Tryon M. Williams

Tryon "Tarrnie" M. Williams
280px Tarrnie (center) in 2015
Born	(1940-11-11) November 11, 1940 Montréal, Québec, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Known for	work in IBM; Distinctive Software, Inc; Electronic Arts; International Murex; YM Biosciences; PNI Digital Media; Bingo.com; Shoal Games Ltd.

Tryon "Tarrnie" M. Williams (born 11 November 1940) is a Canadian businessman. He is the founder of Canada's first publicly traded software company, Sydney Development Corporation formed in 1978. From 1988 to 1991 he was President and CEO of Distinctive Software Inc. of Vancouver and, upon the acquisition of that company by Electronic Arts Inc., North America's largest publisher of interactive software, he became President and CEO of Electronic Arts (Canada) Inc. Mr. Williams has considerable experience in the fields of computer and video games, biotechnology, real estate, and computer technology. He has over 40 years of leading technology ventures to success. Recipient of lifetime achievement award for contributions in technology. Co-founded and led companies to exits of more than $850 million.

Biography

Born in Montréal, Québec, he traveled to Western Canada early in life. He obtained an B.Sc (Mathematics) in 1963 from the University of Alberta subsequent to three years of mechanical engineering at McGill University in Québec. After university he first worked as an actuarial student for Standard Life Insurance Corporation in Montréal followed by two years in sales in the mutual fund industry.

In 1965, Mr. Williams joined the Canadian Corporation for the World Exposition (Expo 67) as a Project Manager responsible for multiple projects in the field of communications and computers. The expertise obtained in completing projects on time and on budget has proven invaluable to Mr. Williams over the years.

He then moved to Vancouver and joined IBM where he worked for 10 years initially in systems design, then sales, then management education and finally in various management roles.

Mr. Williams resigned from IBM in 1978 to found Canada’s first public software company, Sydney Development Corporation (“SDC”), initially developing an online real-time project management System for mainframe computers; then various different business applications for mini computers; and eventually becoming the first developer and publisher of computer games for microcomputers in Canada. SDC was the fastest growing public company in Canada in the five-year period 1978 to 1983 with FY 1983 revenues of $21 million.

Mr. Williams left SDC at this time, which was the beginning of the biotech industry, to co-found Proteus Bio-Research Corporation to develop a monoclonal antibody to identify the AIDS virus. This project was successful and Proteus joined with Murex (founded by Gwynn Williams - no relative) to form International Murex which was eventually sold to Abbot Laboratories for $234 million.

Subsequent to joining Murex, he returned to Distinctive Software, a spin-off from SDC, as president. Mr. Williams was instrumental in growing Distinctive, merging it into Electronic Arts for $11 million in 1991, and then helping Electronic Arts (Canada) develop into a strong 125-person organization with a mature management team that reported revenue of $31 million (Canadian) in FY 1993. He was the president of EA (Canada) Ltd. and a member of the seven-man executive team of Electronic Arts in California until 1993 when he was diagnosed with MS and left to focus on his health.

During the subsequent ten year period he became an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia, Sauder School of Business as well as mentoring over 25 small businesses in various technologies and life-sciences. He co-founded and was a director of YM Biosciences in Toronto which was sold to Gilead Sciences for $540 million. He also co-founded InMedia Corporation, developing digital photography software for digital cameras which became PNI Digital Media and sold to Staples Inc. for $74 million.

In 2001 Mr. Williams rescued Bingo.com Inc. from potential bankruptcy and became its President and CEO until 2011 and served as its Executive Chairman.

Awards and Memberships

In addition, Williams is a recipient of the DigiBC Lifetime Achievement award. In 1982, Williams’ company published “Evolution” – the first ever video game created in BC. This led to the formation of Distinctive Software, a company that later became EA Canada, thereby putting the Canadian video game industry on the map and earning him the title, the “Godfather” of BC’s gaming industry. In his acceptance speech, Williams gave advice to all the ambitious entrepreneurs – “To be successful, keep at it and believe in yourself”.

Personal life

Williams is married to his wife, Penny, and have two children and four grandchildren. Both of their children, Tarrnie Williams Jr. and Jason Williams are in the video games industry.