Executive Management

Ms. Rafati is the founder of BBTV and has held the position of Chief Executive Officer since the Company’s founding in 2005. She has built BBTV as a quadruple bottom line business which measures success across financial, people, environmental and social KPIs. She also serves on the board of directors of numerous for-profit and non-for-profit entities, including: Invest In Canada, Hootsuite Media Inc., and Bjarke Ingels Group, and has previously served on the board of directors of the Forum of Women Entrepreneurs and the Vancouver Economic Commission. In 2018, Shahrzad was selected by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to represent Canada as part of the G20 Business Women Leaders Task Force, and in 2020 she was selected to Co-Chair G20 EMPOWER as Canada's representative. Ms. Rafati has received numerous recent awards and accolades, including being named the 2018 Ernst and Young Pacific Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the technology category, awarded Person of the Year by the British Columbia Technology Association, named one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40, selected as one of The Hollywood Reporter’s Most Powerful Women in Global Television, the AdAge Creativity Award 2019 Visionary/Founder of the Year, and was named to TheWrap’s Innovators List. Earlier awards and accolades include being named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women, winner of the CEO World Awards Founder/Entrepreneur of the Year and named one of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business. Ms. Rafati holds a BSc. in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia, is a Graduate of the Young Global Leader, Oxford Module: Transformational Leadership at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and received her honorary doctorate from University Canada West in 2020.

Mr. Tappin is an accomplished business leader in both public and private companies spanning many stages of size and growth with an emphasis in technology and media. He has held president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer roles and has led two successful initial public offerings (Overture and Rubicon Project) in his chief financial officer capacities. Mr. Tappin was awarded CFO of the Year by the Los Angeles Business Journal and has been a public speaker, including appearances on CNBC and presenting at many of the largest investor conferences. Mr. Tappin has been on the board of directors of several companies and philanthropic organizations and currently is on the board of directors of Spin Master Corp., a company listed on the TSX. Prior to his role at BBTV, Mr. Tappin provided private strategic consulting to a cross section of companies and private equity firms. Previously, he was the President and Chief Financial Officer of TechStyle Inc., a privately held fashion holding company, a position he held from July 2016 to November 2018. Prior to TechStyle, he was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of The Rubicon Project, Inc., a technology company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, a position he held since 2013.

Prior to The Rubicon Project, Mr. Tappin was a Managing Director of The Gores Group, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm from January 2009 to October 2010. He was the founding Chief Financial Officer of Overture, the pioneer of paid search, which was listed on Nasdaq and ultimately acquired by Yahoo!. Prior to Overture, Mr. Tappin was a senior executive at 21st Century Fox / News Corporation, an American multi-national mass media company.

Mr. Ball joined BBTV in 2007 as its second employee. He became BBTV’s Vice President Operations in 2013 and subsequently was appointed Vice President Strategy in 2018, in which role he is responsible for building and leading all new initiatives of BBTV, including BBTV Interactive and BBTV’s Content Management offering. Mr. Ball holds a BSc in Management from the University of Warwick, U.K.

Mr. Adab joined BBTV in 2012 as the Vice President Content and Partnerships at BBTV and operates the leading network of content, acquiring and distributing content on video platforms such as YouTube. Prior to BBTV, Mr. Adab founded Miso Digital, a digital marketing and distribution company focused on helping independent artists sell directly to their fans. He has personally managed and worked with multi-platinum artists such as Bif Naked, DMX, and the Wu-Tang Clan. Mr. Adab holds an MBA from Cornell University, and a BA in Economics from the University of Western Ontario.

Mehrdad has in-depth knowledge of digital signal processing, machine learning, and pattern recognition algorithms. He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of British Columbia (UBC), and is an author on more than 30 journal and conference papers with the focus on pattern recognition, machine learning and intelligent algorithms. He previously held positions in the tech/education industry including roles as a research associate and sessional lecturer at UBC, as well as consulted with several companies (Inetco, BC Mining Research and STC enterprises). He is the former co-chair of the IEEE Signal Processing Chapter in Vancouver for two years.

Mehrdad has been recognized with various awards including UBC Graduate Fellowship, J.K. Zee Fellowship, Summa Cum Laude (Masters program) and NSERC IRDF. In 2008, his PhD thesis was nominated by UBC for NSERC’s Doctoral Prize Award.

Mr. Johnson is responsible for the oversight of BBTV’s Direct Advertising Sales business unit. Prior to BBTV, Mr. Johnson ran his own consulting practice for five years which provided C-suite executives with pragmatic and programmatic assessments for challenging strategic, operational and IT issues. Mr. Johnson has held senior operating roles at Electronic Arts and has taken courses throughout his career to enhance his professional acumen, including a ‘Management for High Tech Companies’ course through Stanford University, and a ‘Mergers and Acquisitions’ course through the Wharton School of Business, from the University of Pennsylvania.

Nancy Glaister has extensive experience acting as General Counsel for a number of public companies whose securities have traded on TSX, NASDAQ, and NYSE. Nancy has over 20 years’ experience in business law, and has worked both as in-house counsel for both public and private companies, and as a partner and associate at a Vancouver boutique business law firm and at a major international law firm in Calgary.

Nancy has expertise in securities law, M&A transactions, debt and equity financings, reorganizations and restructurings, intellectual property, commercial contracts, corporate governance, employment matters, and litigation management. She has worked primarily in or for companies and clients in digital media, film production, film tax shelter financing, biotech, mining, oil and gas, banking and investment banking.

Nancy is a member of the bar of both the Province of British Columbia and the Province of Alberta.