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Board of Directors
Bill Dobie
Bill Dobie founded Navarik in 2000 with several partners, including Martin Ertl, after several years as a marine shipping professional, then led the company through its startup phase, during which we acquired several key customers and and established ourselves in the maritime shipping industry. Bill was a chartering manager for a major international ship operator, as well as a ship agent and shipbroker for World Wide Shipping and Chartering Ltd. in Vancouver.
Wherever he has worked since the early 1990s, Bill has led the evaluation of information technology needs and overseen the deployment of new solutions for them. Bill received Business in Vancouver magazine's "40 Under 40" award, recognizing important young entrepreneurs in British Columbia, in 2005.
Martin Ertl
Martin is a co-founder of Navarik and held various management roles with the company from 2000 to 2008, most recently as VP Customer Relationships, in which he was responsible for the negotiation of agreements with customers, the implementation of Navarik's system for customers and the provision of ongoing support to users. Prior to Navarik, he practiced law at Davis LLP, a full-service Canadian law firm.
Martin earned a Bachelor of Laws (with Distinction) from McGill University and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of British Columbia. He recently completed a six-year term on the Board of Directors of the UBC Alumni Association, including terms as Vice-Chair and Chair of the Board.
Haig Farris
J. Haig deB. Farris, LL.D., is known for having spent decades helping young high-technology and resource companies grow and succeed, and is currently President of the private venture capital company Fractal Capital Corp. Dr. Farris began his career as a lawyer with Farris & Company in Vancouver in 1963, the moved into financial consulting and co-founded the largest venture capital pool in western Canada.
He has also been an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia and a long-time supporter and director of Vancouver's cultural institutions, including Science World, the Vancouver Opera, the Vancouver Playhouse, the Vancouver Foundation, and the UBC Alumni Association. He is a member of Canada's main public scientific research granting body, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).
Joseph Horler
Joe Horler is a former Executive Vice President of Marketing at Talisman Energy, an international oil and gas company, which produced nearly 500,000 BOE/day of hydrocarbons during his tenure. In that role, Joe was responsible for all marketing activities globally, including market development, commercial sales and transportation management from point of production to point of sale via pipeline, rail, truck and ship. In addition, Joe had responsibility for price forecasting, commodity price risk management and related regulatory and industry policy issues. Mr. Horler was Talisman Energy’s designated Governor on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). His principal role was to Chair the Markets and Transportation Executive Policy Group.
Joe has over 30 years experience in the oil and gas sector starting with Sun Oil where he began his career following graduation with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Joe served in several capacities at Sun Oil including crude oil trader before joining Husky Oil where his numerous roles included Manager of Crude and Product Supply. In 1987, Mr. Horler was recruited to join BP Canada, where he was responsible for all marketing activities. Talisman became an independent company from BP Canada in 1992.
Harry Jaako
Harry is a co-founder of Discovery Capital, and a Director of the BC Discovery Fund (VCC) Inc. He has worked with nearly 200 technology companies, and serves on several Investee Company Boards. Harry has over twenty years experience in advising early-stage technology companies, managing technology sector investment funds, and sourcing, analyzing and closing venture capital investment opportunities. Harry was appointed as a Public Governor of the Vancouver Stock Exchange in 1998, served as an independent Director of the Canadian Venture Exchange (CDNX), and has also been appointed as an independent Director of the TSX Group, Inc., the 7th largest stock exchange in the world, and North America's first publicly traded stock exchange group.
He is also well known in the B.C. technology community, and as a regular columnist in Business in Vancouver. Prior to co-founding Discovery Capital, he was a Consulting Manager with DMR Group, and worked with IBM Canada Ltd. Harry holds a B.Eng. from Lakehead University.
Patrick Rooney
Patrick Rooney joined us at Navarik in the spring of 2006 as President and CEO, a position he formerly held at rail industry innovator Kelsan Technologies Corp., which he had led from an early stage through a five-year growth phase. Previously, Patrick was Director of Supply and Distribution at Viridian Inc. (formerly Sherritt Inc., and now part of Agrium), a publicly traded fertilizer company where he managed supply and distribution activities and facilities globally.
In addition to his time with that major commodities firm, Patrick has extensive business and legal experience in joint ventures, technology transfers, and mergers and acquisitions, including several years with the law firm of McCarthy Tetreault in Toronto. He is a former member of the Board of the British Columbia Technology Industry Association. Patrick has a Master of Laws degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science in England.
Ralph Turfus
Ralph Turfus, B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc., M.B.A., P.Eng., has launched eight startup companies in his career, and spent 28 years as the founder and CEO of Class Software (originally Escom Software), which began as a minicomputer sales and distribution company in 1976 and moved on to create registration and booking software for municipal parks and recreation departments, clubs, colleges, and schools.
Mr. Turfus trained as an engineer and also spent seven years in the Canadian Air Force. In his years at Class Software, he steered the company through what were the largest changes so far in the history of computer software and data processing industry, from the dawn of minicomputers through the personal computer era to the dominance of the web. He was the sole shareholder, with no venture capital and no debt, leading the firm to 30% annual growth, more than 140 staff, over 730 customers at more than 10,000 individual facilities, and $20 million in revenue.
