was tough, but dealing with
the staff he inherited proved tougher.
"it was a small office of four or five
people, and not even 90 days after [purchas-
ing it], the operations manager and office
manager were kicked out because i caught
them stealing our customer list and starting
their own company," murji says. "it took
me a good 18 months to figure out how this
business runs, to beg for forgiveness from
our customers." since then, inter-urban has
doubled its employees, and in 2016, murji
bought burnaby-based freight carrier argus.
he oversees about 185 staff overall. –N.C.
e n T r e P r e n e u r o F T H e Y e A r 2 0 1 8 / T U R N A R O U N D
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