MAGAZINE FOR BUSINESS & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Vol. 34 No. 2 November/December 2016 - $6.95

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AESTHETICS PIONEEREXPANDING...AGAIN

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INSIDE• Affordable, accessible housing

• Building a digital city• “Green and intelligent” cars•WhereWaterloo is failing

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Perhaps yousaw the recentannounce -

ment - Rogers iskilling many of itsprint publications,attempting to movethem – and theirreaders – entirely toa digital format. Asof January, publica-tions such as Cana-

dian Business and MoneySense will nolonger be in print; and major publica-tions including Maclean’s (movingfrom weekly to monthly), and Chate-laine will print fewer editions eachyear. As we went to print the Globeand Mail announced it will decreaseprinting of their Saturday paper.

“No sweat,” I hear you say. “I’ll readthem on line.” Yes, you may. But here’swho won’t read them on line – all the“accidental” readers who encounter thepublication in waiting rooms, or on busi-ness office circulation lists, or in hotels,or in friend’s homes. And anyone whoreceives the magazine in print, sets itaside for a few days, and picks it up later.All of these readers will be lost.

That’s why Exchange magazine, eventhough we have a strong web presence,remains first of all a print publication. Wethink all those audiences are importantto our advertisers.

Very few companies have found aneffective way to monetize on-line publi-cations. So revenue drops, and resourcesare cut.

When advertisers support Exchange,you guarantee we can do our best job atbringing news about our business com-munity to all our readers – includingthose thousands who stumble upon ussimply because of our print editions.

If you don’t support the magazine byadvertising, of course, not only wouldExchange be lost – but so would youreffective contact with your stakeholdersand your community. Just ask anyonewho has been doing their marketingthrough a online publication. Thank youfor your ongoing patronship.

WHY PRINT ISIMPORTANT ...

FROM THE EDITOR

DEPARTMENTSFrom the Editor ......................... 5BY PAUL KNOWLESWhy print is important... to you

Business Monitor ...................... 6Building a digital city; Auto tech sector creatingevolving opportunities; Aesthetics pioneer ex-panding, again; How to succeed in a male-dominated business environment; Developing“green and intelligent” automobiles; Wozniak:all about people, not machines; Sunshine Chenon where Waterloo has failed; Building a na-tional program at Lazaridis Institute; Hoopsbusiness – fun business.

Corporate Profile ....................... 12WaterlooEDC: Inventing the future

Watercooler .............................. 23

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EXCHANGE magazine is a regional business publication published by ExchangeBusiness Communication Inc., CEO Jon Rohr. Seven issues per year are dis-tributed to each company in Kitchener,Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, and areaas determined by Canada Post Business Walk Analyst. Subscriptions areavailable for $85.43. Send cheque or money order to Exchange, PO Box248,Waterloo ON N2J 4A4.Attn: Circulation Department. Back issues areavailable for $12.00 per copy. Phone: (519) 886-0298 x 301. ISSN 0824-45 Copyright, 2016.No part of this magazine may be reproduced without writ-ten permission from the publisher.

COVER STORY

Paradigm shift in livingspaces ................................ 14BY PAUL KNOWLESScott Higgins of HIP Developments sayshigh-end rentals are eclipsing condos.

FEATURE STORY

Making a Difference ........ 30BY PAUL KNOWLES

MennoHomes: affordable, accessible.

CONTENTSSERVING WATERLOO REGION AND THE INNOVATION CORRIDOR | VOLUME 34, NUMBER 2

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

Paradigm Shift in Living Spaces: HIP Developments are serv-ing the emerging rental market.

READ, RECYCLE,Give to a Friend

AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE HOUSINGPAGE 30

$91 MILLION IN FUNDING FOR UW RESEARCH PROGRAMS - PAGE 23

CARLO CHIARELLO COMES TO WLU TO BUILD A NATIONAL “SCALE-UP” PROGRAM FOR EMERGINGCANADIAN COMPANIES - PAGE 10

STEVE WOZNIAK ON COLLABORATIONPAGE 9

BILL FOX AND THE DIGITAL CITY- PAGE 6

by PAUL KNOWLES

PAUL KNOWLES is editor ofExchange Magazine.email: paul.knowles@exchangemagazine.com

xN O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6 | 5

SARAH DAVIS , A SUCCESS IN A MALE-DOMINATEDENVIRONMENT - PAGE 7

remain, not only in the adoption of IoT into the manufacturing process and driv-ing experiences, but also in North America’s reliance on off-shore production, inlow-cost jurisdictions that include Southern USA, and Mexico.Tanguay highlighted the need for northern jurisdictions, Kitchener/Waterloo in-cluded, to focus on automation. In doing so we can compete with the low wages,(typically around $8/hour).The capital cost of operating robots, as opposed to people, is much cheaper at$2/hour, and doesn’t exclude people or employees altogether, as special train-ing needs to occur and skilled individuals will be responsible for a significantlylarger portion of the line work. - Jon Rohr

The Foxnet website states what they are: “aWaterloo-based IT solution provider.”But a conversation with Foxnet President Bill Fox and Martin Parrest, responsi-ble for new business development, quickly reveals that they are thinking way be-yond that particular definition. Their goal is for Foxnet to be the company thatinterconnects the entire community.Fox and Parrest say that the inspiration for this vision comes from – well, fromeverything that is happening in Waterloo Region, right now. For example, theypoint to the new Catalyst Building, aspiring home to the internet of things; toCommunitech, and the Accelerator Centre, and Bingeman’s, “and all the start-ups,” says Fox.He’s imagining the benefits to this entire business community if there were “ba-sically a private network on something like a superhighway.” There are parts of itin existence, now; Fox wants to make it a reality across the Waterloo businesscommunity.“The idea is to help people reduce their transit cost, and get everybody on a vir-tual private network (VPN) which is faster, more efficient, to be able to sharetheir information easier.”But this goes beyond business. Says Fox, “It lays the foundation for the ‘smartcity’ type of application as well – they would be able to utilize some of the ap-plications for ‘Smart City’, using this backbone.” Municipal representatives havealready shown interest in the possibility.Parrest points out that, while this kind of system has been put in place in othercities, it hasn’t been on the scale Foxnet is envisioning. “Generally, it is driven bya specific need or specific business requirement or city requirement… It does-n’t really open it up to all. For example, it’s limited to only regional or city em-ployes and groups and so on. So they create their own private niche network.”He adds, “The difference, that we’re really looking at, is in order for it to be suc-cessful, you need to open it up to industry, to businesses, to government – toeveryone, so that everyone can play in a homogenous environment, community…truly a digital city.”Parrest admits that, like in every new venture, the key is marketing: “How do youget people to join, and how do you get a good enough business need for peo-ple to want to be part of it? So that’s really the challenge.”He believes the need is here, and the benefits are obvious: “Kitchener/Waterloois a prime area because we are an incubator for start-ups, we’re an incubator forvery unique leading edge kind of design, and new technology that’s coming onthe market today.The challenge is that with anything new, you need to have somesort of data or background in order to crunch it or to be able to turn it into a nat-urally applied or practical product, so you can take it out to market. And that’sreally where the digital city comes into play. It’s a platform. The way we reallylook at the digital city is that we’re not really owned by any one person or by anyone area or any one device, it’s a group mentality where everyone can come inand use it.”6 | w w w . e x c h a n g e m a g a z i n e . c o m

BUSINESS MONITORFoxnet plans to be the entity “that powers it and puts the platform behind it.”Fox adds, “It’s a common platform where you can work together. People couldplug into this backbone and just be able to take advantage of it.There are alreadyenterprises interested in it.And once it starts to take hold, the more participantswe’ll have. And also, we’ll tie into a cloud offer as well, so startups may want touse a local hybrid cloud.”Parrest suggest that people think of this as similar to social media – “a placewhere people can come together, and a platform they can build off of.”Althoughhe doesn’t take the analogy too far: “This is really more of a business type of en-vironment that is more social for business.”

BUSINESS MONITOR

N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6 | 7

Gina’s Spa has been making aesthetics history since Gina DeCicco founded inthe business in 1969; today, it is planning to make some more, as Gina’s plansa significant expansion at its Regina Street location in Waterloo.Gina DeCicco and her husband Ciro brought their four children to Canada fromtheir native Italy. Gina also brought her craft – she was a trained aesthetician.Today, her daughter Jenny DeCicco is Director and Operator of Gina’s Spa, HairStudio & Medi Spa, while Jenny’s sister, Cristina DeCicco-Ramirez, is the Director

Martin Parrest, left, and Bill Fox of Foxnet: ready to build “a digital city”

Aesthetics pioneer expanding... again

How to succeed in a male-dominatedbusiness environment

Building a digital city

Auto tech sector creating evolvingopportunities

Ray Tanguay says we need to focus on automation as a way to compete with low labour costs.

Hacking is something that, if you’re good at it, there’s a secure future in it for you.Specifically, a future in digital security.With digital systems and processes constantly under development, with the as-similation of digital into everyday life and the tools that make us a society, this isnot much of a surprise. However, put within the framework of industry, it’s a futurewith rich development opportunities, one that will blur the lines between physi-cal, digital, biological and, in some cases, the psychological spheres. Suffice it tosay the 4th Industrial revolution is “well afoot”.And for this area, with such a powerful history of making things, this element ofthe future is a near certainty. In this world – and in this region – if you know howto “hack it”, your bumpy ride to discovery may make you “worth it”, to some com-pany.Celebrated on an annual basis, University of Waterloo’s “Hack the North”, tookplace in September. Hack the North is Canada’s biggest hackathon, as 1,000 stu-dents from around the world come together at UW to experiment, connect andcreate.These hackers are popular with company recruiters. Of course, recruiting hack-ers is not new. But what was at one point isolated to government security agen-cies, will now spread to every business office across the globe. As the worldretreats from its globalization, the importance of a secure and uncompromisedexperience will lead us to Utopia, or lead us into the depths of unbridledchaos. Be it via FinTech, IoT or document management, if it’s information and ithas value, or controls something, someone, somewhere is going to attempt tohack it - this is a given.In mid-September, The Waterloo Regional Economic Development Corporationcoordinated the inaugural AutoTech Symposium. Keynote speaker Dr. CharlieMiller, is a former US NSA global network exploitation analyst, the first to hack theiPhone, the first to hack the Android phone, and currently a security engineer atUber ATC. He is one of the most technically proficient hackers on earth.Miller addressed a primarily auto-tech audience. His many examples of how heand his colleagues hacked popular North American vehicles highlighted the sim-ple fact that as we add more features or experiences to a vehicle, there is moreof an opportunity for a hacker to hack into that vehicle.Therefore, the industry repswere told, attention must be paid to averting a successful attempt to hack into avehicle, by making it impossible to do so.Vehicle hacking happens when a individual gains access to your car’s systemsand subsequently controls them. Miller is the best. Miller’s first claim to autohacking fame was when he and fellow hacker Chris Valasek hacked into a vari-ety of vehicles and were able to remotely control the radio, brakes, wipers, trans-mission, and at one point they could even take over the steering. He said thereare four typical “Internet of Things” problems that made it “doable”, including sys-tems originally designed for “internal communication only”; all inputs being in-herently “trusted”; old code; and whether the vehicle had a browser which madeit open up to the internet, which would allow for a array of entry points.It’s estimated that by 2021, 90% of all new cars will include technologies thathave some form of connectivity; today it’s estimated at 10%.With the evolutioninto autonomous, or “self-driving” vehicles, the change is being flagged as one ofthe most “radical” changes in automotive history since the invention of the car it-self.The Symposium also featured a onstage chat with Ray Tanguay, the former Chairof Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, and now the Ontario and Federal specialadviser on automotive matters.Tanguay indicated that the trends that are here will

and Co-Founder of Gina’s College of Advanced Aesthetics, founded by Ciro andCristina in the 1978, to help meet the demand for trained aestheticians in On-tario. Ciro has since passed away.Jenny explains that when her mother got her first job in KW,“It was an emergingindustry in North America. she brought her trade from Italy.“She started working in a hair salon, just doing nails. She wanted to expand tooffer facials and waxing but the owners of the salon weren’t interested in invest-ing the time, resources and space. So she decided to branch out. She was thefirst one in the KW area, if not Ontario.”Gina DeCicco had clearly found a waiting market. Says Jenny, “She expanded.As other businesses vacated, she grew into them.She started in a very small, one-room salon. She had line-ups out the door.”Expansion came in several stages; today, the business is looking at a significantrenovation, adding a lot of space.At one time, the College occupied space above Gina’s; then as it expanded (itproduces about 50 graduates a year, says Cristina), it moved to its own location.In the beginning Ciro successfully applied to the Ministry of Education for ac-creditation. Says Cristina, “We were the first private vocational school teachingaesthetics in Ontario. Now, there are hundreds – too many, I think.”The sisters laugh at the reality that through the College, they are creating theirown competitors. But they are confident they can hold there own; Jenny says,“Wefeel confident that Gina’s Spa is a well-known brand and that people will stillcome here because of that brand.”Jenny and Cristina agree that they are involved in a rapidly-changing field. Thataccounts for their expansion plans, and for the College’s commitment to alwaysbeing state of the art.Cristina reflects on the necessary balance: “In order to survive in this business,you have to offer the latest and the newest. But you also have to recognize thenonsense and the gimmicks.”The Spa, which initially offered manicure, pedicure and facial treatments, nowprovides clients with aesthetics, body treatments, registered massage therapy,hair design and colouring and medical spa treatments.The expanded Spa – which will accommodate a staff of 50 – will add more hairstyling chairs; a lounge for customers; and other amenities, as well as needed be-hind-the-scenes space. Jenny says that with a growing market among men, theywould also like to have some space specifically designed to serve male cus-tomers.After almost five decades in Kitchener-Waterloo, the family still has an Italianconnection. In fact, the sisters say, they continue to import their skin care line ofproducts from Italy. All in the best interests of their loyal Canadian clients.

Obstacle or opportunity? Sarah Davis argues that, in her case, being a womanin business has meant a bit of both. Speaking at the annual Inspiring Womenevent sponsored by the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce andthe Waterloo Region Small Business Centre, Davis told her audience, “Being awoman in finance, in a male-dominated industry, has given me a little bit of per-spective. People always ask me, ‘do I see being a woman with children as a bigdisadvantage?’ I have to say, sometimes it was a disadvantage, but often it wasan advantage. In my case, when I actually went off on maternity leave, which wasthen six months at a time, I got the chance to have a career discussion. My malecounterparts never got to have that discussion, and it turned out for me that,whenever I came back, I actually came back to a new exciting job, some kind ofa promotion, just because people had taken the time to think about what I shoulddo next.“The point is not to have a lot of kids in the hope that you’ll get promoted, butmore that it’s good to have that conversation. You don’t have to have a baby tohave a conversation about your career. Make sure you take your own ownership…have a candid conversation about what you want to do.”Davis is Chief Administrative Officer of Loblaw Companies Limited; she was ap-pointed to that post in July, 2014, after serving as CFO for the company since2010. She came to Loblaw in 2007 after holding senior finance positions at both

Jenny DeCicco, left, and Cristina DeCicco-Ramirez, of Gina’s Spa and Gina’s College.

N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6 | 98 | w w w . e x c h a n g e m a g a z i n e . c o m

Bell Canada and Rogers Communications.At Loblaw, she is responsible for Strategy, Supply Chain, IT, Human Resources,Real Estate, Business Processes and the Procurement of Goods Not For Resale– and for almost 200,000 employees.In support of the company’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, Sarah chairs theWomen@Loblaw network, a career development and networking program for thecompany’s female leaders. She is also active in the President’s Choice Children’sCharity.Davis makes the point that Women@Loblaw is just one of several internal pro-grams that promote diversity and inclusivity in the company – and that it is in-creasingly common for male employees to join in theWomen@Loblaw events andprograms.Davis is married, with three daughters, and she talked to her audience at Inspir-ing Women about her commitment to her family, including an effort, to this day,to share evening meals together. She was candid about the shifting emphasis ofher roles: “I would define myself first as a mother and a wife and second as anexecutive … but it depends on who I am talking to about that.”Davis gave a shout-out to the region, saying,“We’re proud to have our largest dis-tribution centre right here, in Cambridge – a big employer in the area.”She told her audience that her insistence on balancing her life led to somehappy outcomes. Since life balance was her priority, she said, she realized thatshe had to “be able to delegate well. Some other managers delegate what theydidn’t want to do. I had to delegate [things she actually enjoyed] because I hadthe commitment. People actually enjoyed working for me because I gave themgood stuff to work on.”So there was a positive result in her career because of “what I was doing justout of survival.”She knows she was fortunate. She pointed to a colleague she worked with 20years ago, at one of the telecoms.The woman was ten years older than Davis, and“She had to make some decisions… are you going to have children or are yougoing to become a vice president? I am so lucky that I didn’t have to make thatchoice.”But she had some tougher words for her audience, as well: “Being successful,you can’t just be nice and focus on the culture and all of that. You do have to bebold. You have to be fearless sometimes. You have to work hard.”

Loblaw CAO Sarah Davis told her Inspiring Women audience: “You have to be bold. You have to befearless. You have to work hard.”

At the GAIA launch, from left: John McPhee, Jamie C;ark, MP Diaene Vernile, Nasser Azad, PierreNormand, Pearl Sullivan, and Brian May,

Developing “green and intelligent”automobiles

Exit Interview:

Wozniak: all about people, not machines

The latest thing in automotive research and development has been launched aspart of the University of Waterloo’s Watcar program. GAIA (the “Green and Intelli-gent Automotive” Research Facility) officially opened this fall as part of the Wa-terloo Centre for Automotive Research.GAIA is a $10 million partnership between UW, industry (led by Toyota), and thefederal and provincial governments. It is home to professors from a number of dis-ciplines, collaborating on innovative research, and it includes three labs covering4,000 square feet in the UW Engineering 3 building. It’s the largest university-based automotive research centre in Canada.But at its heart, the goal is simple: “It’s all about making cars safer and greener,”according to John McPhee, systems design engineer who co-leads the facility,along with Nasser Azad.UW Dean of Engineering Pearl Sullivan told Exchange, “We have professors inelectrical engineering designing electric cars; professors in systems design doingintegration of entire systems.We finally have them all in the room, so we can say,‘What do we need to take Canada to world class?“We all want the same goal – to develop a facility that car companies in thiscountry can have access to, so we can be competitive in designing and develop-ing cars.”At the launch, McPhee said, “In GAIA we will develop the next generation of hy-brid and electric vehicles, powered by new batteries and fuel-efficient engines,connected to the Internet and each other to create a smarter and safer ride withlittle or no emissions.”GAIA’s primary industry sponsor is Toyota, through an initial grant of $1 million,but the centre is available to anyone in the industry. Sullivan told Exchange, “Thebeautiful part of this collaboration is, Toyota has supported this, but the othercompanies – GM Canada, Ford, Honda – they all can come in to work – it’s a fa-cility for all companies.”Jamie Clark is General Manager at Toyota’s Corolla plant in Cambridge. He toldExchange that the collaboration among the automotive companies is a positive.“I think it’s a good thing. If we’re really going to innovate, we all need to work to-gether.”Collaboration is at the heart of the GAIA facility – it is designed so that its threecells – batteries, powertrains and a rolling dynamometer that simulates driving inthe real world – are fully integrated, enabling testing of the smallest componentsto whole vehicles under one roof.

Work at GAIA is led by eight professors from four engineering departments. Its$5 million worth of equipment will allow about 150 faculty members and grad-uate students in all to identify problems and make modifications prior to tryingtheir innovations out on test tracks, improving safety and saving both time andmoney.Among other areas, research will focus on longer-lasting batteries to extend therange of electric vehicles, how to feed excess energy from vehicles back into thepublic power grid, and adaptive cruise controllers to maintain safe distances be-tween vehicles while also reducing fuel consumption.

It may have come as a bit of a surprise to the audience at the Fuzenation event,held in Kitchener in late September, but tech superstar SteveWozniak turned outto be all about people, and much less about machines.Wozniak was a star among stars at the event, whose guest speakers also in-cluded Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, and techindustry leaders Steven Woods of Google, Michael Litt, of Vidyard, John Stix, ofKidswifi, Calvin Chu, of Palette, Derek Jouppi, of Suncayr, Sarah Landstreet, ofGeorgette Packing, and Alexa Roeper, of Penta Medical.But the focus was on TheWoz, legendary co-founder of Apple, along with SteveJobs and Mike Markkula.Wozniak regaled his audience with stories of the founding of Apple – and spentconsiderable time debunking some mythologies that have been incorporatedinto recent movies about the Apple founders, calling the movies “phoney”, andpointing out that much that is credited to Jobs was actually initiated or accom-plished by Wozniak.It was Wozniak who was building the revolutionary computers, and developingthe computer language; it was Jobs who sawWozniak’s work and proposed form-ing a company, says Wozniak.In an exclusive conversation with Exchange Magazine, Wozniak explained howthe process of creating the world-changing Apple innovations at times is a veryindividual effort, and at other times, requires extensive collaboration.When it came to building the first Apple computers, he says, “The Apple 2 wassuch an incredible design it already existed and everything – there was almostno collaboration at all.” It was his work, and he’s proud of it.But when it came to taking it to the world, that was a different story. Wozniaksays, “However, starting the company – you need people that are going to do op-erations, you need people who are going to do manufacturing, you need account-ing, you need a President to oversee all the different groups, marketing is soimportant… you need to hire new engineers. You need assistance throughout,and collaboration is just totally it.”He believes that, although Apple was clearly at the top of the class, bringing inthe right skill sets at the right time was important to their success.“We were suc-cessful where a lot of companies, who might have been successful too – if notlike us – with young people starting them, just went under without the professionalhelp.”Wozniak is often asked for predictions about the future of technology, and he’salways happy to provide some prognostication. But his bottom line is people,not tech; he talks about Apple “helping mankind in so many ways,” and in his timeon stage at Fuzenation, he credited the people around him at Apple – people towhom he gave millions of dollars in stock, in appreciation of their work – and hetalked about his commitment to teaching kids. That, he said, makes him happy

– and he told his audience that success should be measured in happiness, notin accomplishments.

Sunshine Chen is an architect and a designer, past contributor to ExchangeMagazine, more recently also a freelance photographer, video producer and sto-ryteller. Most who have encountered him professionally would describe him as avisionary.But most importantly to Waterloo region – he’s gone.Chen has moved to Alberta, and he’s not leaving a happy man. Exchange con-ducted what might be called an “exit interview”with Chen, and his disappointmentand disillusionment with Waterloo was very evident.Chen is fascinated by the potential for developing public, human spaces in cities;this was a frequent topic of his recurring column in Exchange, and it’s what kepthim here in the first place:

“I was doing my thesis at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. Mythesis topic was the redevelopment of the Seagram Lands, in uptownWaterloo –what to do with them. In 1992 Seagram closed the museum and in 1997 theystarted to have these conversations about reusing the Seagram Museum.“The Seagram Museum was suppose to be there. But the Seagram heirs haddifferent ideas about where to take the company.They were proposing a cineplex… the city stepped in.”

BUSINESS MONITOR

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, interviewed by Liza Fromer at Fuzenation.

BUSINESS MONITOR

Sunshine Chen warns of “tech sucking all the air out of the room.”

BUSINESS MONITOR

10 | w w w . e x c h a n g e m a g a z i n e . c o m

The Lazaridis Institute exists to serve Canadian technology companies throughits Canadian Scale-Up Program. Chiarello temporarily lost his voice through anintensive series of meetings with companies that are being considered for theinaugural cohort of the scale-up program.This program is a mentoring and peer network program, aimed at addressingthe experience gap that small Canadian companies can face as they seek tomature into global enterprises.Although the Institute is based at Laurier, Chiarello sees it as a national organ-ization. Companies accepted into the first cohort will be invited to sessions atLaurier, but the CEO believes that will only constitute about 20% of the program.“We go to them.We are trying to be flexible. The weekends we have planned,they’re around Canada, they’re not here.As much as we’re based here, it’s a na-tional program.”And next spring, all 10 members of the cohort will go to California’s Silicon Val-ley, to meet with venture capitalists and other experts from across Canada andthe United States.Chiarello says that his involvement with the Lazaridis Institute involved somespeeding up of his own, personal time line. “I’ve always actually wanted to dosomething like this, and I have always pictured in my head to do it a little bitlater on, but it just kind of happened and I thought, ‘Why not? Let’s do it now’.And it’s been tremendous.”He says he reflected on “the problems that you see in Canada today. I’d liketo help, and give back.”Those “problems” including a tightening of financial purse-strings, the need formore mentors for mid-size businesses, and the lack of a program for thesecompanies – until now.He acknowledges that the country – and Waterloo Region in particular – hasbeen strong in terms of producing start-ups, and in supporting them throughaccelerator programs.It’s what happens to those companies after they pass the start-up stage thatis the focus of Chiarello’s program.“We’re focused on scaling and growing com-panies that are in that spot of inflection, that really need the help here inCanada….They’re beyond start-ups. I’m talking about companies that are com-panies, and they’re really having some challenges – whether it be geographicor scale, or new markets or resourcing on the inside. Companies very often startoff with one product, or very narrow product, and they discover they need to ex-pand that product set.” He told Exchange, “I’m only three weeks in, but speak-ing with these companies, what we’re finding is, absolutely, the problem set iswell-defined. They all need the help, in spades, in terms of how they findcoaches, mentors, that have been there, done that. That is a key element. It’snot about sitting down in a classroom session and extolling the virtues of doing

this or that, it’s how do we get these companies the help, firstly through iden-tification, doing a bit of an assessment and a profile of the company, to reallyunderstand what their problem set is, and then making sure that the matchinghappens in terms of finding the right coach or mentor who is going to be withthem for a period of time.”He stresses that companies accepted into the program need to be very seri-ous about their commitment. “This is not just a weekend program.This is goingto be hard work. I hope the companies realize what they’re getting themselvesinto, because we’re going to be driving them to get to that other , and part andparcel of that is doing really hard work on their company – not ‘in’ their com-pany. And it’s tough.”Applicants go through a multi-level selection process, including evaluation byoutside experts, from Canada and the U.S. And Chiarello says that mentors –and venture capitalists – will also be from both countries. Companies acceptedinto the program must be tech-related; the CEO says, “We’re really looking forgreat business models that are based on technology.”He adds that this still leaves a “wide and varied” spectrum of possible partic-ipants.

There may be a business element involved in the start-up of KW’s new Na-tional Basketball League of Canada franchise. There may be some networkingpossibilities. There will be opportunities to help local charities and area stu-dents.But for the businessmen who are the founding owners of the KW Titans, thedriving force behind this venture appears to be, quite simply, “fun”.Founding partner Leon Martin said it this way: “I want to have fun for the restof my life, and this is going to be fun and exciting… to be part of something newand big.”Founding owner Jeff Berg, CEO of InnoSoft Fusion, adds, “I have a young fam-ily, I have three boys, 6, 4 and 2, and I see this as an awesome opportunity forour family to have fun and other families like mine, and that’s been a drivingforce behind my whole involvement with the team. It’s about making a strongcommunity for my kids and other families like mine.”And Titans President Frank Schneider, who works with founding owner BallConstruction, says “We have a fantastic market here. It’s a wonderful place tobe.We think we’ve tapped into something really great here.”

He adds, “I didn’t know that was happening; all I was interested in how todeal with a piece of land that was vital and central to the centre of the city –what do you use it for?”That started Chen on a quest that is probably still ongoing, as he began to ex-plore the role of public spaces in an urban environment. He came to the con-clusion that “great cities” need places for ceremony, for play, for celebration, fordistraction from the day to day.And he concluded thatWaterloo was sadly lack-ing in such spaces; his conviction grew as he travelled, especially in Europe, dis-covering the wonders of public squares and piazzas.He came to believe that “The future of cities is to be more like the ones fromthe past, because those cities have proven that they work. It’s where peoplewill gather, it’s where people will live.Where people enjoy their life, feel a senseof connection to the place.That becomes foremost, the economy happens, theinnovation happens, the business happens, that comes from a pride in place.“There are some places on earth, that seem to attract people to gather. andthe people who gather create opportunities and a sense of purpose, and evengreater meaning in their lives. Because it was different in living wherever elsethey are.”He says the heart of cities can be found in “their streets, squares and halls.”And then he asks, “How come we can’t do it on the public side?”He becomes more critical, suggesting thatWaterloo has no “delightful” placesin the city.Worse, he says, opportunities for creating wonder are ignored – or de-stroyed.“The Grand drew us here… but then we ignore the Grand.Galt is the onlyone that kind of addresses it.”Ironically, the day Chen defended his thesis was the day that the City of Wa-terloo announced it was buying the Seagram property, and then told him it wasnot going to be public space.But it’s worse, he says, because Chen believes the area from the Seagramproperty to the universities still had potential to become the public heart ofWa-terloo… “and with the LRT, they totally blew it up.”As he leaves Waterloo, Chen leaves some words of warning. He cautionsagainst “believing our own press… blowing things up out of proportion. Some-times, it’s just a phone or a piece of technology.”He accuses the tech community of failing to consider social justice issues, by“focusing on the ‘how’ of tech and not really considering the ‘why’ – militariza-tion of technology, drones, robots, internet censorship.”He speaks of “tech sucking all the air out of the room,” and of the illusion thatattracting venture capital is creating profit. And he goes even farther: “The vi-sion of tech is that of primarily entitled white men, which marginalizes the ma-jority of Canadians.”In fact, he believes that the self-proclaimed success of Waterloos tech sectorhas left the community deaf to important issues from the value of arts in thecommunity to energy, indigenous issues, and income disparity. “These are theissues that the rest of the country is dealing with...where are we in those dis-cussions?”In his interview with Exchange, Chen referred to the new high-rise constructionacrossWaterloo as “a skyline of greed... they engender no love, no connection,no desire to be connected or rooted...not symbols for reaching our higher as-pirations, our better angels; they seem more like piles of capital and greed cre-ated to exploit students and their parents’ money.”And he warns,“If we’re not careful about how this city and region grows, they’llbecome edifices of squandered opportunity and an almost wholesale destruc-tion of community and sense of place... as quickly and easily discarded, andeven unwanted, as a smartphone with a keyboard.”

Building a national program atLazaridis Institute

Hoops business - fun business

Only three weeks into his new job, Carlo Chiarello had almost lost his voice fromtalking up the Lazaridis Institute for the Management of Technology Enterprises.Chiarello has be named CEO of the Lazaridis Institute, which is based at WilfridLaurier University’s Lazaridis School of Business and Economics.Chiarello was a long-time executive at Blackberry; most recently, chief productofficer for the Israeli company, Powermat Technologies Ltd.

Carlo Chiarello is building a national scale-upprogram at Laurier’s Lazaridis Institute.

But a conversation with this ownership group quickly reveals that, while it is fun,starting a new professional basketball franchise also involves hard work andchallenges – especially since, while most new franchises take 12 to 18 monthsto get off the ground, the KW team is doing it in less than six months. The new,40-game season for the NBLC starts December 26; at time of writing, the teamhad signed only about half a dozen players.The NBLC is a ten-team pro basketball league, with two divisions – Ontario (of-ficially “Central”) and East. The KW owners say that there are two expansiongoals for the league – to add two teams, next season, and in the longer term, tohave a third division, in western Canada.Several of the founding owners have played basketball in the past. But theirfocus is on the future, and on young people who will be inspired by the Titans.Says Martin, “This is a great opportunity to give something back that the com-munity will be able to embrace, and that will contribute to our lifestyle here inthe community. It’s an opportunity to support some charitable organizationsthrough our basketball team, and to work with schools.”The owners acknowledge that their business expertise and connections play arole in their decision to get involved in pro basketball. Ball Construction’sCameron Ball told Exchange, “We do construct a lot of recreational facilities, alot of hockey arenas – which is why we have always supported a lot of hockeyteams – and a lot of multi-purpose athletic facilities with gymnasiums and uni-versity facilities.We’re very networked with the athletics community in general.”Ball also notes that the constant realty of competition in the construction busi-ness is an advantage when getting involved in a pro sports franchise – wherecompetition is the name of the game.Berg’s company is also sports-focused. InnoSoft works with institutions – suchas universities – to manage sports facilities with recreation management soft-ware. Berg says that the Titans franchise is “the perfect marriage of business andsports.”Cameron Ball believes the time is right. “It’s a very healthy, thriving league inexpansion mode.We took advantage of the opportunity.”And Schneider adds that other franchise owners – especially London, which hecalls “the most successful franchise in our league” have been very helpful in of-fering advice. The Titans owners say they would be very willing to do the samefor any community considering a franchise.But for the immediate future, their focus is entirely on putting a competitiveteam on the floor for the new season. And on letting their community knowthere’s a new game in town.For more info, visit kwtitans.com.

BUSINESS MONITOR

Team Titans: from left, Leon Martin, Jeff Berg, Cameron Ball, Frank Schneider and new marketing director Tara Krajewski.

N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6 | 11

to-Waterloo Corridor; and a healthy pipeline of potential futureinvestments.

•To build a best-in-class, “go-to” Concierge Service to facili-tate investment attraction and retention. This requires closecollaboration with the economic development departmentsacross the region, to insure that all prospective investors areoffered best-in-class service at all times. LaMantia explains,“there can be no ’wrong door’ to great service.”

•To create a current inventory of investment ready shovelready sites, including a “best in class” centre of excellence asthe go-to source for regional data. That resource, identifyingall available sites (both brownfield and greenfield), is in devel-opment.

•To develop a unified narrative and integrated marketingplan for the entire region’s economic development.

Veteran observers of economic development efforts in theregion might target this as the most challenging area of all.LaMantia’s team has taken on the challenge of creating a clearbrand for Waterloo Economic Development - to succinctly tellour Why Waterloo story, convey our promise and key points ofdifferentiation to better position us in the cluttered landscapefor investment attraction. At the heart of this mission is notonly identifying the brand, but selling it - first to the regionalstakeholders, and then to the world.

The economic development team took a very collaborativeapproach, consulting with all stakeholders during the brandingprocess. Mayors of the region’s municipalities, the RegionalChair, Economic Development Officers and the members ofthe WREDC Board were all consulted on a regular basis, in theeffort to create a new logo and tagline. WREDC also utilized alocal firm, eSolutions Group, to partner from a strategic andcreative perspective. eSolutions brought a depth of Municipaland Economic Development experience to the exercise.

The final result was reached after exploring many options,and carrying out extensive research. Perhaps the key question,though, was, “what is our best-known current brand.” Theanswer became clear: the international business communityknows this region as “Waterloo.” And so, a new brand was cre-ated: Waterloo EDC.

The WREDC professionals discovered that the name “Water-loo” is how the world identifies this region. Waterloo, saysLaMantia, “is how our target audience currently views us.”WREDC researchers found that from January to August 2016,“Waterloo” has been searched 41X more than “WaterlooRegion,” and 2.3X more than the next highest city or munici-pality (Cambridge and Kitchener). So, says LaMantia, “It’s nota question of us choosing a brand. The brand has chosen us!”

Why a new brand? The goal is to ensure that “we simplifyour message and signal ease of doing business with our com-munities in the minds of our target audience.” Waterloo Regionis not alone in this. Similar multi-city/municipality regions are

doing the same thing, including Los Angeles(LAEDC), TorontoGlobal, Invest Ottawa, New York City (NYEDC) and OntarioEast. All of these multi-city/municipality regions are market-ing themselves as a single entity and they are using theirstrongest “brand equity” and asset as their brand name.The new brand comes with a new tag line: “Waterloo EDC -

inventing the future.” LaMantia and his team believe that this

forward-facing statement delivers on WREDC’s - and the entireregion’s - strategy, objectives and key messages, and lever-ages the strong current key brand equity and assets. Clarity isimportant - even in the midst of creativity. LaMantia adds,“The letters ‘EDC’ in the logo simply provide support and clari-ty about who and what we are” - similar to other EconomicDevelopment organizations such as LAEDC and NYEDC. Hepoints out, “The brand logo and tagline identity we are creat-ing is for our organization - the Economic Development Corpo-ration. It is not a brand identify or tagline for WaterlooRegion.”

The primary objective of the branding exercise is “toincrease awareness of our organization and our region in theminds of our target audience - which are investment decisionmakers and intermediaries outside of the Waterloo Region.Our ability to do that well will ultimately lead to an increasednumber of qualif ied leads for business investment andgrowth.”

The communication and marketing team are delighted withthe newly developed logo, which celebrates Waterloo andCanada, and through the words “inventing the future,” empha-sizes talent, innovation and disruption. Says LaMantia, “We areincluding everyone, from small business to large enterprise.Together, we are all inventing the future right here inWaterloo.”

INVENTING THE FUTURENEW TEAM. NEW BRAND. DRIVING GROWTH.

WATERLOO REGION ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONWATERLOO REGION ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

www.waterlooedc.ca | 519747-2541 | info@waterlooedc.ca

N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6 | 1312 | w w w . e x c h a n g e m a g a z i n e . c o m

Sherryl Petricevic, Maria Suarez, , Erin D’Alessandro, Lori Perkes, Tony LaMantia, Caitlin Quarry, Catharine Gerhard, Lucinda Wallace.

Great leadership teams take time to build. CEO Tony LaMan-tia and knowledgeable outside observers agree that it hasbeen worth the effort at the newly formed Waterloo RegionEconomic Development Corporation (WREDC.) LaMantia says,“You really can’t make up for a lack of skill by working harder,so we focused on finding the right combination of skills.” Cam-bridge Economic Development Officer James Goodram speaksfor many of his colleagues when he describes the leadershipgroup at WREDC as “a knock-out, home-run team.”

The WREDC board recruited LaMantia from his role as Assis-tant Deputy Minister of the Investment and Industry Divisionof the Ontario government after a 25 year career in the privateand public sector. The CEO says he had two initial priorities -to listen, “lots and lots of listening,” and to assemble a topnotch team.

The leadership team is now assembled. The new WREDCDirectors include Erin D’Alessandro, Director of BusinessDevelopment and Client Services; Lucinda Wallace, Director ofMarketing & Communications; and Lori Perkes, Director ofFinance and Administration. The WREDC team also includesthree Senior Business Development Officers - Catharine Ger-hard, Sherryl Petricevic and Maria Suarez.

This experienced group brings a wide variety of industryand sector acumen including the Auto, Tech, Manufacturing

and Consumer sectors. Team members had successful careersin government, the private sector, not-for-profits, Foreign Serv-ice, and start-ups. They bring all of that experience - and anenormous amount of enthusiasm - to the new Waterloo RegionEconomic Development Corporation.

While the first few months of 2016 could be described asthe “start-up phase” of WREDC, it is now all systems go. In thespring, LaMantia accompanied Toronto Mayor John Tory andKitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic to California. The WREDCBusiness Development team will be aggressively pursuingpotential investment and expansion opportunities this fall inGermany, California and Japan - which LaMantia describes as“key regions for our future growth in the core sectors of Tech,Advanced Manufacturing, Food Processing and Auto.”

The Waterloo Region Economic Development Strategydetailed several dozen objectives for the organization, andLaMantia, with the help of his Board of Directors, prioritizedthese into four key operational plans that WREDC will beaccountable for:

• To forge a track record of clear Foreign Direct Investmentand scale-up wins. WREDC has already chalkedup successes, including the new ETAS Embed-ded Systems Canada headquarters (a Boschsubsidiary) the NCC Group Kitchener facil-ity; the establishment of the new Toron-

PARADIGM SHIFTIN LIVING SPACES

COVER STORY

HIP Developments President says high-end rental apartmentsare eclipsing condosby Paul Knowles

Scott Higgins

COVER STORY

16 | w w w . e x c h a n g e m a g a z i n e . c o m

Baby boomers are aging – that’s undeniable. But in mostcases, they’re aging in ways that are unprecedented in

human history – they’re active, they’re adventurous, andthey have significant financial assets.

Meanwhile, young, upwardly-mobile urban professionalsare looking for cool places to live – but often on a short-termbasis.

All of which – combined with a few other factors – hasproduced what Scott Higgins calls “a perfect storm for newresidential developments.”

That’s the environment inwhich Higgins has partneredwith venerable WaterlooRegional builder, Melloul-Blamey, to create HIP Develop-ments.

“HIP” is a bit of a play onwords – because its origins liein what Higgins calls “the founding principles of Melloul-Blamey”: “Honesty, Integrity, Pride of workmanship.”

Melloul-Blamey was founded 35 years ago by Bernie Mel-loul. Today, Bernie remains an integral part of the business,but day to day, the company is run by a quartet of leaders:President and CEO Joel Melloul (Bernie’s son); and VPs Jef-frey Heimpel, Jeffrey Shantz, and Steve Hanley.

Melloul-Blamey brings their construction experience tothe HIP mix; Higgins brought his knowledge from years ofworking in the financial field, with TD, focused on fundinglarge construction projects – including, for about a decade,Melloul-Blamey projects.

Five years ago, the partners launched HIP; Higgins addsthat “the trajectory has just taken off in the last two or threeyears.”

Melloul Blamey “had always done a little bit of develop-ment work,” says Higgins,“and they had a desire to domore. The time had come tostart a development company.”

It didn’t happen overnight –Higgins says “we worked fortwo and a half years before wereally scaled the business.”

Multi-residential categoriesThe HIP partners agreed that the key opportunities lay in

multi-residential development, and Higgins adds, “I had agood awareness of the market opportunities there.” Theyalso agreed on a commitment to “high quality” in what theybuilt.

The three big categories in multi-residential building

COVER STORY COVER STORY

Melloul Blamey “had always done a little bit ofdevelopment work… and they had a desire to do

more. The time had come tostart a development company.”

Scott Higgins (CEO), Joel Doherty (Director of Development), and Randy Renouf (Chief Operating Officer) of HIP Developments

N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6 | 17

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COVER STORYthis city, he says, a combination of factors – easily availablefinancing and a follow-the-leader affect – have led to a glutof student housing. “The student housing market [in Water-loo] has been very overbuilt. It will fall on its face. We’vebuilt too much.”

That’s one area where knowing the local markets is keyto the ongoing success of HIP.

And what about building condos? Thatdepends, according to Higgins. In somecases – the now-underway RiverbankLofts in Cambridge (Hespeler) for exam-ple, a stunning renovation of a historicmill property – condos are the way to go.But the second stage of this developmentis a new, 10-storey luxury apartmentbuilding – rental apartments with what HIP describes as“condo style amenities.”

A glance through HIP’s promo package shows that thecompany has developed, or is in the process of developing,seven projects (with several more anticipated in the comingmonths).

Of the seven, two are condominium student housing (inGuelph), two include condos (Waterloo’s 181 King – the for-mer Brick Brewery – and Riverbank Lofts in Hespeler),while the most of their projects are residential apartments.

The latter category is also where the bulk of their unitslies – at the Trio on Belmont, one apartment building isopen now, and two will be completed in the next two years– there will be 412 units; in The Standard in Cambridge, tobe open next year, there will be 152 suites; at Saginaw Gar-dens, in Cambridge, there are currently 122 suites.

Heritage and whimsyHiggins seems to be all business –

until he admits that he has a realpassion for the heritage of WaterlooRegion. And when he talks about thedetails of HIP’s developments, itbecomes clear that this love for thelocal has impacted on their projects.

He calls HIP “a community builder,” and contends that thismeans “you’re augmenting neighbourhoods,” honouring,and preserving, local history… as well as “creating some-thing cool.”

Perhaps the most obvious is the RiverBank Lofts project,where he admits the profit margins will be small. However,“I’m a Cambridge guy – born and raised. This is the iconicheritage building for me.”

But when he discusses the “mixed use development” atthe former Brick building – which will again include restora-

“The student housing market [inWaterloo] has been very overbuilt.It will fall on its face. We’ve built

too much.”

include rental apartments, condos, and student housing.But…. and this is where Higgins underlines the challenge.There are some big buts!

For instance, HIP has built student housing in Guelph –the Solstice 1 and Solstice 2 “investment condominium” stu-

dent housing facilities on Gordon Street. These were com-pleted in the summer of 2015 and 2016, and the units havebeen sold.

However, asked if HIP will be investing in and developingstudent housing in Waterloo, Higgins is quick to say “no.” In

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The view from HIP Development’s new Hespeler Riverbank project: the company is committed to honouring the heritage of the community.

20 | w w w . e x c h a n g e m a g a z i n e . c o m N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6 | 21

tion of the historic building plus ahigh rise residential tower – he ispleased to say the building willinclude a brew pub, harkening backto its roots. “We’re working withWaterloo Brewery to come back.”There may also be more than 5000square feet of retail space in thisproject.

Details are not yet finalized for 181King (the Brick building) because HIPis working closely with both the cityof Waterloo, and the neighbourhoodresidents, listening to “concernsabout height and density” – the pro-posal goes to Waterloo council thismonth.

But perhaps the most whimsical ofHIP’s projects has yet to appear inany of their literature or promotions –HIP will be redeveloping the venera-ble Harmony Lunch location inWaterloo. As recently as late sum-mer, local media carried articles ask-ing if the Harmony Lunch hadreached the end of the line – the

Marks family, founders and ownersof the restaurant that has servedburgers (and tons of fried onions) for86 years, had put it up for sale.

HIP has signed on. They will rede-velop the project – and Higgins prom-ises that there will be a HarmonyLunch eatery as part of the newdevelopment.

Investment modelHIP typically does not retain own-

ership of the projects the companydevelops and builds. Higgins and co.bring in investment partners – usual-ly pension funds and other majorinvestors – as part of the process.

Higgins says the partner investors“typically want the project, but they

don’t know how to get to the final building.” HIP doesknow.

Higgins says that to date, HIP projects have been in the$30 million to $60 million range; financing (in a project of$50 million, for example), typically includes $30 millionfrom the bank, $10 million from private investors, and $10from HIP.

While the financiers are looking for reliable, long-termreturn on investment, baby boomers are often looking foropportunities to turn their existing assets – especially theirhomes – into money to fund their retirements. It’s a naturalfit.

Meanwhile, young urbanites are looking for somethingsmaller, but chic.

And, in Higgins’ view, these realities have turned typicalmulti-residential development on its head.

Most condos, he said, should be small, one-bedroom,adapted to the younger crowd. Most new, higher-end resi-dential units should be larger – two-bedrooms, with “biggerbalconies”, and access to patios, gyms, and other leisureand recreation spaces shared by the residents – “somethingnew and nice,” he says in summing it up. “It’s a differentproduct… and it wasn’t being delivered.”

And the developers’ focus will remain in the rental cate-

gory. Typically, he said, condos are now being sold toinvestors and speculators, who rent them to younger resi-dents. “The condos are not supplying the larger market,”forming because boomers want to sell their homes andkeep the money for retirement.

Higgins says, “you’re augmentingneighbourhoods,” honouring, andpreserving, local history… as well

as “creating something cool.

Scott Higgins:”We see the market as underservicing itself.”

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COVER STORY

They also, says Higgins, want to besure that when they rent, there issome long-term stability to thatarrangement, so renting in a newbuilding owned by an institutionalinvestor should guarantee that, com-pared to renting from a condo owner

x

TWO GLOBALLY GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH INITIATIVES at the University of Waterloo willreceive more than $91 million in funding. The announcement came from KirstyDuncan, Canadian Minister of Science, announced the recipients of the secondcompetition of the Canada First Research Excellence Fund.

Waterloo research projects receiving funding are Transformative QuantumTechnologies, which will accelerate the development of new quantum tech-nologies, and Global Water Futures, dedicated to finding ways to managewater resources adversely affected by climate change.

“Quantum devices and computing will revolutionize technology as we knowit, and the sustainable use and management of fragile water resources is one ofthe greatest challenges facing people around the world,” said Feridun Ham-dullahpur, president and vice-chancellor of Waterloo.

The Transformative Quantum Technologies (TQT) program will tackle threegrand challenges in quantum research: to develop a universal quantum proces-sor, quantum sensors and long-distance quantum communications. Under thedirection of Professor David Cory, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quan-tum Information Processing at Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing,TQT will aim to connect academic research with industry applications in a vari-ety of fields. CFREF will contribute $76.3 million to this $140 million initiative.

“Quantum mechanics enable devices that are otherwise impossible in theclassical world, and these revolutionary devices will transform the way we inter-act with and learn about the world,” said Cory. “Transformative Quantum Tech-nologies aims to develop new quantum technologies and to connect quantumdevices to applications spanning the fields of medicine, health, navigation, envi-ronment, materials and others.”

ROD REGIER HAS BEEN APPOINTED the new Commissioner of Planning, Development andLegislative Services for the Region of Waterloo. Regier joins the Region from theCity of Kitchener where he has been the Executive Director, Economic Develop-ment for the past 11 years.

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who may sell that particular unit nextyear. “You get longer-term owner-ship,” he says, “and good professionalmanagement”.

Internal needsHiggins makes a compelling case

for the market demand for HIP proj-ects. But he also points to an internalneed – Melloul-Blamey, as a long-time,significant employer, recognizes theirresponsibility to continue to provideincome for its people.

The company undoubtedly has feltsome impact from the highly contro-versial regional certification by thecarpenter’s union, which bars anynon-certified construction company(including Melloul-Blamey) fromreceiving municipal contracts.

Higgins says this was not a big fac-tor, but quickly points to the irony thatMelloul-Blamey built the region’s $80million transit facility, before the certi-fication, but would not even beallowed to bid on such a project,today. “It was a horrific thing that hap-pened,” he says.

It does mean that Melloul-Blameyhas to look elsewhere for business –and HIP is part of that solution. Typi-cally, says Higgins, Melloul-Blameyhas seen business volumes of between$150 million and $200 million, annual-ly. Half of that has been public sector,

half private sector – “anything with aroof,” he says.

HIP was created, in part, because of“the need to generate more privatework… how do we self-create work?”All in a successful effort “to keep ourpeople busy.”

“Very open future”Higgins told Exchange, “We’ve got a

whole bunch of other sites,” he adds,but he’s cagey with details – except forthe Harmony Lunch revelation. How-ever, Higgins does say that HIP will berevealed a $150 million investment inthe core of Galt/Cambridge, but hedeclines to be more specific.

He believes the sky is the limit, forHIP. “In my view, it is a very openfuture…. We see the market underser-vicing itself ... We’re being bullish.”

HIP will be redeveloping the venerable Harmony Lunch location …and Higgins promises that there will be a Harmony Lunch eatery as

part of the new development.

UW Research Funding: (left to right): George Dixon, vice-president, university research, University of Waterloo; Mike Lazaridis,Quantum Valley Investments; Professor David Cory, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quantum Information Processing, UW;the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science; Feridun Hamdullahpur, president and vice-chancellor, UW; RaymondLaflamme, executive director, Institute for Quantum Computing, UW; Brent Herbert-Copley, executive vice-president, Social Sci-ences and Humanities Research Council, photographed in the atrium of the Institute for Quantum Computing.

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The Planning, Development and Legislative Services department is responsi-ble for planning the future growth of our community. This includes the opera-tion of the Region of Waterloo International Airport, the Region’s muse-ums and libraries, economic development, as well as oversight of the RegionalOfficial Plan. It also provides a broad range of corporate services, includinglegal counsel, real estate, licensing, by-law enforcement, corporate publishing,Council support, and Provincial Offenses court prosecution and administration.

INDUCTEES TO THE JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT WATERLOO REGION ENTREPRENEUR HALL OF FAME for 2016 havebeen named:

• Larry Hundt, Great Canadian Holidays, Coaches and Fleet Services.• Peter van der Heyden, Goliger’s Travel Plus.• John Whitney, Whitney Real Estate.

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Wayne was a member of theKidsAbility Foundation Board, whichhe sat on for nine years. Over theyears, Tammy was a valued volunteer.“To be able to help an organization asterrific as KidsAbility is truly an hon-our,” says Wayne.

TRUSTPOINT INNOVATION HAS BEEN NAMED to theCanadian Innovation Exchange 2016Top 20 program. This program recog-nizes the 20 most innovative technol-ogy companies in the country as cho-sen by a committee of technologyexperts and investors from across thecountry.

TrustPoint Innovation, which is oneof only two companies from theWaterloo Region selected for thisyear’s Top 20 recognition, focuses itsefforts on securing the growing Inter-net of Things (IoT) market, includingconnected car, vehicle-to-vehiclecommunications, and Smart Cities.Medella Health is the second.

WATERLOO’S THALMIC LABS HAS RAISED a new$120 million (U.S.) Series B roundfrom investors including Intel Capital,The Amazon Alexa Fund and FidelityInvestments Canada. The fresh fund-ing will add considerably to the com-pany’s coffers, and should help it with

its goal of expanding its product linebeyond the original Myo armband itcurrently offers.

Thalmic’s Myo is a connectedband that can pick up electricalimpulses from a wearer’s arm andtranslate them into input for a com-puting platform. It’s been used forthings like skipping through tracks in

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PETER BENNINGER, FOUNDER AND OWNER ofColdwell Banker Peter BenningerRealty, has been appointed as Chairof the Board of Governors for Con-estoga College Institute of Tech-nology and Advanced Learning.He has served as a member of theboard since 2012.

Benninger has been recognizedwith multiple awards over his 39-yearreal estate sales career. His realty firmin Kitchener employs more than 100people.

In addition to his business success,Benninger is well-known for his long-standing support and commitment tomany community organizations,including St. Mary’s Hospital andHabitat for Humanity.

Benninger replaces FrankBoutzis, Partner in Charge, GTAEnterprise at KPMG, who completedhis six-year term on the Board inAugust 2016.

COWAN INSURANCE GROUP, along with TheCowan Foundation, raised morethan $107,000 at the 2016 CowanCharity Classic golf tournaments insupport of youth mental health initia-tives at Lutherwood in WaterlooRegion and Youth Services Bureau inOttawa.�

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Earlier this month Thalmic alsoopened an San Francisco office, andannounced Tara Kriese as its newCMO.

ANDRE BELISLE, DEALER-OWNER of JL’s HomeHardware Building Centre in Guelph,has been awarded the 15th annualPaul Straus Public RelationsAward during Home Hardware’s FallShareholders’ Meeting in St. Jacobs.The award recognizes Belisle’s out-standing commitment to public rela-tions and community service in thecity of Guelph.

KITCHENER-BASED KINDRED CREDIT UNION, for-merly Mennonite Savings and CreditUnion, is getting the word out likenever before about its unique offering.The credit union’s name change wasapproved at a special general meetingof members earlier this year.

And now, through an integratedadvertising campaign across South-western Ontario, the member-ownedfinancial cooperative is inviting peopleacross the province to join in theexcitement and experience “bankingwith purpose.”

THE 2017 LIST OF “CANADA’S CLEAN50” winnerscelebrates the accomplishments of 50sustainability leaders drawn from 16different sectors. Canada’s 2017Clean50 champions have achievedmeasurable results in fighting climatechange and are the drivers helpingCanada shift toward a low carbon andmore prosperous future.

N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6 | 2726 | w w w . e x c h a n g e m a g a z i n e . c o m

Regional winners included:Priyanka Lloyd - Sustainability

CoLab, (Kitchener –Waterloo); MikeMorrice - Sustainability CoLab(KW); and Claire Bennett - WilfridLaurier University.

A WATERLOO PROFESSOR HAS RECEIVED $3 MILLIONin funding to further his work intogreener, cheaper more energy-efficientsilicon-based batteries. ZhongweiChen, Canada Research Chair inAdvanced Materials for Clean Energyand a professor in Waterloo’s Depart-ment of Chemical Engineering,received the funding from Vancouver-based Newtech Power Inc. to co-develop a next-generation lithium-ionrechargeable battery that could be onthe market within three or four years.

BUSINESS LEADER, CORPORATE DIRECTOR andgovernance expert Eileen Mercierhas been appointed chancellor of Wil-frid Laurier University. Mercier suc-ceeds Michael Lee-Chin, who hasserved with distinction as chancellor

of the university since Oct. 28, 2011.Mercier, who has more than 45 yearsof leadership experience in a variety ofindustries, is among the first women inCanada to build a career in corporategovernance. She is the chair of theboard of directors of PaymentsCanada, the organization responsiblefor the clearing and settlement offinancial transactions in Canada.

Previously, Mercier served as chairof the Ontario Teachers’ PensionPlan board and is the former presi-dent of Finvoy Management Inc.and a former senior vice-president andchief financial officer of Abitibi-PriceInc.

DAVID MIRVISH WILL STEP DOWN as chancellorof the University of Guelph due toincreasing work and personal respon-sibilities. Mirvish was named U of G’seighth chancellor in February 2012 andreappointed in 2014, extending histerm until March 2018.

A Canadian theatre producer, artcollector and patron, Mirvish owns

and operates Toronto’s Royal Alexan-dra Theatre, Princess of Wales Theatre,Ed Mirvish Theatre and PanasonicTheatre.

HOUSING STARTS IN the Kitchener-Cam-bridge-Waterloo Census MetropolitanArea were trending up at 4,200 units inSeptember compared to 3,741 units inAugust, according to Canada Mortgageand Housing Corporation (CMHC).

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es, apartment buildings, and townhouses. The two largest facilities arecared for by a management companyhired by MennoHomes; in all othercases, tenant calls for assistancecome straight to Driedger – and he

says this is one of his favourite partsof the job: “It allows me to connectwith these tenants in a way that isdifferent from the guy who shows upto collect their rent.”

Clearly, there is no pattern for aMennoHomes build or renovation.Says Driedger, “We tend to be oppor-tunistic. We don’t have a war chest offunds, so we have to respond toopportunities. We’re small enoughand agile enough to do that.”

Once the $6.8 million Elmira proj-ect is completed, the future is a cleanslate, at this point, although Driedgerexpects their next project “will mostlikely be in Kitchener-Waterloo.” Theneed is enormous, but “the land is thebiggest challenge.”

MennoHomes is an inclusiveorganization – although many fun-ders are Mennonites, the organiza-tion does not discriminate or prosely-tize concerning its tenants. Thisorganization exists to serve the entirecommunity – one of its most recenttenants is a refugee family from Syria.But because of its faith-based origins,Driedger thinks that urban churchesmay hold some answers – that afford-able housing could be build on someof the excess land that surroundsmany of the older churches – whichwould be just one more of a long listof MennoHomes’ partnerships inserving its community.

other organizations in the region, the Region of Waterlooplays a major role as funder and regulator – “our biggestpartner” – money comes from other levels of government,private donors are generous. And still the problem is farfrom solved.

He points to the Elmira project, to open next June or July– they have not even begun accepting official applicationsyet, but he knows of 200 expressions of interest in the 25apartments. When it comes time to evaluate the applica-tions, he says, with a sigh, “It’s going to be hard.”

He knows there is a need for many more such facilities –but an organization can only do so much.

Funding for MennoHomes comes from the Region (interms of rent subsidies), and from donors. All of the proj-ects have mortgages (through the Mennonite Foundation).

Driedger says that this creates an interesting future forthe organization. Under Buhr, it started from scratch; dur-ing Driedger’s tenure, it is self-sustaining, but each projectmust find funding before it can begin. However, starting 12years from now and rolling out over the following dozenyears or so, mortgages will be paid off on the original build-ing, and money now used to carry the debt will be availableas a reserve, or for reinvestment. The Executive Directorsuggests that the next person to hold that title will be in avery different situation than Driedger is, today.

Problem solvingDriedger is passionate about his position. A native of the

Chesley area, he was involved in a high tech company inWaterloo for many years, but came to ask the difficult ques-tion, “Is this how I want to spend the next half of my life?”

The answer seemed clear, and he left a successful careerto join the MCC, and then, MennoHomes. And in this role,

he says, “You’re responding to a real, genuine need.”He sees his organization as solving many more problems

that simply a lack of affordable housing. He’s very excitedabout the different the elevator in the Elmira building willmake it people’s lives – he tells an anecdote about simplywatching an older man trying to negotiate a few steps toexit his home. That circumstance led him to investigate thedetails around falls among the senior population – and helearned that “a staggering number” of falls occur on stair-ways. Building an accessible apartment building will notonly provide a place to live – it will improve health, and cutdown on medical emergencies, he says. It will also allowpeople – especially seniors – to remain in their home com-munities. One of the biggest problems in affordable hous-ing is that it often is only available far from the person’scommunity – and that is also a life challenge, especially forolder people. “We respond to low income,” says Driedger,“but let’s not ignore these people with modest income whostill need something in their local community.”

All of this is not to downplay the real and pervasive needfor affordable housing. Tenants at MennoHomes unitsrange from “low to moderate incomes”, says Driedger, but

“60 to 70 per cent are low income,” according to one scale.However, when Regional guidelines defining the need foraffordable housing are applied, all of them qualify. Whatdoes “low income” mean? In almost half the cases, itmeans household income of less than $20,000 a year. Evenpaying rents that may – in Elmira – start as low as $500 amonth may be a stretch for some.

In one sense, MennoHomes does have a template to fol-low – in that it could serve as a model for developingaffordable housing in other communities. In fact, saysDriedger, should anyone ask for details, they’ll get them all– from the very outset, one goal of MennoHomes was todevelop “a replicable model”, and the executive directorbelieves his predecessors did exactly that.

But this “model” would be an organizational structure,not a pattern for constructing a building – because each ofthe MennoHomes projects has been very different.

For instance, there are two residential buildings – in twodifferent communities (Elmira and Wellesley) that startedtheir lives as one structure. It was moved from its originallocation, subdivided, and became the basis for two proj-ects.

In Kitchener, there is a former church manse that hasbeen converted into affordable housing. There are duplex-

N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6 | 2928 | w w w . e x c h a n g e m a g a z i n e . c o m

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

x

Driedger is the Executive Director, but he also isthe guy who shows up with his tool box when a

tenant calls with a handyman challenge.

They have not even begun accepting

official applications yet, buthe knows of 200 expressions

of interest in the 25 apartments.

Dan Driedger: “responding to a real, genuine need.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 30

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

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The primary goal of MennoHomes Inc., from its found-ing in 2001 to today, is to provide affordable housing

in Waterloo region. But it may be that at the newest Men-noHomes project – a 25-unit apartment building in Elmira– the “affordable” part may be the second most importantelement in the new building. That’s because the Menno-Homes project will be only the second apartment buildingin Elmira to include an elevator – and for a lot of potentialresidents, accessibility may be evenmore crucial than low rental rates.

MennoHomes Executive Director DanDriedger told Exchange that if aging peo-ple in Elmira don’t have access to acces-sible accommodations, they may wellhave to move out of their community. Soinstead of seeing people move out, Men-noHomes has moved in.

MennoHomes Inc. has 80 affordable income units inKitchener, Woolwich and Wellesley; the Elmira project willbring the total to 105. The not for profit charity also part-nered with a private business in Waterloo to developanother 25 units that are operated by the private owner,but still as affordable housing.

Partnership is a very big idea for MennoHomes – the newElmira building is on land that was purchased in partner-ship with Woolwich Community Services. WCS has built anew headquarters that includes its thrift store, which will

be next door to the MennoHomes apartments.

15th anniversaryDriedger explains that MennoHomes Inc. came into

being 15 years ago, during reports of an apartment vacancycrisis in Kitchener-Waterloo. The issue was brought to theattention of the Mennonite Central Committee, where thenMCC executive director Rick Cober Bauman pointed out

that providing housing was outside therelief and development agency’s man-date. But he didn’t ignore the issue;instead, Cober-Bauman recruited formerHouse of Friendship director MartinBuhr, who came out of retirement to –as a volunteer – launch MennoHomesas a non-profit solution to the low-

income housing problem.Three years ago, MennoHomes has grown to the point

where it was possible to hire a full-time staffer – andDriedger moved across from a role with MCC.

Today, he’s officially the Executive Director (with a staffof two part-timers, one a bookkeeper and the other a socialworker), but he also is the guy who shows up with his toolbox when a tenant calls about a broken garage door orsome other handyman challenge.

Driedger is quick to note that MennoHomes is part of theaffordable housing solution, but only a part. There are

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

MAKING HOUSINGAFFORDABLE AND ACCESSIBLEMennoHomes is “opportunistic” in finding ways to help low-income families

CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

The MennoHomes project willbe only the second apartmentbuilding in Elmira to include

an elevator.

Dan Driedger

MAKING HOUSING AFFORDABLE AND ACCESSIBLEMennoHomes is “opportunistic” in finding ways to help low-income families

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