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Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1477631
E N T R E P R E N E U R O F T H E Y E A R 2 0 2 2 relation to the markets that we focus on." It's a significantly different role from the one she left. "At the time, the betting market hadn't picked up, it was still very much a poker market across the U.S.," she remem- bers. "Now the conversation is sports and the NFL season is what we all orbit around. At least it's really clear when you're going to be busy, that helps." GeoComply was founded in 2011. For much of that time, the only people using a VPN were those with in-depth knowledge of the internet. "When I started GeoComply, I'd tell my parents I have a geolocation company and they were like, What is that?" says Sainsbury. "Now, the average person complains that they couldn't use a VPN to watch whatever sports con- tent they were hoping for. My W I N N E R Anna Sainsbury C O - F O U N D E R A N D C E O , G E O C O M P L Y T here are some awards runs that boggle the mind. Julia Louis- Dreyfus won six Emmys in a row for her portrayal of Selina Meyer in the political satire Veep. Michael Phelps won eight gold medals at the 2008 Sum- mer Olympics. Anna Sainsbury seems to be on one of those runs right now. In just the last couple of years the co-founder and CEO of Vancouver-based fraud preven- tion and cybersecurity com- pany GeoComply won the RBC Momentum Award, was recog- nized by Business in Vancouver as a 40 Under 40 recipient, was a finalist for this magazine's Women of the Year Awards and was featured on the cover of our leadership issue. So it's fairly fitting that the red carpet is being rolled out once again for Sainsbury by EY. It's also hard to argue with the designation. GeoComply has grown exponentially in the last several years and Sains- bury took back the CEO chair from her husband and co- founder David Briggs earlier this year after originally hand- ing it over (and serving as chair) in early 2018. "It felt like the right time to come back in and get my hands dirty and get a little busier in the day-to-day," says Sainsbury. "It's so fulfilling and great to be back working with the team and seeing some progress in 64 BCBUSINESS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022