If I had my way, I’d spend the morning writing code, doing design work at the computer, researching a topic of interest or taking an online course. I enjoy pair-coding with other engineers and I especially like working with clients and teammates to develop a deep understanding of their challenges and needs. Half of the fun is working collaboratively to learn and then articulate what we need. Our process involves teasing out narratives which are typically a set of stories focused on values and not features. Story-driven development is very common in software, and although Elle and I have developed a particular flavour of this in our own work, we’ve been enjoying applying this approach to our non-software projects. Briefly, we obsess over getting to the clause 'so that I can achieve [insert value]…’, rather than ‘i want [insert thing]’… We’re grateful to all of the local family and friends as well as the many individuals from away, who’ve had the patience and willingness to share process and learn with us. We’ll hopefully write more about our experiences on this website as we flesh it out.

In the afternoons, it would have to be building (and breaking) things in the shop, learning new tools or improving the layout and organization of our work space. Ideally, all of the above happens with my partner, Elle. I really love working with others on Quadra, and that is something I’d like to do more of this coming year. Our shop has been improving steadily, it’s a constant battle for space. Just as work expands to fit the time you give it, stuff expands to fit the space you have. Our focus for shop work the beginning of this new year is completing a first batch of headphones that we’ve been designing and building, as well as some speakers and the equipment needed to drive them well.

PASSIONS

Music & Audio

I’m grateful to my mum, who made music a big part of our family from day one. Some of my earliest memories are of listening to her practice her classical guitar or giving lessons to her students. We always sang together and she brought some of the greatest classical guitarists in the world into our home. One of my fondest memories is of Pepe Romero sitting in the kitchen, smoking a cigar and playing for my sisters and I. We were riveted by his ability to tell a story through his instrument. Here is a link to one of my favourite recent recordings of him playing Albeniz’s Layenda.

I had the great fortune of studying with some amazing music teachers in Campbell River, Comox, Switzerland and Italy. I really loved playing the piano and hammering away at the drums. Glen Gould and Martha Argerich were idols of mine on the piano. At 15, my mind was blown when I heard Burning for Buddy: A Tribute to the Music of Buddy Rich. I wanted to play like Dave Weckl, Simon Philips and Joe Morello.

Being around music engendered a natural obsession with sound reproduction. I’ve always wanted the experience of feeling like you’re in the performance. Unfortunately, high-end audio equipment was always too expensive. However, with all of the online resources, books, sharing of knowledge and available DIY components, it’s incredible what can be achieved with fewer bucks. Here are some pictures of headphone bits and some audio interfaces we’ve been working on:

Oh, and I go to Sing Club every Tuesday night at Sam and Andrea Whittingham’s at Naked Bicycles and Design. I’m not a great singer, but I really, really like singing. I also like arranging music.

Design

On my list to fill out!

Development

Also on my list to fill out!

Software

Yep, on my list to fill out!

FOR FUN

For fun, I love to ride bikes. More specifically, I love to ride bikes made by our dear friends Sam, Andrea and Dave at Naked Bicycles & Design. What’s super cool is that they are located right here on Quadra Island! Elle actually races and I like to chase my friends around in circles at my favourite cyclocross race series called Cross on the Rock. Elle and I were very involved in sports and had the benefit of incredible support from our families, universities and friends. Now, it’s our turn to support athletes and we’re very proud to be involved with Naked Factory Racing and the youth Race for Free program at Cross on the Rock. I think we have incredible team spirit and some darn fast riders - three national champions in CX in the past three years!!

In the winter when it’s cold and rainy outside, you might find me out working on trails. I love digging in the dirt and am a proud member of QUICC and the Pathways committee.

BIO

Campbell River was a fantastic place. I attended french immersion at EDM, Phoenix Middle School and then Carihi Secondary School. I had some awesome teachers at all of those places and feel very lucky to have gone to school in SD #72.

Outside of school, I studied piano and music theory with Shelley Roberts, Sandy Havelaar and Eleonre Krullaarts. They were all amazing teachers - I couldn’t have asked for better. I loved playing piano and finished my Gr. 10 Royal Conservatory of Music in Grade 11.

Next, I went to United World College of the Adriatic (UWC) for Grade 12, in Italy. UWC was one of the most incredible experiences of my life and I would encourage any young student who has a passion for learning and social service to apply. UWC changed my life. I loved every minute of my life there. Checkout the program here: https://www.uwc.org/.

After UWC, I went to Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Though technically I’m a ‘liberal artist’, I spent most my time in the lab of Dr. Thomas Look in Ped. Oncology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute or rowing with the Harvard Varsity Lightweights on the Charles River.

The work in lab was challenging and rewarding. I had incredible mentors who took that time to teach me process. My thesis in Tom’s lab was by far the most meaningful part of my undergraduate experience. In total, I spent around six years in Tom’s lab in some form or another. Here are three publications that I’m thrilled to have been a part of:

• Interplay of pu.1 and gata1 determines myelo-erythroid progenitor cell fate in zebrafish. - Dev Cell. 2005 Jan;8(1):97-108.

• Chk1 suppresses a caspase-2 apoptotic response to DNA damage that bypasses p53, Bcl-2, and caspase-3. - Cell. 2008 May 30;133(5):864-77.

• The pu.1 promoter drives myeloid gene expression in zebrafish. - Blood. 2004 Sep 1;104(5):1291-7. Epub 2004 Mar 2.

Some of the most challenging and rewarding learnings for me happened with my dear friends and founding partners at iLab Solutions. Having observed a number of inefficiencies in lab, a small group of dedicated ourselves to building software solutions and providing consulting services to hospitals and universities with a strong focus on the biomedical sciences. We lived and worked together in Boston for many years and were fortunate to assemble an incredibly talented team. Each new person who joined us played in instrumental role in helping better the software, serve our customers or sell our product. Our team grew to roughly 75 in number before being acquired by Agilent Technologies. Agilent has been an incredible steward of our company and it’s been exciting to see so many individuals from the iLab team have a real impact there. Here is one of the only pictures of me that you will see in a tie with my partners and incredible teammates at iLab.