Shahrzad Rafati is an

Iranian-Canadian Iranian Canadians or Persian Canadians are citizens of Canada whose national background is traced from Iran or are people possessing Iranian and Canadian dual citizenship. From the 2016 Canadian census, the main communities can be found in Southe ...

chairwoman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

and CEO of

BroadbandTV Corp BroadbandTV Corporation is a Canadian media and technology company founded by CEO Shahrzad Rafati in 2005. In 2019, the company was the second largest video property by unique viewers, according to comScore. Its head office is in Vancouver, Briti ...

(BBTV) a global media company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. In October 2020, Rafati led BBTV to its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Early life

Rafati was born 1979 in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, Iran and immigrated to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, British Columbia, Canada as a teenager.Blattberg, Eric
"From war zone to boardroom: The improbable rise of BroadbandTV's Shahrzad Rafati,"
''

Digiday ''Digiday'' is an online trade magazine for online media founded in 2008 by Nick Friese. It is headquartered in New York City, with offices in London and Tokyo. Description ''Digiday'' provides daily online news about advertising, publishing, an ...

'' In 2005, she completed her

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in computer science at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

. Rafati also studied French at Université Paris Sorbonne (Paris IV), and is a graduate of the

Young Global Leaders Forum of Young Global Leaders, or Young Global Leaders (YGL), was created by Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum. The YGL, a non-profit organization managed from Geneva, Switzerland, is under the supervision of the Swiss government ...

Oxford Module: Transformational Leadership at Saïd Business School,

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. Shahrzad also received her Honorary Doctorate from University Canada West in 2020.

Career

Rafati founded BBTV in 2005 and has led it since then, garnering a 2013 $36 million investment from RTL Group. In October 2020, Shahrzad also led BBTV through its initial public offering on the TSX. Separate from her role at BBTV, Rafati is also a board member for

Bjarke Ingels Group Bjarke Ingels Group, often referred to as BIG, is a Copenhagen and New York based group of architects, designers and builders operating within the fields of architecture, urbanism, research and development. The office is currently involved in a ...

, an architecture firm, and was named Vice Chair of the board for

Invest in Canada Invest in Canada is an arms-length Government of Canada organization that promotes and attracts foreign direct investment into Canada. It was created through the ''Investment Canada Act'' and launched on March 12, 2018 as a departmental corporati ...

in 2019. She has been a board member of the Vancouver Economic Commission, and the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs. In September 2018, it was announced that Shahrzad was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to represent Canada on the Business Women Leaders task force, which was formed to advise global leaders on issues of women's economic empowerment as part of the G20 Summit. She was later appointed as Canada's representative for G20 EMPOWER, a private sector alliance with the goal of advancing women's representation at leadership levels in the private sector. In 2019 she was also appointed as the Vice Chair of Invest in Canada, a federal agency that aims to create jobs in Canada by facilitating foreign business investment by highlighting Canada's diverse and skilled talent pool, economic growth across multiple industries, and geographic advantage as a hub for global trade.

Awards

Rafati has been the recipient of many awards and honors, including Canada's Top 40 under 40,Unknown
"2017 – Canada’s Top 40 Under 40"
''Canada’s Top 40 Under 40'' the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award, Person of the Year by BC Technology Association, CEO of the Year by Business in Vancouver, and

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...

's 100 Most Creative People in Business. In 2022, Rafati was named on Business in Vancouver's list of Most Influential Women in Business. BC Business named Rafati the winner in the Entrepreneurial Leader category of the 2022 Women of the Year Awards.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rafati, Shahrzad 1979 births Iranian broadcasters Iranian emigrants to Canada Women corporate executives Canadian women company founders Businesspeople from Vancouver People from Tehran Living people Paris-Sorbonne University alumni University of British Columbia Faculty of Science alumni Naturalized citizens of Canada