NPA Vancouver members on Sunday nominated Ken Sim to be their mayoral candidate for the upcoming municipal election.
Sim’s wife is a South Asian, Teena Gupta. They were married in 1998 and their four boys range in age from nine to 16.
The nomination meeting took place at the Hellenic Centre in Vancouver. A total of 1,960 ballots were cast.
NPA President Gregory Baker announced the results of the voting shortly after 10 p.m. The nomination meeting was overseen by neutral outside observers from Computershare Ltd. , a global provider of meeting and tabulation services.
The final voting results were:
- Ken Sim: 977 votes
- John Coupar: 602 votes
- Glen Chernen: 379 votes
There were 2 spoiled ballots.
According to Sim’s website, his parents immigrated to Canada in 1967 with three young children. They had two kids in Canada, including Ken. Both his parents worked to support their growing family.
He says: “On my 15th birthday – the first day I was legally allowed to work – I got my first official job: graveyard shift janitor at Wendy’s restaurant making minimum wage. For the next seven years I worked evenings and weekends to help out the family and pay for my university education.”
“After graduating from the UBC Sauder School of Business in 1993, I earned my CPA while working at KMPG, and moved on to investment / merchant banking at CIBC World Markets in Vancouver, Toronto and London (UK).
“The corporate world gave me a great education, but from the time I was eight I knew I wanted to build my own business. Back then, I bought 10-cent comic books and sold them in a different neighbourhood for 25 cents. In 2001, I left the corporate life behind to become the entrepreneur I always wanted to be.”
Sim adds, “My business partner and I started Nurse Next Door, offering a range of senior-care services to help people live at home and experience happier aging.
“We started off with one location here in Vancouver and have grown to service 180+ locations throughout North America. It is our corporate culture to respect and value our 5000+ hard-working employees.
“The company has been listed as one of North America’s 50 best franchises, named a top employer in B.C. and Canada numerous times and also recognized as Canada’s Smartest Company by PROFIT Magazine.”
He relates how he started his second business: “Through my children I met the Siegel family of Siegel’s Bagels – a neighbourhood favorite in Kitsilano and Granville Island. One day, after tasting a bagel direct from their oven – it hit me. I needed to help them bring fresh bagels to more neighbourhoods – and Rosemary Rocksalt was born. Now we have created 100 jobs in five locations with a sixth on the way.”
He says he loves to build businesses – “profitable and sustainable businesses that keep people employed and pay taxes that fund our city, province and country.” He’s toured companies and organizations all over the world looking for innovation and best practices.
He adds: “It’s my mission to bring best practices to all the organizations I work for, including the City of Vancouver.”