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40 BCBusiness march 2018 BcBUsiness.ca results to their dermatologist. Knowing the power of data, Sadeghi had recog- nized the potential for using technoloy in dermatoloy. After obtaining a BSc in computer engineering from Tehran's Iran Univer- sity of Science and Technoloy, Sadeghi got her PhD in computing science from SFU while also training in the Skin Care Centre at UBC's Department of Derma- toloy and Skin Science. Winning the gold award at the 2011 World Congress of Dermatoloy (like the skin research Olympics, she says) in Seoul, for her skin cancer detection program, started her thinking about launching a real business and a real product. In the scienti‰c world, you don't see much diŠerence being a woman, Sadeghi says, so she was shocked by some of her early business experiences. When nego- tiating a deal where her husband, Meta- Optima's chief technoloy oŽcer, was present, everyone would talk to him. "I'm like, sorry, I'm the CEO. I'm the business decision maker," she would tell them, and yet, though she laughs about it now, they continued addressing Razmara. Sadeghi also sometimes found that potential investors were skeptical about her abilities. She decided, "I don't have to convince everyone that I see in my life that I can do it. I just need to come [up] with four or ‰ve good people who will share my dream and vision to make a diŠerence." Ultimately, she believes, as a scientist, that numbers will talk. —F.S. h O W C A n W e G e T m O R e W O m e n i n T O sTem? When sadeghi talks to girls at high-school events to promote computing science, she stresses how cool it is to write games—to imagine some- thing and create it. "then you see others are using what you created, and you change people's life," she says. "it doesn't have to be a life science or medical product. there's so many products that we use every day." FinTeCh LisA shieLDs Founder and CEO, Fi.Span In 2015, EY named Lisa Shields Entrepre- neur of the Year winner in its innovative technoloy and ‰nancial services cat- egory for her Hyperwallet Systems Inc. The same year, Shields stepped away (she is still a board member and shareholder) to launch a new business: Fi.Span, a ser- vices management platform for banks. The 15-employee startup acquired its ‰rst customer, Beanworks Solutions Inc., another Vancouver ‰ntech headed by a woman, last December. Shields, a member of the math club at her Toronto high school, graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- oy in the 1980s with a BSc in aeronau- tical engineering and an MSc in ocean engineering. At MIT, men and women were treated equally—they had all com- pleted the same courses, tests and physi- cal assignments—and 22 percent of her graduating class were women, thanks to the university's policy of aiming for gen- der parity, she notes. "Engineering and technical colleagues, if you're a strong and contributing member of a technical team, they're happy to have another hand." The business world was another story. When Shields and co-founder Jennifer Cameron tried to ‰nd investors for Hyperwallet, they were declined for all the legitimate reasons that startups are turned down: No track record. Pre- carious times. Business plan isn't fully thought out. Weak thesis. The market is bad. In retrospect, Shields realizes that they had less success securing ‰nancing than inferior companies—and, she con- fesses, being successful and having the track record she does now doesn't erase that. As a result, "what I've decided to do in my own small way is, as an investor, I'm going to invest only in women-led companies," she says. "That's where I encountered the most diŽculty and bias, so if I can help out in a practical way, I think that that's the best use of my abili- ties at this stage." —F.S. hOW CAn We GeT mORe WOmen inTO sTem? the first step is to have 50 percent women graduating from technical universities, which takes will, action and time, advises shields, who notes that nearly half of mit engineering undergrads are now women. once that happens, to achieve 50 percent female represen- tation in industry, employers need to create technical career paths and environments that are accommodat- ing and welcoming to women. Jennifer Thompson founder and investor, hard- ware.city, portfolio of B.c.- based hardware startups; executive in residence, fore- sight cleantech accelerator centre, not-for-profit support- ing small and medium-sized business developing and commercializing clean tech- nology; mentor-in-residence, sfU coast capital savings venture connection Louise Turner ceo, innovation Boulevard, partnership between city of surrey and sfU to help com- mercialize health technology; former president, premier's technology council Sandra Wear vp, marketing, activestate software inc., vancouver provider of open-source software application develop- ment and management solutions; co-founder, docspace co. inc., developer of online file sharing network acquired by critical path inc. for Us$568 million in 1999 Denise Williams executive director, first nations technology council, which seeks to ensure that all first nations people benefit from advancement of digital technologies; based in north vancouver; member, premier's technology council Penny Wilson chief marketing officer, hootsuite, vancouver developer of social media management software Catherine Winckler founder and ceo, mindful garden digital health inc., online platform that aims to lower anxiety in dementia patients; co-founder and ceo, switch United, digital design and interactive media firm; vancouver-based Jenny Yang founder and ceo, aida software corp., vancouver developer of ai-based customer support; partner, panda angel partners Jessica Yip co-founder and coo, a&k robotics, vancou- ver builder of intelligent navigation systems for light industrial work Elena Yugai co-founder and chief growth officer, Women in tech World, vancouver non-profit advocacy group active in canada and the U.s. n B.C.'S MOST WOMEN

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