Dr. J. Basil Peters Bio

Basil is a technology entrepreneur, fund manager and exit strategist.

Exit Strategist

Dr. Peters is the principal of Strategic Exits Corp and now devotes most of his time to exit transactions. He beleives exits are the best part of being an entrepreneur and investor.

Fund Manager

Dr. Peters co-founded and was fund manager for:

Angel Fund - Fundamental Technologies II - 2005 to present

Venture Capital Fund - BC Advantage Funds - The BC Tech Fund 2002 - 2006

Hedge Fund - Fundamental Technologies I - 1996 - 2000

Entrepreneur

While still in grad school, Basil co-founded Nexus Engineering. Nexus grew to seven companies with over 300 employees with operations in Hong Kong, Jakarta, London and five Canadian cities.

The first company in the group, Nexus Engineering, became the second largest manufacturer of cable television headends in the world with installations in over 100 countries. Nexus Engineering and one other company in the group were successfully sold to Scientific Atlanta (NYSE:SFA) of Atlanta, Georgia in 1993. Basil was Chairman and CEO from the founding through to the sale.

In the mid 1990’s, Dr. Peters worked in Silicon Valley as the CEO of ICTV Inc, an interactive television company funded by IBM, Cox Cable and the Lauder Venture Fund.

Writer

Basil writes a blog on best practices for angel investors and entrepreneurs at www.AngelBlog.net.

Boards and Associations

Member of the Executive Board of the Bellingham Angel Group.

Basil is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Simon Fraser University where he hopes to help students and faculty spin-off more university research into promising technology companies.

Dr. Peters was also on the Advanced Systems Institute Board, National Research Council (NRC) Advisory Committee on the Tri-University Meson Facility (TRIUMF), The BC Science Council Electronics and Communications Committee, British Columbia Electronic Industry Strategy Task Force for the Provincial Ministry of Economic Development and the Discovery Enterprises Inc. Venture Capital Review Committee for the Electronics Industry.

Business and Entrepreneurship Awards

• Distinguished Alumni Award for Entrepreneurial Innovation from BCIT, 2003.
• Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, UBC Alumni Association, 1993.
• Honorary Membership, Applied Science Technologists and Technicians of British Columbia, 1992.
• Entrepreneur of the Year awarded by the Editorial Board of BC Business Magazine, May 1991.
• Alumni Award, BCIT Alumni Association,1991.
• Meritorious Achievement Award, The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of the Province of British Columbia, 1991.
• Silver Medal in Entrepreneurship, Canada Awards for Business Excellence, 1990.
• 40 under 40 - selected as one of Vancouver's top business achievers under the age of 40 by the Business in Vancouver newspaper, 1990.
• Business Leader of the Year by the Vancouver Junior Board of Trade, May 1989.
• Gold Medal for Industrial Innovation, The British Columbia Science Council, 1988.
• Certificates of Merit in Entrepreneurship, Canada Awards for Business Excellence, 1987, 1988 and 1989.
• Alumni Achievement Award for Business Achievement, British Columbia Institute of Technology, 1986.
• The Successors - Canada's Emerging Business Leaders selected by Canadian Business magazine, August 1986.
• Canada Awards for Business Excellence Finalist in Entrepreneurship, 1985

Education

In addition to his business activities, Dr. Peters was an Adjunct Professor of Engineering Sciences at Simon Fraser University from 1985 to 2000. He has also been a member of the Board of Governors of the B.C. Institute of Technology and was elected three times to the Board of Governors of the University of British Columbia.

Dr. Peters established the HTEG/Basil Peters Endowment Fund, a scholarship for outstanding students at Simon Fraser University.

Basil completed his Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering at UBC in 1982. He graduated with a Diploma of Technology in Electrical and Electronics with Honors from the B.C. Institute of Technology in 1973 and a Bachelor of Applied Science with Honors, in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 1977. In both programs, Dr. Peters achieved the highest average in his graduating class.

Academic Awards

• Science Council of British Columbia Industrial Post Doctoral Fellowship, Nexus Engineering Corp., Nov 1982 - Oct 1984.
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Postgraduate Scholarship, University of British Columbia, 1979-81 and 1977-79.
• The Hector J. MacLeod Scholarship Award from the IEEE, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC., 1979-80.
• The Sherwood Lett Memorial Scholarship, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, 1978-9 and 1977-8. At the time this was the University of British Columbia's top scholarship.
• The Association of Professional Engineers Prize, University of British Columbia, 1977.
• Charles A. and Jane C.A. Banks Foundation Scholarship, University of British Columbia, 1976-7, 1975-6 and 1974-5.
• BC Hydro and Power Authority Scholarship, British Columbia Institute of Technology, 1972-3.
• Government of the Province of British Columbia Scholarship, British Columbia Institute of Technology, 1972-3.