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Valuable lessons E-learning firm SKILLSdox’s patient pursuit of Indian clients is paying off in a big way > PAGES 6-7

Ottawa Commercial Leasing creating the right space for your business merkburn.com 613.224.5464

July 20, 2015 Vol. 18, NO. 18

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Scary good fun Bruce Firestone discovers the secrets behind the success of local phenomenon Saunders Farm. > PAGES 4-5

Lixar co-founder and CEO Bill Syrros shows off the company’s spiffy new lounge that comes complete with beer taps at the bar. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON

Game for change

Ottawa’s rockin’ new workplaces

It’s been a year of big happenings for the Ottawa gaming company formerly known as Glitchsoft.

Boring old cubicles are quickly becoming a thing of the past at region’s rising firms

> PAGE 16

From Lixar’s music-themed headquarters to Shopify’s hip downtown digs, these definitely aren’t your father’s offices > PAGES 13-15

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At Brook Restoration, you can’t fake it to make it Contractor sets industry standard for safety and training

B

rook Restoration recently passed the 730-day mark, accident free.

That’s quite a feat, considering how many pairs of boots the restoration contractor has on the ground, and in the air, on any give day at job sites across Ontario.

MONDAY, JULY 20, 2015

The award-winning Brook team includes more than 300 skilled craftsmen, dedicated labourers and strategic managers available to provide service anywhere in Ontario from its offices in Toronto and Ottawa.

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And not a single one of them is allowed on a job site anywhere unless they have passed a minimum of six courses through Brook’s own industry-certified training school.

“These are not online courses, or theoretical exercises out of a book,” said Gary Roodman, Brook’s Ottawa General

Manager. “It’s a practical, hands-on curriculum in which each participant must demonstrate their competency to meet the grade.”

High expectations

“Hands-on” is the word. Brook has in Toronto a dedicated training facility with a classroom that can take 30+ students at a time, and a warehouse in which participants train on the actual equipment they will use in the field. They are drilled on proper setup, operation and maintenance. There is even a fully functional swing stage, on which participants are thrown into simulated scenarios they might face on a job site.

“Anyone who walks in the door must prove themselves in our training facility,” Roodman said. “Their resume alone won’t cut it. You can’t fake it at Brook.”

Brook trains on more than just safety related to job site activities and equipment

use. It offers first-aid and awareness training on such diverse topics as lead and asbestos, interpreting Ministry of Labour regulations, spill control, fire safety and prevention, violence in the workplace and skin cancer risk when working outdoors.

This approach is rare in an industry where investing in safety and training beyond the minimum required by law often comes second, if all at, to keeping workers busy on a job site.

But Brook is a big business with big obligations to its workforce and to its clients. It just makes good business sense to make the right investments in its people and equipment to reduce liability. It will gladly pay to have part of its workforce in a classroom for a few days at a time, earning full hourly rates, than take the risk.

‘Close enough’ doesn’t cut it This sharp focus extends to the job site, where Brook retains an independent

safety consultant to ensure conformity with industry safety requirements, as well as its own stringent guidelines, with daily inspections. The consultant is given the same authority as an inspector from the Ontario Ministry of Labour and can immediately shut down all activity on the job site should they have a reason for concern.

Brook also uses tablets on the jobsite to provide up-to-the-minute updates on site conditions, and all foremen are required to submit multiple daily documents over and above the standards required by law.

“There is no grey area for us,” Roodman said. “No ‘close enough.’ Safety first – that’s the bottom line.”

Find out more

To discuss your project needs, visit www. brookrestoration.ca or call Gary Roodman at 613-796-9913

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GAL Power Presents

6th Annual Help Kids Grow Up Charity Golf Tournament July 7, 2015, Eagle Creek Golf Club

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he 6th Annual Help Kids Grow Up (HKGU) Charity Golf Tournament was held July 7th at the prestigious Eagle Creek Golf Club. 148 golfers representing 58 organizations came together to support the annual fundraising event for Variety of Ottawa and the Canadian Foundation for Children with AIDS (CFCA).

Tournament highlights included: Nine on-course skill events and the “hole-intwo” event featuring five-time RE/MAX world long drive finalist Josh “Superman” Crews (Charity Golf International); chipping and putting contests; top team award; and hospitality throughout the day, including breakfast (sponsored by Vibra-Sil), lunch (ASCO) and dinner buffet (Western Union Business Solutions) with complimentary wine (Hi-Power).

A post-tournament special hospitality hour (ASCO) with complimentary draft beer and finger foods, provided the opportunity for all of these corporate leaders to network (Photo credit: Ricardo Boreka) and build new relationships. The Bud Light Girls made an appearance sampling Labatt expand AIDS relief programs in the sub-Saharan tall cans, while the musical talents of DJ Sash area of Africa, including building additional kept the fun going throughout. Players received livestock and greenhouse programs to increase complimentary registration gifts and everyone the nutrition levels of the communities that it had the opportunity to participate in the silent and supports. live auctions for fabulous prizes throughout the evening.

GAL Power is the driving force behind the tournament; making a 10-year commitment Variety of Ottawa and CFCA will receive to raise more than $650,000 for the two more than $62,000 in net proceeds from this children’s charities through the annual event. year’s HKGU tournament to be used for critical In the past 30-years, GAL Power has earned children’s care programs. Total sponsorship leadership status by consistently supplying support has now exceeded $327,000 in the first six high-performance generators both for standby years of the tournament. Variety of Ottawa has and rental applications. Rental solutions include committed $100,000 in funds from the tournament both power and climate control equipment to a to CHEO for a new heart and lung machine. CFCA variety of businesses across Canada. will continue to use its portion of the funds to http://www.galpower.com

Photo provided: From left to right are Anita Wilson (Executive Director / Variety of Ottawa), Guy Lapierre (CEO / GAL Power), Mike Brennan (President / Variety of Ottawa), and Sarah Freemark (CTV Morning Live)

Next year’s 7th Annual HKGU Charity Golf Tournament will be held on Tuesday, July 12th at the Eagle Creek Golf Club.

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Contact Bill Garbarino, tournament director, at garbarw@algonquincollege.com for sponsorship opportunities.

For more information about the HKGU Tournament visit our website: http://hkgu.varietyofottawa.com

TOURISM “It used to be if (CTV Ottawa weatherman) J.J. Clarke would mention us on the news or even if we put ads in the local newspaper, cars would pour down the road. But that doesn’t work anymore … So today, it’s all web-based … We have a large e-mail list of 38,000 people plus 5,500 Twitter and 12,000 Facebook followers.” – MARK SAUNDERS, DIRECTOR OF FUN AT SAUNDERS FARM

guests showed up, paying $5 each. Do you know how many strawberries you have to pick and pack to make $25,000? A ton.

Right from the get-go, the Saunderses decided against following the American example of making their haunting season a gore-fest. They wanted it scary, but not revolting – a family attraction, not a school for serial killers and sociopaths.

The following year they added more hay wagons, planted more trees, began growing spruce and cedar hedge mazes – they now have 10 of them, including a few post and rail ones – more log buildings, a new scary barn, a children’s barn, a wooden truck and railway car, a big playhouse (where their talented amateur high schoolers do stage shows) and a farm shop to sell merchandise.

More recently they’ve added a pavilion that seats 250 people. It also has a stateof-the-art kitchen. The family believes in feeding people decent food; in fact, I’ve never been able to escape their hospitality without being fed.

They used to have suppliers who’d pay them a percentage of sales and come in to provide food and beverage services, but they decided to bring that in-house.

In addition to running environmental Kids don’t have to look far for fun any time of year at Saunders Farm. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON tours for schools that bus in children for that experience and for summer camps, they run their own training program – called, naturally, Ghoul School. Just one day of training costs them $10,000 to provide, but just as good food is essential to a tourism business, great staff is as well.

They employ 55 people in summer, 220 in October and four full-timers year-round.

After nearly a quarter-century, Saunders Farm still has It’s quite the economic generator in a place the size of Munster. For those old enough to no problem scaring up business, Bruce Firestone writes remember the 1960s sitcom The Munsters, even the hamlet’s name is priceless. first met Anne Saunders when she came But it’s not just little kids who seem to Their staff churn rate is not bad, with a to the Ottawa Senators’ offices – then on enjoy it – teens show up by the thousands. return rate of 75 per cent for the summer Moodie Drive in Bells Corners – on May Perhaps they’re attracted by one of the season and 65 per cent for fall. Still, there’s 20, 1991 – wearing a clown outfit. farm’s slogans: “The scariest date you’ll ever a lot of recruiting and training to be done How do I know it was May 20? go on.” each year.

Because that was her handsome son Before getting into the tourism The business is now run by Mark David Saunders’s 25th birthday. David business, Mrs. Saunders was a teacher at Saunders, Anne and Bill Saunders’s worked for the Sens, and you can only the local public school (now due to close, irrepressible 48-year-old son. imagine his embarrassment when his she tells me sadly) located directly across “About 55 per cent of our business is mom showed up dressed like that. It was from their home in Munster, a comfortable, done in the fall,” he says. “In fact, in the 149 true mother love. rambling ranch-style bungalow, a few hours we operate in October, we get around The Saunderses, led by Anne and hundred metres east of Saunders Farm. Mr. 500 people per hour entering the farm. The patriarch Bill, are a close-knit rural Saunders was a stockbroker. operation does low seven figures in revenues family with four kids – Vicki, the eldest, They started with cows, lost money and is profitable.”

David, Mark and Matthew. The agrion that, then switched to 25 acres of Then he adds with a smile, “Some days.” tourism business they’ve built in Munster strawberries. That worked fine in the Not bad for a 102-acre farm.

Hamlet (population: about 1,300), 40 1980s, but once people stopped making I ask Mark Saunders what his MMB – minutes southwest of Ottawa, is a local their own jams and jellies, the business magic marketing button – is. You know, the phenomenon attracting nearly 100,000 tanked. “easy” button, the one you push and clients customers each year to a wide range They met up with Jack Marks from and customers simply show up. of attractions, including hedge mazes, Wisconsin in 1990, who spoke about “Whenever there is a Friday the 13th hayrides, gem mining, puppet shows, “haunted rides” as a cash cow. It sounded in September, we’ll do an online coupon mountain slides, day camps for kids, more promising than what they were campaign,” he answers. “We’ll price the weddings and company picnics. doing, so, like most entrepreneurs, they tickets at $13. The last time we did it, we sold But Saunders Farm is still primarily pivoted on a dime. They hired local high 6,700 of them by noon. The nice thing for us, known for haunting season, which begins school students, dressed them in spooky though, is that everyone brings a friend, and in late September and ends on Nov. 1 costumes, hid them in their barns and log that friend pays full price.” buildings and elsewhere on the farm, ran “What other marketing works for you?” I 04 each year. The farm has welcomed more than one million guests to its Halloween some local newspaper ads, put out some ask him. performances since launching its fall flyers and hoped families would come.

“It used to be if (CTV Ottawa festival 23 years ago.

Over the first two weekends, 5,000 weatherman) J.J. Clarke would mention us

Ottawa’s favourite rural haunt

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on the news or even if we put ads in the local newspaper, cars would pour down the road,” he says. “But that doesn’t work anymore. We don’t like the coupon business either, except for the Friday the 13th thing I mentioned, because it cannibalizes our regular sales and undermines our credibility and brand. So today, it’s all web-based … We have a large e-mail list of 38,000 people plus 5,500 Twitter and 12,000 Facebook followers.”

“It’s also generational,” Bill Saunders adds. “Families coming back, now with grandchildren in tow.”

“Word of mouth is big, too,” his son says.

I ask them what’s been their biggest challenge so far. Right away, Bill Saunders answers, “Did you know that 98 per cent of lawyers give the other two per cent a bad name?”

He’s referring to dealing with zoning officials at the City of Ottawa.

“Our experience with the city was made much worse,” Mrs. Saunders says, “by the fact that we had one neighbour who also wanted to run environmental tours on his farm but failed. He decided to make a crusade out of bringing down our place.

He’d go through the city’s zoning bylaw, line by line, and then call to complain about an infraction at our farm. An (ordinance) enforcement officer would come, and

sometimes, he’d call the police as well. It was horrible. I asked him once why he did it. He said, ‘I don’t do business with women,’ and walked out on me. It got so bad in 1997 he even had our local pastor speak out about the evils of Saunders Farm from the pulpit.

That really hurt.”

But the family persevered, and eventually the neighbour sold his property and moved away. Today, Saunders Farm is zoned agricultural and mixed amusement after the city reluctantly created a special zone for it.

The business is now part of a worldwide movement to save family farms by introducing attractions such as farm-stay networks, experiential tourism and agrientertainment, a drive led by groups such as the North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association. Saunders Farm is one of more than 700 members of the organization.

“NAFDMA is based on the idea that everything you need in life, like potatoes, is cheap, but everything you want in life, like experiences, is expensive,” the senior Mr. Saunders says.

Or, as some might say, they’re priceless.

Bruce M. Firestone is founder of the Ottawa Senators and a broker at Century 21 Explorer Realty.

Follow him on Twitter @ProfBruce.

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Prior to joining BrazeauSeller.LLP, Luc Bourque practiced corporate commercial and real property law for 18 years, both in private practice on Bay Street and at two Ottawa law firms, and most recently as in-house senior legal counsel at one of Ottawa’s largest real estate developers. He has represented clients on matters ranging from residential and commercial development and leasing, to medium and large scale acquisitions, sales and financings locally, nationally and multi-nationally.

GO GLOBAL Eastern promise Brad Loiselle needed time and patience to crack the Indian e-learning market, but he says his efforts are now starting to pay major dividends

BY DAVID SALI

MONDAY, JULY 20, 2015

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1.

Focus on relationships: “You have to build genuine relationships. If you’re going (to India) to get a purchase order or a contract, forget about it.

It’s not going to work. They have to become your friends. That’s what it comes down to.”

2. Patience isn’t a virtue – it’s a necessity: “Everything runs at such a different pace,” he says.

“It’s so much slower. When I set up meetings and schedules, I’m early – 15, 20 (minutes), half an hour sometimes, to meetings. I’ll fly into a meeting the day before to make sure I’m there in the city before that meeting. In India, I don’t think there’s one meeting I’ve been on time to. Not because of me, because of the people I’m with. Things are fluid – you’ve got to flow with how it is there.”

david@obj.ca

he first time Brad Loiselle visited India, he didn’t think he would ever go back.

“It was just a different market,” the Ottawa businessman says of that initial trip a few years ago. “It was like the Wild West. It was such a shock for someone who’s never experienced that level of poverty. I grew up poor, but nothing compared to what I saw there.”

But the serial entrepreneur also saw something else in the world’s secondmost populous nation: opportunity.

Mr. Loiselle had been toying with the idea of getting into the online education space. When he returned to Canada, he started thinking about what it would be like to crack a market of more than 1.2 billion people, many of them poor and with limited access to higher learning.

“If you want to build a big company, you’ve got to do something no one else is doing,” he says.

Since then, the route to Delhi and Mumbai has become as familiar to Mr. Loiselle as the daily commute on the Queensway is to most Ottawans. Later this month, the 43-year-old founder of local e-learning firm SKILLSdox will cross the Pacific for the 17th time.

Mr. Loiselle, whose company offers a platform for Indians to access education and skills training from North American partners, has spent most of those visits earning the equivalent of a master’s degree in doing business in a country that doesn’t always welcome foreigners with open arms.

He remembers a Canadian trade commissioner once telling him he’d never land a single contract until he truly understood the culture.

“Indian business is all about relationships,” he says. “So I told myself, ‘I’m going to take my time. I’m not going to push any deals and I’m going to try and build relationships.’”

That patience and persistence has paid off. Today, SKILLSdox has contracts with several organizations, including the Bombay Stock Exchange and the Association of International Wealth Management of India, and shares course revenues with more than a dozen education partners, such as Algonquin College and the University of

BRAD LOISELLE’S THREE RULES FOR DOING BUSINESS IN INDIA

Brad Loiselle’s impressive list of Indian contacts includes Indu Jain, the chairperson of the country’s largest media group, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. PHOTO COURTESY BRAD LOISELLE

3. To do business there, you have to be there: An Ottawa entrepreneur recently contacted the Times of India after he found out about the organization’s agreement with SKILLSdox. “The guy calls me and we had a conversation,” Mr. Loiselle says. “One of the first things I asked him was, ‘Have you ever been to India before?’ He’s like, ‘No.’ I said, ‘How do you expect to do business in a country you’ve never been to?

You need to go to India. In order to understand what you’re getting into, you need to go there.’ It’s not like going to the U.S. from Canada. It’s a lot of effort.”

his foot in the door. Even multinational companies are often flummoxed by the Indian market, he says, because many standard business practices in the western world don’t apply there.

For example, online commerce in North America and Europe relies on credit cards for payment, an option that simply isn’t available to the vast majority — BRAD LOISELLE, FOUNDER OF SKILLSDOX of Indians, he notes. As a result, Mr. Loiselle spent two years setting up an Fredericton. he’s done in the past, saying his goal is India-based company and many more Deals with other major institutions, to turn it into a “billion-dollar company” months navigating through red tape to including Vancouver’s Simon Fraser with millions of clients. open an Indian bank account, all so the University, are in the works. The firm “That’s our focus,” says Mr. Loiselle, firm could accept money transfers from is now in the midst of a drive to raise who self-published a book detailing his students in rupees. $5 million in venture capital, with the previous startup triumphs and failures After that, he still needed a vehicle to target of going public on the TSX Venture called Keep Moving 4Ward: What it Takes reach those millions of potential clients.

Exchange this fall. to Be an Entrepreneur.

It came courtesy of his relationship with An OBJ Forty Under 40 recipient “The registrations that we’re going spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, in 2003, Mr. Loiselle has plenty of to get on our portal are going to be whom he had met in his role as a director experience building companies massive. We’re not just targeting small of the Indo-Canada Ottawa Business from scratch, including paper goods sections of India – we’re targeting all of Chamber. manufacturer Box-It Solutions. But he India.”

Mr. Loiselle had just made a marketing believes SKILLSdox will dwarf anything But to do that, he first needed to get pitch to the Times of India, the country’s

“Indian business is all about relationships.

So I told myself, ‘I’m going to take my time.

I’m not going to push any deals and I’m going to try and build relationships.’”

Who are Ottawa’s startups to watch?

Visit OBJ.CA and click on Special Reports

largest English newspaper, and decided to take Mr. Shankar up on his offer to visit him at an ashram a few hours from the southern city of Bangalore.

He was discussing his long-term plans for SKILLSdox when the famed humanitarian pointed to a woman beside him.

She turned out to be Indu Jain, the chairperson of the Times of India’s parent company and the country’s largest media group, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. “(Mr. Shankar) is like, ‘Well, isn’t that a concidence,’” Mr. Loiselle says with a laugh. It was, he says now, enough to make him believe in karma.

Impressed with Mr. Loiselle’s business concept and commitment to her country, Ms. Jain happily lent her support to his bid. Ultimately, that led to a breakfast with BCCL chief executive Raj Jain, who all but agreed to sign off on a major marketing agreement with SKILLSdox.

But he still had one question, the same one Mr. Loiselle has heard over and over in the past couple of years: what was a white guy from Canada doing setting up an online education platform in India?

“At the end of the day, whatever we do

for India will trickle across the world,” Mr. Loiselle explains. “I said, ‘You guys have a skill base and a population that could solve a lot of problems from a lot of different countries. If we’re able to train you with North American content and qualify you guys to be employable (in North America), you guys will solve a lot of issues.’”

That answer sealed the deal. In April, SKILLSdox signed a contract that will see BCCL and its dozens of print, broadcast and online media properties invest $30 million to market Mr. Loiselle’s platform across the country over the next five years.

The deal gives SKILLSdox “a value proposition that no other (e-learning) company has anywhere,” Mr. Loiselle says. “Not one.”

It’s been a three-year journey that has made the married father of three more familiar with Indian airports than he ever wanted to be. But if his vision comes to fruition, it will all be worth it.

“When we first started building it, no one believed what we were building was possible,” he says. “The life of an entrepreneur – it’s always like that.”

Loucks resigns as Halogen CEO

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LRT to the airport is an economic booster Ottawa can’t do without

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henever he visits another city such as Vancouver, Mark Laroche takes rapid rail transit from the airport to his destination.

It’s fast, it’s convenient and it’s a hallmark of a truly world-class city.

“This is a vital piece of infrastructure that Ottawa should have as the capital of a G7 nation,” said the President and CEO of the Ottawa Airport Authority.

A Light Rail Transit link to the Ottawa Airport’s main terminal as part of the Phase 2 build has long been on the table, but getting it done is far from assured.

Finalized City of Ottawa staff recommendations for a southbound extension of the existing O-Train line were presented to the City’s transportation committee in June. A spur line that would connect to the airport’s terminal is among those recommendations, but this, along with the rest of the Phase 2 plan, can’t proceed until suitable funding is secured from the other levels of government.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson has already stated that a spur line to the airport can’t be a bottleneck for daily commuters, or a cost that is shouldered entirely by the city.

Which is fine by Laroche. His team understands that the needs of the collective must come first and it’s ready to work with the City on a creative way that would allow the Airport to contribute to the cost of the project in some fashion.

“The Airport Authority, however, should not be footing the bill, any more than any other business entity in the city would be expected to carry the cost of new infrastructure that serves the community,” Laroche said.

The Authority already does its part by paying its municipal taxes, employing 5,000 people with plans to grow and hire more, and paying about $8 million a year to the federal government through its lease of lands from Transport Canada.

It’s about the local economy, not the airport

“We are a private not-for-profit corporation, a tax-paying economic generator that serves the whole city,”

“If we miss this opportunity, we miss out at providing world-class infrastructure for a world-class city.”

-- Mark Laroche

said Laroche. “An LRT connection to our terminal doesn’t provide any financial benefit to the Airport Authority, but it would for the community as a whole with more transportation options to and from the airport.”

Better transportation links to the airport will pay dividends for the city’s tourism industry and the meeting and convention business—priority areas for City Hall and Ottawa Tourism.

And now is the time to get it done, to take advantage of the economies of scale and cost savings that come of being part of a larger project that already has shovels in the ground.

“I hope the city will continue to support this project and not carve it off,” Laroche said. “I am confident that Mayor Watson and City Council will continue to support this project as an essential part of LRT Stage 2 and that both the provincial and federal governments will support it financially `If we miss this opportunity, we miss out at providing world-class infrastructure for a world-class city. I don’t want to be an airport that is still trying to get this done 20 years from now and lagging far behind other Canadian and North American cities.”

Laroche and his team are primed and ready to work with the City to get the project done in a manner that is practical, economical and, most importantly, fair, for all stakeholders.

“A business case built on ridership with the airport and South Ottawa works,” he said. “If it didn’t, we wouldn’t be involved with this project.”

07 OBJ.CA

will drive increased shareholder value over time.”

The board of directors has hired an executive search firm to assist in finding Mr. Loucks’ replacement.

In the meantime, board member Les Rechan, a former IBM general manager and chief operating officer at Cognos, has been appointed interim president and CEO. In the wake of Mr. Loucks’ resignation, Halogen reiterated its second-quarter projections and updated its 2015 year-end guidances.

For the quarter, the company said it still expects recurring revenue of between $14.5 million and $14.7 million and total revenue of between $16 million and $16.2 million.

For the year, it is reducing recurring and total revenue projections, dropping recurring revenue projections from between $60 million and $60.8 million to between $59.3 million and $59.9 million. Halogen has reduced total revenue projections for 2015 from between $66.9 million and $67.7 million to between $65.4 million and $66.0 million.

The company, which employs about 500 people, has launched a global expansion campaign that has seen it open offices in Britain, Australia and the Netherlands.

From wings to rail

MONDAY, JULY 20, 2015

alogen Software is looking for a new CEO after longtime chief executive Paul Loucks announced his resignation on July 9.

“After meaningful reflection, I made the decision that I wanted to spend more time with my family and consider other interests over time,” Mr. Loucks said in a statement.

“This was a very difficult decision considering how far Halogen has come over the past 15 years and the strong future the company has in front of it.”

Mr. Loucks, who had been president and CEO since 2000, said he was “grateful” for the opportunity to work with the Halogen team and was “confident” in the firm’s future.

“Our management team and market position have never been stronger,” he said, adding he will work with management through the transition process.

Halogen co-founder and executive chairman Michael Slaunwhite thanked Mr. Loucks for all his work.

“He played an important role in establishing Halogen as a leader in the large and underpenetrated talent management software market,” Mr. Slaunwhite said in a statement.

“The company is well positioned to continue growing and expanding its global presence, which we believe

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“a nice little city within a city”

250 City Centre Gatineau side of the river in the ‘70s.

With the high-tech boom of the 1990s, all eyes were on Kanata. City Centre remained.

Their long-term thinking has left the Freedmans and City Centre in the right place at the right time. Back in the 1960s, when there was a rail line up to the side of the bays, it would’ve been difficult to imagine the facility as a place where foodies would sit in the parking lot to enjoy baked goods. Or where craft beer fans, art lovers and fitness fanatics would gather. And yet, here we are.

written by steve fouchard photography by mark holleron

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are proposing not only a plethora of new homes and commercial spaces, but also exciting, new amenities ranging from public greenspaces to performance and cultural venues.

To the south sits Little Italy, already well into a period of remarkable transformation that has seen it emerge as one of Ottawa’s coolest leisure and living areas. Just adjacent is Chinatown, known not only as a favourite destination for dining but also as home to many of the capital’s creative class and a number of small but vibrant live performance and exhibition spaces.

City Centre’s owners, the Freedman family, have stayed the course through many difficult years. There were fallow periods when the demand for industrial space dropped precipitously in the 1960s, and when the federal government began relocating many of its workers to the

bike paths

“A lot of the small warehouse-retail type businesses are finding it more economical to go to that lower rent, where they were paying higher retail rents, now they can focus on their business and growing it.” — John Zinati, leasing manager, District Realty

MONDAY, JULY 20, 2015

he transformation of City Centre from architectural curiosity into a hip, central gathering place housing a rich and diverse group of businesses and social advocacy organizations is one of Ottawa’s most compelling commercial stories. And that’s not even the whole story.

In these pages you’ll meet many of the people making City Centre happen. They’re artists, musicians, dancers, designers, teachers and huge sports fans. They’re also environmentalists and advocates for youth.

As our conversations with the tenants clearly reveal, they know one another and enjoy co-operative and mutually beneficial relationships that are inspiring. The look of City Centre may be post-industrial chic, but the spirit is that of a community.

In fact, City Centre has become something very much like a family; what one tenant calls “a nice little city within a city.”

That’s the story being told here and we’re pleased to be able to bring it to you. First, a little history to put it all in focus.

The City Centre name has never been more apt than it is right now.

While the property, comprised of an office tower and distinctively curved row of industrial bays, sits just west of Ottawa’s downtown proper, it’s very much at the centre of an area poised to become a commercial and residential hub to equal anything right downtown.

To the north lies Lebreton Flats, home to the Canadian War Museum. It’s a major attraction in its own right as well as being the site of some of the capital’s premiere outdoor events, including our internationally-renowned blues festival. In addition, a grand redevelopment effort has only just begun in the area. Four developers

Once an oddity in central-west Ottawa, City Centre is now industrial chic. It’s also emerged as an affordable, transit- and cycling-accessible home for non-profit and charitable organizations who enjoy all the benefits of a downtown location at a fraction of the cost.

City Centre has grown right along with the surrounding neighbourhood and will certainly remain a unique and desirable fixture within it.

To find out how you can be part of the renaissance, contact District Realty at 613759-8383 or visit www.districtrealty.com.

Civil servants in the capital region are spoiled for choice when it comes to language schools, but Academie de Formation Linguistique (AFL) is unique.

Owner Louise Brazeau-Ward got into the business of language instruction with a very personal motive: to help her son, John, who is dyslexic. On her way to becoming an internationally renowned dyslexia expert, Brazeau-Ward studied the Simultaneous Multisensory Teaching (SMT) method. SMT helps students understand a language by emphasizing the written structure of language and reading accuracy.

“I started educating myself. After a few years, I became kind of an expert,” she says, noting John now has a master’s degree.

Federal government officials later reached out to Brazeau-Ward in search of a suitable program for dyslexic civil servants.

After successfully teaching several dyslexic classes, other students kept coming and she found SMT worked just as well with nondyslexics. It is now one of the methods employed at AFL, which she created to meet the growing demand.

Attaining the federal government’s ‘C’ level of comprehension ordinarily takes up to two years, says Brazeau-Ward. Using SMT, students can get there in as little as six months.

“It’s the same teaching method whether you’re six years old or 50 with a PhD.”

When the time came for AFL to leave its previous offices in the Westboro area, Administrator Mike Ward says location was key. It was important to maintain close proximity to Tunney’s Pasture, where many students come from, and City Centre offers easy access to many other federal government facilities in downtown Ottawa and Gatineau.

“Great location,” says Ward. “The parking is a huge plus. We have the whole floor; it looks good. It’s a great spot. When we moved in it was still growing.

It’s really blown up; there are a lot of highend shops, like Art Is In bakery. It’s a good environment.”

INDUSTRIAL-STYLE

City Centre: Now More central than ever POPULAR FILMING DESTINATION

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Master language faster with the AFL advantage

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beyond the pale brewery co-founder, rob mcisaac, says big, centrally located spaces are hard to find, which made city centre just the right place for the growing company’s second brewing facility. with the space poised to become a retail storefront and tap room serving light foods, there’s little doubt beyond the pale will be a good fit with city centre’s emergence as a hip urban destination.

“The opportunity to have warehouse space in the heart of the city is unique and something we wanted to take advantage of. Centretown, Little Italy, Hintonburg. Everyone’s right there.”

Beyond the Pale stands apart Beyond the Pale brewery began with friends drinking beer and hatching plans for their own cold pint empire.

These guys weren’t just dreaming.

Co-founder Rob McIsaac (with friend and brewer Shane Clark), put his economics degree to work and found there was a sound business case for a craft brewery in Ottawa.

“At first we just looked and we could tell Ottawa was lagging behind what the U.S. was doing in terms of styles, varieties and availability,” he says.

McIsaac says Beyond the Pale’s customer - and retail - focused approach has set them apart.

“The best way to get feedback on your beer is to see a customer faceto-face and put a beer in their hand. We sold out of beer the first weekend we opened and we’ve been playing catch-up ever since.”

In the interest of catching up, they’ve opened another brewery at City Centre, just east of the original Hintonburg location.

Longer-term plans include retail offerings and a tap room. Details are still in the works, but McIssac offers a hint.

“Sandwiches, charcuterie. Very simple. We’re going to try to have at least 10 of our beers on tap at all times and some other beers we think are great as well.”

Get a taste of Beyond the Pale at: www.beyondthepale.ca

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Orange Gallery co-owner Ingrid Hollander says she and her partners were hard-pressed to find anything as unique as their current home at City Centre as they prepared to move from their former location near Parkdale Market.

“This building had something more than anything else we’d seen,” she says, noting the high historic and architectural value of the space, formerly a CN bank. “I’ve always liked places that aren’t already established but have potential.”

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250 CPAWS takes a “solution-focused” approach to conservation

“We’re a charity.

Our donors don’t want us to be in the most luxurious offices downtown.

But the proximity to downtown is critical, the proximity to the Transitway has been really helpful. On a nice day I can walk to a meeting on Parliament Hill.

It’s zero-cost and zero-emission.”

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Orange Gallery co-owner Ingrid Hollander is an artist in her own right. While motherhood and business mean less time for her own work, she says the gallery itself offers plenty of opportunity for creative expression.

“I do all the hanging in the gallery. That’s where I get my artistic fulfilment. I also go to every customer’s house and hang the paintings.”

“Our goal is to be the best art gallery in Ottawa,” she adds. “We want to represent local artists primarily and feature art that, budgetwise, is also accessible to many people.”

Being accessible, Hollander adds, means working with new and established artists.

Gwendolyn Best, who had her first-ever

showing at Orange, has since sold nearly 1,000 works all over the world.

“It was fun to see her start as an emerging artist and now she’s definitely established,” says Hollander.

The Orange building itself, a thoroughly refurbished former CN bank, is a work of art all on its own and makes for a unique venue for private events.

“We just want it to be an experience for anybody coming in,” Hollander says. “People are so intrigued by the building. It’s a real hit.”

To learn more about the Orange Gallery experience, visit www.orangeartgallery.ca or call 613-761-1500.

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The location has also provided opportunities for collaboration with neighbour MiningWatch Canada, a nonprofit with a similar mandate that shares both a kitchen and information with CPAWS. Hébert-Daly expresses appreciation for City Centre’s “post-industrial chic. There’s a sense that even the bay doors are a cool place to be. The building has improved around us over the years.”

Art is an experience at Orange Gallery

MONDAY, JULY 20, 2015

A half million square kilometres; twothirds of Canada’s protected natural areas.

These are the very tangible results of work

by The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS).

“It’s almost the size of the Yukon Territory,” says National Executive Director Éric Hébert-Daly. Still, much work remains to be done as CPAWS advances toward its goal of protection for half of Canada’s public lands and waterways.

“We’re only at 10 per cent,” Hébert-Daly adds. We’re still a long way from getting to where we need to be.”

The organization was founded in the early 1960s as the National and Protected Areas Association of Canada.

While the high-profile campaigns of organizations like Greenpeace garner more headlines, CPAWS works closely with industry to find mutually satisfactory solutions in the development versus conservation debate.

“We help them do the planning of their work in a way that’s going to have the least impact on nature and allow for regrowth in a way that’s sustainable over the long-term.

CPAWS is very solution focused,” says Hébert-Daly.

Find out how you can support CPAWS at: www.cpaws.org

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) is one of City Centre’s longeststanding tenants and has called the complex home since 1998.

National Executive Director Éric Hébert-Daly says the reasonable cost was certainly a factor in the decision, but that other benefits have emerged as well.

JF Sports Canada was a City Centre tenant for a few years in early 2000 before relocating to the rural south end.

They returned two years ago.

“We found the location was so central,” explains President John Lee. “The building was being upgraded, there were a lot of good businesses coming in. It’s like a renaissance happening. I think it’s a great place to be.”

John notes too that he and his staff have enjoyed “leveraging partnerships” with some of their neighbours, including Marquardt Printing and VisionForm, who design commercial signage and displays.

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“They did an absolutely incredible job,” John says, describing a trade show display built by the latter. “It was a very innovative design. It’s nice because they’ll also come to us. That’s been a big benefit to being here.”

Explore ‘the architecture of things’ with VisionForm “Industrial design is like the architecture of things,” explains VisionForm owner Mark Charlton. “You’re sitting on a chair, at a table; you have a telephone. All these things are designed.”

VisionForm has carved out an impressive niche in Ottawa by designing and building items specifically for office interiors: signs for walls, doors and work stations as well as plaques and wall murals.

Charlton notes that most of the organizations VisionForm works with are at the larger end of the scale, including the Ottawa Hospital, government departments and tech firms from Canada and around the world.

Initially, they were jobbing out parts of the manufacturing process.

“We couldn’t find local suppliers who could do things to our standards and it looked like the work wasn’t going away so we decided to set up our own shop,” Charlton says.

The search for a centrally located space large enough to facilitate manufacturing led to City Centre. After a few years, work volumes grew to a point where a second bay was required and Charlton says the company may even need a third in the longer term.

To learn more about VisionForm’s design solutions, call 613-231-2246.

JF Sports Canada: merchandise for fans, by fans

John Lee, president of JF Sports Canada, is clearly mixing business and pleasure.

He and his staff create a wide range of promotional and officially licensed items, from jerseys to keychains, ready-made or custom, to satisfy even the most hard core sports fan. Their 30 years of success are due in no small part to the fact that John is one himself.

“We put out stuff that we’d like ourselves,” he says.

JF Sports was among the first Canadian businesses of its kind in Canada to be licensed by the NHL and NFL. They also have working relationships with the CFL and Hockey Canada, the governing body for amateur hockey.

John is quick to note that hockey is the game that means most to him.

“My love of hockey comes from Hockey Night in Canada in the 1950s with Foster Hewitt, watching the original six.”

As a student at Lake Superior State University, John played under coach Ron Mason, who led more teams to the NCAA tournament than any other.

“I’ve had some excellent coaches and mentors,” he adds.

To learn more about JF Sports Canada’s high-quality custom- and ready-made products, visit www.jfsc.ca or call 613-569-3811.

244 youturn helps youth change direction

youturn youth support services has had several names over its 27 years of serving at-risk youth.

It was originally known as Eastern Ontario Young Offender Services, a name connecting it to the Young Offenders Act. When the province later adopted the Youth Criminal Justice Act, it became the Eastern Ontario Youth Justice Agency.

Serving the entire Eastern Ontario region, youturn is an alternative to custodial sentences for individuals charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YJCA). The youth remain in their homes while receiving counselling visits from youturn staff.

Executive Director Kathy Neff joined the organization six years ago and felt another name change was in order to make the connection to the justice system less explicit and thus eliminate any stigma.

“The name youturn is about changing your direction,” Neff says.

Their services have also been expanded to clients who aren’t part of the justice system; most of those coming as referrals from the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) of Ottawa.

In both cases, Neff says, youturn’s work is preventative in nature.

“With CAS it’s with a view to preventing kids from coming into care. With the youth justice kids it’s about reducing the risk of recidivism.”

To learn more, visit www.youturn.ca.

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MONDAY, JULY 20, 2015

Get a good sweat to good music at Studio X Ottawa

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The founders of Studio X Ottawa went into business for perhaps the best reason of all: they’re sharing what they love.

Soul and Nadège, partners in business and life, were introduced separately to Latin dance and later forged a relationship around their shared passion.

“I just fell in love with it and starting dancing, doing shows, teaching at community centres,” says Soul.

Among the activities available is the Salsa X Practice Night, which

youturn youth support services moved into City Centre three years ago from offices in the New Edinburgh area where they were suddenly faced with a doubling of the rent.

Executive Director Kathy Neff says City Centre has proven to be ideal.

“We like the fact there are lots of notfor-profits here,” she adds, noting youturn has developed a unique relationship with their neighbours at The Robert Smart Centre. Neff is its executive director as well and the organizations have found efficiencies by sharing administrative staff.

“District Realty was great in working with us around how we could set this up so it worked best for both agencies.”

gives beginners and advanced dancers alike the chance to both learn and socialize — and perhaps meet their own special someone.

“Some people take classes but they’re afraid to go out,” Soul explains.

“They don’t get a chance to practice. We try to create a friendly environment where you can get help from people at other levels.”

For those who would rather not learn in a group setting, private classes are available and independent instructors rent space in the studio offering a wide variety of classes.

In addition to classes in popular Latin styles like Mambo, Merengue and Salsa, Studio X offers a range of fitness programs for many age groups.

There are also rooms available for private events.

Discover Studio X Ottawa at www.studioxottawa.com or call 613-912-5083.

As they approach two years in business at City Centre, Studio X co-owners Soul and Nadège say the location is unbeatable.

“It’s next to the O-Train and Bayview station, not even five minutes to Gatineau. Just the market itself is really good.

Nobody could offer the square footage we needed downtown.” says Soul.

They’ve also found good friends in the facility. “We have really good neighbours,” says Nadège.“The people are nice,” adds Soul.

REAL ESTATE

All of the tables at Lixar’s new office were designed and built by Chris Smith, owner of Jampy Furniture in Dartmouth, N.S. “Some of the stuff he was coming up with just blew my mind – the level of creativity that he had,” Lixar CEO Bill Syrros says. When he decided the office would have a music theme, he told Mr. Smith, “‘I need six or eight tables and I’m going to give you a challenge. I hope this just blows your portfolio right out of the water.’” The mural on the northern outer wall of Lixar’s office (top right) was painted by renowned Nova Scotia graffiti artist Christian Toth.

PHOTOS BY MARK HOLLERON

Office greatness comes by design Lixar stepped into the spotlight recently when it opened one of the city’s coolest workspaces. But it’s not alone in taking the office to a whole new level

BY DAVID SALI david@obj.ca

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ixar co-founder and CEO Bill Syrros readily concedes he was “paranoid” the first time he saw the company’s name spelled out in giant letters on the front of its new Coventry Road headquarters.

“It’s the first sign we’ve ever had in our company’s existence,” says the affable tech entrepreneur. “We spent 15 years never having anyone be able to point out that we’re here (in Ottawa).”

Alas, Lixar’s cover has been blown. Since the mobile app developer opened its new home last month in a former furniture outlet, Mr. Syrros and his colleagues have been inundated with texts, e-mails and Facebook messages.

“Some people were like, ‘I didn’t even know you still existed,’” he says with a grin.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

He laughs. Mr. Syrros can afford to make light of his firm’s bashfulness.

Lixar has achieved its success quietly over the past decade and a half, mostly flying under the radar while building a customer base that includes major airlines, telecommunications providers and carmakers.

The company now boasts nine-figure annual revenues and a staff of more than 70 in Ottawa, as well as a 40-person satellite office in Halifax. Once Lixar began

to outgrow its former home near Little Italy, Mr. Syrros and his team decided to go all in, purchasing a drab industrial warehouse with the intent of remaking it into the ideal environment for staff.

“At some point in time, you’ve got to reward yourself for doing good work,” he says. “This is finally a place that our employees are truly really proud of.”

And for good reason. The 30,000-square-foot shrine to technology – and music – is a serious contender for the crown of Ottawa’s coolest office space.

Project manager Shelley Fraser wanted to keep a “warehouse feel,” Mr. Syrros says, and coined the term “warm-tech” to describe her vision for the space. The warmth came partly from something near and dear to Mr. Syrros’s heart: music.

When he, CFO Emmanuel Florakas and managing partner Leroy Wissing launched the company in 1999, “we listened to music constantly,” says the longtime CEO, who is still a fixture at festivals such as Austin’s South by Southwest. “We were all downloading music by the millions of files on Napster. It was like this music mecca, where all of a sudden we had all this music at the end of our fingers.”

Today, that passion is on display throughout the building. The boardroom, for example, features a 28-foot-long, one-ton solid oak table coated with what appears at first to be plain black lacquer.

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Upon further inspection, however, the table is embossed with quotes from a who’s-who of rock and blues legends, from Elvis Presley and John Lennon to Little Richard and Bob Dylan. The overhead lights contain speakers that can be turned up or down by remote control.

At the entrance to the main lounge, key dates in the company’s history are printed on guitar picks arranged in the shape of – what else? – a guitar.

Each meeting room is designed to reflect a particular genre of music. In the folk room, for example, the guitarshaped table is embedded with real strings. The hip-hop room features lights made out of spray cans.

Decked out in a San Francisco Giants cap, shorts and flip-flops, Mr. Syrros sits down for an interview in his beloved indie room. Its table is sculpted to look exactly like a 45 of Debaser, a single from his favourite band, the Pixies.

“It blows me away that I can sit at a table that looks like a 45,” he says, sounding like a kid in a candy store. “If I can get an artist to build tables that are really custom to our needs, what I got out of it was something really special. If anything ever happens to Lixar, this is coming with me.”

The whole project took nearly a year, costing “seven figures – a few of those,” Mr. Syrros says. While renovation planning usually consists of brainstorming about a hundred ideas that get whittled down to the best 25, “Shelley was ambitious,” he explains.

“She wanted to shoot for the hundred. It was a long haul … and this is the result of it.”

Though Lixar is no longer hiding its light under a bushel, he insists it’s still the same humble firm at heart.

“We didn’t build (the Coventry office) so that everybody would say, ‘Holy crap, these guys are spending a ton of money and they’re really trying to put on a show.’

That’s really not what we’re trying to do.

This is really a reward for our staff and the ownership group.”

At the same time, Mr. Syrros adds, the new look sends a message to potential clients.

“This is just creative thinking,” he says, gesturing to the Pixies logo. “What we did here is the same approach we would take to technology. I mean, it could’ve been just a clear glass table.

But this tells a story. We’re like in the days of Mad Men right now. I’m like Don Draper. We’re going to our clients right now, and we’re pitching. We’re pitching innovation. So if I don’t have this table, and if I don’t do what we did here, why would anybody think that we’re more innovative than anyone else? I want potential clients to walk in here and say, ‘Wow, they really put a lot of detail in this place. Hopefully, they’ll do that for us if we get them to do our application.’”

Shopify

At Shopify’s 11-floor “trike track,” employees can race around a circular course on skateboards or mini go-carts. Down the hall, hammocks provide the perfect place to relax and enjoy the view. PHOTOS BY MARK HOLLERON

BY DAVID SALI david@obj.ca

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hopify’s new head office is both mere blocks and a world away from the e-commerce powerhouse’s beginnings as an online snowboard store in 2004.

Ottawa’s newest public company officially moved into its posh new digs in Performance Court at 150 Elgin St. last October – 10 years after founder Tobias Lütke created his first online sales platform at a coffee shop just down the road.

Since then, the fast-growing firm has had a few different homes in the downtown core. But none were anything like the 135,000-square-foot space it now occupies in Elgin’s newest office tower.

“We put a lot of time and effort into making it, I think, one of the coolest office buildings in the world, and definitely one of the top ones in Ottawa,” says Greg Scorsone, Shopify’s director of internal operations.

The new space has something for just about every one of its 450-plus employees – a number that rises almost weekly. The firm currently occupies floors six through 11 in the 21-storey building, and each floor has a specific theme.

For example, the sixth floor, dubbed Urban Street, features a coffee house, massage room, yoga studio and pingpong table. The ninth floor’s “Canadian” theme is represented by a log cabin, beanbags in the form of grizzlies, meeting rooms that look like Maritime houses and

an office that resembles a snowboard shop.

Earlier this month, the firm opened the 10th and 11th floors. The defining element on floor 11 – its theme is “Back Alley” – is one of the office’s most popular features so far: a circular rubber “trike track” for skateboarders, complete with an electronic clock for staging impromptu time trials. The track is even insulated to muffle noise so employees working on the floor below won’t be disturbed.

Just down the hall, an entertainment room offers an array of the latest video games and that timeless classic, foosball, among other attractions. If all that activity leaves workers a little fatigued, they needn’t worry – a pair of hammocks are conveniently stationed a few steps away, with a spectacular view of the nearby canal, courthouse and city hall.

How would Mr. Scorsone describe the overall vibe?

“Comfortable,” he immediately answers.

“That’s sort of the one word that sums it up.

We wanted it to be like your home, like you want to come here every day. You want to be able to work and be productive, but at the same time, you’re really comfortable in the

environment. It’s not a stuffy place – there’s good lighting, there’s good sound, there’s food everywhere for people to eat, and you can hang out with the people you like. And if you don’t want to work in a big, open office area, there are little tiny cubicles to go to. It’s an office tailored for every kind of worker.”

Designed by local architect Andrew Reeves of LineBox Studio and built by Ottawa contractor The Lake Partnership, the project went smoothly and was more budget-friendly than many similar undertakings in which he’s been involved, Mr. Scorsone says.

Still, it had its moments.

“A lot of it was just getting the design in the accelerated timeline and getting it all done,” he says. “A lot of the materials had to come in through windows, which was a bit of a challenge. Everybody wanted to be in here so quickly that we just had to work faster to get it done.”

His favourite spot is a seventh-floor boardroom popularly referred to as White Russian. Fittingly, all the furniture is white, and the room looks out onto a terrace.

“In the wintertime with the snow blowing, it’s just awesome,” he says.

The company has also leased floors 12 and 13. It just began designing those last month and plans to start construction before the end of the year, with a target opening of mid-2016.

“I think everybody has their own preferences,” Mr. Scorsone says of employees’ reactions so far. “The good news is that somebody likes every different part of it.”

What do 10,000+ local business leaders know that you don’t? Subscribe to OBJ’s email news alert at OBJ.CA

CIRA B

Domain name registry employees ‘jacked about where they work’

One of the highlights of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority’s new office at Lansdowne Park is the boardroom overlooking TD Place (above left). The office features a lot of glass, as well as open spaces to encourage collaboration. PHOTOS BY MARK HOLLERON

corporation also runs the infrastructure that supports the domain name system and is active in Internet governance.

“Fundamentally, we are a high-end tech shop,” Mr. Holland said, adding the office is operational 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Early reviews from the organization’s 85 employees have been positive, he added.

“When our staff go to their cocktail parties or neighbourhood dinners, they are jacked about where they work,” he said. “There’s no better way to attract talent than good talent that you have saying, ‘You should see where I work.’”

– OBJ staff

15 OBJ.CA

Camm a “miracle worker” for turning “a slab of concrete on a slab of concrete” into what he called “the most progressive technology-enabled office in Ottawa” in just four months.

There isn’t a cubicle to be found in the new office, with low dividers between desks and lots of open space to enable collaboration between workers. There is also plenty of glass, be it surrounding Mr. Holland’s office or along the wall in the boardroom overlooking TD Place.

Along with the glass, there are whiteboards everywhere.

“Do I have an idea? I can write it down right here,” he said.

One bright, window-lined space has been dubbed the Legoland room, with a big jar of the building blocks in the corner.

“We have a bunch of ‘isms’ around our organization,” Mr. Holland said.

“Never outgrow Lego – you never know what you’re going to build.”

There is a walking desk, standing desks and showers for joggers or cyclists.

CIRA also offers staffers a boot camp to allow them to sweat it out over their lunch hours if they so desire.

Mr. Holland said the agency has created “the kind of culture we’re looking for that most high-end tech workers want to be part of.”

At the end of the day, that is what it is all about: the battle to attract and retain talent in a highly competitive market.

While CIRA is known for running the .ca registry, the private not-for-profit

MONDAY, JULY 20, 2015

yron Holland thinks it’s fitting that the Canadian Internet Registration Authority was the first tenant to officially open its new office at the rejuvenated Lansdowne Park in late May. “As the first tenant, definitely we’re in a space that is still to some degree in the fine-tuning stages of construction,” the agency’s president and CEO told OBJ during a recent tour. “Like a lot of things we do in the Internet, we’re kind of a pioneer in this space.”

CIRA, the organization that manages the country’s .ca domain name registry, had outgrown its old Sparks Street headquarters and had been thinking about making a move for about a year.

Most of the space it was looking at was north of the Queensway, Mr. Holland said, and he was a little surprised to discover Lansdowne offered the agency the best value for its needs – not to mention almost 20,000 square feet of real estate.

“It’s a great building, a LEED Gold building, so when you think about a building like that and you’re looking at it in terms of lease rates and comparing it to the market, we just actually found this building very competitively priced – in fact, the best-priced overall when you take into account all the elements that comprise the financial component of a lease,” he said.

Once an agreement was reached, Mr. Holland turned to design firm B+H Architects and builders inter/ex to get the work done, calling inter/ex’s Lorne

CONNECTING TECH IN OTTAWA

THE DIGITAL DESTINATION FOR ALL THINGS TECH IN OTTAWA-GATINEAU TECHOPIA is a new media project that aggregates, shares and creates noteworthy content about the technology and startup community. Like its icon, the microprocessor chip, TECHOPIA aims to be the CPU for all things tech in Ottawa-Gatineau. It’s about amplifying the voices of local tech executives and entrepreneurs to create a more connected and informed community.

HOW TO CONNECT WITH TECHOPIA techopia.ca @techopiaOTT facebook.com/techopiaOTT editor@techopia.ca

NEW NAME A GAME-CHANGER

Rebranding just part of big happenings at local gaming firm Gigataur

BY TOM PECHLOFF

OBJ.CA

MONDAY, JULY 20, 2015

When you work with someone like Disney and (Lucasfilm) … they don’t just work with small studios. You have to be able to fire with their level. We’ve been able to do that as part of our scaling. A lot of that came through extremely long hours of the team here getting familiarity with their processes, honing our skill set ...We are now operating at that 16 level, fully functional there, capable of producing at that level for literally anyone. – GIGATAUR CEO ANDREW FISHER

I

t’s been a year of great change for the Ottawa gaming company formerly known as Glitchsoft.

The firm has a new name, Gigataur, and a new game, Star Wars Rebels: Recon Missions, which Disney launched in the spring.

Gigataur’s CEO, Andrew Fisher, says it was a testament to his team that the company has advanced to the point it can partner with “the biggest entertainment brand” in the world.

“As the CEO, I’d love to say I had a huge part in this.” he says.

“I rubbed some shoulders, I

bought some lunches. It really was the team that made this happen.

“When you work with someone like Disney and (Lucasfilm) … they don’t just work with small studios. You have to be able to fire with their level.

We’ve been able to do that as part of our scaling. A lot of that came through extremely long hours of the team here getting familiarity with their processes, honing our skill set ...We are now operating at that level, fully functional there, capable of producing at that level for literally anyone.”

Now that the company and its 30 staff have grown to this level,

Mr. Fisher and chief creative officer Wes Tam both say a name change was necessary to reflect that.

Mr. Fisher says Glitchsoft was a great independent studio name, but the word “glitch” often has a negative connotation.

“That wasn’t how we were portraying it,” he explains.

“Glitches in games are actually quite fun things and people go out of their way to find them.”

Mr. Tam says the company decided on the name Glitchsoft in 2009 because it was edgy and contrary to the mainstream.

“But now we’re working with a lot of triple-A brand partners, including Lucasfilm and Marvel, and again just getting to the table with these clients requires a name that resonates with these companies a little bit more,” he says.

Even though the Glitchsoft name is gone, the edge can remain as the company continues pushing boundaries, he adds.

Gigataur was a name that resonated with all the founders, Mr. Fisher says.

“It had the roots of the meanings of the words that we liked, in terms of they were both creative and powerful,” he says, adding the domain name gigataur.com was also available.

Work on the Star Wars project began nearly two years ago, and the company has tripled in size since then.

Mr. Fisher says expansion is “continual,” noting Gigataur is looking at adding other satellite offices like the one it already has in China, so it can access other critical markets in the mobile world.

The Star Wars project is not a one-shot deal. Mr. Tam says he expects Gigataur will update content in the game over the next year or two.

The Disney partnership will also open doors to more new opportunities to go along with other projects already underway, Mr. Tam and Mr. Fisher say.

“Those are things that we’re tempering; we have to manage our capacity and (potential) burnout because there have been a lot of hard hours to get us to this date,” says Mr. Fisher, “but we do, we have a whole bunch of (other opportunities) and we’re starting to figure out which ones we want to prioritize as a team, and we will continue to execute on those.

“We really have to choose the right one for us. It’s a little hard when you just come off working on your dream project … to choose what’s the next ‘passion’ one we want to go after. We are chasing some of those. At the same time, there’s ones that we think might be more strategic.”

VANCOUVER | CALGARY | EDMONTON | WINNIPEG | TORONTO | OTTAWA | MONTREAL

No matter which direction you’re thinking of taking your business, the right guidance and transaction advice will help you choose the best route.

Contact Doug McLarty, FCPA, FCA, CFP, TEP, ICD.D at 613.691.4222 or doug.mclarty@mnp.ca

Transaction advice that gets you there.

MONDAY, JULY 20, 2015

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17 OBJ.CA

FOR THE RECORD People on the move

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Dun & Bradstreet has appointed Phil Dana to the position of director of business development. Mr. Dana has more than 30 years’ experience in analytics and business intelligence solutions, having led and managed global sales and delivery practices at CGI, IBM and Cognos.

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BluMetric Environmental has appointed David Haig as president and chief operating officer. As the COO, a new position for BluMetric, Mr. Haig will provide oversight of the business development and operations functions of the company.

John O’Toole has joined Soloway Wright LLP as partner. Mr. O’Toole specializes in commercial litigation with expertise in banking litigation, bankruptcy and insolvency and mortgage disputes, among others.

and

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OFFICIAL SUPPLIERS Aerographics Creative Services Auto Trim Design & Signs RBC Avion Best Buy Black Sheep Inn Canadian Ski Patrol

Germotte Photo & Framing Studio Liverpool Court Mediaplus Mike’s Monster Energy Ottawa Festivals Pepsi

CTV D.E. Systems Digby’s Empire Eska Fox Translations Gabriel Pizza

InventionShare announced the hiring of Kensel J. Tracy as its new vicepresident – invention catalyst. Mr. Tracy is a marketing coach with more than 30 years’ experience in advertising, sales, marketing and partnership marketing and was recently a senior consultant with the Centre of Excellence for Public Sector Marketing.

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Rideau Centre Rothsay Steve’s Music Store Storm Internet Thyme & Again Tito’s Handmade Vodka Western Union

2O15

Take Your Business To The Next Level LEARN | CONNECT | BE INSPIRED

Ottawa’s #1 Conference for Innovation & Leadership

Wednesday, September 30, 2015 / 8:30 am to 4:00 pm Ottawa Conference & Event Centre

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MONDAY, JULY 20, 2015

OFFICIAL HOTELS

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Arc The Hotel Brookstreet Hotel

Courtyard Marriott Ottawa East Delta Ottawa City Centre

Hilton Lac-Leamy Lord Elgin

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SUPPORTERS City of Ottawa Canadian War Museum Canadian Heritage

Employment Ontario National Capital Commission Ontario Arts Council

Ontario Media RBC Foundation Development Corporation Universal Music Canada Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture & Sport

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Key takeaway: How to build a high performance team

SAVE $100 with the Early-Bird Rate until Sept 16

Register online at ottawachamber.ca

Learn more about our full speaker lineup online!

Who are Ottawa’s startups to watch?

Visit OBJ.CA and click on Special Reports.

H O T E L • E X T E N D E D S T AY sohomet.com

Contracts The following contains information about recent contracts, standing offers and supply arrangements awarded to local firms.

IBM Canada Ltd. 340 Albert St. Description: TBIPS IT services Buyer: Agriculture and AgriFood Canada $9,208,708 R.E. Gilmore Investments Corp.

120 Herzberg Rd. Description: Logistics services Buyer: Employment and Social Development Canada $8,190,000 Ross and Anglin Ltd. 2920 Sheffield Rd. Description: Kennisis Lake dam replacement Buyer: PWGSC $3,684,050

Golder Associates Ltd. 1931 Robertson Rd. Description: DEW line sites monitoring program, Baffin region, Nunavut Buyer: DND $2,615,149 MHPM Project Managers Inc., Tiree Facility Solutions Inc., in joint venture 2720 Iris St. Description: Project management services Buyer: PWGSC $1,050,000 H2O Sauvetage et Gestion Récréative Inc. 279 Dalhousie St. Description: First aid services on the Rideau Canal Skateway Buyer: National Capital Commission $863,587

Versaterm Inc. 2300 Carling Ave. Description: ADP software Buyer: DND $769,236 ESRI Canada Ltd. 1600 Carling Ave. Description: ADP software Buyer: Natural Resources Canada $578,867 Advanced Chippewa Technologies Inc. 802 Nesbitt Pl. Description: ADP software Buyer: Library and Archives Canada $553,586 Donald Servant Electric Ltd. 219 Bruyere Description: Motor control centre replacement Buyer: PWGSC $463,700

Polity Corp.

3403 Torbolton Ridge Rd. Description: Technology Architect – level 3 Buyer: DND $386,460 Laurin & Col 43 Auriga Dr. Description: EIFS walls and roof remediation Buyer: PWGSC $378,500 Advanced Chippewa Technologies Inc. 802 Nesbitt Pl. Description: ADP software Buyer: Canada Border Services Agency $357,858 The Masha Krupp Translation Group Ltd. 1547 Merivale Rd. Description: Translation services in Ontario Buyer: PWGSC $300,000

Vitality Landscaping Inc. 100 Ventry Lane Description: Rehabilitation of Luskville Falls trail Buyer: National Capital Commission $292,369 Eclipsis Solutions Inc. 411 Legget Dr. Description: ADP software Buyer: Statistics Canada $273,159 Les Traductions Tessier S.C.C. 188 Montcalm Description: Translation services Buyer: PWGSC $218,452 TRM Technologies Inc. 280 Albert St. Description: ADP software Buyer: Parks Canada $210,971

300 lisgar street

613 558 8747

Senstar Corp.

119 John Cavanaugh Rd. Description: Alarm, signal and security detection systems, miscellaneous Buyer: Correctional Service of Canada $164,194 Evripos Janitorial Services Ltd. 412 MacLaren St. Description: Janitorial services – Walkley Rd. Buyer: PWGSC $140,167 Intergraph Canada Ltd. 1600 Carling Ave. Description: ADP software Buyer: DND $132,994

Business Golf Tournament Tuesday, August 26, 2014 Tuesday, September 1, 2015 8:30 am – 5:00 pm 9:00Clublink’s a.m. - shotgun start Greyhawk Golf and Country Club GreyHawk Golf Club 4999 Boundary Road, Ontario 4999Cumberland, Boundary Road, Cumberland, ON Don’t miss out!

double-shotgun tournament For a•• limited time: continental breakfast

• lunch Save $100 per foursome when registering with promo code: •

fun contests

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plated dinner

• great prizes GOLFOBJREADER • networking reception

Don’t miss this fun-filled day on the green!

Cost Individual Players tournament • Double-shotgun Early Bird: $179 + HST (ends June 30, 2014) Ottawa Chamber Member: $199 + HST • Fun contests Non-Member: $249 + HST & great prizes!

Foursome • Networking cocktail reception Early Bird: $716 + HST (ends June 30, 2014) Ottawa Chamber Member: $796 + HST Non-Member: $996 + HST

MONDAY, JULY 20, 2015

Registration NOW OPEN at ottawachamber.ca Registration now open at ottawachamber.ca

Registration Fees: Individual Players

Ottawa Chamber Member: $200 + HST Non-Member: $250 + HST

Foursome

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Ottawa Chamber Member: $800 + HST Non-Member: $1,000 + HST

MONDAY, JULY 20, 2015

Project1:Layout 1 16/03/2015 12:09 PM Page 1

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Ottawa Office: 2275 Stevenage Dr., Bay 2, Ottawa, ON K1G 3W1 Phone: 613-248-8887 | Fax: 613-248-8881

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