Last Year's Panel
Ranging from various disciplines and backgrounds, We assembled this team of industry experts and renowned entrepreneurs to assist our candidates throughout the competition and provide timely evaluations and advice.Katherine’s career took off in San Francisco Bay Area tech start-ups in sales operations management roles, where she oversaw the manufacturing, distribution and customer support for software and hardware products.
She was recruited by Microsoft in 1997 to run their largest manufacturing, distribution and customer support vendor for North America. In this role she oversaw legal, financial and operational performance of the vendor services agreement.
Over the last 12 years Katherine has worked at WildPlay, headquartered in Victoria, BC where she’s played senior management roles in business development, legal governance and the project management and launch of seven new adventure parks.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Dominican University in California.
Watch Katherine's latest Vlogs
Having a Playbook for Your Business
The Importance of Resilience
Born and raised on a farm family west of Red Deer, Kurt earned a Bachelor of Commerce, Major in Finance from the University of Calgary. After working for two chartered banks, he returned to Red Deer to raise his children, return to farming and to scratch his entrepreneurial itch.
For 12 years he has owned and operated a high volume car wash in Red Deer, whilst pursuing land development projects and commercial construction. On top of that, he continues to farm and develop his own land. If these activities already didn’t keep him busy enough, he and his wife, Kyla also operate a sign and print business.
Kurt has sat on numerous boards in a volunteer capacity and has always been involved in the community, particularly local 4-H clubs. His latest venture is The Track on 2 racing and event centre in Central Alberta.
Watch Kurt's latest Vlogs
What Successful Entrepreneurs do Differently
Ryan Addams is a world traveler, an entrepreneur, and a renegade. After leaving home at the age of seventeen, he started a successful construction company to pay for his University tuition and his first apartment. He left school, started a product development company, failed, hit (one of many) rock bottoms and was forced to have to get a 9-5 job to make ends-meet.
He started work at an ad agency, and then a month later was laid off (along with close to 400 other employees). One week later he took his last $500 dollars and, turned it into his own multimillion-dollar Ad Agency. He now co-owns an influencer agency www.blitzmarketing.co with his wife Katrina Xavier and is the founder of Renegade Alpha®.
Ryan has spent two decades building his own successful businesses. He’s personally worked with over a thousand business owners and entrepreneurs to help grow their companies and has been directly responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
Watch Ryan's latest Vlogs
Leveraging Time to Make Money
Finding a Way Forward Through COVID-19
Katherine Walker
Katherine’s career took off in San Francisco Bay Area tech start-ups in sales operations management roles, where she oversaw the manufacturing, distribution and customer support for software and hardware products.
She was recruited by Microsoft in 1997 to run their largest manufacturing, distribution and customer support vendor for North America. In this role she oversaw legal, financial and operational performance of the vendor services agreement.
Over the last 12 years Katherine has worked at WildPlay, headquartered in Victoria, BC where she’s played senior management roles in business development, legal governance and the project management and launch of seven new adventure parks.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Dominican University in California.
This year, he has amped up the experience by reshaping it as The Business Ownership Experience, a competition designed to challenge students in a way they never have been before. Along the way, it will provide the students with an online platform to showcase their talents to the world for their future careers.
Kurt Belich
Born and raised on a farm family west of Red Deer, Kurt earned a Bachelor of Commerce, Major in Finance from the University of Calgary. After working for two chartered banks, he returned to Red Deer to raise his children, return to farming and to scratch his entrepreneurial itch.
For 12 years he has owned and operated a high volume car wash in Red Deer, whilst pursuing land development projects and commercial construction. On top of that, he continues to farm and develop his own land. If these activities already didn’t keep him busy enough, he and his wife, Kyla also operate a sign and print business.
Kurt has sat on numerous boards in a volunteer capacity and has always been involved in the community, particularly local 4-H clubs. His latest venture is The Track on 2 racing and event centre in Central Alberta.
Ryan Addams
Ryan Addams is a world traveler, an entrepreneur, and a renegade. After leaving home at the age of seventeen, he started a successful construction company to pay for his University tuition and his first apartment. He left school, started a product development company, failed, hit (one of many) rock bottoms and was forced to have to get a 9-5 job to make ends-meet.
He started work at an ad agency, and then a month later was laid off (along with close to 400 other employees). One week later he took his last $500 dollars and, turned it into his own multimillion-dollar Ad Agency. He now co-owns an influencer agency www.blitzmarketing.co with his wife Katrina Xavier and is the founder of Renegade Alpha®.
Ryan has spent two decades building his own successful businesses. He’s personally worked with over a thousand business owners and entrepreneurs to help grow their companies and has been directly responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.