shoes coUrtesy John FlUevog shoes april 2016 BCBusiness 59
guy halford-thompson
Founder and ceo, Blockchain technology ltd.
(now Btl group ltd.)
age: 29
THE STORY: Block-
chain technology is one
of the biggest ideas
starting to transform
digital finance. It's
the foundation for
cryptocurrencies like
bitcoin, but few people
understand how it
works, and even fewer
have tried to use it for
other purposes. So
as a leading thinker in
the field, Blockchain
Technology Ltd. founder
and CEO Guy Halford-
Thompson educates
enterprises and guides
them through the devel-
opment of blockchain-
based business
applications. Essen-
tially, the blockchain is a
computer network that
acts as a public, digital
ledger to record trans-
actions. Beginning in
2009, cryptocurrencies
were the first and most
widely known applica-
tions for the blockchain,
but
BTL is working with
large (undisclosed)
financial institutions
and other companies to
unlock the technology's
vast, untapped potential
to increase security,
reduce counterfeiting
and reduce transaction
costs. Halford-Thomp-
son's firm is nearly as
old as its technology,
opening its doors in
June 2015. The Eton
College and Durham
University graduate
keeps an office in
London's Canary Wharf
but prefers to work from
his adopted home city
of Vancouver.
MARKERS OF
SUCCESS:
BTL has raised $2 million
in funding, and consults
for some of the world's
leading financial institu-
tions. –D.H.
A little-known
fact about me…
"i spent three and
a half years living
on a 12-metre
sailboat with my
entire family, sailing
almost around the
world"
THE STORY: Adelle Renaud
was struggling through her
Grade 11 physics homework at
school when one of her teachers
asked her what she was doing.
"I have to get through this," she
said. "I'm trying to be a doctor."
The teacher was not impressed.
"Look at all your doodling, and
you're always dressed up," she
said. "Why don't you go into
fashion design?"
It was a lightbulb moment for
Renaud. She had always loved
clothes, particularly tomboyish
polo shirts and trousers, and so
she decided to enrol in the fash-
ion design diploma program at
University of the Fraser Valley.
Following graduation in 2007,
she held a number of fashion
jobs, including working for a
denim manufacturer in Surrey;
for Eco Apparel, a Vancouver-
based sustainable clothing
manufacturer; and for Hudson's
adelle renaud
president, noble motives
collective
age: 29
What
motivational
quote gets
you going?
"Be yourself–
everyone else is
already taken"
–Oscar Wilde
a d e l l e r e n a u d
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