Nice to meet you, I'm Chris!
I wear many hats — and I wear them well.
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Project Manager
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Leader
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Business Owner
and a few others... such as Process Automation & Data Analyst, UX Designer, 3D Artist, and as a Case Competitor/Judge in my spare time.
Experience
CTRL +ALT +DEL Coffee Roasters
At the age of 17, I started planning to launch an online coffee roastery. Within just four months later, on January 4th, 2020,
CTRL + ALT + DEL Coffee Roasters officially went live. I'm involved every step along the way; from sourcing green coffee and roasting them at my home north of Guelph, to delivering fresh batches to local businesses and customers. And yes, it’s all built and managed right here on the very website you’re visiting!
European Innovation Academy
As part of the 2025 European Innovation Academy, my team and I built SmartGarden Coffee, a climate-focused start-up that earned a spot among the Top 10 teams out of 100 international start-ups. Over the course of three weeks, we developed our concept of IoT-powered indoor coffee farms which repurpose abandoned urban spaces to bring coffee production closer to home and reduce the impact of climate change on the global supply.
Our team completed every milestone, from market validation and MVP development to securing early customer traction, before pitching to a panel of investors. Being named a Top 10 team granted us recognition from mentors and investors, plus valuable awards.
SFU CaseIT: Vancouver
While representing Wilfrid Laurier University, I helped secure second place in the 24-hour case by delivering strategic, technology-driven solutions, including an innovative recommendation on using diffusion models to transform video game development for the company 1QBit. This experience showcased my ability to combine technical understanding, analytical thinking, and clear communication under intense time pressure in front of industry judges.
Beyond the results, my participation in CaseIT reflects a strong commitment to growth, teamwork, and strategic decision making. Over six months of preparation, I worked closely with faculty mentors and teammates to refine my skills in case analysis, storytelling with data, and building practical business-technology strategies. These experiences shaped my professional approach: tackling complex problems with a structured, research-driven mindset while collaborating effectively to deliver business solutions.
Technology
(tools I've created)
AI Project
Assistant
In a world of paperwork, emails, and project plans, sometimes Project Manager's need a buddy to speed things along or get details right.
Easily accessible via Microsoft Teams
Get project assistance through a virtual assistant on MS Teams. A natural place you would chat with any of your other colleagues at work. Just say "Hey", or any other prompt you want to call it.
Summarize project requirements
Provides the project manager a high-level overview of the projects core functionality and some high level steps to complete it. (Some text removed for privacy.)
Get real-time effort for a project
Connected to Microsoft Dynamics (CRM), Project Managers can ask the bot for resource effort instantly. Helping PM's to build project plans instantly.
Save time answering client questions
An A.I. Chatbot based on your company jargon and technical processes so that it can answer questions directly from clients (or you, if you wanted a refresher).
Projects
Clients and Partners I've Managed
Regional Real Estate Board
In 2025, I helped manage one of Canada's largest Real Estate Boards' digital transformation initiative. Managing this client at the program level allowed me to oversee several key projects, including a CRM integration, an AI-powered chatbot, and a natural language understanding (NLU) conversational phone system.
These initiatives provided members with faster access to the information they needed while significantly improving the efficiency of internal teams. Providing the Real Estate Board to focus on higher-value work.
Large U.S. Capital
One of the world largest Private Equity Capital firms approached us seeking a modern solution to help investors connect with financial advisors and asset managers. Within 2 months, we moved from design and development through QA and user acceptance testing (UAT) to a successful live deployment.
The project was critical, replacing end-of-life software for a cloud-based solution integrated with Microsoft Teams. I managed the project including technical integration to ensure seamless connectivity for agents where every second counts.
Provincial Crown Corporation
As a project manager with versatile, cross-functional skills, I supported a Provincial Crown Corporation in launching new digital services such as Chat, SMS, and a public website FAQ. All while helping them visualize their concepts early in the process.
I designed realistic mockups in Figma for all three communication channels, mapping out various user paths and interactions. These prototypes enabled the client’s teams to make informed business decisions and accelerated the development cycle by providing clear, like-for-like design references.
Largest Project to Date
A province-wide upgrade
As the lead project manager, I spearheaded a province-wide software upgrade spanning over 40 ministries, agencies, and Crown corporations. This large-scale initiative required managing multiple implementation waves, meeting weekly with 2–3 new clients for project kick-offs while concurrently guiding another set of clients through go-live over an intensive four-month deployment timeline.
To ensure precision and alignment, I developed a comprehensive tracking system encompassing all client environments, including servers, switches, software versions, licensing, headcounts, modalities, products, and services. Using Power BI, I built a real-time dashboard refreshed hourly, giving stakeholders instant visibility into project status and infrastructure readiness.
Project execution demanded diligent coordination through weekly internal stand-ups, regular client meetings, and structured cutover sessions. I implemented an Azure DevOps board to manage agile work items, enabling clear visibility into task ownership, progress, and cross-team collaboration.
To further streamline operations, I leveraged Power Automate to generate standardized work templates and process User Acceptance Testing feedback automatically. This automation allowed the team to address issues promptly and compile concise retrospective summaries to identify continuous improvement opportunities.