As a Customer Success Manager at ThoughtFarmer, Yegee gets to do one of the things she loves — talking to people to help them understand and solve their problems. Having worked with customers in a range of industries from hospitality to cybersecurity, she is dedicated to approaching relationships with authenticity, developing a deep understanding of ThoughtFarmer customers, and enabling customers to achieve success.
Yegee obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from UBC and lived in Hong Kong for a year before returning to Vancouver to enter the tech field. She is glad to be part of such an exciting industry and is always eager to share new technology to help the clients she works with.
Though she grew up mostly in Vancouver, Yegee has lived in several different countries, which nurtured her passion for traveling. In her spare time, Yegee enjoys running, scenic picnics around Vancouver, and film photography.
As a Software Tester, Ashley is part of ThoughtFarmer’s last line of defense against bugs, inconsistencies, and performance flaws. She is responsible for manual and automated testing to make sure our software delivers the best user experience for our clients.
Ashley graduated from Ulster University in the UK with a Masters in Professional Software Development. After graduation, Ashley completed a one-year graduate role with Allstate NI as an Application Developer in Java before moving to SpotX as a Software Developer in Test using Scala.
Born and raised in Ireland, Ashley moved to Vancouver in early 2020. She loves going to anything live whether that be a local band in a small bar, a big concert, or a sporting event (Fun fact: her bachelor’s degree is in Events Management and she spent some time as a Hotel Manager before changing careers into IT!). To relax she loves reading with a good cup of coffee or checking out new restaurants in downtown Vancouver.
As Account Executive, Corinne is responsible for understanding our customers challenges and ensuring that ThoughtFarmer is a good fit. With over two years of Sales Coordinator experience at ThoughtFarmer, Corinne has a great understanding of common intranet use cases and building a solution using our product.
Corinne graduated from Northumbria University with a degree in Industrial Design, before taking off to London to work in the events industry. She specialized in sourcing venues for clients including Chanel, Facebook, and Canon.
Since moving to Vancouver, Corinne has discovered her adventurous side! She enjoys cycling, skiing and hiking across British Columbia.
Meet Marc, our go-to for all things product marketing. With over 15 years of experience in product marketing and go to market strategy, he’s like our secret weapon bringing creativity and consistency from messaging and positioning to product launches.
Marc has a knack for making the complicated sound simple and taking tech talk and corporate jargon and turning it into messages that even your grandma would understand. With a track record of product launches from large tech companies to startups, Marc is the face who brings all stakeholders together to set-up each project for success.
When he’s not fueling the rocket for the next big launch, you can find Marc in his tractor putting up hay, in the shop working on chainsaws and blacksmithing, or out fishing and exploring Northern B.C.
As Office Administrator, Meghan is one of the first friendly people that employees, clients, and contractors talk to at ThoughtFarmer. She uses her talents in an organization to keep the office running well while creating a welcoming environment where people can do their best work. Meghan takes pride in planning events that turn routine things into an occasion—helping colleagues and clients feel special.
Meghan received a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of British Columbia and enjoys using her writing skills when called for in her work. Before joining ThoughtFarmer, Meghan worked as the office manager for NLA, a fashion wholesale company representing brands like Levi’s, Native Shoes, and RVCA in East Vancouver. One of her favourite moments at NLA was building a birthday cake out of breakfast sandwiches for a colleague who hated sweets. This creative thinking has led Meghan to succeed at many things in her career, including planning and hosting a pop-up sample sale twice a year, attracting thousands of NLA customers.
Meghan loves all aspects of music—listening to it, talking about it, and doing trivia. Though she jokes that memorizing the lyrics to so many songs is interfering with her brain’s ability to recall other important information! She also enjoys roller skating along the Vancouver Seawall, though in her words, “I don’t look cool doing it”.
As Senior System Administrator, Lawrence makes sure our teams have the hardware they need by managing all the computers, servers, networking, firewalls, backups, and software in our office. Lawrence started with us as a Software Developer in 1999 and has managed the rebuild of the Pokémon website, made Content Management System recommendations for clients, and done analysis for the Ministry of the Attorney General. When he isn’t working, Lawrence loves spending time with his family. He has a knack for photoshopping people heads into other pictures and enjoys running, gardening, and drinking scotch. He is also undoubtedly the only Vancouverite who likes driving in the snow.
Meet Tricia, the Director of Marketing at ThoughtFarmer. With over 15 years of experience executing marketing strategies, Tricia brings in-depth expertise to drive our marketing strategy.
She has a proven track record of launching and scaling companies in highly competitive categories, building global brands, and securing strategic partnerships with Fortune 500 companies. Her passion for entrepreneurship extends beyond her role, as she also enjoys mentoring company founders through The Forum, a Canadian-based charity supporting women entrepreneurs.
But Tricia isn’t all business! When she’s not conquering the marketing world, you’ll find her indulging in her food-related hobbies like cooking and dining. Tricia also challenges herself by building new neural pathways through her latest endeavor: learning to play the piano as an adult student. Tricia brings a dynamic blend of expertise, creativity, and a zest for life to our team!
As Design Lead, Josh seamlessly incorporates graphics into the user experience journey. From conceptualization to delivery, he never fails to translate abstract ideas into visually engaging experiences.
Originally from Ottawa, Josh studied Graphic Design at Algonquin College. He spent his early years working in Motion Design, and slowly transitioned to the world of Web and Product Design.
Johnny is our Senior User Experience Designer at ThoughtFarmer and works alongside the product and professional services team. Johnny brings over two decades of design and consulting experience ranging from communications design to large scale digital transformation projects.
Prior to joining ThoughtFarmer, Johnny has collaborated with a diverse group of product teams from early-stage startups to enterprise SaaS companies like Collabware Software, Bonzai Intranet and autoTRADER.ca. Johnny’s approach to UX design revolves around design thinking, research and empathy for the end users.
As part of the ThoughtFarmer Professional Services Team, Johnny leans into his consulting experience to help ThoughtFarmer clients with developing their information architecture, content strategy and conducting user experience workshops.
When taking a break from design, he is busy with tennis, volleyball and sitcom re-runs.
As a customer success coordinator, Kirsty works closely with ThoughtFarmer customers. Her extensive operations and retail background has given her deep insight and understanding into solving customer challenges.
While she now lives in Vancouver, Kirsty was born in Australia and has also lived in the UK, and the United States. In her free time Kirsty enjoys commuting around town on her bicycle, traveling, and participating in intense Crossfit workouts. Kirsty is also working on her bachelor’s degree in business management at Langara College.
With an extensive background in customer service and success, Alina is an invaluable addition to the ThoughtFarmer customer success team. Alina earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Economics from UBC and went on to complete a post-graduate certificate in Entrepreneurship Management from George Brown College in Toronto. Throughout her career, Alina has developed a reputation for excellence in customer service, having worked in a long list of customer-facing jobs where she excelled at delivering high-level service.
Prior to joining our team at ThoughtFarmer, Alina worked for a mobile app company where she honed her skills in customer success. Additionally, she spent years working in dog care services, where she developed a passion for helping others and fostering strong relationships with clients. In her free time Alina enjoys attending music festivals and spoiling Ziggy, her one-eyed Boston Terrier.
As a Product Designer for ThoughtFarmer, Susana’s overarching mission is to design exceptional products with seamless end user experiences. With over 25 years of digital design and technology experience, Susana has a keenness for identifying user needs and defining clear solutions.
Susana’s experience spans globally working for technology companies and digital agencies in New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, London, and Vancouver. Her portfolio includes work from some of the world’s top agencies and Fortune 500 companies.Susana is passionate about the future intersection of design and technology.
One of her life endeavours is to be an educator and mentor to the younger generation of female technologists and designers. During her free time, Susana enjoys hiking, learning about Blockchain, and pursuing her dream of becoming a published author.
As ThoughtFarmer’s Junior Customer Success Manager, Jasper gets to put his greatest passion—providing amazing customer service and supporting customers—to use every single day.
Prior to joining ThoughtFarmer, Jasper worked in fashion retail, retail banking, and insurance. Having worked with a wide range of clients, he believes that success is a joint venture, and working collaboratively will always lead to great results.
Jasper grew up in beautiful British Columbia, but currently resides in Toronto, Ontario. While he enjoys his view of the CN tower, he misses the beauty of BC’s mountains. In his free time Jasper enjoys photography, travelling to take photos, competitive eating, and exercising to burn off the calories from eating sushi party trays.
As Controller, Susan keeps ThoughtFarmer’s financial house in order.
Susan rejoined the accounting world recently after a break to start a family. Previously she was Assistant Controller at Playground, a real estate division of Intrawest. While earning her Bachelor of Business Administration, Susan got her start in accounting through the Simon Fraser University Co-op program with the KPMG Vancouver Audit department.
As a Software Support Specialist for the Customer Success team, Oscar assists clients with their intranet needs and provides technical support. Before ThoughtFarmer, Oscar graduated from the University of Calgary with a Natural Science degree and has worked in the startup space for the last 3 years.
Oscar grew up in Calgary and while he isn’t a fan of the cowboy lifestyle, he enjoys a good western. In his spare time, he likes to go bouldering, play video games, photograph either the city or nature and is a self-proclaimed nerd for all things Marvel.
Avner Leon is a Software Support Specialist here at ThoughtFarmer. Originally from La Habana, Cuba, Avner holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science, which serves as the foundation for his exceptional technical skills. He thrives in helping customers navigate complex software challenges and finds joy in resolving their issues promptly and effectively.
In his free time, Avner enjoys exploring the culinary world, experimenting with new recipes, and creating delicious meals for his friends and family. Avner’s appreciation for the arts extends to books, music, theatre, art galleries, and museums, where he finds inspiration and new ideas.
Chris has been programming since he was as young as 10 and began studying web development in college. He has worked for several big organizations before coming to ThoughtFarmer such as Samsung Research Canada, Mullen-Lowe, and HSBC; even starting a system integration company with a friend in Manila, before they sold it in 2010. After immigrating to Canada in 2014 from Manila, Chris has worked as a Frontend developer, specializing in Javascript and React.
On his down time, Chris loves to crack open fiction novels and cook up Filipino specialities. He is an avid video game buff who enjoys role playing games such as Final Fantasy and Zelda.
Providing amazing service for our clients is what Kathy does best. As a Technical Support Specialist for the Customer Success team, she assists clients to better understand how to use ThoughtFarmer’s features to achieve their organizational goals. In addition, Kathy provides technical support by troubleshooting and reporting bugs and upgrading instances to the latest and greatest version of our software.
Prior to joining the team full-time, Kathy first landed at ThoughtFarmer through a co-op opportunity, while finishing her Computer Science degree at Simon Fraser. As a Professional Services Developer, Kathy got an in-depth look at ThoughtFarmer’s infrastructure and features and coded custom cards using JavaScript, React, CSS and HTML.
When not solving technical puzzles, she enjoys expressing her artistic creativity through digital drawing and creating designs.
Our clients get the best results because we hire the best people. And, as the People Operations Manager, Julie plays a major role by building and retaining ThoughtFarmer’s top talent. From creating a seamless experience across the employee life cycle, to managing vendor relations, to strengthening our work culture—Julie is focused on putting the people at ThoughtFarmer first.
Julie’s education at Capilano University and the University of British Columbia led her to various positions throughout the public and private sectors. With over a decade of HR and event management experience, Julie knows how to build relationships with people at all levels to support the achievement of our client’s goals.
Outside of work, Julie can be found checking out the newest restaurants, maintaining a regular yoga practice or hiking any one of the beautiful mountains in the Lower Mainland.
Ida is a Software Developer for ThoughtFarmer. Fluent in Python, Javascript, HTML, SQL, and NoSQL, she uses her full stack development skills to build dynamic web applications for our clients. Ida’s previous work on SaaS projects, and backend services and scripts, help her guide clients to make sound technology and development decisions, leading their projects to success.
Originally from Iran, Ida came to Canada six years ago to learn the art of web development. She graduated with honours from BCIT’s Diploma in Computer Systems Technology program and is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Science in computing science from Simon Fraser University.
When not sitting behind a computer for work or for school, she enjoys adrenaline-seeking activities like bungee jumping, skydiving, and paragliding.
As ThoughtFarmer’s Senior Project Manager, Ben is responsible for maintaining the balance between scope, requirements, and budget with our clients and internal teams. Ben focuses most of his time helping our customers get what they need from ThoughtFarmer, keeping them engaged and informed during the process. He also ensures that our internal processes are as efficient as possible so we have more time to dedicate to our clients.
Ben has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Calgary and an MBA from San Diego State University. He earned his Project Management Professional (PMP) designation in 2016 and takes pride in delivering successful projects and building strong relationships with each client to ensure they are set up for success.
Outside of the office, Ben can be found playing guitar, hiking one of the beautiful mountains in Vancouver, or skiing in the winter time.
As a Software Tester, Preston is part of ThoughtFarmer’s last line of defense against bugs, inconsistencies, and performance flaws. He is responsible for manual and automated testing to make sure our software delivers the best user experience for our clients.
Preston studied Computer Science at UBC and completed two co-op terms as a software tester and developer. Before joining the ThoughtFarmer team, he worked at Global Relay as a QA Analyst and at Optigo Networks as a Full Stack Developer.
Born and raised in Victoria, Preston loves cooking and testing out new recipes on his friends. In his spare time, he enjoys Vancouver’s music scene and hits the local slopes in the winter.
As the Senior Content Writer for ThoughtFarmer, Kelly is responsible for ensuring all of ThoughtFarmer’s content is well written, engaging, and eloquent. She works closely on customer stories, blogs, collateral, and ad copy.
Kelly is passionate about healthy workplace communication. Prior to ThoughtFarmer she worked for a few Vancouver Startups—primarily in the HR tech and internal communications sector. Her long history of working in our industry has helped her better understand the deep communication challenges faced by many organizations.
Kelly studied Technical Communication at Simon Fraser University, Marketing and Communications at BCIT, and Public Relations at Langara College. While she appreciates all forms of good writing, she prefers concise, straight to the point prose (think Hemingway).
In her free time she can be found taking ballet classes—which she has done for over 25 years, cheering on the Toronto Blue Jays, and enjoying frequent excursions to Taco Bell.
As an Accountant Chanel plays an important role in managing our business operations and financial record-keeping. Chanel also tracks our performance and efficiency, so that profit can be maximized. She works with clients, staff, vendors, and financial institutions on accounts receivable, invoicing, expense management, and financial reporting.
Before joining ThoughtFarmer Chanel worked for the City of Edmonton as a Print Operator, gaining experience in data entry, the Microsoft Suite, and strategic analysis. Chanel has a diploma in Business Administration with a specialization in Accounting from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.
Outside of work Chanel can usually be found experimenting in the kitchen, exploring the sea wall, talking pop culture, and planning her next adventure.
As a Software Developer at ThoughtFarmer, Ertac works with his team to design and develop new features and releases for ThoughtFarmer across the full stack of application layers. He approaches software development by conducting research and gathering evidence around the problem until he arrives at the best solution. This comprehensive methodology is instrumental as he participates in decision-making on overall product strategy and assists the support team in troubleshooting technical issues.
Ertac completed his Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics before earning a Master’s in Information Technology. He has ample experience in .NET as well as front-end development. Before joining ThoughtFarmer, Ertac worked in the finance industry as a programmer. He focused on building process automation software and helped develop an online rewards redemption platform for some of North America’s largest retailers.
Outside of work, Ertac enjoys travelling and spending time outdoors. He likes to think of himself as a nature-photographer in training (watch out National Geographic). When the weather isn’t cooperating (which is most of the time in Vancouver), he stays inside to read about the latest technologies and methodologies in software development.
Kallie is a Design Director driven by a desire to create honest, intelligent and elegantly-crafted work. With 14 years’ of experience in strategic branding and communication design, Kallie works with the design team and assists with art direction across a wide range of disciplines. She takes a pragmatic approach, providing considered and appropriate creative solutions to ensure clients reach their objectives.
Originally from New Zealand, Kallie holds a Bachelor of Design from Auckland University of Technology. She gained four years’ experience in Auckland followed by eight years in London, UK, and has worked on brands for The Crown Estate, Grosvenor, The Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, The University of Kent, Lend Lease, Sloane Street, East Village London and many more.
Ever curious, Kallie loves to explore our world and seeks out the local food, art, history and culture in every place she visits. Since moving to Vancouver, she has enjoyed developing her yoga practice and hiking the great outdoors on weekends.
Ian joined the ThoughtFarmer team having worked with several startups in Vancouver’s tech space. A bonafide marketing nerd, his educational background includes a degree in internal business and languages, a masters in creative advertising, and a postgrad in consumer behaviour.
When not trying to convince the world that ThoughtFarmer is the world’s best intranet solution, Ian can be found nose-deep in non-fiction, failing to emulate his cooking hero Jamie Oliver (his 20 minute meals never take 20 minutes), or angrily muttering at his golf clubs for not doing what they were told.
Jessica is our Director of Product Experience at ThoughtFarmer who specializes in information architecture and user research. With over 15 years of experience, she uses a broad range of tools to help our clients create usable classification and categorization structures to ensure well organized content and easy-to-use intranets.
Prior to joining ThoughtFarmer, Jessica worked at Analytic Design Group where she led several large-scale user experience projects through discovery, research, strategy, and design phases.
When not helping our amazing ThoughtFarmer clients, Jessica spends her time enriching the UX community as a co-organizer of the Vancouver Information Architecture & Content Strategy meetup group.
As ThoughtFarmer’s Customer Success Manager, Hollie’s top priority is to help our customers from all over the globe launch successful intranets. From installation to onboarding, to continuous growth, Hollie is there every step of the way to ensure organizations are getting the most out of ThoughtFarmer.
Prior to joining ThoughtFarmer, Hollie worked in various customer service roles in the hospitality industry. With over a decade of customer service experience, Hollie believes empathy and understanding are the keys to delivering positive experiences.
Hollie holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Design from UBC. In her spare time, she can be found baking delicious sweets, digitally modeling 3D characters and environments, attending concerts, and playing video games. She also plays a variety of musical instruments and is keen to continue learning and improving as a singer/songwriter.
As a Account Executive, Coleton is responsible for expanding ThoughtFarmer’s customer base by understanding client’s needs. With over three years of customer service experience, Coleton has a proven ability to connect with key decision makers and foster trusting relationships with clients.
Prior to ThoughtFarmer, Coleton worked in a sales and customer service role, serving the gas and oil industry in Alberta. Coleton holds a Bachelors Degree in Business, New Venture and Entrepreneurship, where he developed strong business acumen in value proposition and strategic planning.
Coleton considers himself a stereotypical Canadian who loves listening to country music, hiking, and exploring the wild side of Canada. But how could one consider themself a true Canadian without playing hockey? Well, he has also played over 17 years of competitive hockey. A career highlight was winning a championship with his varsity team at Mount Royal University.
As Creative Director of ThoughtFarmer, Wil drives the visual and interactive design efforts. He truly believes that employee-facing software can be equally as beautiful, engaging, and enjoyable to use as consumer software. Wil works closely with the development team to propel ThoughtFarmer to the next level of communication and collaboration tools, while finding new ways to help clients’ enhance their brand internally.
With over 20 years of design experience, Wil’s work has been honoured with some 150 industry and design awards and numerous accolades in the media. As former principal of a leading Vancouver digital agency, Wil pioneered the product development of a gaming platform and several mobile games and apps. He also helped numerous clients develop their digital brand, including The Food Network, BC Dairy Association, Electronic Arts, and CBC.
When not spending time with his wife and two children or challenging his team to create great design at ThoughtFarmer, Wil tries to dabble in amateur astronomy photography, pounding his drums into splinters, and writing cheesy science fiction novels.
As a Software Development Manager, Tyler’s skill set is diverse, covering both backend and front-end development, database architecture, and game development. With an educational background in user experience and user interaction design, Tyler’s work helps bridge the gap between design and development. His work often focuses on prototyping, where he works closely with the design team to solve unique problems.
Prior to joining ThoughtFarmer, Tyler worked at a cutting-edge digital agency with a range of clients including the BC Dairy Association, National Film Board of Canada, and the Law Society of British Columbia. As a part of his role there, he worked heavily with developing cloud-based applications and running cloud-based servers. His work has been recognized by the Microsoft Developers Network and has been prominently featured within the Flash developers’ community.
Darren Gibbons is the co-creator of ThoughtFarmer and the President of OXD, since its inception in 1995. His hands-on approach has helped organizations like the British Columbia Supreme Court, Intrawest Corporation, and the Workers Compensation Board achieve success with innovative and powerful web applications. Darren is deeply involved in every feature developed for ThoughtFarmer and his creativity and attention to detail are evident in the finished product.
Darren majored in Applied Physics at Simon Fraser University. He has been a guest speaker on topics ranging from Java to network security, and is co-author of a book on JavaBeans 1.1, published by McGraw-Hill. In his spare time, Darren amuses the rest of the ThoughtFarmer crew by digging up and posting obscure YouTube videos to our own ThoughtFarmer intranet.
The Director of Customer Success is responsible for championing our ThoughtFarmer customers and empowering them to achieve their organizational goals. With over 15 years of experience in the customer service industry, Carolien believes empathy is one of the core supporting pillars to building a meaningful, supportive, and personal relationship with each client.
Carolien leads our support, customer success, and professional services team to ensure successful adoption of ThoughtFarmer across our global customer base. She guides and coaches her group as they assist clients from their ThoughtFarmer installation to intranet launch. She also works closely with customers post launch to ensure their continued success.
Carolien has a Masters degree in French Literature and completed a post-graduate Communications program at the University of Antwerp (Belgium). When she is not busy with ThoughtFarmer customers, you can find Carolien working through a Japanese crossword puzzle, cooking (well, mostly eating the cooking), or chasing around her two kids on Bowen Island.
Jennifer Gerth has 15 years of experience ensuring software product quality.
Before coming to ThoughtFarmer in 2008, she worked with Global Market Insite, a Vancouver start-up company, where she concentrated on Release Management and software as a service. Previously, Jennifer built a wealth of experience at Raytheon Canada writing and executing test procedures, requirement traceability matrices and auditing software.
ThoughtFarmer utilizes Jennifer’s ability to work closely with business analysts, software developers and other quality assurance engineers and agile development teams to strengthen the quality of our software. In her spare time, you can usually find Jennifer outside or in the velodrome riding one of her many bikes.
Tim works with clients to help them get the most out of their ThoughtFarmer experience through customization and integration. He provides consultation and implementation for projects that extend ThoughtFarmer beyond the out-of-the-box solution. Tim also leads the ThoughtFarmer development community to help others create their own custom portlets and use the API. Additionally, he provides training and consultation for ThoughtFarmer web analytics.
Since 2008, Tim Schiller has been an integral part of the ThoughtFarmer Development Team. Tim’s technical expertise includes .NET web development, Microsoft Windows and SQL Server management, and SharePoint administration. Tim has a Bachelor’s of Computer Science from the University of British Columbia. Tim’s technical side is balanced out by his musical talents, his interest in fitness and his love for the outdoors.