bcbusiness.ca october 2016 BCBusiness 39
W
hen Geoff reed set about
searching for a new
ceo
for his company creation
technologies–which
manufactures complex, high-end
parts for devices as diverse as
airport X-ray machines and hos-
pital ct scanners–he wanted
someone with experience in the
sector but who could bring an
outsider's perspective. that
candidate came in bhawnesh
Mathur, a former executive
at
ibM who, over the course
of his career, worked for a
supplier of creation, a customer
of creation and at two differ-
ent competitors. "He knew the
market and the customer very,
very well," says reed, who now
chairs creation. "companies go
through different phases," says
Mathur. "Geoff brought it through
the years of early growth where,
every day, you're either viable or
you're not." in the two years
since Mathur came on board
in 2014, revenues have
increased 10 per cent,
to us$566 million,
while the company
has doubled its sales
force in the last year
(around one sixth of its
2,800 employees are
based at its burnaby
HQ). creation is set to
grow again as it shifts
from manufacturing
components to playing a
larger role in designing
them. – J.P.
I
n 1980, Geo™ Chutter left
his job at
KPMG to open
a water park in the
Okanagan. A partner at
the rm wished him luck:
"He said, 'If this little slide
thing doesn't work out, you
know you've got a home
back here,'" recalls Chutter.
Three decades later, the
64-year-old Chutter has built
WhiteWater into the world's
largest designer of water
parks, with $200 million
in revenue last year
and 600 employees
in 21 oªces around
the world. The son of
a manager at multi-
national concrete-
maker Lafarge,
Vancouver-born Chutter
spent his high school years in
Paris. He credits that experi-
ence with opening his eyes
early to markets outside of
North America—introducing
and adapting the concept of
the water park wherever
they went: Japan in 1985; the
Middle East in 1987; South
Africa in 1991; and, seven years
ago, China. Why does the water
park prove so successful? At
its core, it's about a lot more
than slides, says Chutter.
"Where else can you bring
your three-year-old, your
11-year-old, your teenager, and
grandma and grandpa?" — J.P.
Geoff Chutter
CEO and President,
WhiteWater West Industries Ltd.
r u nn e r - u p
Bhawnesh Mathur + Geoff Reed
CEO + Chair,
Creation Technologies
r u nn e r - u p
b u S I n E S S -T O - b u S I n E S S P r O d u C T S a n d S E r v I C E S
