Scott grew up in Red River Valley, Manitoba on his family’s farm. An entrepreneur from an early age, he started his first business in grade 11 selling airsoft guns to his fellow students. A natural businessman and marketer, he realized there was a larger service he could offer. He created “experiences” where his fellow schoolmates came to the farm and took part in historical military battle recreations. He moved with trends and technology, instigating field competition days to bolster attendance and online booking to make it easy. Popularity grew and he continued working on the business while studying for a degree in Business and Marketing at the University of Manitoba.
Always wanting to put knowledge into action, Scott took a hiatus from his studies and travelled to Vancouver to work as a mortgage manager at the Toronto-Dominion Bank. Enjoying the freedom this role gave him he became an independent broker and helped start a private mortgage investment company, Alta Pacific Mortgages, now known as AP Capital. It was a rewarding challenge for Scott to help people with their wealth management and gave him a strong financial acumen to bring into this other business projects.
Even though he loved Vancouver, Scott still had a strong foothold in the family farm, R&L Acres, as their Director of Technology. An early adopter of UAV technology, Scott was playing with the machines and their capabilities back in 2013. Setting up a test lab at the farm he quickly became an expert in which models were the best for the applications farmers were looking for. After realizing the successes he was having on his own farm, specifically with drainage efficiency, he wanted to take this to the neighbours. In 2014 he started selling the drones and Green Aero Tech was born. However, like the air gun business of his high school days, he realized the greatest value to his clients was in the service he could create.
In 2015 Scott met Warren Genik, owner of full-service UAV-company, AgSky, who was looking to purchase a UAV Scott distributed at the time. They soon found another way to work together. With AgSky’s background in data collection and Green Aero Tech’s fleet of machines and testing grounds they could offer the full package. Just last year they combined forces with Scott becoming the CEO of Green Aero Tech and Warren the CTO.
“It didn’t make financial sense for us to just sell the drones, and it didn’t work logistically for farmers either,” he explains. “The amount of money and effort it takes to stay on top of the technology and machine maintenance is cost and time prohibitive. We realized could offer that service and be part of their team when they needed it, at a fraction of the cost.”
Scott’s focus is to push the company into new industries, while focusing heavily on the research and development of the reporting technology that provides the actionable information to the client.
“Our tagline is ‘Understand Your Land’ because as farmers, engineers, surveyors, and developers we’re all looking for that key information that can help us make the most out of the land we’re working with,” he explains. “Coming from a farm where efficiency was key and with my background in finance, it made perfect sense to deliver a product that utilized the very best technology that gave a tangible ROI. What we offer is more accurate, faster, and cost-effective than anything else on the market.”
Scott spends his time split between Whistler and the Red River Valley with his young family and dog, Camper. When he’s not focused on Green Aero Tech you can find him in goal at the local pond with a hockey stick in hand.