BCBusiness

march 2018 BCBusiness 39 BcBUsiness.ca prove everyone wrong, and I'm going to try to work hard and follow my passion.' I think that's what got me to be successful." Today, BBTV racks up more than 34 billion views a month from some 285 million unique visitors, U.S.-based marketing and data analytics pro- vider comScore reports, making it the No. 3 online video property after Google and Facebook. One in three peo- ple on YouTube and other Google sites consume BBTV content. The Vancouver- headquarted company, which has more than 400 staˆ and o‰ces in Los Angeles and New York, recently launched BBTV Interactive, a division that creates games and mobile apps. From the start, Rafati set out to build a quadruple-bottom-line business that measures how it treats its employees as well as Žnancial, social and environ- mental performance. At BBTV, the pay disparity between female and male staˆ is less than 2 percent, she notes. Likewise, even though the tech sector has a tough time attracting female tal- ent, 43 percent of BBTV's employees are women—a 104-percent gain since 2014—and 46 percent of its managers are female. —N.R. hOW CAn We GeT mORe WOmen inTO sTem? treating female employees equally and fairly is essential, rafati maintains. "it's about asking other entrepreneurs and demanding…that they actually do something about it," she says. "By doing that and acting [on] that, you're sending a very strong message to women out there to say, 'hey, ask for equality. ask to be treated the same way. if you deserve a promotion, you have to get the promotion.'" viRTuAL ReALiTy AnGeLA ROBeRT Co-founder and CEO, Conquer Mobile With her latest venture, Angela Robert is making the most of her video gaming background. At Electronic Arts Canada, she worked on more than 20 games in Žve years, including as development director for Skate and Skate 2. In 2013, Robert and her team at Conquer Mobile Inc. devel- oped PeriopSim, which use simulation training via an iPad and virtual reality to familiarize operating room nurses with surgical instruments and procedures. "Instead of skateboarders, you've got sur- geons and nurses, but you're learning all the diˆerent moves that you do, all the dif- ferent terminolo›y," she explains. More than 30 North American hospi- tals use the tool. The company, located in Surrey's Health Tech Innovation Hub, is rebranding as Conquer Experience, hav- ing sold Conquer Mobile, the mobile app development division founded in 2009, to Vancouver-headquartered Appnova- tion¡Technologies Inc. last September. Growing up in St. Georges, a small town northeast of Winnipeg, Robert was a tomboy who played a lot of ringette, winning two national champi- onships. When she was in high school, her dad came home with a brochure announcing a computer science class at her school, remarking "I hear computers are the next biggest thing," to which she replied, "OK, maybe I'll try it." Now she re£ects, "It was a simple comment like that, and I fell in love with something." After high school, she went to the Uni- versity of Waterloo for a bachelor of math- ematics in computer science. Robert, who speaks at organizations and events including SCWIST, AppCamp4Girls, SFU's Surrey Collaborative Outreach Research Experience (SCORE) program and Water- loo's Think About Math, has hosted girls at her o‰ces to experience VR and learn about tech. —F.S. hOW CAn We GeT mORe WOmen inTO sTem? it's a marketing issue, says robert, in the same way that chips are more popular than apples. female role models like cher Wang, co-founder and chair of taiwanese smartphone maker htc corp., and Judy faulker, founder and ceo of U.s. health-care software giant epic systems corp., are important. and dads need to encourage their daughters to try things instead of being pigeonholed into what their friends are doing, robert emphasizes. heALThTeCh mARyAm sADeGhi Co-founder and CEO, MetaOptima Technology "As a computer scientist, if I'm going to spend the rest of my life behind a com- puter, I'd like to work on things I love and I can see the impact," says Maryam Sadeghi, whose Vancouver company, MetaOptima Technolo› y Inc., co- founded in 2012 with her husband, Majid Razmara, develops technologies to diag- nose skin conditions such as cancer: MoleScope, for example, a smartphone device that scans and tracks changes in moles and allows users to send the contacts when the user is in danger and provides safety monitoring for employees Lesley Shannon associate professor, school of engineering science, and director, reconfigurable computing lab, sfU; national science and engineering research council (nserc) chair for Women in science and engineering, B.c. and yukon; research focuses on non-traditional computer system design Christine Sommers co-founder and ceo, epact network, north vancouver developer of emergency information software for organizations Sheryl Staub-French professor, department of civil engineering, and direc- tor, Bim topics (Building infor- mation modelling from the perspectives of technology organization process in con- text and across stages) lab, UBc; research includes virtual design and construction Kristine Steuart co-founder and ceo, alloca- dia software inc., marketing performance management; member, premier's technol- ogy council Kirsten Sutton vice-president and managing director, sap labs canada, research and development division of enterprise applica- tion software developer sap canada; global head, sap Jam engineering; director, greater vancouver Board of trade Janice Taylor founder and ceo, mazu, app that uses features such as group chat and user- generated content engage children aged 13 and under with their families; based in kelowna B.C.'S MOST WOMEN Continued on page 40

• Cover