Chris Botterill

It’s common for young people to want to shake off the dust of their hometowns and head for the big, wide world. In surprising numbers, though, Kootenay people return to their home region and create successful lives for themselves. Chris Botterill, owner of Genex Marketing is a case in point.

“I was born and raised in Cranbrook and I love the Kootenays and the lifestyle here,” Botterill said. “I briefly left after graduation, but came back in 2009 when my first child was born. I enjoy the social parts of the area and find there are many good opportunities for young people to create new opportunities for themselves.”

How did you come to choose this line of work?

I owned a sports store in the Okanagan with a partner, and we automated it from manual paper to a computer-based inventory system. Our sports store started off well and eventually we had quite a bit of "boutique" equipment—but no matter what we tried to do we couldn't move products in the store. So we started to put our items online and they sold like crazy. I understood pretty quickly that the Internet is a very useful tool. The Internet allows me to have easy access to information I need. I can easily see stats and get creative by seeing what works for others in the marketplace. I want to make sure that tool is available for others.

What is it about your work that has you excited to get out of bed in the morning?

The coolest thing about my work is we can provide a completely new value to businesses with digital marketing; our services can breathe life into an area of business that wasn't there before—or that may not have done well before.

What’s your focus for 2016?

My main focus is in enhancing our client profile and acquiring top talent in terms of staff.