BCBusiness

eil Woodyer isn't your typical accountant. Instead of sitting behind a desk crunching numbers, Woodyer decided to take his ¡nance skills into the ¡eld, as far away as Africa, with Endeavour Mining Corp., a Vancouver-based gold producer. Woodyer was ¡rst bitten by the gold bug in the 1970s while working at the Amalgamated Metal Corp., an international metals broker. His job took him to mines, smelters and ports across South America where he learned ¡rst-hand how a mine is run and its ores turned into a valuable commodity. He moved up the ranks and eventually landed in New York, where he got involved in the aluminum trade and developed a knack for turning losses into wins. After a stint at Lloyds International Trading Inc., where he oversaw commodities trading, Woodyer moved to Vancouver and decided to set up a merchant bank for miners, Endeavour Financial—his ¡rst entre- preneurial venture. When the global ¡nancial crisis hit in 2008, Endeavour (named after the Captain Cook ship that explored uncharted waters in the Paci¡c Ocean) changed course: Woodyer began buying mines in Africa and created Endeavour Mining, a gold producer that today owns four gold mines producing 500,000 ounces per year in Mali, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire. Mining is obviously a risky business, with the price of gold down by about 40 per cent from its record high above US$1,900 per ounce in 2011, but Woodyer remains con¡dent that better days lie ahead. And although 71, he says he isn't planning to retire anytime soon: "I'm having too much fun." —Brenda Bouw "Neil's talent and drive have allowed him, after a history of success in ˆnanc- ing mines, to move to building a new and even more suc- cessful mining house in incredibly tough market conditions" T H E J U D G E S S A Y E O Y T u r n a r o u n d E n t r e p r e n e u r W I N N E R N E I L W O O D Y E R [ CEO, E NDEAVOUR MINING CORP. ] N winner 2015 i t was her successful history of turning around troubled projects at compa- nies such as MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates and Creo that landed Judi Hess the job of CEO at Burnaby-based Copperleaf Technologies Inc. Hess came to the computer software company in late 2009 with a mission to change it from a consultancy to a company that develops and sells enterprise software solutions to large utility companies (BC Hydro, Manitoba Hydro and Hydro Quebec, among others) needing help managing their aging assets. Since Hess took the helm at Copperleaf, annual revenue has grown by more than 300 per cent. Today, Copperleaf's solution is the most widely adopted in energy utilities, managing more than $150 billion in asset investments around the world. Hess was so sure of success that she invested her own money early on in the project (the company eventually raised $7.2 million from outside investors). "I have always believed the best investment you can make is investing in the company where you work. The company where you work is the company you know best." –B.B. R U N N E R † U P J u d i H e s s [ C E O , C O P P E R L E A F T E C H N O L O G I E S I N C . ] 48 BCBusiness OCTOBER 2015

• Cover