Dan Dodge

Dodge, a private person who is known to avoid the media, founded QNX with his then-partner Gorden Bell in 1982. The pair started developing secure customized software for devices while studying at the University of Waterloo, they later brought the software back to Ottawa, where QNX was created. The firm has been wildly successful at supplying customized operating systems for various devices: QNX software can be found in General Motors Corp. and Toyota Corp. cars, military vehicles, municipal power grids and home electronics.