Prestigious Award the Latest Success for CTO of Dynamic Ottawa Tech Firm

Kurtis Funai is a 100-per-cent Ottawa success story, someone who grew up in Orleans, followed his passion for computers into studies at Algonquin College, and today is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Fullscript, one of the city’s fastest-growing technology companies.

For his accomplishments, Funai was recently named a recipient of Ottawa’s Forty Under 40 Award for 2021, the region’s most prestigious business award for people under 40. The award, which was also presented this year to fellow Algonquin alumni Nick McRae, President of Roxborough Bus Lines, and Christopher Redmond, Director, Distant Red Pictures, is a joint initiative of the Ottawa Business Journal and the Ottawa Board of Trade.

“I’m someone who loves technology and simply pursued that passion,” Funai says when asked about the secret to his success. “The majority of my career growth and my success has come from caring about people and what I do. That’s it. There’s no secret beyond putting forward that effort.”

Funai’s route to a position of leadership in Ottawa’s hot tech sector was relatively uncomplicated. Computers have been a part of his life since he was a youth playing video games. “I was lucky enough to have a PC when I was growing up,” he says. “I just liked being on the Internet and creating websites. That led to a lifelong passion for technology and web development, and by the time I graduated high school, I was setting out to see what I could do with my life.”

Algonquin College offered him the opportunity to advance quickly from being a hobbyist to entering the workforce as a real web developer. The Web Development and Internet Applications program gave him immediate hands-on practical experience. “Being able to jump in and practise the craft was really enticing,” he says. “Gaining those skills and being able to join the industry was an important goal for me.”

He worked at the Canada Revenue Agency in his first placement and through both co-op terms. He continued with the CRA after graduating in 2011, then moved on to small education start-ups and an Irish real estate technology firm. In 2013, his journey as a software developer brought him to Fullscript, the Ottawa-based integrative wellness software platform.

Founded in 2012, Fullscript is a free supplement dispensing platform and treatment adherence tool that supports practitioners at the point of care and beyond.

Initially, it was the company’s technology and his rapport with the founders that drew Funai to the company. But it didn’t take long for him to recognize value in the integrative health industry itself.

“Conventional health care is about resolving symptoms, treating the condition,” he explains. “Integrative wellness is about preventative medicine, focusing on supplementation, diet and exercise as the core pillars of health.”

As CTO, Funai is responsible for the development of the Fullscript software and has been central to major system changes to improve code quality, simplicity and scaleability. Overseeing a team of more than 70 software and IT engineers, he has also prioritized creating an environment for the team members to do their best work and grow as software developers. This has continued to be a priority during the sudden disruptions brought on by the pandemic.

“We were lucky to have an infrastructure in place to support the move to remote work,” he says. “These days, we have a company philosophy of work where you work well. This is inclusive of people who want to go back to the office when that’s a possibility, as well as people who want to stay remote.”

Funai says he’s proud to be part of an organization that has grown during his tenure from a small team into a successful company with nearly 500 employees, dozens of whom are also graduates of Algonquin College. Working with the company “has been an incredibly challenging and rewarding experience. We have a remarkable mission. We have a team that does incredible work and we treat people right. Our mission is to help people get better, and that includes our own employees.”