A local high-tech company’s move into new office space was the right occasion to recognize the importance of TRU to its success and establish an endowment fund.

Todd Stone, founder of iCompass Technologies presented Alan Shaver, TRU President and Vice-Chancellor with a cheque for $25,000 to establish the iCompass Innovation Excellence Award. Stone told the large group of well-wishers at the grand opening on 100-block Victoria that his success and 13 years of steady growth would not be possible without the TRU graduates that make up his 28-person work force.

“It’s our TRU graduates who have been instrumental in our business growth and getting us to where we are today,” Stone said. His firm designs software used by municipal governments and agencies to prepare agendas, minutes and record keeping.

“Providing jobs for our graduates and then creating endowments for the university is like a one-two punch,” Shaver said. “It’s the kind of community involvement and relationships a university president dreams of.”

The first employee Stone ever hired in 1998 was a TRU graduate. Since then, between co-op positions and employees that have moved on to other opportunities, iCompass has hired 40 TRU grads, mostly Computer System Operation and Management (CSOM) and Bachelor of Technology in Applied Computer Science (BTAC).

Stone also served on TRU Board of Governors from 2001 until 2009. “TRU has been good to us, it’s time to give back.”