Director of Finance and Performance Aaron Law oversees all accounting and finance functions at Habanero, including monthly and quarterly reviews, bank account management, cash management, and forecasts. He is also responsible for establishing and maintaining accounting policies, processes, and procedures. Aaron conducts financial analysis and prepares plans and forecasts. As part of Habanero’s leadership team, he uses his financial acumen to identify opportunities for strategic growth and success. 

Aaron previously served as Habanero's Controller. Prior to joining Habanero, he held financial positions at Cardiome Pharma Corp. and Intrawest ULC. Early in his career, Aaron developed his auditing and accounting skills at PwC and Smythe Ratcliffe Chartered Accountants. As a Chartered Accountant and Certified Internal Auditor, Aaron sits on the board of directors and chairs the finance committee of the Kerrisdale Community Centre. He enjoys all kinds of sports, including golf, volleyball, and skiing.

Interaction Designer Angela Chen works with clients to create usable, intuitive employee portals, ECM solutions, and websites. She has a deep understanding of design methodologies and user experience that enables her to synthesize end-user needs.

Angela is also a project manager who ensures projects run smoothly and meet objectives. She manages day-to-day stakeholder communications and alerts team members of potential risks. Angela’s role involves scope and budget tracking as well as cost and time management. She’s happy working on all kinds of projects and enjoys the fact that every client engagement is different. Angela is integral to Habanero project teams and excels at making sure everyone works effectively.

Before coming to Habanero, Angela worked as a project manager and analyst at Imperial Oil. She graduated from the University of Alberta with a degree in mechanical engineering and completed co-op terms at ConocoPhillips and Husky Energy. In her spare time, Angela enjoys snowboarding, golfing, drawing, and Olympic weightlifting.

Employee Experience Coordinator Ashleigh Schafer is a part of the Employee Experience team at Habanero, working to continually support and evolve Habanero as an exceptional workplace. This involves designing and delivering exceptional experiences for employees that support Habanero’s culture. Ashleigh is passionate about applying a human-centred design approach to creating impactful employee experiences in her focus areas of recruitment and hiring, onboarding, physical settings, inclusion and diversity, technology, and supporting internal and external communications.

Prior to joining the Habanero team, Ashleigh spent more than 7 years working within organizations in an administrative, accounting, and communications capacity. Ashleigh holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree specializing in Entrepreneurship from the University of Victoria and a Communication Design certificate from Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Outside of work, Ashleigh enjoys going on outdoor adventures, playing intramural sports, petting dogs, and reading historical plaques and information boards. Ashleigh’s super power is methodically organizing rooms.

Senior Consultant Barbara Richards works closely with our clients throughout the journey of creating great workplace experiences. She uses her roots in the social sciences, deep appreciation for experience design principles and years of strategic IT consulting to co-create experiences that help employees and organizations live up to their potential.

Prior to joining Habanero, Barbara played user experience roles in international research and development organizations in the Philippines, Indonesia and Italy. She especially enjoyed the opportunity of having a front row seat of the inner workings of international development programs and projects, which influenced her perspective on the value of concepts we often think of as being part of design thinking. Barbara spent five years at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN in Rome, Italy where she co-led the initiation of many user experience practices to improve FAO's ability to provide information to people in support of its goal to reduce food insecurity around the world.

Barbara holds a Bachelor of Sociology from the University of British Columbia and a Master of Archival Studies from the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at UBC. When not working, she is often having conversations about the Avengers, Star Wars or Lego (she has 2 young boys), visiting the local yoga studio, or discovering trails in the North Shore mountains.

Vice President Ben Skelton provides guidance and oversight to Habanero’s leadership team, ensuring Habanero’s continued success and innovation within all areas of the business. He does this through a balanced scorecard approach to management — which provides a continuous and equal focus on our company, team, and clients. Ben is also a passionate advocate of Habanero’s brand. He works to ensure that clients are proud to be associated with Habanero and that each of the solutions we create exceeds expectations.

Ben opened Habanero’s Toronto office in 2013 and continues to manage a number of Toronto-based accounts while directing the growth of Habanero’s business in Ontario.

A recognized user experience leader, Ben is a founding member of the Vancouver User Experience Group (VanUE) and creator of Habanero's User Experience Done Right! seminar series. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Simon Fraser University. Ben is an ardent traveler and plane geek whose favourite place is 38,000 feet somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.

Director of Products and Services Brian Edwards leads, creates, and maintains the business plans and roadmaps of Habanero’s technology solutions and services. This includes developing an investment strategy for new offerings and developing partnerships that augment or complement our offerings. He also guides our strategy for bringing our services to market.

Brian has been with Habanero since 2000 and previously led Habanero’s collaboration practice. Prior to working for Habanero, he ran the corporate intranet for a Fortune 500 bank in the United States. Passionate about the impact technology can make within organizations, Brian has been recognized as a thought leader in collaboration solutions and business strategy and is a highly credited public speaker.

Experience Consultant Bruno Alves has a background in designing intranets and websites for various industry sectors. With empathy and enthusiasm, Bruno combines multiple methods to solve complex business problems using engaging interfaces.

Before working at Habanero, Bruno worked as a design consultant for several large corporations since 2008. He holds a B.A. Hons. in Media Communications from São Paulo State University, and UX design certifications from Stanford and Human Factors International. In his spare time, Bruno enjoys doing all kinds of sports and discovering new restaurants with friends.

Infrastructure Architect Carmen Craciun is one of North America's leading experts in SharePoint infrastructure. She works with Habanero clients to design enterprise IT architectures and infrastructure requirements. Carmen's deep knowledge and technical ability ensure the high quality of Habanero solutions.

Carmen has numerous Microsoft certifications and is a Microsoft Certified Engineer. She holds a Master of Science degree in pharmacy from the Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Iasi, Romania. Carmen is often asked to share her SharePoint expertise at conferences and workshops across North America.

Caterina Sanders works on our culture and transformation, strategy and digital workplace engagements. She is an expert facilitator, experience designer and communicator. She is also the Habanero lead for Evidence and Insights, our analytics team.

Caterina is a founding member of the Vancouver User Experience Group (VanUE) and currently sits on the CSA Technical Committee for the development of a National Standard on Caregiver-friendly Workplace Programs. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of British Columbia. Caterina is also an honest and inspiring presenter who is regularly asked to speak about improving employee engagement, creating high-performing cultures within organizations and design thinking. Travel is a longstanding passion for her and her family, and in 2015, they all took a year’s leave to travel the world.

Chris McGrath deployed his first intranet at a Fortune 500 bank in 1997 and has enthusiastically worked to improve the digital workplace ever since. He helped found an intranet software company (ThoughtFarmer), a soap company (Soufriere Soapworks) and a chatbot company (Tangowork) and has drawn up plans to start a soft-serve ice cream empire in the Caribbean.

Chris loves working on elegant software solutions for difficult employee problems. He regularly speaks and presents on topics related to intranets and chatbots. He has a terrible poker face, a mediocre golf swing and a penchant for hasty decisions. On the plus side, he pulls a mean espresso, speaks two obscure languages and never says no to an invitation to go kiteboarding.

Digital Workplace Advisor Chris Radcliffe brings years of senior-level consulting and client experience management to his role at Habanero. He has extensive experience in employee portals, enterprise social, information architecture design, and governance. Chris manages some of Habanero’s key client relationships, as well as providing mentorship and support to other Habanero account managers. He has been with Habanero since 2000.

A thought-leader for Habanero, Chris often speaks on how social computing trends are impacting strategies for organizational communication, innovation, and knowledge management. He has an active interest in helping organizations use technology to improve their workplaces and is always looking for opportunities to grow Habanero’s core competencies. Chris holds Yammer Power User and Administrator certifications to support the development of Habanero customers’ community manager and social consulting services. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen's University.

Solution Analyst Chris Sweeney operates a spilt role between support and quality assurance. His main duty is to provide sustainment support for the Go Intranet Accelerator product and conduct regression testing when needed. He has a real knack for customer service and connecting with new customers, and manages the online forum and articles on connectwithgo.com.

Chris hails from Derry, a small city in the north of Ireland. Before moving to Canada and beginning work at Habanero, Chris lived in Manchester, England and worked for Hitachi Consulting as a service desk analyst. He worked with internationally-known clients such as the Financial Times and the National Health Service. Prior to that, he worked for Fujitsu UK as a first-line desktop support technician and supported sites in the UK, Poland, Nigeria, and Greece.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Manchester Metropolitan University. Outside of work, most of his free time is spent following or playing football. He also enjoys mountain biking and tennis.

Product Manager Christina Ferancik drives the direction and implementation of Habanero’s Go Intranet Accelerator (connectwithgo.com). Through collaborating and understanding client needs, she builds out clear vision, strategy, and a product roadmap to tackle tough business problems. Christina brings 14 years of experience working in technology, communications, and change management.

Prior to joining Habanero, Christina worked in public and private sector organizations including Google Ireland, BC Hydro, and the BC Government Caucus. Throughout her career she leveraged technology to improve business processes, helping companies build better workplaces for their employees. Christina holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of British Columbia. Outside of work, she is an avid traveller and enjoys swimming, skiing, and the arts.

Front-End Architect Christopher Parsons is responsible for the architecture behind the visual design, interactivity, accessibility and authoring of Habanero solutions. His work also includes writing and reviewing project requirements, demoing and training clients, and advocating for best practices around front-end development.

Chris has a Bachelor of Science with a major in Computing Science from Simon Fraser University and completed an eight-month co-op term with Habanero in 2011. Additionally, he is a Microsoft Certified Software Developer, a Certified ScrumMaster and a certified Sitecore Professional Developer. Outside of work, Chris enjoys reading about baseball analytics, listening to podcasts about wrestling and politics, and catching up on the latest news in technology and gadgets.

Corey Keller’s time is shared between business analysis, workflow development, solution sustainment and quality assurance. Corey works with clients to understand, automate and support business processes through the implementation of workflow and forms solutions. He is also interested in front-end development and is working to further his expertise in this field.

Corey completed his Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Calgary. With an interest in pursuing a career in both business and technology, Corey completed a business analysis certification through Mount Royal University. When not at work, he enjoys playing basketball, eating food with friends and is endlessly tinkering on some sort of project.

Technical Account Manager Craig Smith builds and manages client relationships and focuses on continuous enhancements to achieve long-term visions for clients' portal solutions. He uses his practitioner experience to support project outcomes and ensures clients get the most out of technology investments. With a background in software quality assurance, Craig has a solid understanding both of customer needs and of the importance of end-user advocacy. He is also working to gain knowledge about the field of interaction design.

Prior to coming to Habanero, Craig was a test lead at SMART Technologies for three years where he worked on education software for use with SMART Boards. He has both a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Calgary.

Interaction Designer Danielle Kovacic designs engaging user experiences through websites, intranets, and applications. Danielle is passionate about bringing creative and unique ideas to her designs.

Prior to Habanero, Danielle worked as a designer and project manager at Mediashaker and continues to work as a freelance designer creating websites and print material. She graduated from Grant MacEwan University with a major in design and digital media. Outside of work, Danielle enjoys lifting weights, photography, reading and travelling.

Technical Architect David Webb works on the analysis, design, and development of business intelligence, SharePoint, and custom development solutions. With more than 20 years of IT experience, David has a strong background in Microsoft solutions such as .NET, ASP.NET, and SQL Server.

Prior to working at Habanero, David was a senior developer at WorkSafeBC in Richmond and Great-West Life Assurance Company in Winnipeg. In both positions he worked on a wide variety of platforms from mainframes to PCs. David holds a Bachelor of Computer Science Honours degree from the University of Manitoba. When not working, he volunteers his time on the boards of Vancouver Front Runners and the English Bay Triathlon Club, and as the race director for the annual Lees Trail Triathlon.

Senior Technical Specialist Elena Rosu uses her technical expertise on a variety of employee, customer, and member portal projects. Her role involves creating new solutions as a member of project teams as well as working directly with clients in sustainment engagements. Elena is also a technical lead on a number of projects. She is well-versed in the areas of ASP.NET, Sitecore, SharePoint 2013, SharePoint 2016, and SharePoint Online.

Before coming to Habanero, Elena worked as a developer at RipeB2B Inc. She holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of British Columbia and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Iasi, Romania. Elena is also a certified Microsoft Professional Developer. In her spare time, Elena enjoys doing yoga, walking, and reading biographies about painters.

Finance Manager Elizabeth Torry leads all aspects of accounting, payroll, receivables, payables, government returns, staff group benefits, and other related responsibilities. A valued veteran of Habanero, Elizabeth has been with the company since 1999 and has skillfully supported the company through years of steady growth and expansion.

Prior to immigrating to Canada in 1996, Elizabeth worked at CIBC in Trinidad for 15 years. There, she held several positions including senior accountant, manager of foreign exchange, and teller supervisor. Outside of Habanero, Elizabeth enjoys spending time with her two daughters and is actively involved in church community activities as one of the directors and group coordinator for the Richmond Catholic Alpha.

Consultant Ellisa Calder helps clients build better workplaces with technology and organizational culture. Her experience as a facilitator, analyst, and design thinker helps her construct engagements that lead to positive and lasting change. She knows what it takes to understand where you are, envision a better future, and get you there. Ellisa’s work with clients produces exceptional digital and experience touch-points for their employees.

Ellisa is active in the community as a key member of the Vancouver User Experience Awards planning committee. She works on the marketing and communication of the event, and has consulted on the submissions and judging.

Prior to joining Habanero, Ellisa worked for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. She has an honours Bachelor of Business Administration with a Minor in Dialogue degree from Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business. She also has a certificate in international business from France’s Grenoble École de Management. On weekends, she chases mastery in the kitchen, a better posed downward dog, a toddler, and a baby.

Project Manager Heather Doyle brings strong project management and business analysis skills to her work at Habanero. Specializing in SharePoint and custom Web development projects, she combines a unique combination of big-picture strategic thinking skills and a keen attention to detail. Heather has a lengthy history of managing complex and large-scale projects while respecting budgets, timelines, and scopes.

Prior to working at Habanero, Heather worked as a consultant for ten years, including four years at KPMG Consulting and PwC. Heather has a Bachelor of Science in food science, technology and biology, from Oxford Brookes University and a Masters of Business Administration in information technology from the University of British Columbia. Outside of work, Heather can be found cycling, keeping up on the reading for her book club, and volunteering on the PAC at her children’s school.

Digital Workplace Advisor Imran Thobani brings a wealth of experience supporting client initiatives in the Alberta marketplace. Imran is constantly working to align innovative technology solutions with organizational objectives to create great workplace experiences. He strives to align employee experiences with an organizations values, vision, and purpose in order to establish a culture of sustainable change and growth.

Prior to joining Habanero, Imran worked as a workforce development advisor and project coordinator at SAIT, assisting organizations in their talent management strategies. He holds a Bachelor's degree in History and Communications and has a passion and interest in the psychology behind workplace cultures and experiences. Outside of work, Imran enjoys spending time outdoors, everything and anything sports-related, and planning his next travel adventure.

User Experience Consultant James Sloane creates technology solutions that navigate complexity and feature exceptional user experiences. As a member of a project's design team, James advocates for the needs of end users while ensuring that every technology solution supports the important goals of the organization. Through interviews, workshops, and co-design exercises, he methodically helps client teams create a vision for a better future and a plan to get there. The joy in his work comes when the technology helps the design to become a strategic asset that is a pleasure to use.

Prior to working at Habanero, James ran his own consulting practice leading teams in the creation of award-winning consumer products, learning environments, urban developments, health facility networks, innovation centres, and retail brand experiences. He has over a decade of design consulting experience and continues to build his expertise working as a member of interdisciplinary design teams. He holds a Masters of Environmental Design from the University of Calgary and a Bachelor of Design from the University of Alberta. Outside of work, James enjoys spending time with his family, riding his bike, and snowboarding.

Office Manager Jarrod McKenna will greet you with a smile on his face and a smile in his voice. He is an enthusiastic representative of Habanero and provides exceptional customer service to clients and Habanero employees. Responsible for managing the day-to-day administration of the office, Jarrod also provides executive support regarding scheduling and coordination, arranges company travel, and passionately handles details crucial to making events successful and the office feel comfortable, efficient, and fun.

Prior to joining Habanero, Jarrod spent several years providing administrative assistance to clients with addictions and criminal justice issues. With an eclectic background, he has honed his skills working in various roles and sectors and from living in a foreign culture for several years.

Outside of work, Jarrod’s passion is fuelled by a love of photography and walking, often going hand-in-hand. He also loves to entertain and can be found cooking a brand new creation – often something hot and spicy – each time he hosts a dinner party.

Director of Operations Kiran Aujla is focused on operational excellence in how the company operates and delivers value to both clients and Habanero. She is responsible for overseeing Habanero’s delivery and resource management functions to ensure team members are performing at the highest levels within a culture of continuous improvement. Kiran’s responsibilities include establishing and reporting on measures of success for all projects while seeing through the day-to-day activities, at both a strategic and operational level, to ensure Habanero will live up to its long term vision.

Kiran has a diverse background of business and technical experience delivering and consulting on projects within the IT and utilities industries with a focus on data warehousing, intranets, websites and project management. Prior to joining Habanero in 2006, Kiran acquired close to 10 years of industry experience working with BC Hydro, Westech, and Accenture Business Services for Utilities in roles that included business analyst, system developer, project manager, and information delivery lead. When not working, Kiran enjoys a variety of activities including running, hiking and yoga. She is an avid reader with a passion for learning and cherishes quality time spent with family and friends.

Creative Director Kurtis Beard crafts engaging solutions based on his user experience and information architecture expertise. He helps clients understand the unique needs of their end users and balances a variety of design approaches when creating portals and applications. Kurtis is comfortable conducting usability tests, creating wireframes and mockups, and leading heuristic analyses. He's passionate about ensuring our solutions foster collaboration, communication, and engagement through user-centred design methodologies. 

Before coming to Habanero, Kurtis was a freelance visual designer with experience in branding, logo design, and graphic design. He is a graduate of the School of Interaction Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University. Kurtis is also a member of the Vancouver User Experience Group and enjoys keeping up to date with the latest trends in user experience and interaction design. Outside of work, Kurtis likes to expand his interest in cinema, travel, and enjoy all kinds of new music.

Chief Architect Larry Lau is known for providing great application architectures and frameworks, and promoting architecture best practices and patterns within Habanero's development team. Experienced in rich-client, web-client, and mobile development using a wide variety of Microsoft technologies, Larry articulates the architecture vision, addresses architectural challenges, and keeps developers up-to-date on technologies and development trends. He also automates development tasks to save project teams time, provides reference architecture implementation for various types of applications, and tackles the most challenging technical tasks. Larry leads Habanero's Architecture and Windows Smart Client Centres of Excellence.

Prior to working at Habanero, Larry worked as a software engineer at Meridian Systems for five years. Before that he was a system analyst at Telus Mobility, a programmer/analyst at Concerta Consulting, and a senior software developer at Interlogic Engineering. Larry holds a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Simon Fraser University. When not at work, Larry enjoys snowboarding on the local mountains and flying radio-controlled helicopters.

Project Manager Laura Marin Hurtado loves working with diverse teams and helping create technology that transforms people’s lives. Her leadership skills, along with her strong acumen for detail, have allowed her to provide exceptional results in project delivery. Laura’s emphasis has always been on making sure that all team members are supported and have the tools required to succeed.

Laura has broad experience in both commercial and government projects, which has allowed her to collaborate across multiple stakeholders and develop processes that enable stronger communication and engagement. Laura has a background in quality assurance, and understands the complexity of project quality and the impact it has on client satisfaction. In her spare time, Laura enjoys spending time with her loved ones, watching movies, and planning her next travel adventure.

Project Manager Lori Sokoluk works with Habanero project teams and clients to deliver solutions that exceed each stakeholder's expectations. She motivates team members by making sure they have the tools and information necessary to excel. Using her communication and delivery skills, Lori expertly manages risk to ensure the success of every engagement. Lori uses various approaches such Agile, waterfall, and hybrid iterative methods to craft a plan that best suits each project.

Before coming to Habanero, Lori worked as a project manager for Morgan Stanley and Central 1 Credit Union. She brings an extensive understanding of software development processes through her experience with requirements analysis, development, and quality assurance. Outside of work, Lori is a professional painter and fine art educator. 

Quality Assurance Consultant Madhava Werake works closely with our project teams to continually support and evolve our organization's leading products and services. Madhava contributes to the continuous evolution of our test processes and methodologies while creating QA strategies, plans, and test cases. Together with the amazing team at Habanero, Madhava delivers quality output through efficient solutions and strategic excellence.

Madhava brings over ten years of quality assurance experience with website solutions and mobile apps to Habanero. His former employers have included Microsoft, EA, Activision, Plenty of Fish and Lululemon. The experience he has gained while working within small start-ups and large corporations has given him a keen insight into managing projects both big and small. Outside of work, Madhava is an avid fitness enthusiast, fitness coach, traveler, and artist. His personal mission is to always challenge himself to keep growing.

Mallory helps enterprise organizations create great workplace experiences. She works with our clients to shape and deliver compelling changes to organizational culture and the digital landscape. Building on a twenty year career of human-centred research and design, she coaches clients and collaborates with teams to solve the right problems with an iterative mindset.

Mallory is an experienced leader both inside Habanero and in the community. She is a thought leader, senior advisor to clients, performance coach and mentor to colleagues, and accountable for Habanero’s culture of innovation. In the community, Mallory has been extremely active as a co-founder and judge of the Vancouver User Experience Awards and the Vancouver User Experience Group (VanUE). She is a frequent conference, webinar, and event speaker.

Front-End Solution Architect Mark Bice is responsible for the front-end architecture and development of Habanero solutions, which includes creating interfaces, establishing look and feel, and ensuring usability. Mark has both a design and programming background and experience in all stages of application development, from planning to testing. As a result, Mark provides a valuable bridge between the design and development components of Habanero projects.

Before working at Habanero, Mark was a software engineer at ResponseTek for four years. There he was involved with both front and back-end development of customer experience management web applications that allowed clients to collect and analyze valuable data and spot consumer trends. Mark has a computing science degree with a business administration minor from Simon Fraser University.

Junior Front-End Developer Mark Jimenez is responsible for converting beautifully designed user interfaces into reality. This requires a combination of front-end languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, which Mark has significant knowledge in.

Mark Jimenez is a recent graduate from George Brown College with a degree in Electro-Mechanical Engineering. Transferring this knowledge from school into real life practices, Mark has developed his own version of a Smart Mirror and hopes to open up his own business after his internship here at Habanero. Outside of work, Mark loves to spend leisure with friends and re-watching 'The Office' for the 124th time.

Information Technology Manager Marty van den Bosch is responsible for managing, maintaining, and evolving our internal and public facing technologies. A multi-tasking madman known for his exceptional priority management skills, Marty handles Habanero’s internal IT process, planning, management, and direction among a myriad of other accountabilities. Dedicating his focus on internal systems and IT direction, Marty strives to keep our company on the leading edge of Microsoft Technologies.

Marty is also the Vancouver office's resident Level 3 Occupational First Aid attendant. Outside of work, he spends most of his time either gardening, working on his side business adventures, or enjoying time with his wife and 4 year old son. When Marty does manage to break away from his hectic pace, he enjoys hitting the local mountains for some serious multi-day hiking or when possible flying south to explore his future retirement options along the Caribbean coastline.

User Experience Consultant Meghan Armstrong helps create great workplace experiences. She approaches enterprise problems from an experience and service design perspective, working closely with stakeholders and teams to design a vision for the future of work that puts people at the centre.

Meghan has played a lead role in designing and developing intuitive, engaging user experiences for intranets and websites. She creates roadmaps, wireframes and mockups as well as leads usability testing for solutions used in organizations across North America. Meghan is also one of the instructors of Habanero UX Masterclass, a professional development course for intranet and website professionals looking to learn more about user experience.

Meghan has taught as a sessional design instructor in the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Schulich School of Engineering. Meghan holds a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and master’s degree in environmental design (industrial design) from the University of Calgary where she was the faculty’s gold medal recipient. Outside of work, she enjoys curling, running, field hockey, printmaking, and drawing.

Consultant Melanie Gabanna is committed to working with Habanero clients to continually enhance their systems and capture long term business value. She works directly with business units to improve processes and provides high level consulting strategies to increase user adoption and the overall value of a solution. Melanie is responsible for maintaining successful relationships and managing delivery teams in addition to eliciting functional and business requirements for solution enhancements.

Before coming to Habanero, Melanie gained experience in the non-profit sector, youth development, and infrastructure construction. She hold a Masters in Management degree from the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business and graduated with high distinction from McGill University with a bachelor's degree in psychology. Melanie is also a member of UBC's Masters in Management alumni advisory board. Away from work, she enjoys mountain biking, trail running, traveling, and skiing.

Senior Solution Developer Michael Armstrong is responsible for developing elegant and user friendly solutions. He leverages his expertise in front end and back end development to craft intranets, websites, and business applications that drive toward outcomes and satisfy all stakeholders. Michael’s primary focuses are the SharePoint and Sitecore platforms and his skills include a variety of technologies and languages. He is adept at solving complex problems and enjoys applying his development experience in both technical and non-technical ways.

Before coming to Habanero, Michael worked as an application developer at Lucidia Ltd. He graduated as a computer programmer analyst from Sault College and upon graduation, won a SSMARt Innovation Award for Student/Graduate of the Year from the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre. Outside of work, Michael enjoys hockey, snowboarding, travel, fishing, golfing, and experimenting with new technology.

Digital Workplace Consultant Mike Dumka has been helping organizations transform their intranet and collaboration experiences since 2008. Mike is passionate about helping design frictionless solutions that are easy for end users to fall in love with. His thought leadership helps organizations stay on top of the evolving Office 365 landscape. His technical understanding of Office 365 compliments his experience in driving adoption and helping people change their information management practices.

Prior to joining Habanero, Mike worked for Blueshift Innovations and Great-West Life. He is a Human Factors International Certified Usability Analyst. Outside of work, Mike is an absolute hockey fanatic who loves coaching his kids and is thankful everyday for the Jets returning to Winnipeg!

Solution Architect Mike Jensen is responsible for architecting business solutions and leading development teams. Mike has extensive experience in a wide range of Microsoft and Java technologies and has particular expertise in application integration and business process management. Known for his problem solving and leadership abilities, Mike applies his technical skills across a wide range of business domains.

Prior to joining Habanero, Mike gained development and analysis experience as senior systems developer with Accenture Business Services and as an independent consultant working for clients including Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans. He holds a Bachelor of Science with a major in applied mathematics from Simon Fraser University. When he is not researching new technologies, you can find Mike on the golf course, baseball field, or basketball court.

Senior ECM Consultant Natalie Veldhoen helps to undercover the current state and plan the future direction of information, records, and knowledge management solutions for Habanero clients. She works to understand the value a well-designed and implemented ECM solution can bring to their business and guides design requirements. Natalie also ensures Habanero solutions bring value in terms of process improvement, adherence to corporate document control requirements, and user adoption of new systems. 

Natalie has experience designing and implementing information and knowledge management systems across a number of industries. She started her career as a math and science teacher where she honed her facilitation and coaching skills but found her place in library and information system design, leading projects with K-12 education, health care, and most recently with a Calgary-based energy company. Natalie has bachelor’s degrees in astrophysics and education and a Masters of Science in instructional media design. When not at work she can be found working in her vegetable garden, completing home improvement projects, or travelling.

Senior Consultant Osama Khan brings a breadth of content and technical expertise to providing digital workplace solutions for Habanero clients. His focus is on designing and delivering user-friendly content experiences while considering security, compliance, and records management. Osama’s expertise as a digital content analyst is complimented by a solid technical grasp of the Microsoft technology stack including Office 365, SharePoint, Exchange, PowerShell, and SQL.

Prior to joining Habanero, Osama worked for Time Warner Inc., C3i Inc., and the Alabama State Department of Education. Osama has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering and a Master of Business Administration, and is an AIIM-certified ECM Master, with Microsoft certifications in multiple versions of SharePoint and an ITIL (v3) Foundation certification. Osama is a hard-core video gamer, cryptocurrency enthusiast, and an avid science-fiction reader.

Director of Content Marketing Pilar Galiana brings her passion for content strategy to life every day through the creation of compelling content, campaigns, and events that deliver Habanero’s message of helping people and organizations thrive to the world. A strong team leader, Pilar also heads the content team that plans and creates clear, findable, and usable content for employee portals and websites.

Prior to joining Habanero, Pilar lead the development and content teams for the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts website. She also worked as a digital marketing consultant and project manager on projects for the Ontario Ministry of Health, Kaplan University, Exchange Solutions, and Seaport Hotel Boston. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations from the University of Toronto and a post-graduate degree in corporate communications from Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology. In addition to working with Habanero, Pilar coaches entrepreneurs to use content marketing to grow their businesses online. When she isn’t working, she is likely enjoying food, thinking about food, reading about food, or exploring Toronto's food scene.

Consultant Ricardo Ramirez works with organizations to help define and deliver better workplace experiences. Pairing his natural leadership skills and strong technical knowledge of Office 365, he is able to forge solid alliances to build impactful solutions that create lasting value for clients. Ricardo is experienced with user testing, heuristic evaluation, workshop facilitation, information architecture, user needs assessment and qualitative research.

Ricardo started at Habanero as a technical specialist, where he implemented a number of intranets and employee portals as well as extranets and records management solutions using SharePoint. Prior to joining Habanero, he worked as a SharePoint specialist at ProServeIT, senior SharePoint and web developer at Great Gulf, an Internet consultant for v51 Consulting. He has a computer systems technology diploma from the Sheridan College and is currently undertaking a certificate in entrepreneurship from Ryerson University. Ricardo is also a Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate in Office 365. Outside of work, he enjoys culinary arts, hiking with his dog and reading books about leadership.

Technical Specialist Ruben Chan brings his exceptional ASP.NET and SQL Server programming skills to Habanero. His dedication, proven work ethic, and his ability to think outside the box ensure that clients receive both optimal service, and top level technical results. In addition to his technical abilities, Ruben is known for his people skills, allowing him to foster strong professional relationships with both clients and colleagues.

Prior to joining Habanero, Ruben was a programmer for over eight years at various engagements including Open Box Integration in Vancouver, and the University of Tasmania in Australia. Ruben graduated with a Bachelor of Computing degree from the University of Tasmania in 2003 and has worked in a wide variety of industries and sectors since. Ruben moved to Canada from Australia in 2010. He enjoys snowboarding in his spare time.

Senior Front-End Developer Ryan Bender brings life to the designer's vision in an intuitive and user-friendly manner. Ryan has a strong background in front-end development using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, but also has backend development experience with .NET and Java. He has been involved with all stages of the project development lifecycle.

After graduating from the Applied Multimedia Training Center in 1997, Ryan started his career as a print graphic designer, switching to the digital medium a year later developing presentations, interactive CD’s and websites. He then moved on to work for an office manufacturing company for the following 12 years as a web application/multimedia developer on various platforms and technologies including SharePoint, .NET, J2EE, WebSphere and Coldfusion. Outside work, Ryan enjoys hockey, photography, astronomy, camping and fishing. 

Sandra Braun is part of the content team at Habanero, collaborating with project teams and clients to plan and create clear, findable and usable content for employee portals and websites.

Before coming to Habanero, Sandra worked as a content strategist and writer on internet and intranet projects for Deloitte Canada, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and CBC/Radio-Canada. As a freelance writer and editor, she has produced branding, marketing and communications products for major retailers, custom publishers and non-profit organizations.

Sandra holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Carleton University, a certificate in Business Analysis from UBC Sauder and user experience (UX) certification from the Nielsen Norman Group. She is a member of several content strategy and UX groups in Toronto, where she enjoys learning about emerging issues and approaches to service design, UX and change management. Outside of work, she likes to make food, clothes and art. She is a scholar with Stephen Jenkinson’s Orphan Wisdom School, a teaching and learning house for the skills of deep living and making human culture.

IT Administrator Scott Baitz recognizes that in order to provide excellent service to Habanero’s clients, we need a smooth and efficient internal IT system. He ensures internal hardware, connectivity, and infrastructure are maintained in a proactive and responsive way. Above all, he is passionate about the systems and devices Habanero employee use everyday.

Prior to this role, Scott led Habanero’s service desk where he worked with clients on everything from basic configuration to in-depth server analysis. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Simon Fraser University. Scott is also an active member of his community, having worked as a recreation leader/supervisor, taught ice skating, and ran childrens’ day camps. In his spare time, you can find him reading the latest tech news, out on the lake wakeboarding, or in his garage building or repairing something.

Project Manager Simona McKee is passionate about working with clients and her team to support smooth project delivery. Her ability to see the bigger picture, solve complex problems, and manage teams ensures project success. Simona’s focus on relationship management is at the forefront of her approach to project delivery.

Simona has developed her project management abilities in a range of industries, including Aviation and Aerospace, Defence, and Information Technology. With a background in customer service, Simona understands how to approach challenging situations and deliver on commitments. In her spare time, Simona enjoys reading, cooking, going to shows, spending time with family and friends, and traveling.

Front-End Developer Stephanie Lau loves creating rich immersive experiences by leveraging the latest technologies. She incorporates HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create clean and accessible code. Stephanie contributes daily to solution development and takes part in all phases of the software development lifecycle.

Prior to Habanero, Stephanie was a freelance front-end developer and worked for Deckers Brands, a major ecommerce company. Stephanie's interests began in the field of graphic design, which transitioned to interactive design, where she discovered her love of code. Outside of work, Stephanie can be found doing anything to do with crafting, the outdoors, and cooking; preferably all three at once. Stephanie believes that adventure is always calling and begs to not be ignored.

Stephen Brown has over eight years of quality assurance experience dedicated toward testing both desktop and cloud hosted solutions. Combined with an additional four years in the IT industry performing  everything from network administration to project management, Stephen helps Habanero ensure the release of quality solutions.

In the spring of 2000 Stephen completed the software systems development course at British Columbia Institute of Technology and immediately began working for Top Producer Systems in the role of quality assurance tester and subsequently as a test lead. Outside of work Stephen enjoys time with his wife and daughter, renovating his home, travelling, gardening, and exploring BC’s hiking trails.

Project Manager Toni Albert uses her creative, analytical problem solving skills when working with clients and her team to support and ensure smooth project delivery. Her eye for detail, ability to ask necessary questions, and risk management skills secure project success. Toni’s optimistic energy is always evident, and she enjoys working in a multi-faceted role with Habanero.

Toni’s experience is a great collection of project management across a spectrum of industries. Originally from the arts industry, Toni spent six years developing and running a digital art department for a Vancouver fine art firm, including managing all projects within the department. She gained further experience as project assistant and first aid attendant during the construction of the 2010 Olympic Sliding Centre in Whistler. Prior to Habanero, Toni combined all of her experiences in project management working with national HR firm Knightsbridge in its leadership solutions practice. Outside of Habanero, she is an artist creating both commission and private paintings. You can also find Toni biking, rock climbing, and mountaineering.

Front-End Developer Umar Bolatov is responsible for turning carefully crafted user-friendly interfaces into functional layouts. His role includes writing HTML, CSS, and Javascript with current industry best practices and principles in mind.

Umar graduated from Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business with a concentration in management of information systems and a minor in design from the School of Interactive Arts and Technology. Prior to joining Habanero, he completed internships at Simon Fraser University, Habanero, and IBM Canada.

Employee Portals Practice Lead Will Hardy is a SharePoint platform expert and senior consultant for many of Habanero's employee portal engagements. He works with stakeholders to connect organizational objectives to maximize the capabilities of each platform. Based on his experience working with a wide range of clients and technical solutions, Will is able to recommend ways to realize goals and achieve outcomes. Will has the ability to translate strategic requirements and ideas into a clearly articulated, tactical vision for the end-state solution. He is a regular presenter on the organizational benefits of on-premise and cloud-based SharePoint technology.

Since coming to Habanero, Will has contributed to some of Habanero's key projects and helped shape the company's SharePoint domain expertise. Previously, he worked for Burntsand as a business analyst and information architect concentrating on employee and customer portals. Will has a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a specialization in entrepreneurship and small business management from the University of Victoria. Outside of work he can be found racing his sailboat in coastal B.C. waters or mountain biking on the North Shore mountains.