Colin Lennox Award for Technology Champion
Tobyn Sowden (Redbrick) Sponsored by Reed Pope LLP

For more than 15 years, Tobyn Sowden has been building in Victoria — launching companies, investing in people, and helping shape the community from the inside out. Since founding Redbrick in 2011, he has launched or acquired more than 35 companies, generating over half a billion dollars in global revenue. He has reinvested that success locally, backing Victoria-based startups with over $1.3 million in early-stage capital and supporting organizations including Power To Be, Our Place, and TEDxVictoria.

A UVic computer science graduate, Sowden continues to support the next generation through co-op programs, Inspire, and the Innovation Hub. The Colin Lennox Award — named for one of VIATEC's founding figures — honours individuals who champion technology and its role in building community.

"I've been working with Tobyn on something behind the scenes for the past couple of years," said Gunn. "What stuck with me wasn't the opportunity itself — it was why he reached out. He saw something that could be good for the broader community and made the connection. That's pretty consistent with how he shows up."

Janet Baird Award for Community Champion
Dr. Karolina Valente (VoxCell)

Dr. Karolina Valente is one of the most quietly impactful figures in Victoria's tech and life sciences ecosystem — a founder, scientist, and educator whose contributions extend well beyond the walls of VoxCell. While building a pioneering biotech company from the ground up and raising over $10 million in funding, Valente has simultaneously served as a professor and Director of Undergraduate Biomedical Engineering at the University of Victoria.

She maintains a minimum of three UVic co-op students at VoxCell at all times, providing hands-on deep-tech experience that does not exist elsewhere on Vancouver Island. Her board of directors is 80% women and her team 45% women — a deliberate effort to build representation that the biotech industry has historically lacked. She has been recognized in The Globe and Mail's 2025 Changemakers Award, the Life Sciences BC Honour Roll, and Douglas Magazine's 10 to Watch.

The Janet Baird Award — named for a founding VIATEC board chair — honours community builders. "Karolina is a different kind of rare," said Gunn. "It's hard enough to build a company. It's hard enough to be leading-edge in science and technology. It's even harder to do both at the same time — and then on top of that, she's teaching, mentoring students, and creating opportunities for the next generation here in Victoria. That combination is not common."

Inclusion Champion
Text Groove Communications Sponsored by Redbrick

Text Groove has built something quietly remarkable: a company whose product and culture both reflect a genuine commitment to inclusion that goes well beyond policy statements. Their platform powers SMS engagement for over 3,300 media organizations across North America, and they make it available at no or low cost to campus radio stations, Indigenous broadcasters, and community media organizations — giving underrepresented voices access to modern audience engagement infrastructure they could not otherwise afford.

Inside the company, Text Groove has built a team where neurodivergent employees are not accommodated as an exception but embraced as a core part of how the company thinks, communicates, and builds its product. For a ten-person company operating in a competitive market, these choices reflect values that are operational rather than aspirational.

Social Impact Award
Synergy Enterprises

Synergy Enterprises has spent over a decade empowering businesses to lead in corporate climate action — helping organizations across aviation, marine, tourism, and beyond measure, reduce, and report their environmental impact. A Certified B Corporation recognized as Best for the World by B Lab Global, Synergy doesn't just consult on sustainability — they embody it, from their recycled-bottle flooring to their charity partner FED Urban Agriculture. They are proof that business can be a powerful force for regenerative change.

VIATEC Member of the Year
MNP Sponsored by VIATEC

MNP has been a cornerstone of Victoria's business community for years, providing full-service accounting, tax, and technology consulting to some of the region's most innovative companies. Over the past year, MNP has consistently shown up for the tech community — supporting initiatives including the LIFT Leadership Retreat, Summer Social, VIATEC's AGM, and the VIATEC Awards through active participation, time, and leadership