Passionate about Team Culture
and pie, we really like pie ...
When an opportunity presents itself, you have to seize the moment.
Three experienced IT professionals who had known and worked with each other for years joined forces to focus their talents on a common goal. They established an environment that allowed them to express themselves creatively while making the most of their technical abilities. The result was Thinking Big Information Technology Inc, a full-service Information Technology firm.
Thinking big began in 2003 and was incorporated in 2006. The strong relationship between the three founders of thinking big was a solid base from which to grow. They sought out others who shared their vision: to develop creative solutions for our client's unique problems in a setting that inspires original thought, loyalty and personal growth.
The team at thinking big has the experience, expertise, attention to detail and, most importantly, the passion to ensure a unique and problem free solution to your technical challenge – whatever it may be.
Talented and Interesting Individuals
at least we think so, but of course you can be the judge ...Thinking big's management team is made up of talented and, dare we say, interesting people. At thinking big, we believe an effective team consists of people with complementary skills, shared values and a common purpose. We love what we do and we're passionate about the business of Information Technology.
Here are some of the characters who make up our management team:
Depending on the day, Chris wears many hats at thinking big, but his passion is creating intuitive user-focused designs, user interfaces and front-end functionality. In other words, he loves finding solutions to the challenges facing his clients. A founder of thinking big, Chris has more than 16 years of experience in the technology sector. His success has been the result of a keen eye and a reputation for providing clients with high-quality solutions.
During his time in the industry, Chris has worked on projects ranging from multi-million dollar information systems to web marketing and SEO solutions for small business.
Chris is a devoted family man and can often be found teaching his three-year-old daughter Maddy lessons in whitespace management and choosing the perfect typography.
A very creative and rational individual, Chris has a very irrational disdain for onions. He doesn't hate onions for their taste per se, but rather for what he calls their unsightly "look and feel." While his colleagues say working with Chris is a pleasure, they also suggest ordering with him at a restaurant can be very trying – you try avoiding onions in restaurant food.
As our resident programming expert, Ron is extremely proficient in a variety of programming languages and development methodologies. With over 13 years experience in the Information Technology field, his extensive background runs the gamut from leading a development team who created and maintained a social network with hundreds of thousands of users, to providing technical mentoring to our clients on a variety IT-related topics.
Ron comes from a family of entrepreneurs, whom he credits for providing the tools to succeed as a founder of thinking big and the ability to understand and relate to the needs of our clients and partners.
Random fact: Ron together with his lovely wife, Stacey, have several cats. Another random fact: Ron once broke his wrist in what he described as an unfortunate recreational soccer incident. However, many people close to Ron doubt this story's validity and believe the injury was in fact the result of a brave attempt to implement a pair programming initiative. There is a silver lining in this otherwise dark cloud -- this injury was a great learning opportunity for one of thinking big's work-term students, who was able to work directly with Ron as he dictated code for 6 weeks.
As another of the three founders of thinking big, Luke has over 14 years of experience in the Information Technology field. Luke's portfolio ranges from consulting with our partners to helping improve proprietary technologies to working with Government agencies protecting citizens' private information.
Luke also enjoys other projects. An urge to find bargains combined with an insatiable yearning to collect power tools has lead Luke to declare his home a permanent construction zone. A desire to design and build extremely strong base structures (think steps and decks) can also be seen in his work life where Luke finds tremendous satisfaction creating solid solutions for complex business problems and designing hardware, and firmware specifications.
A dedicated fan of all things hockey, Luke enjoys displaying his playoff beard at various times throughout the year. If you see Luke between his summer ball-hockey league playdowns and the long NHL post season, you may be fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of his Chuck Norris-inspired facial hair in all its glory
Tom began his journey to thinking big on the other side of the web page as a client of the company. After working with us on projects for eight years, an opportunity finally came about to formally bring him into the fold. Tom has over 18 years experience working in the electronics field as a Certified Engineering Technologist.
In the past, Tom has worked with various law enforcement agencies in both Canada and the United States. He has also worked further afield with several large beverage producers such as Coca Cola, Molson / Coors Brewing Company, and Diageo brands.
Tom has two children and is married to a Veterinarian, which means he has various four-legged members of his family as well, namely his Clydesdale horses.
As a senior member (37 years old . . . senior? Really?) of the thinking big team, Tom has a wide range of interests. He is looked to for answers to many of life's difficult questions such as: "If Superman could stop bullets with his chest, why did he always duck if the bad guy threw the gun at him? "
Devin is the Director of Sales and Marketing here at thinking big, although he initially preferred the title Energy Focuser and People Unleasher, a suggestion quickly vetoed by his colleagues. Brought on board as a social media marketing and brand management specialist, Devin has shown a penchant for copywriting and project management and has displayed these skills on many projects.
Following his graduation from UPEI's business program in 2006, Devin moved to Alberta where he was a Technical Marketing Representative for a large oil and gas service company. A desire to move home to P.E.I. to be closer to family and friends has brought Devin to thinking big. We're happy to have his skill set and personality.
When Devin began at thinking big, he was given the nickname "The Wolf" – a nod to his ability to get things done. For those Pulp Fiction fans out there, we're not convinced he got the reference. Although he initially accepted this moniker, he soon asked that the name be changed due to the fact he tired of being the one sent for coffee simply because "c'mon man, you're the wolf -- get things done!"
Our All-Star Crew
These are the folks that make thinking big tick. Without them absolutely nothing would get done, or at least to any degree of competency.
"Agile" when Collaborating with You
especially when we are doing our ninja stuff ...
At thinking big, we continually strive to work effectively and efficiently. That is why we believe so strongly in the methodologies laid out in the Agile Development process.
Agility, to a boxer, means the ability to move quickly and lightly while avoiding damage, all the while looking for a knockout punch. This is not unlike what agility means to us at thinking big. For us, it means minimizing inefficiencies, moving quickly and lightly and doing everything we can to have a collaborative relationship with our clients. We work hard to avoid 'damage' caused by expectation gaps and to ensure a quality, timely and effective solution -- the 'knockout.'
At thinking big, we avoid time-consuming and cumbersome processes often found in traditional development. Instead, we focus on people and results. We believe we are better positioned to operate in the high-speed and high-change environment often associated with e-business projects.