BCBusiness

If most people happened upon an empty swimming pool at a retirement home in Vancouver's kerrisdale neighbourhood, they wouldn't think much of it. in 1986, though, 25-year-old Claudia sjoberg saw an ocean of opportunity. after completing a degree in physical education at ubC, Duncan- born sjoberg didn't know what she wanted to do, but she craved something that would let her teach children and give them enriching experiences. the pool became the site of the first of more than 100 private swimming and biking camps for children across the continent. some doubted that sjoberg's model would work, given that community centres provided similar services, some of them free. but word-of-mouth won the day for pedalheads group. "parents standing around having that playground chatter, and people start talking about it," sjoberg says. "that's where we've been able to be successful." –N.C. R U N N E R U P Claudia Sjoberg F O u N D E R a N D p R E S I D E N T , p E D a L H E a D S G R O u p 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 / S E R V I C E S OCtObER 2018 BCBusiness 53 When Joel abramson sold his man- aged it services firm, packetsafe networks, to industry leader Fully managed in 2013, he made sure his customers received a soft landing. Joining Fully managed as vice- president, business development, abramson didn't anticipate being named CEO less than three years later. "i started collecting a lot of wins with the two co-founders [Chris Day and sharleen Oborowsky] and putting an effort into growing the business," the Vancouverite says. "the retention period came and went, and we had made significant progress." abramson, who spent his teenage summers working in the it department of Vancouver Film school before earning a ba in political science from mcgill university, has helped Fully managed grow to 75 staff. For its part, the company targets businesses with 10 to 20 employees, providing them with cloud-based support across all devices and programs. "We've managed to stay on top of the b.C. and alberta markets and are looking to continue that across the country by bring- ing together like-sized and like-minded companies and becoming a national player," abramson says. –N.C. R U N N E R U P Joel Abramson C E O , F u L L y m a N a G E D It took just two chats for matt Collingwood and tamsin plaxton to start a business together. the Ontario natives met 25 years ago while on holiday in hood River, Oregon, right after they'd graduated from university and were preparing to start their careers in Vancouver–in finance and law, respectively. both had experience operating summer camps. "it came up in literally our second conversation," plaxton recalls. "matt asked me, 'tamsin, what would you do if you could do something else?' and i said, 'honestly, i would run a summer camp." that struck a chord with Collingwood, so the two opened their first camp in Whistler in 1993. the north america–wide business has grown to three English language schools, three career colleges and seven international summer camps, which attract attendees from across the globe. the founders have faced challenges along the way because so many things–from the saRs scare of years past to the current u.s. government's immigration policy–impact their company. "there's some things you just can't prepare yourself for," plaxton acknowledges. "but it's about having good safety policies and being very careful about how we travel with our kids and where we go." –N.C. R U N N E R U P Matt Collinwood + Tamsin Plaxton C O - F O u N D E R S , T a m W O O D G R O u p O F C O m p a N I E S

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