Power Key:
N = New
N/C = No change from 2006 ranking
U = Up from 2006 ranking
D = Down from 2006 ranking |
The Power
50
Nos. 50 to 41
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50 . Rick Hansen
President & CEO, Rick Hansen Foundation
[ N ] Since completing his extraordinary round-the-world
tour 20 years ago, Rick Hansen has settled comfortably
into the role of fundraiser, advocate, and champion
of people with disabilities. As chair of the Rick Hansen
Foundation, he gives talks, educates others about the
issues around spinal cord research, and quietly counsels
people at G.F. Strong facing the sort of challenges
he himself did as a teenager after falling out of a
truck and breaking his neck. His foundation has raised
more than $200 million, and his optimism and gracious
warmth have made him friends the world over. If power
means you can get anybody to return your call promptly,
Hansen’s got it. Ten minutes in his presence helps
you better understand the meaning of the words “selfless,”
“upbeat,” and “committed.” First
job Clean up for the green chain at a lumber
mill at age 14. 2007 Highlight Celebrating
the 20th anniversary of the completion of the Man In
Motion World Tour. Lowlight Climbing
Thermal Drive in Port Moody again (on May 22) and realizing
how much harder it was 20 years later. What
makes you lose sleep Details—lots of
details. Favourite book Molecules
of Emotion by Candace Pert. Favourite vacation
spot Gossip Island (a tiny Gulf Island just
outside the entrance to Active Pass). Who should
be #1 John Furlong. The Vancouver 2010 Olympic
and Paralympic Games will transform Vancouver. It’s
a once in a lifetime experience and he is (and will
be) at the centre of it.
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49. Harpreet Singh
Radio talk show host
[ N ] In August, Radio India on-air personality Harpreet
Singh handed 17-year-old Shai Fraser-Briscoe $3,800
to pay for a hip operation. Listeners of Singh’s
hugely popular daily talk show, Let’s Listen,
Let’s Talk, raised the money in 15 minutes after
hearing that the boy’s mother couldn’t afford
the surgery, which MSP wouldn’t cover. The mainstream
media—whom Singh had scooped on a number of high-profile
stories this summer, including the brutal murder of
an elementary-school teacher and the horrific traffic
accident that killed six people at a Sikh wedding in
Abbotsford—began to pay attention. Singh, a real
estate agent who’s worked in media in both Canada
and India for 15 years, has a high profile in British
Columbia’s Indo-Canadian community and he’s
used it effectively: initiating a massive lobbying effort
on behalf of a paralyzed refugee claimant fighting deportation
to India, and organizing a community forum to address
domestic violence (which drew 2,000 people to a Surrey
community centre). Provincial and federal politicos
take careful note of what’s discussed on his program.
“I’ve got a tremendous respect for him,”
said Finance Minister Carole Taylor in a Globe and
Mail interview. “He’s using this power
to help the community to improve.” First
job I came to Canada in October 2002 and started
working with Channel M as both a reporter and anchor.
2007 Highlight Raising money for needy
people on my shows, and breaking news at Radio India.
Lowlight No low moment. Best
advice Canada is a land of opportunities, so
just go for it. Favourite book A
Path to Liberty by Thomas D. Willhite.
Favourite vacation spot Bahamas.
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48. Chip Wilson
Founder, Chairman, Chief Product Designer, Lululemon
Athletica
[ N ] The last time the Alberta-raised guru of sexy
yoga pants appeared on this list was in 2004, when we
anointed him “master of the West Side.”
Seems his reach has expanded considerably. In 2005 Chip
Wilson pocketed $108 million when he sold a 48-percent
interest in his company to U.S.-based private equity
firms. In July 2007 Lululemon went public; the IPO of
20.9 million shares, priced at $18 (U.S.) apiece, raised
about $31.8 million for the company and $312 million
for various stockholders, including Wilson (he’s
estimated to have boosted his personal fortune by upward
of $122 million). Three months later, share prices were
hovering at $54 (U.S.). Whether Lululemon can make the
transition to the United States retail mould and take
on mega-brands like Under Armour Inc. and Nike Inc.—with
their mass marketing and wholesale distribution—remains
to be seen, but so far so good. Michael Casey, former
CFO of Starbucks, recently joined the board of directors
and may have a few pointers. New 80,000-square-foot
global headquarters at Broadway and Cambie are set to
open in late 2008, the stock price keeps climbing, and
rapid growth continues: next year the company plans
to open 35 new stores in North America, adding to the
nearly 1,700 people it employs.
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47. Jeff Wall
Visual Artist
[ N ] One of the most influential figures in the international
art world lives quietly among us, virtually invisible
to the masses but a beacon to gallery owners, curators,
and wealthy collectors of modern photography. Carefully
staging scenes that look natural, manipulating the landscape
and peopling it with actors, then creating giant images
using techniques akin to those that illuminate outdoor
advertising kiosks, Jeff Wall has created a body of
work that has earned him a show at the Museum of Modern
Art, a cover story in the New York Times Magazine,
and ecstatic praise from the likes of Kathleen Bartels
(see No. 35), director of the Vancouver Art Gallery,
who says that Wall “has played a major role in
establishing photography as the most significant art
form of the late 20th century.” Got a million
bucks? You, too, could own one of his prints.
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46. Trevor Linden
Forward, Vancouver Canucks
[ N ] As he approaches 40 and the end of a distinguished
playing career, Trevor Linden, who came here from Medicine
Hat, Alberta, at the age of 18, could choose any number
of second acts. Through the years he’s gone out
of his way to support causes ranging from Canuck Place,
the hospice for terminally ill children, to the Canadian
Cancer Society, meeting virtually every power player
in town and making many friends in the process. His
wife Cristina’s boutique in Yaletown and his foray
into condo development on West 10th suggest business
will play a role in his life after hockey; if Captain
Canuck set his sights on municipal or provincial politics,
his smarts, decency, and popularity would take him far.
Vancouver’s his city; the world’s his oyster.
First job Picking up range balls at
the Connaught Golf Course in Medicine Hat at age 10.
2007 Highlight Completing the Trans-Alps
mountain bike race. Lowlight Losing
to the Ducks in the playoffs. Best advice
In good times things are generally not as good as they
seem, in tough times not as bad as they seem. What
makes you lose sleep I sleep really well. Last
book read The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
Favourite vacation spot Four Seasons
Maui. Who should be #1 Premier Gordon
Campbell.
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45. David Sidoo
Owner, Lumière and Feenie’s
[ N ] As a defensive back with the Roughriders and the
Lions in the 1980s, David Sidoo blazed a trail for Indo-Canadian
athletes. A stint in the investment business paid off
handsomely, and he and his wife Manjy have used their
wealth to support everything from their alma mater,
UBC, to their sons’ school, St. George’s,
to B.C. Children’s Hospital and the foundations
established by David Foster and Steve Nash. According
to people in the Indo-Canadian community, Sidoo quietly
helps families in need. Recently he also brokered a
meeting between local Sikh leaders and Bruce Allen,
whose broadcast comments had angered them. Since buying
a majority interest in Lumière in 2005, Sidoo
has turned the restaurant into his personal salon, filling
it with celebrities, athletes, and deal-makers; the
contact list on his BlackBerry, and his influence in
the city, are growing fast. First job
Picking blueberries in Richmond when I was seven. Best
advice The more you give, the more you get
back. 2007 Highlight My son’s
graduation from Grade 7—you could see him changing
from a little boy to a young man. Lowlight
The death of my mother-in-law. What makes you
lose sleep I worry about the world we’re
leaving our children. Last book read
Giving, by Bill Clinton. Who should
be #1 Frank Giustra.
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44. David Suzuki
Co-Founder, David Suzuki Foundation
[ N ] Remember those old episodes of Suzuki on Science
and The Nature of Things in which the bespectacled young
geneticist warned of the dangers of global pollution,
rainforest destruction, and unsustainable fishing practices?
Back then he was a muckraking radical, intent on disturbing
the status quo for reasons that verged on the communistic.
Well, guess what. Yesterday’s subversive propaganda
is today’s conventional wisdom and one of the
world’s green pioneers has, at age 71, achieved
rock-star status for his iron determination to educate
the practitioners of blind consumerism and leave the
world a better place. Some of today’s green activists
view him as sanctimonious and impractical—do they
not realize that it’s his shoulders they’re
standing on? First job Picking berries
for a nickel a basket in Southern Ontario in 1947. 2007
Highlight Rafting down the Firth River in Yukon
for two weeks. Lowlight Encountering
Environment Minister John Baird, who put politics and
economics above the urgent need to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. Best advice You can
achieve anything you want as long as you don’t
care who gets credit. Who do you bounce ideas
off My wife and partner, Dr. Tara Cullis. What
makes you lose sleep The thought of the world
my grandchildren will grow up in. Last book
read The Long Emergency: Surviving the
Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-first Century
by James Howard Kunstler. Favourite vacation
spot My island cottage in the ocean. Who
should be #1 Gordon Campbell, for his commitment
to fighting climate change.
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43. John Furlong
CEO, Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic
and Paralympic Winter Games
[ U ] Every so often rumours surface that John Furlong
may not be the CEO of VANOC by the time the 2010 Games
begin, and if the rumours prove true it may well be
marketing head Dave Cobb who replaces him. (David Emerson
is another name that gets mentioned.) Cobb, the former
Canucks executive, increasingly runs the show when Furlong’s
out of town, learning on the job how to be an international
diplomat and how to manage a burgeoning, unwieldy, irritatingly
secretive corporation that seems destined to end up
in a costly scramble to reach the finish line. VANOC
touches almost every aspect of business and politics
in the city these days, and its lack of transparency
(strangely, the offices on Gravelley Street bear no
identification whatsoever) is raising concerns about
process, schedules, finances—and the hackles of
anyone trying to deal with the corporation. First
job Picking fruit, daybreak to 5 p.m. five
days a week. I was 14. 2007 Highlight
The day-to-day pleasure of watching the entire team
at Vancouver 2010 pouring everything they have into
achieving extraordinary, almost impossible, results.
Lowlight Missing almost every family
member’s birthday event…again. Best
advice From my mother: while you might succeed
with help from others, never seek to succeed at their
expense. Who do you bounce ideas off
Jack Poole. He has a unique but humble capacity to simplify
complex issues and point to the most practical way forward.
He is a mentor, coach, poet, comedian, and loyal friend
all wrapped into one. Favourite book
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. Favourite
vacation spot Anyplace I can be anonymous.
Who should be #1 Premier Gordon Campbell,
hands down!
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42. Karimah Es
Sabar
President, LifeSciences B.C.
[ N ] When you love something, set it free. So it is
with B.C.’s incubatory biotech industry, which
in October marked yet another international sendoff:
the $915-million purchase of Asperva Phamaceuticals
by Swiss giant Galenica Group. This followed the $1.7-billion
acquisition of ID Biomedical, a UBC spin-off, by British
behemoth GlaxoSmithKline in 2005. Karimah Es Sabar’s
job is to sell the province as a global biotech destination,
and the Kenya-born president of LifeSciences B.C. seems
to be doing a good job at it: at last count, B.C. was
home to over 90 biotech companies (including local pioneers
QLT and Angiotech), making it the seventh largest cluster
in North America and the fastest growing biotech region
in Canada. First job Business development
manager (Ethical Pharmaceuticals) with The Boots Company
Industrial Division, Nottingham, U.K. 2007 Highlight
Being able to help build strong alliances between industry,
the academic and research community, and government
in order to support flagship initiatives such as the
new Canadian Centre for Drug Research and Development.
Lowlight When we are out actively marketing
our province and sector globally, much of the rest of
the world is just starting to realize the amazing excellence
and caliber of science, people, and business we have
here. We need to be much less humble and quiet about
our accomplishments, and aggressively tell the world
our story. Best advice No matter how
technically proficient you are, you’ll never be
successful unless you are able to effectively rally
support and manage relationships. What makes you lose
sleep Missed opportunities for B.C. We have virtually
everything we need here—from talent, to science
and entrepreneurship—to be global leaders in key
areas, so it’s most troubling when we don’t
capitalize on those. Favourite book
The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho; Silk
by Alessandro Baricco; Resurrection by Tolstoy.
Favourite vacation spot Governor’s
Camp at Masai Mara, Kyoto—and Marrakech, Morocco,
where my husband is from. Who should be #1
Premier Gordon Campbell. He’s willing to look
at new solutions and new ways of approaching old problems,
and always open to input on how we might do things better.
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41. Pat Jacobsen
CEO, TransLink
[ D ] Safe to say it wasn’t a great year for Pat
Jacobsen and TransLink. First, the regional transportation
authority was told in April it would be stripped of
its independence, with the province now choosing the
“advisory panel” that selects its board
of directors. No more municipal pols running amok, deciding
where to build bridges and add tolls. Then there was
the fiasco with the new trolley buses—pulled off
the road for two months after steering problems were
discovered in the 228-strong fleet. Then, more criticism
from Victoria, with Finance Minister Carole Taylor calling
on TransLink to compensate businesses hurting from Canada
Line construction. And in October—to add insult
to injury—came news that public satisfaction levels
with TransLink had dropped dramatically in its quarterly
survey, thanks to perceived crime and crowding issues.
With the new non-elected board set to assume office
on January 1, the question for Jacobsen is: how much
longer will she last?
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