BCBUSINESS.CA APRIL 2019 BCBUSINESS 37
M E R E D I T H A D L E R
Executive director
STUDENT ENERGY
AGE: 29
LIFE STORY: After going to
Argentina as an exchange student
at 18, Nevada native Meredith Adler
realized she wanted to work inter-
nationally. That brought her to B.C.,
where a BA in human geography at
UBC led to an interest in energy issues
and ultimately a communications
assistant position at Vancouver-based
think tank Clean Energy Canada.
Within a couple of years she became
community manager, then execu-
tive director of Student Energy, a
not-for-profit that encourages youth
involvement in the field.
In January 2018, Adler, who lives
in Squamish and commutes to Van-
couver a few days a week, launched
Student Energy Chapters to teach
university-level students and clubs to
take action in any way their communi-
ties need, from holding information
sessions to installing solar panels.
Next up is the online Student Energy
Leaders Fellowship program, starting
in September, to provide skill-building
and mentorship to students around
the world. Participants will get expert
advice in areas ranging from finance
to building an energy system, receive
hands-on coaching and complete a
practicum project in a team.
BOTTOM LINE : With four full-
time staff, Student Energy has 50,000
members in more than 130 countries,
and its energy literacy platform
reaches three million people a year.
The annual budget has grown
from $288,000 in 2015 to almost
$1 million. Student Energy Chapters
has 30 chapters in 10 countries. –F.S.
M A T T H E W S E G A L
Founder and CEO
LIPSI SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT
AGE: 24
LIFE STORY: What's an Ivy
League economics grad to do? In
2016, Matthew Segal appeared to
be headed for a career in investment
banking after leaving Yale University,
where he rowed First Varsity for four
years. But several job offers later,
Segal decided his heart wasn't in it.
Back in his hometown of Vancouver,
he also chose not to follow in the
footsteps of his father and grandfa-
ther, prominent developers Lorne and
Joseph Segal–for now, anyway.
Instead, Segal got to work on an
anonymous messaging app he had
dreamed up at Yale because he was
too shy to talk to a girl he liked. The
result was Lipsi, created with a hand-
ful of software engineers in B.C. and
Ukraine. The popular free app–65 per-
cent of whose users are female–has
many uses, from personal exchanges
to feedback on a product or service.
As Segal admits, sending mes-
sages anonymously online carries
(From top left)
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THIRTY
UNDER
THIRTY
(From left)
Meredith Adler,
Matthew Segal and
Levente Mihalik
