Matt Rasmussen
Who he is. Matt is the founder of Rolling Tides Construction, a founding partner of Rolling Tides Developments, and the founder of Ruth's Icebucket. He's in growth mode: building Rolling Tides into one of Vancouver Island's most trusted construction firms across public and private sector work, while expanding into development and new partnerships.
What he's working on. A company that can keep growing without needing more of him every year. That means stronger leaders, better systems, bigger opportunities, and discipline about where the company puts its time and energy. At the same time, staying present for his family and building a life where ambition and home can grow together instead of competing.
What he brings to the room. Matt has spent years investing in his own development through Synergy Mastermind, Breakthrough Academy, Highspire Coaching, Build Pro and other rooms built around growth, leadership and business performance. Now he wants to take what he's learned, combine it with the lessons from building his own companies, and share it with the next generation of entrepreneurs.
He's big on leadership and culture, but he also believes growth needs structure. He brings an operator's mindset to turning big ambitions into clear goals, measurable priorities and ninety-day actions that actually move the business forward. He'll push on the plan, challenge the assumptions underneath it, and make sure the goals on the page turn into progress in the real world.
Mike Shaw
Who he is. In 2013, while coaching Canada's National Development Halfpipe Ski Team, Mike sustained a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down. His recovery became his life's work. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from UBC Okanagan and a Master of Counselling Psychology with honours from Yorkville University. From 2016 to 2025 he founded and ran two education and performance-training businesses, SafeStart Education and Athletics and Headstartpro Performance Training. Vancouver Island's Cassie Sharpe, Olympic halfpipe gold and silver medallist, credits tools she learned firsthand from Mike.
Today he's a Registered Clinical Counsellor and founder of Gratus Health in Victoria, the author of Never Part of the Plan, and a keynote speaker who has shared his story and strategies from the stage to more than 50,000 people on three continents. His TEDx talk is called "Grief Happens," Red Bull TV documented his recovery in The Healing Agent, and his story has been featured on CBC, CTV, NBC, and in USA Today.
What he's working on. Building Gratus Health into a multi-location practice that brings mental and physical recovery together, so it can help far more people than he could alone. He continues to speak professionally on the mindset behind business, performance, and mental health. And he's doing both without letting the work crowd out the life it's meant to serve.
What he brings to the room. Perspective. Mike is the one who zooms the room out when it's gotten too close to the problem: what's already working that you take for granted, what this year is actually costing you, and what the older version of you would say about how you're spending it. It's not positive thinking. It's accurate accounting, and it changes what people decide to do next.
Shane Cyr
Who he is. Shane is a realtor on the South Island, running his own practice with eXp Realty, and a partner in Rolling Tides Developments. With Mike, he runs the Victoria Founders hikes, where a lot of the people in this room first met. He's the one who kept asking the question that turned into FOUND: what's the point of building the business if the rest of your life is running on default?
What he's working on. Whole-life intentionality and personal growth, and in particular the connection between performance and being regulated and present: how you actually show up when the pressure's on. Fitness is where he's proven it to himself: years of showing up, on the trails and in the gym, whether or not he felt like it. That kind of consistency is what he wants to bring to every other part of life. He'd be the first to say he's learning this alongside everyone else, which is the point.
What he brings to the room. The whole-life lens, and the discipline to keep it in the plan. Shane hosts the weekend and the room through the year, and runs the sessions that come before anyone opens a business plan: where you actually are, what matters, and what you've been avoiding.