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At Best Startup Canada we track over 100,000 Canadian startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top British Columbia based CEO’ operating in the Agriculture space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.ca.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Kory Zelickson
Co-Founder, CEO of Vejii Holdings
With over 15 years of experience in innovation and online marketing, Kory Zelickson has developed multiple e-commerce and technology startup companies from the ground up. An engineer by trade, Kory is focused on developing retail distribution within the plant-based and sustainable product categories. Through his passion for the environment, in 2020 he founded and became CEO of Vejii, the world’s largest marketplace for plant-based and sustainable living products. With more consumers turning to e-commerce and looking to incorporate healthier, more sustainable practices into their lifestyle, Vejii’s unique platform offers high-growth opportunities given the market trends. Vejii’s mission is to make plant-based products more accessible to everyone, from consumers who want more selection compared to their local grocery store to flexitarians or conscious consumers who are looking to shop more sustainably. By simplifying the shopping experience and helping plant-based and sustainable-living brands reach wider audiences through its marketplace model, Vejii aims to become an industry consolidator in the sustainability field. Vejii is also committed to building a strong foundation of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace in order to improve organizational culture and to positively advance its mission forward. Additionally, Kory’s past experience includes co-founding Namaste Technologies in 2014, where he also served as COO and VP of Business Development and Investor Relations. Namaste Technologies eventually became a publicly-traded company, and in 2018 the company reached a market valuation of +$1 billion, realizing over 20x returns for its initial series of investors.
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About Karma Extracts, Namaste Technologies, Vejii Holdings: Vejii Holdings owns and operates ShopVejii.com, a digital marketplace for plant-based and sustainable living products and brands.
Michael Riedijk
President & CEO of Lucent BioSciences
Michael Riedijk is the President and CEO of Lucent BioSciences.
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About Lucent BioSciences, Pagefreezer: Lucent BioSciences is a Vancouver-based AgTech start-up driven by accelerating the transition of agriculture to sustainability.
James Mann
CEO & Founder of Farmers of North America
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About Farmers of North America: FNA is a Canada-based business alliance of farmers dedicated to maximizing farm profitability.
Jack Grushcow
Founder & CEO of Smart Earth Seeds
Jack Grushcow is the Founder, President and CEO of Smart Earth Seeds and its parent, Linnaeus Plant Sciences. Prior to founding Smart Earth and Linnaeus, Mr. Grushcow was the Founder and CEO of Consumers Software Inc., one of Canada’s largest software companies. The company was acquired by Microsoft in 1991, in what was then the largest transaction of its kind. The technology developed by Consumers Software provides the underpinnings of the Microsoft Mail family of products including MS Outlook. Mr. Grushcow served on the Science Council of British Columbia from 1991-1993. He was selected as one of British Columbia’s top business people under the age of 40 by B.C. Business Magazine and has been awarded Canada’s top export development award. He has authored three books on the subject of applying computer systems to business applications with Prentice-Hall and two books in the area of analyzing commodity futures with John Wiley & Sons.
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About Smart Earth Seeds: Smart Earth Seeds is dedicated to developing Camelina, a short-season crop.
Karn Manhas
Founder, CEO of Terramera
Founder & CEO of Terramera, Karn is an entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in leadership roles in government, project management, community and business development. Karn is responsible for the vision and strategic direction of Terramera, and raised over $30M to build, scale and execute on that plan. He is a frequent speaker on issues of sustainability, making clean food affordable, feeding the world and building innovative organizations, including at TEDx and Singularity University in Vancouver. Karn has lead several companies and has a diverse set of experiences including being elected the youngest Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the Province of British Columbia. He is a member of YPO, and in 2012 was named one of Business in Vancouver’s top Forty Under 40 businesspeople. Karn holds a Juris Doctor in Law from the University of British Columbia and a B.Sc. in Biology (Genetics) and Biotechnology from McGill University.
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About Terramera: Terramera provides intelligence developing safer, more effective plant-based replacements to synthetic chemical pesticides and fertilizers.
Krystine McInnes
Chief Executive Officer of Athena Organic Farm + Eco-Retreat
With over 10 years’ in sustainable real estate development, finance & high-level project management, law, strategic planning & financial feasibility, Krystine is a highly strategic thinker, visionary & passionate revolutionary. Conscious of the triple bottom line (planet, people, profit), she is fiercely committed to creating efficient, profitable business models that are holistic, sustainable, nurture the planet, & create abundance for all. She was one of the youngest ever members of T.E.C., a high-level CEO program & has chaired the board for the Economic Development Committee & Chamber of Commerce. She has been the CEO of BNS Lakeshore Developments from 2004 – 2013 when she left that role to start her own firm, dedicated to creating sustainable projects. Her first role was at the age of 23 when she successfully co-founded, designed, equity-raised, financed & built a $5 million development & has since been running budgets from $1.2 million to $25 million.
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About Athena Organic Farm + Eco-Retreat: With California experiencing record droughts, anticipated to continue for possibly decades, and over 70% of BC produce being imported.
Robert Miller
President and CEO of PRT
Robert Miller is President and CEO at PRT.
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About PRT: PRT is North America’s largest producer of container-grown forest seedlings.
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