Metal Tech Alley

Leading Business Engagement: Erika Krest – Executive Director, Trail & District Chamber of Commerce

Encouraging a regional mindset is a priority for Erika Krest in her role as the Executive Director for the Trail & District Chamber of Commerce. Erika has spent the last 20 years fostering community as a dedicated volunteer, mother, and business owner. Originally from Hungary, she counts her experiences as essential to her early years as a new Canadian citizen. When opportunity literally knocked on the door of her reflexology business a few years ago, Erika met it with a “why not?” attitude. After learning more about the business network’s economic impact and advocacy work, she continued to say yes to opportunities that came her way via the Chamber. However, this was not all by chance; Erika is fiercely committed to growing the Lower Columbia and its businesses, which is evident in her quick climb from board member to ED. With her daughter at university, Erika found herself with more time to pursue the next phase of her journey. She is now tapping into her toolkit of skills to navigate change with grace, lead with ease and assertiveness, and collectively connect regional players. As she works to provide a strong voice to advocate for the region’s growth and prosperity, she’s thankful for the support of her board of directors and the expert staff on her team. Erika is thriving in her role at the Chamber, an organization with a mandate to listen, engage, advocate, represent, and negotiate. She’s also extremely proud of the progress the Chamber is facilitating for business owners in Metal Tech Alley.

Tell us about your various roles in the business community.

As well as being the Executive Director of the Trail & District Chamber of Commerce, I own two small businesses. I run a reflexology clinic and my husband and I also started running an Airbnb called Jewel of the Kootenay’s Guest Suite just last year. The name of the game is branding, so I’m in the process of renaming my reflexology business, and last year I started an art scholarship with the same name. Our daughter is a dancer; she graduated from Steps Dance Centre and is now doing her BA at the University of Calgary. When she was applying for scholarships, I was stunned to see that furthering education in arts is not very supported in the Kootenays. I followed the centre’s lead – parents started a scholarship a few years back – and created a small scholarship to support artists.

When I got the ED role at the Chamber, I wasn’t ready to give up my reflexology business – partly because it feeds my new scholarship, and because reflexology has been a lifelong passion. As for the guest suite, we enjoy hosting people visiting the Kootenays to discover the recreation and beauty of the region.

Can you explain what the Chamber does for the community?

There are tiers to the Chamber’s role: we help young businesses – those under three years old – when they’re just starting out. Running a small business can be lonely sometimes, despite the sense of freedom. We help create a network for new members, as well as provide free resources and a promotional aspect, with Business After Business events and social media.

We also provide businesses with affordable extended health benefit packages, which is super important. Extended health packages can help attract employees and also encourage them to stay loyal to you. We all know how expensive it is to train an employee, so retention is super important.

For members who have been in business for a while – let’s say three-to-seven years – their needs change. They might be looking for second locations, to maximize income, or to become more involved in the community. We help these businesses with the resources, training, and soft skills they need to build their team.

For long-term members, 10+ year businesses; their drive is a success for their industry or profession, and their concerns may include rapid changes in technology and public perception, new regulations, and shrinking revenue streams. We’re a member of the BC Chamber of Commerce and because of that, we’re directly connected to the provincial and federal government – that’s where our high-level advocacy work comes in.

I’m still learning too, but the picture is getting clearer; I really hope that our message also becomes more clear. Our membership is on the rise, so I assume businesses are seeing the value in joining the Chamber; we’re an economic driving force in the community, and we’re pushing policies forward.

Since you started as ED with the Chamber last July, is there something you’re most proud of?

To be honest, I’m proud every day. I have a super board of directors and our staff is amazing. We’re working with people who really resonate with the organization and are true experts; for example, instead of hiring staff to do our social media, we hired a business that’s already an expert in that field. So rather than trying to train someone – and how? I’m not an expert in social media! – we contract that work out. I think it’s a big part of staying current and staying successful.

Recently, we pushed a competitive tax environment for credit unions, which are an important part of the Kootenay’s economic landscape. Fighting for something like that benefits everybody – not only our members, but everybody in our community. We’ve also helped to create a level playing field for BC breweries and distilleries, and because of that we now have breweries in the Kootenays. Our network makes us an economic driving force, and we’re working to send that message out to reach more people.

As for the very latest success, the Roundtable that we, Community Futures, and LCIC have come up with together to show unity is key. All three organizations are regional, so it’s super important for us to send the message to everyone that we are working on a regional level to benefit everybody. Right now we are working on #thinklocalfirst BINGO, a fun interactive way for people to learn about the Kootenays’ beautiful, colourful business network. The circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic provided us with an opportunity; we took advantage and ran with it.

Could you elaborate on COVID-19 initiatives like BINGO and the Roundtable?

Absolutely. We’re trying to support our restaurants and essential businesses with our social media push for #TakeOutWednesday; I think we’ve already reached 9,000+ people. We started with grocery stores, pharmacies, and health food stores, and now it’s restaurants, too.

We created BINGO to help businesses who aren’t easily categorized. On Facebook we tag the companies who are on the card and encourage cross-promotion. There are four ways to play the game, but the goal is to increase the number of people visiting participating businesses’ social media pages or websites.

With the South Kootenay COVID-19 Business Roundtable, we weren’t really sure how it was going to unfold, so we tested the waters to see how our business community was feeling. Everybody was in shock and had questions. So that became the goal: providing a platform for people to ask questions. Then once the questions came in, our job was to bring in experts who were able to answer those questions. We brought in MLA Katrina Conroy and MP Richard Canning, who answered provincial or federal questions. We had WorkSafeBC at the last meeting because our business community is anxious about how stores are operating and following the BC government’s rules and regulations. We brought in insurance experts to answer questions about home-based businesses or curbside pickup/delivery options. We also brought in RCMP to answer questions about the safety of downtown areas. Lastly, we created a closed Facebook group – South Kootenay Citizens on Patrol – in response to safety requests. The Roundtable may provide value moving forward, so even though it’s on pause for now, we’re planning to meet again once Phase 3 of the careful reopen plan is announced.

Where did your interest in business and policy come from?

I never cultivated it but I’ve always had a knack for business. I was an insurance broker in Hungary, and ran my own little business there. After moving to Canada and having a family, running a business wasn’t a priority for me anymore; having a family took over. Canada was brand new for me, too. Every country is different when it comes to learning business and rules and regulations, but it was very clear to me early on that the Kootenays was full of potential. After I raised my daughter, exploring that further was something I felt I had to do. I’m not sure that everybody understands; maybe it’s because I came from a different culture, but the support system that we have here in the Kootenays as far as growing your business is huge. Education is right here – Selkirk College was a huge part of my success. I love the area – the way it looks, the beauty of it, the nature of it – but the potential was something that really made me stay here. And this area is still super untapped; there’s just so much that we haven’t even looked into yet.

What made you lay down your roots in Canada and in this region?

I originally came to Canada for a six-week holiday to visit a guy I met in Hungary – his family is from the town next to where I grew up – and the rest is history, as the story goes for so many people who landed in the Kootenays. His grandparents actually immigrated to Alberta in the 1930s and started a farm and family. I met my husband when he came to visit Hungary for a wedding, and he invited me to Canada for a holiday. A year and a half later we came back, married and with a baby. I moved to Canada in 1998. We decided to build our family here, but we go back to Hungary often. It was very important for me to raise my daughter as a dual-cultured person. The family aspect of the Hungarian culture is very important for us, as is staying connected with history. I feel that to understand where you want to go, you really need to understand where you came from.

Since living in Canada I’ve learned so much; it’s just different from where I came from. Being so far away from my family I was kind of forced to grow up, but it would have never been possible without the wonderful people that I have met, including the amazing neighbors and friends who are still in my life 20 years later. It can be hard to build friendships as an adult, but we’re lucky to have many supportive people in our lives.

What has the COVID-19 pandemic taught the business community and how will we prevail?

I feel that it’s taught us to collaborate more closely, be more creative, learn to pivot, act more quickly, and reach out. Pivoting and connecting with your audience and with your customers is super important, because this time will pass and your customers will be back – until then, stay connected.

We’re doing biweekly surveys to gauge the health of our business community in conjunction with the BC Chamber and the MindReader™ platform. The first survey, released in mid-March, projected that up to 40% of small businesses would not survive the pandemic. I really hope that some of the businesses who thought that they wouldn’t make it were able to reach out, pivot, and stay connected, and that hopefully that number is not as high anymore. One of my taglines is “tough times don’t last forever, but tough people do.”

What do you see happening in Metal Tech Alley in the next five years?

I see it continuing to grow. Now we have this generation of college students who are super interested in the technology that a lot of the Metal Tech Alley businesses offer. I really hope more of our young people will stay in this area because it provides jobs for them, or provides the platform to become entrepreneurs in connected fields.

I’m fascinated by Rossland’s history. It was just a small gold mine town that grew to a population of 7,000, and then somebody saw the potential to create a smelter. Metal processing is a huge anchor in this area, and it’s incredible how we just keep on growing; so many old gold mining towns are ghost towns. It’s fascinating to me that our community is able to pivot, invest in ideas, and stay strong. We have over 900 small businesses from Fruitvale to Rossland – and collectively they’re the largest employers in this area. Small business owners are the backbone of our community and should be incredibly proud of themselves.

https://youtu.be/A9eNdXyvfxA

by Metal Tech Alley

Circular Economy Role Model: Pete Stamper – General Manager, KC Recycling

Pete Stamper traded in his business suit for coveralls and a respirator when he moved to the Lower Columbia from Seattle, WA to become KC Recycling’s General Manager (GM).
The primed professional is comfortable working at ground level operations, especially excelling at leading global manufacturing companies through ownership transitions and turnarounds. Last March, Stamper was brought onboard as part-owner and GM of the industrial operation. With a track record that boasts successfully deploying the Toyota Production System operating principles and lean manufacturing, Stamper is already implementing a system with components designed for achieving higher quality, lower costs, more efficiency, and happier people. His experience stretches across multiple industries worldwide, including medical, automotive, aerospace, and many other sectors. Through all of this, his focus has been on small businesses that have a manufacturing component. KC Recycling has grown from humble beginnings in 1977 to become the largest lead-acid battery recycler in the Pacific Northwest. Stamper is finding his new line of work meaningful in many ways – from employing 70 people in the region and contributing to the economy, to aiming for the highest safety and environmental standards. He sees lead recycling in North America as a big success story, and KC Recycling as a considerable player in that field. Drawn to the company’s unique position in the Northwest and the partnership KC has with Teck, Stamper is scaling the recycling industry, making better choices for the environment, and growing the circular economy right here in Metal Tech Alley.

Tell us about KC Recycling.

We recycle hazardous materials; there are three different parts to that. The first is car batteries; a battery contains lead, acid, and plastic, so we separate it into three products and then move those to places that further recycle them.

The second part is the electronic scraps. Have you ever taken old electronics - like DVD players, TVs, or phones - to a collection site like Best Buy or a bottle depot? A quarter of British Columbia's electronic scrap comes to us and we take it apart. We remove the hazardous materials -  some things have mercury in them or batteries that could explode or contaminate - and we dispose of them correctly. We separate the stuff that's valuable, like plastic and metals and circuit boards, and send to other recyclers to process.

The third part is CRT (cathode-ray tube) glass, like from old TV sets. Old TV sets give off radiation, so they actually have lead in the glass to protect the people using them. We take the CRT glass, grind it up, and then send it with the lead. The lead is extracted to be reused in batteries.

I understand you process CRT glass for all of North America - is that correct? Do you specialize in anything else?

Right now we process CRT glass for all of Canada and the Northwest. Anyone who does electronic scrap recycling in Canada sends us the glass. Historically we were the facility for Western Canada and the American Pacific Northwest, but when the smelter in Belledune, New Brunswick closed down late last year much of the material that was going there from Ontario and Quebec was redirected to us. So we doubled our production overnight; truckloads of glass just started showing up.

As for another specialty, from a geographic standpoint, we’re the only battery recycler in the West of North America, except for one facility in Los Angeles. Even though automotive batteries are a strongly recycled product - there's a lot of recycling capacity in the East and in Mexico, for example - there are no other battery breakers in the West. What we do involves a lot of specialized knowledge and equipment. It’s called battery breaking because it requires physically breaking batteries into their components and sorting it all. This side of the continent has grown a lot faster than anywhere else, which means more batteries to recycle, so what we do is in very high demand. It’s hard, dealing with hazardous materials like lead and acid while respecting health and environmental concerns, but that’s probably our number one specialty.

Why is Metal Tech Alley or the Lower Columbia an ideal location for KC?

Here in Trail and the surrounding area, there’s real competency around dealing with lead and other hazardous materials. Everyone has their own equipment and knows how to do it safely, so nobody’s intimidated by hazardous material - fundamentally that’s unique here.

The proximity to Teck is really beneficial, too. They’re a big producer and consumer of products. And another unique thing about our location is the rail line. There's only a couple of places where the rail crosses from Canada to the U.S., and one of them is here. Lead is heavy and best suited to ship by rail.

Can you explain how KC Recycling demonstrates a circular economy?

Sure - let's talk about automotive batteries, since that process is a great role model for a circular economy. Automotive batteries contain lead, which is important to recycle for two reasons: one, it's valuable, and two, it's hazardous. The industry evolved to develop a process by which the batteries come back to the manufacturers. Whenever you buy a car battery, you’re charged an extra $15 if you don't give back the dead battery you’re replacing. It’s called a core charge. It makes sure batteries are getting exchanged, and it pays for the batteries to go all the way back through the circular economy.

We work with a US-based battery manufacturer; they get the lead for their batteries from Teck, and Teck gets the lead from us. We extract that lead from the dead batteries that came from the manufacturer. Literally, there are rail cars of dead batteries coming to us from across the border. We take them apart, send the lead to Teck, they put it through the smelter to make it high-grade and send it back to the manufacturer, and it just continues that way. The manufacturer sends their batteries to different retail distributors, and when they sell a shipment of batteries, they get back a shipment of dead batteries, which make their way to us. That's fantastic, right? That's how it should work. Ninety-nine per cent of the lead in North America is recycled; almost none of it is lost. But not everything is valuable and not everything is hazardous, so when you don't have those factors, the infrastructure to drive this type of circular process isn’t there.

I’d like to say that it will happen across other industries, but it certainly requires a functioning public policy system to go beyond valuable products. For example, it’s very common to talk about building this process into plastics. We actually deal with recycled plastics; battery casings are a valuable plastic, but they still don’t go back to the battery manufacturers because it’s not quite valuable enough. We take the plastic, we clean it, we grind it up into a sellable product, and we sell it to another plastic recycler who blends it with other plastics to make another new plastic and sell it again. But with the right policies and systems in place, we could theoretically make everything circular. As it stands now, even the battery acid isn't circular; the acid we extract goes to Teck, and they turn it into another product, such as fertilizer - so it’s being reused, but it doesn't go back to the battery manufacturer with the lead. Wouldn't it be nice if a rail car of lead was followed by a rail car of acid, and one of plastic?

These are solvable problems. It's just that the economics alone don't drive it. As a community we have to want to make it happen. We have to put the regulations and incentives in place to make it work, and once it’s set up, it can work very well - we’ve proven that with lead. I was recently asked to join the LCIC board to offer my perspective on the circular economy, as KC Recycling is one of the largest recyclers in the area. I’m passionate about small business and believe that the Lower Columbia is a fantastic place to build a business. The remoteness of our region presents some unique challenges, and I look forward to partnering with other business leaders to collectively address these.

What inspired you to leave Seattle and come work for KC in this type of environment?

Aside from doing something meaningful with an impactful company, and putting aside the adjustment of working with lead - that was new to me - it was a massive business opportunity. If you look at the export of spent use lead-acid batteries in America and Canada, there didn’t used to be any, until about four years ago - and now every year it increases. We're in a geography where there's the least capacity for the amount of spent batteries created. So there’s the opportunity to grow KC Recycling - the only place in the Northwest to recycle those batteries - and also do something really important, which is capture that lead, keep it here, and do the circular economy thing. People built this circular process years ago, and then it started to fall apart because we haven't built the recycling capacity to keep up with the growth of our lead-acid battery production. In the future I’d love to see KC Recycling capturing all the batteries that used to leave the Pacific Northwest ports for Asia.

And one other personal thing inspired my move here: lifestyle. I used to spend every weekend in the mountains at our cabin near Seattle; our family skied all winter and went mountaineering all summer. So the opportunity to come to live in the mountains instead of only going there on the weekends was incredible. My wife is from Alaska, so she feels at home in the snow, my daughter is on the Red Mountain Racers, and my son is a great skier, too. We also have a bike “problem” - like most people in Rossland - and we do a lot of climbing, hiking, camping, and canoeing.

Lifestyles have changed globally during COVID-19. How has KC Recycling pivoted during the new conditions?

KC Recycling is a required essential business and easily adapted to address COVID concerns. Due to the nature of the work, hygiene and safety has always been a part of what we do; all employees already use respirators, coveralls, and gloves daily. Additionally, to allow physical distancing in break rooms and changing rooms, we’ve staggered start times and break times. We also provided all employees with disposable masks to use at home to help keep themselves and their families safe. We all feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to step up and serve our community, with safety as our top priority.

With operations running smoothly and the business growing, what is KC Recycling hoping to achieve in the next five years?

There are a number of things; we actually just rolled out our company mission and values. The first is that we are recognized as the best place to work in the Kootenays. I heard a rumour that our reputation wasn’t the greatest, and I like a challenge! I know we can do it. It's a great company that does great stuff, and if we keep going I’m sure we’ll be one of the best. The second is that I expect safety to be something that's automatic in everyone's mind; I want to set the industry safety standard. We had some high-level visitors from a huge company the other day, and one of the superintendents complimented us three times on our amazingly clean and safe operation. That felt good; it means we’re making progress and changing our reputation. Third, we want to become more significant in the circular economy. Whether that’s increasing battery recycling capacity in the Northwest or going after other materials, we need to increase and grow our processing ability.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmSnMF7zf0M

by Metal Tech Alley

Sustainable Expertise: Morag Carter – Executive Director, the Skills Centre

by Metal Tech Alley

The Perfect Retreat: Jesse Crockett – General Manager, The Josie Hotel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1hMgBlqb-Y

Luxury can mean so many things. For Jesse Crockett, valet help with his family’s six sets of skis upon first arrival at The Josie Hotel was a rich experience. He was refreshed by the level of customer service – and fresh pow – and before he could say, “concierge,” a new relationship formed. As The Josie’s General Manager, Jesse can’t complain about the stunning view from the new boutique hotel. The big experience the small establishment provides for all guests is impactful, offering a family-friendly environment that also handily serves as an upscale choice for locals looking to temporarily depart from their low-key lifestyle. The award-winning hotel, located in Metal Tech Alley, offers amenities like outdoor cedar saunas, ski valet, and a spa – not to mention The Velvet Restaurant & Lounge, where French-inspired cuisine is complemented with refreshing cocktails and paired with educated wine staff pouring B.C.’s finest grapes. The feast continues on the mountain slopes, where Red Mountain Resort delivers 3,850 acres of pristine skiing in an environment that is best described as “still keeping it real.” Locals only whisper "Red," but nothing this good can be kept a secret for long. After years of industry experience by way of SilverStar Mountain Resort and Vancouver’s Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, Jesse is excited to run The Josie at Red. His dream to become an adventure guide was redirected when he recognized he was accident-prone, and management seemed like a more attractive route. So it was down the Powder Highway to this newest venture, where it’s all about building a passionate team to help share the region with their guests and the world.

Tell me about your role as General Manager of The Josie Hotel.

I would say I’m the manager of fun! Ha! Seriously, though, we're a 106-room boutique-style hotel with all hospitality facets. We have our restaurant, The Velvet Restaurant & Lounge, as well as banquet space and ballroom, so I’m basically leading and connecting all of our different departments. Because we’re new, a big part of my job is driving the sales and marketing program to raise international awareness. It’s important to sell our hotel but also increase awareness of Red Mountain and Rossland in general.

I started here at the end of the first winter season, in April. The hotel opened in November of last year, so it’s only been open a year, but a lot has been accomplished. There have been a lot of awards, which has been nice. The World Ski Awards just named us the Best Ski Boutique Hotel in Canada, which is pretty exciting, and then USA Today named us the No. 2 best ski hotel in North America.

Congratulations, that is exciting! Can you tell me how The Josie provides a different experience than other hotels?

That's a great question. For us, offering a boutique style - which I love - is a big thing. It’s different from what else is on offer in the North American marketplace, especially in BC. You don’t find slope-side hotels like us at very many - if any - of the Interior ski resorts. There are a few boutique-type hotels in Whistler and major centres like Vail and Aspen, but those are the big players. When you find something the size and quality of Red Mountain with a hotel like ours there, it is very unique. The Josie is the first luxury hotel built at a ski resort in Canada in the last 10 years. Geographically and experientially that definitely makes us different.

Service-wise, we have all the luxury boutique services, including a ski concierge. When I came here for the first time with my family and my four kids, it was the greatest to be greeted by the guest services team at the entrance and have everything taken care of from that point on. They expertly handled all six pairs of my family’s skis and quickly got us into our rooms and onto the slopes; having that all taken care of when you’re off the beaten track is very unique!

Then there’s our restaurant, The Velvet. It's headed by Executive Chef Marc-Andre Choquette, who’s put together a French-influenced menu that’s tied to local farm-fresh ingredients. Fresh is absolutely the key tenet of the restaurant. The team works tirelessly to have the freshest ingredients and make everything from scratch; it provides a dining experience that you're not going to get in many places within the Kootenay region or Interior BC yet. I think we're putting ourselves up against the best restaurants in Canada, which is exciting.

I understand your parent company generally sets up in pretty world-renowned international locations. How’d they choose Rossland, and how is the hotel complementing the ski resort?

Noble House Hotels and Resorts manages the hotel. The ownership group really looked at this as a special place. They saw the potential in the community, the potential at Red Mountain, and the growing opportunities throughout the region. With the Spokane International Airport only two hours away it gives both our American and international friends direct access, too. We're in a growth phase here, and I think there's such strong potential for building a strong community and a strong resort. I think the biggest thing, and where it ties in so nice, is that it’s such a unique offering - it's different from the other resort accommodations. Red recently opened a new hostel, there are condos, and we’re the luxury boutique. Everything works together nicely for all different styles of guests.

With the season upon us, can you tell me what you're excited about?

I'm definitely excited for more snow, which is coming! It always comes. We’re excited to go into our second operating year with an eye for enhancement. We want to really enhance the whole experience, grow our events, and welcome more international guests. A big focus for us this year is creating a fun après environment at The Velvet and adding more music, as well as improving the lunch environment to really focus on offerings for the kids. We want to be a good option for a place to come with your family, especially after a day of skiing. And we’re going to continue presenting a real culinary experience, and highlighting the fantastic culinary team’s work with great Okanagan wines and wine events.

Also, Red’s new lift adds another 300 acres. The Topping Creek Chairlift is great, and I think it's really going to spread skiers across the mountain. It's definitely adding more beginner to intermediate terrain on the lower side of the mountain. I believe the addition also puts Red into a new category - top 10 in North America, size-wise.

What professional steps have you taken to get to where you are today?

I started out with a tourism management degree; originally I wanted to be in adventure tourism. I thought the greatest thing in the world would be to work as a raft and ski guide, but I finally came to the realization that I'm accident-prone, so maybe guiding wasn't the best choice. I did my adventure tourism training in Golden and Cranbrook, so I got to know the Kootenay/Rockies region. After hurting myself for the tenth time I realized I also liked the management part of my education, so decided to finish my business degree in Tourism. Coming out of school I was fortunate to have great opportunities; I worked at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel in Vancouver, which was one of the best jobs I could’ve had to really understand the industry. Later I joined SilverStar as the Hotel Manager, and went from two to four hotels building their portfolio, which was also great. When you’re working for a single resort sole proprietor, learning how to watch your cost but provide a great experience is key, and we did that well. As my position grew, I also took over food and beverage and became their Hospitality Director. We renovated multiple restaurants and expanded on the different event offerings, including opening a spa and growing the wine festival. With the seasonality of a ski resort, finding ways to draw people during different parts of the year to drive business was so important. I’ve helped grow and change businesses in the hospitality industry on many sides, so it put me in a great place to move into the GM role here at The Josie.

Do you still take advantage of your environment and get out skiing?

Absolutely. Red is one of those mystical resorts. Everybody knows about it, but not everybody's been here yet. When I started considering this role I came out to see the area, see Rossland, see the resort. It was always somewhere I’d wanted to visit. Once the family and I started skiing the area we definitely fell in love. It was very quickly apparent that this place has everything anyone needs on the outdoor side. There’s the ski resort, which offers some of the best skiing in North America, and then there's biking, and hiking, and all the adventures you’d ever want. As I mentioned, I have four kids, and we bike and ski as a family. So with Rossland three minutes away from a ski resort, it certainly had huge appeal as a place to live.

Does The Josie partner or collaborate with any other businesses in the area?

Of course, we already have a great relationship with Red, and our success is their success. I sit on the Tourism Rossland board as well. There’s a huge opportunity for us to work together to share all this region has to offer. The board is made up of different stakeholders from the community, and it's a very productive group. Everyone works together to grow tourism that supports business 12 months a year. Tourism dollars generated by the MRDT tax – so taxed off of accommodators – go through the government and are paid to Tourism Rossland. So a hotel like ours, which is going to bring in so much extra revenue, will substantially increase the funding compared to previous years. That said, all accommodators need to look at how we expand our seasons. Winter will be successful with the ski hill in our favour, but how do we work together to grow? We need to draw awareness to how we’re a year-round destination to create sustainability for all the different types of businesses that are in this community.

Lastly, what do you see happening in the area in the next five years?

I think an increase in festivals and events in spring, summer, and fall to really draw in clientele and visitors to the area will be a big regional initiative. I think the direction we're going for is the entire community working together. And that ties in involving local art, culture, music, and culinary into the events and festivals we hope to help build. I think creating new experiences that all operators here can participate in will make the community thrive. Growing our wine events - like wine master dinners with certain wineries - is part of the plan. Making the Red Teeth Mountain Wine Festival into a longer and larger event and bringing in some different music components to round out what the hotel can offer is also on the table. I always like to look at bringing in music, culture, food, art, and all different kinds of things to grow events that appeal to different guests and clientele. We want to give something exciting and unique for locals and guests alike to experience at The Josie.

by Metal Tech Alley

The Greatest Catch: Don Freschi – CEO, Fenix Advanced Materials and On the Fly Productions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U4E4joSk4U

Don Freschi is the entrepreneur who grasped the Metal Tech Alley concept early on. After beginning his chemical metallurgical career at Teck, Don started making semiconductors and high purity metals from Teck byproducts. There’s something very authentic about Don; whether you see him fishing on the Columbia River, in downtown Trail exiting the Community Futures office, or on a business trip to Hong Kong to make global connections, he always comes across as personable and sincere. He says the secret to staying on course is to have a top goal list and start aligning your decisions with it to make your wildest dreams come true. In 2015, Don launched Fenix Advanced Materials, an offshoot from Firebird Technologies that recently received a financial boost that will help position the company as a world leader in ultra-high purity metals. He makes sure to balance the hustle of starting up and growing companies with his stress-reducing fly-fishing hobby. Providing excellent technical career opportunities in the Lower Columbia region is a priority for Don, who is always looking out for the local economy. Retirement is a frame of mind, he says, joking that he’s on the “Freedom 95” plan. He intends to grow his company and a circular economy right here in the Kootenays, outlining a plan that eliminates waste and encourages the reuse of resources. After securing supplemental funding with the help of local organizations, Don is confident he can take another business to the next level.

What is Fenix Advanced Materials, and how did business start up?

Fenix is a clean technology company specializing in manufacturing ultra-high purity metals for things like solar energy and nuclear medicine. Essentially, we convert things that go into the ground as waste into value-added products that help save the world.

Working in the industry started way back in the early 90s for me; in 2015 my partners from my previous company, Firebird Technologies - Bill Micklethwaite and Mike Konkin - and I saw an opportunity to start something new. My non-compete with my previous employer 5N Plus had ended, so it was an open ball game. We decided to throw some money in and see if we could get into the ultra-high purity metals market.

As experts in semiconductors and ultra-high purity metals from our days at Teck Cominco and Firebird, we decided to change our aim and focus on just the ultra-high purity metals. The margins are good, and you don't need near the staff you do with a semiconductor company. So we're in the ultra-high purity business, or what they call “six nines to seven nines pure,” because it's 99.99999 percent pure.

You have a long history in Trail, having worked for Teck before starting Firebird Technologies, which was later purchased by Quebec-based 5N Plus and moved to the U.S. Given the fact that you had the opportunity to start fresh, why did you choose to set up Fenix in Metal Tech Alley again?

It's all about the area, right? It's all about what we have here - and.we have everything we need. We've got our major raw material supplier right up the hill with Teck, which is a source for a lot of our starting products - things like indium, cadmium, tellurian and others. Teck produces them, but things like cadmium can be toxic, so they're called by-product metals. Taking out the impurities from those byproducts make them ultra-pure and ready to combine to form things like semiconductors.

This area also has skilled former employees of mine. It's just a perfect fit to bring everybody here. And of course, it's just the place you want to live. I've got world-class fishing, skiing, everything right out my back door. I've got all of what I call my de-stressing sports here - and they're affordable. There’s a world-class fly fishing river five minutes from my house, world-class skiing ten minutes up the road, world-class hiking and biking trails close by - you name it, we have it all.

I was born and raised in Trail, lived in Vancouver and Victoria while I went to school for seven years and worked there for five more before moving back. All of my companies are built around lifestyle, but family is No. 1, and my family's here, including my daughter, who is bringing my grandson up here.

Do you use the local business resources?

For sure. We started with equity investment, and we had to buy about half a million dollars of equipment, so of course we went to Community Futures of Greater Trail; they were instrumental in getting us the new equipment for our big expansion. They gave us a good lump sum to get going.

Right now we're increasing our product lines and diversifying our products, so value-adding. For example, we’re going from producing indium bars to indium wire, indium foil, cadmium shot, etc. - so we're changing the forms and making everything higher value. We raised over $1.5 million in financing for new product lines to really crank up Fenix. We went after some equity financing and debt, and invested close to $750,000 in equipment and another million dollars in labour. That's a lot of money to get that equipment in and hire 12 technical people over the next year. Columbia Basin Trust helped with that through their Impact Investment Fund; the biggest contributor was the NRC IRAP (National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program). The grant money is big because they'll cover 80% of labour you bring in.

We got one of the biggest, if not the biggest, contracts ever awarded to this area from NRC IRAP, which is pretty cool.

The funding is huge for our business. Obviously, as companies struggle trying to get from small product to product lines, and from $600,000 in revenues up to $3M, you always need that extra funding. We were fortunate to have the trust built already with local groups like Community Futures, Columbia Basin Trust, and NRC IRAP; we were able to leverage the money, put it together, and then crank it up.

What keeps you focused and committed to your industry, and how do you remain so relaxed?

It's actually the flexibility that keeps me focused. It's not about the money at all; obviously, we had a good exit back in 2009 with Firebird. It's about making sure we establish a company here that provides good employment - good technical employment - for people. I felt bad when we sold Firebird and they moved it to the States, and we felt obligated to set something up here again.

But one part has to complement the other - that's the big thing. With growing a start-up, there's the cash flow issues, trying to hire new staff - you've got some stressors there. So as long as I have the time to take the time, and find the time to de-stress, I’m good. I always seem to be able to relax very quickly. My main de-stressor is fishing.

Fishing isn’t just a hobby, but also ties in with one of your other areas of professional focus. Could you touch on that?

Sure. One of my other companies, On The Fly Productions, produces the TV show Sport Fishing on the Fly. We book trips called On The Fly Adventures, too. Even though I've got a camera crew on-site, and we have to do post-production, fishing is still relaxing. It always puts a smile on my face and takes away all the stress.

On The Fly actually started when Grant Fines and I were partners in Firebird; we wanted a hobby and Grant was doing a bunch of volunteer video work for Shaw Cable. I was fly-fishing, and he offered to show me some video stuff if I showed him how to fish. He filmed me fly-fishing one time, and we gave it to Shaw; they liked it; they put it on the air, and then it just took off from there. Grant and I actually committed quite a bit of money - we put in about $100,000 in to start. Back in 1995 we signed with Outdoor Life Network down in the U.S., and now this year we're producing our 25th season. It airs all across North America and is now in Russia, New Zealand, and across Europe. The show really took off - it’s essentially worldwide.

I also have another company, Freschi Global Consulting, where I consult globally for semiconductors and consult with KAST under their Adventure Acceleration Program to help mentor younger companies and startups; I try to help them not make the mistakes that we all make as entrepreneurs. That side of things is important so we can establish more companies here in Metal Tech Alley.

Can you describe a pivotal moment in your career?

There have been a lot, but probably the biggest one was after we sold Firebird. There was a point where - well, I've always been a terrible employee; I know that I'm a bad employee, and that's why I've always had my own business. So what happened was I signed on to be the General Manager for 5N Plus as part of the buyout. Well, nearly three years into running the Trail plant, and with them doing nothing that we wanted them to do - our input went nowhere, and when you don't have any input, you don't have any say - that was a pivotal moment. I decided to give up the huge salary and just walk away. I had to get out of there, so that's what I did, even though people thought I was crazy for leaving.

Defining what makes you happy is important, and it just wasn’t making me happy. It should never be about the money; too many people put too much value on money. It'll stop you, it’ll hinder you, it can even kill you sometimes, because money can prevent people from moving forward. You gotta move forward, and it can't be all about the bucks.

What do you see happening in the local business sector over the next five years?

Well, what I'd love to see is no plan to ever sell Fenix. The goal will be to grow the company. I want Fenix to be at least the size Firebird was when we sold it - so 26-30 employees - and a world leader in ultra-high purity metals. I also want other companies here; at least one or two other companies using our products to build things here to contribute to a circular economy.

Basically, I’d love to have companies that we’re already dealing with - solar companies and semiconductor companies - set up right here in Metal Tech Alley. We take the products coming out of Teck, purify, improve, even combine them to get them ready for semiconductor growth, and these companies finish the product. Why wouldn't they want to do it all here? So that's our goal; in the next five years we want to bring these companies here to see the whole circular value chain. They’d produce their products and give their recycle back to Teck. Essentially we’d just keep reusing and reusing rather than digging up new material and putting it to waste. You've got to complete that circle, so the economy is full. Plus, the more value-adds, the more different products you can create, and the better circular economy you have.

by Metal Tech Alley