E N T R E P R E N E U R O F T H E Y E A R 2 0 1 9 / B U S I N E S S T O B U S I N E S S
28 BCBUSINESS OCTOBER 2019
W I N N E R
Geoff Chutter
F O U N D E R ,
P R E S I D E N T A N D
C E O , W H I T E W A T E R
W E S T I N D U S T R I E S
n
Dubai's 40-degree
desert heat sends thrill-
seekers flocking to the
Boomerango, a towering
raft slide at the Aquaven-
ture Waterpark that shoots
riders screaming down
a half-pipe and launches
them almost vertically up
the other side. The ride's
creator, Richmond-based
WhiteWater West Indus-
tries, has been stretching
human imagination to
build attractions like this
since 1981, when founder,
president and
CEO Geoff
Chutter opened one of
North America's first
waterslide parks—the
since-closed WhiteWater
Waterslide and Recreation
Complex in Penticton.
That first summer,
four separate groups
approached Vancouver-
born Chutter to help them
design and build water-
parks in their hometowns,
too. "I recognized that an
expert was someone who
simply knew more than
the person beside him,"
the UofT commerce grad
and
CPA recalls. "At 28,
29, I was the expert in the
waterslide field."
Chutter concluded that
developing slide parks
suited him better than
managing lifeguards,
and so he began what is
now the world's leading
P A C I F I C
R E G I O N
W I N N E R
WHAT OTHER
CAREER MIGHT
YOU HAVE HAD?
When you're in
high school, some-
times you take
these tests on
what you're good
at and what voca-
tion that leads to.
I remember one
came back sug-
gesting I should
be a funeral
director, and it
scared the day-
lights out of me
