With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1254353
22 BCBUSINESS JUNE 2020 D E V E S H B H A R A D W A J AGE: 26 CEO, Pani Energy LIFE STORY: "What are the top problems for society for the century?" Devesh Bharadwaj asked himself while enrolled in the first year of a mechanical engineering degree at UVic. The question consumed him so much that he spent more time looking for answers than studying. That's because the New Delhi native had two ambitious goals after com- ing to Canada for university–to do something that would bring significant value to many people, and that nobody else could. Bharadwaj's research brought him to the late Nobel laureate Richard Smalley's top-10 list of humanity's problems, which leads with energy and water. Bharadwaj immediately started research and development to build what would become Pani Energy's keystone product, Pani Digital. The artificial intelligence platform optimizes the efficiency of energy-intensive desalination and wastewater treatment plants. BOTTOM LINE : Bharadwaj founded Pani in 2017, a few months before graduation. Today, it employs a team of 20. The Victoria-based com- pany has started commercializing its technology in Canada, the U.S., India, the Middle East and Singapore after testing it with wastewater plants in North America and elsewhere. –D.H. B R Y D E N P E L L E T I E R AGE: 28 Vice-president, Vancouver Fire Fighters' Union Local 18 LIFE STORY: Bryden Pelletier always dreamed of being a firefighter. "I just really wanted to help people," he says. "That was the profession that you were right there in the moment, at the most critical interven- tion time." Knowing that he faced stiff competition for a job with Vancouver Fire Rescue Services, the Lantzville native decided to set himself apart. Pelletier played lacrosse while attend- ing college in the U.S., earning a BA in sociology and criminology from Adams State University in Colorado. He then did an MBA at Mount St. Mary's University in Maryland, where he played NCAA Division 1. Pelletier finished both degrees in just four years. The MBA helped him snag a spot with the Vancouver fire department in 2016, from among hundreds of applicants. A year later, two colleagues approached Pelletier about getting involved in union work. After being elected one of the youngest VPs of a Canadian firefighters' union in 2018, he repre- sents some 800 Local 18 members. BOTTOM LINE : Leveraging his graduate business degree, Pelletier aims to help improve his colleagues' physical and mental health. "Because of my education, I've been put into a lot of unique situations where I've been able to get through a door that maybe more-experienced firefighters should," he says. Among other projects, Pelletier is working with the union, Van- couver Fire Rescue Services and SportsCardiologyBC to create a free cardiovascular assessment for firefighters, who are at high risk of dying from heart disease. He's also secretary-treasurer of Vancouver Firefighter Charities, whose efforts include supplying food to more than 2,300 children at 45 schools. Pelletier recently joined the fire department's COVID-19 taskforce. –N.R. A L E X A S U T E R AGE: 29 Founder, Studio Media Founder, Huha LIFE STORY: When Langley-born Alexa Suter was 13, she discovered her love of storytelling. Scrawling in journals, spinning short stories and crafting poems throughout her teens led her to pursue an English degree at Kwantlen Polytechnic University–and to leave school during her third year to write and travel solo in Europe. There she took a fashion journalism course, reported on London Fashion Week, moved to Budapest and presciently taught herself photography, social media and sewing. "It all ties together in this need to create, and learning to turn that into a business with a profit is something I've been focused on in more recent years," Suter says. Becoming an influencer before they really existed, she used her new social media savvy to help local businesses when she moved back to the Lower Mainland and founded Studio Media in 2016. BOTTOM LINE : Studio Media has almost tripled its revenue in the past three years, working with big brands like Jack Daniels, L'Oréal Professional and Westin Hotels & 3 0 U N D E R T H I R T Y Devesh Bharadwaj Alexa Suter Bryden Pelletier