I learned the value of hard work from my parents who both grew up on farms in rural Saskatchewan and worked with their hands their entire lives -- my mother working at a meat packing plant and my father fixing cars in a autobody shop. 

My career has been a journey of self-discovery about what I value and who I am as a person, a worker, and a business leader.  I began working cleaning cars in my Fathers autobody shop and did a variety of hard, physical labor jobs during university, including a long, hot summer in Northern Saskatchewan as a tree planter!

In 1991, I graduate from the College of Commerce at the University of Saskatchewan with a dual-major in Marketing & Finance.  I began my professional career as a sales professional with Xerox Canada -- a job that was a vast disappointment to my mother who wondered why I didn't take a "real job" that wasn't commission-based.  However, it was that first job as a sales rep that taught me the difference between being smart and being successful -- and that hard work and a strong sense of purpose counted for more than any facts I could recite from a textbook.  I spent almost 10 years at Xerox in a variety of roles -- senior sales executive, program manager, and finally sales manager -- before leaving "the big X" to see what else I could accomplish.

Over the following 15 years I moved from sales to product management to operations management at a variety of companies, small and large.  I learned something new about business and capitalism at every company -- Clarity, TELUS, CGI, VistaVu and JWN (formerly JuneWarren-Nickles Energy Group).  I interacted with thousands of small and large companies and learned what it takes to run a successful business and how the best managers and leaders seemed to always share similar traits -- integrity, congruency, and an empathy for the individual.  Hard work was a definite requirement and making money was always the goal, but "people before profit" was something that I learned early on as a secret to success for the very best leaders.

My goal is to share my experiences and insights about how to build a profitable business, be a good employee, and be a strong leader while contributing to the greater good of the communities in which we live.  

In the end, it comes down to my personal philosophy: 

"Be good. Do good. Make it better." 

Ultimately I hope that helps others learn from my experience, grow their businesses, and discover their own path to becoming a Good Capitalist.