My Story
Early Life
You may have heard me talk about my rather "bulky" medical past and you are probably wondering what I was talking about.
Well as an infant I got a very high fever and bad infection. I was told by my dad that they did not think I would survive... They were wrong ... I was a tough little dude .. <grin>
Then again in March, 1980 at age 19 I was stuck in a hospital room at the Sick Children’s Hospital. I was just finishing high school grade 13 (Yup there was a grade 13 back then). My mom and dad were sick with worry.
My folks were with me as the doctor explained that I was diagnosed with a condition called >>>
I was the 16th patient treated with this condition and without my doctors hard work and my sisters bone marrow donation I would not be here today.
This was a very difficult time in my life and it taught me many life lessons that most folks never learn especially at such a young age. As the saying goes...
"What does not kill us makes us stronger" so stronger I became!"
Career
My career got off to a rough start. As you already know I got very sick in my final year of High school. It took me five years and once my recovery was complete I started my working career.
I experimented with a number of different jobs. I worked in retail, tried sales, worked in the computer field, tried several of my own businesses and eventually (15 years later) decided to return to university and get my engineering degree.
It has been 40 years now and at this point I have a great deal of experience in many different areas.
I have traveled and sourced products world wide and arranged for their import and distribution into the Canadian market.
I love to leverage technology and I get much satisfaction from helping my clients achieve new levels of efficiency and profitability in their business.
I have been fortunate to have worked for both large corporations and new start-ups in both the public and private sectors.
I love to leverage technology and I get much satisfaction from helping my clients achieve new levels of efficiency and profitability in their business.
My career has had it's ups and downs. We had a family business that serviced the manufacturing industry. The business had to be closed as eventually more and more of our manufacturers moved their production out of Canada to other countries.
My income was interrupted, I owned real estate and could not afford to pay the mortgages. Needless to say I lost my properties and wound up with a consumer proposal that I had to pay off to avoid bankruptcy.
I learned a lot from this experience and if I can prevent this same thing from happening to any of my friends, family or clients then I will consider my career and my life a big success.
At this point in my life I am an experienced event producer and promoter. I have run both corporate events, charity events, and recreational events. I am an experienced Professional Engineer that is committed to efficiency, productivity and providing top quality to my clients. I design and develop software and applications to help them take their businesses to the next level.
I am a hands on manager that can manage technical and administrative teams as well as get the job done on my own when required.
As a supply chain professional I understand how best to plan, produce and manage events, projects, teams, and businesses.
More then anything else, I just love helping people!
Giving Back
By now you already know I have gone through some difficult and very challenging times. Well these experiences change you and as a result I learned at an early age what community was all about.
My community work started pretty early. I used to help my grandmother and my mom when they had their charity events. My mom was a teacher and she used to invite her senior students to our house for a BBQ and provide extra help to the students that needed it during the school year. I was the one that manned the BBQ.
When their was a refugee crises many years ago and the "Boat People" need help. My aunt and uncle got involved and helped bring in a young family from Vietnam. They had a family reunion many years later and there were 4 generations represented in the photo.
I got interested in events and started to do work for the arts community. in 2003 I hosted a massive art show in downtown Toronto. It was amazing. 60,000 sq ft of art valued at almost $30,000,000. We raised money for the community and helped new and emerging artists get exposure.
My ex-wife and I got involved in some programs and we helped young entrepreneurs (some with big challenges) to become independent and grow their own businesses.
Ultimately the urge to help more people overcame me. I was finally able to retire and I began work on creating a new Non-Profit Association called The Friends Who Help. We started off hosting events to raise money for the special needs community. We continue to help local food banks as they experience higher demands then ever before. We create courses, workshops and lectures to help our community members. We run programs to help our community members gain financial freedom and we give them the tools, coaching and help that they need to take it to the next level and beyond!
Personal Life
Life has its ups and downs but overall I was pretty lucky. I met a wonderful woman in the Philippines during one of my many trips to Asia for work. She was a single mom and ultimately we were married.
Add water, stir and poof instant family! Wow, did you know that wives and teenage daughters do not come with operating instructions or a pause button? ... Who would have thought!
Well we are divorced now but to this very day this marriage and my wonderful daughter are the best thing that ever happened to me and I would not change a thing!
I got adopted by a wonderful (and rather large) extended family and I got a beautiful daughter out of the deal as well.
