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Regina-based AGT Food and Ingredients Inc. What makes the EOY awards unique is not only their global reach but also how winners are selected. Judging is done by independent panels compris- ing business and community leaders, educators and past award winners. Looking beyond financial performance, the judges also measure success by considering innovation, vision, integrity, leadership and entrepreneurial spirit. Categories vary slightly from year to year, reflecting changes in the busi- ness climate, but they span technology, mining, business-to-business, business-to-consumer, agricul- ture, financial, retail, services and—more recently— social ventures. Suzanne Siemens, CEO of reusable menstrual- pad company Lunapads International Products Ltd. (p.54), says the EOY 2017 special citation category for Social Entrepreneur provided a compelling opportu- nity to take part. "[The category] spoke more to look- ing at business from a values perspective and not just a bottom-line, top-line perspective," she explains. "My own personal goal as a business leader is to inspire other businesses by showing that you can combine business and social impact and create greater good." As entrepreneurs who also happen to be women, Siemens and her business partner Madeleine Shaw are part of a group that Petrollini hopes will play a big- ger role in EOY. "B.C. is doing a good job of nominating women, but we can always do better," he notes. "We would love to have more women entrepreneurs in the EOY program, because that ultimately helps support diversity here in our province." Being part of the awards can help propel a business to even more success. "The connections that were created [through EOY] were incredible, and some of my colleagues now are a direct result of that award and exposure," says Renee Merrifield Wasylyk (right), another female entrepreneur and 2015 EOY Pacific region winner in the Real Estate and Construction category. "It took my business, and me as a leader, to a different level." Besides a greater female presence, Petrollini anticipates more social ventures coming to the fore. "One of the objectives coming from entrepreneurs in Gen Y and Gen Z is that they want to work in an environment where they feel they're being socially responsible," he says. "Entrepreneurs aren't only focused on being successful, but also on providing balance in people's lives," Petrollini adds. "The value systems in each generation are completely different, and you see that reflected in the entrepreneurial envi- ronment that we exist in." As the Pacific Region EOY awards begin their sec- ond quarter-century, one thing is clear: B.C.'s entre- preneurs exist in an increasingly borderless world where digital technology is transforming business. "Thirty years ago, the Internet didn't even exist," Petrollini points out with a laugh. Join us as we cele- brate some of the province's biggest successes, whose stories help inspire the next generation of leaders with global ambitions. • EY is now accepting nominations for its 2018 Entrepreneur Of The Year awards. To participate, visit ey.com/ca/eoy Crashing the Old Boys' Club Female entrepreneurs have come a long way in the past two decades, but real estate developer Renee merrifield Wasylyk thinks there's still work left to do t wenty years ago, Renee Merrifield Wasylyk, 2015 EOY Pacific Region winner in the Real Estate and Construction category, burst onto the construction scene. She launched her business armed with little more than a mas- ter's in theology, a six-week internship in property 50 BCBusiness ApRIL 2018 FROm LEFT: FEI + mILTON WONg FAmILY FOUNDATION; BUSINESS LAUREATES OF BRITISh COLUmBIA B.C.'s gReAtest hIts 1994 The inaugural Pacific Region en- trepreneur Of The Year awards pro- gram takes place in Vancouver. Among the category winners: philanthropist and financier Milton Wong, politician and funeral-services chain operator Raymond Loewen and merchant banker W.B. (Bud) Kirchner. A year later, when EOY starts to name overall regional winners, United Furniture Warehouse founder John Volken takes home the top prize. 1999 BC Bearing engineers Ltd. chief executive Wendy McDonald becomes the first—and, so far, only—female pacific Region overall winner. By the time she re- tires in 2000, mcDonald has expanded the com- pany her husband founded in 1936 to more than 60 locations worldwide, with annual sales exceeding $200 million. mcDonald dies in 2013 at age 90, four years after U.S.-based motion Industries Inc. buys BC Bearing. Over the past 25 years, EOY winners have played key roles in the province's pursuit of entrepreneurial excellence CeleBR AT ING 25 y e A R S