Dieter Gerhard
President & CEO
Dieter Gerhard, former President of Hyatt Legal Services, brings valuable business acumen to every project. He also has 6 years experience as a College instructor teaching diploma programs in business administration, legal administrative assistant and web site design and e-commerce. Dieter also frequently guest lectures at other events and learning institutions; most recently at UVic.
Dieter and his wife, Annette operate the well known Birds of a Feather Victoria Ocean-front B&B. Dieter also holds a seat on the Tourism Board of Victoria's West Shore Chamber of Commerce. His insights in to the accommodation and tourism sectors of the hospitality industry are invaluable to our clients in this industry. Dieter's other interests include traveling and boating. His marketing savvy and search engine optimization techniques gives all of our clients an edge over their competition. If Dieter has search-engine-optimized your site you'll likely find yourself in the top 10 of Google.com in your category.
Chris Boag
Vice
President and Principal of The Victoria School of Business and
Technology at northstudio.com Computer and Web Development Training
School.
Chris, holds a Diploma in Web Site Development and has 5 years
of hands-on experience teaching and building web sites and web
applications. Chris is responsible for our course development
and also oversees our internationally recognized one-of-a-kind
web design and web development Internship, work experience and
Co-op programs.
Chris also teaches Web Design and Internet Technologies at the University of Victoria.
Chris is also the Project Manager of many of our projects including small to large business applications. Responsible for developing clients' ideas into practical World Wide Web applications, Chris brings a fresh and youthful energy to our team.
Jonny Miller
Senior Designer, Graphic Artist & Photoshop Expert
Jonny holds a Diploma in Web Design and is our senior designer overseeing many of our larger projects. He is a very talented graphic artist with a strong expertise in Adobe Photoshop. Recently Jonny taught the Photoshop component of a web design course at UVic. Currently Jonny also teaches the Graphic Arts courses including Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash.
Jonny is also responsible for tech support for our some 400+ Travel and Tourism Directories including LodgingChannel.com He blends insight and creativity with reliability and dedication. Jonny's open and communicative style is part of what makes our team an effective machine.
Chris Deakin
Web Site Developer / Flash Developer
Chris handles the day to day administration and building of web sites.
Chris is also a master of Flash and is a Macromedia Certified Instructor for the past 5 years in both Dreamweaver and Flash. He also teaches Fireworks and Freehand. Chris has taught at UVic, Royal Roads and has worked for clients such as IBM and Electronic Arts.
Matt Salik
Graphic Designer, Instructor & Flash Programmer
Matt is a graphic & web designer whose complete dedication to his work has kept him constantly in front of the screen for the past several years. Always trying to take a different approach on traditional ideas, Matt has spent hundreds of hours experimenting with design, structure, programming and just about anything else to do with web design in order to create a unique look for each project.
Many of the fresh and cutting edge templates we have built for our clients' web sites are Matt's handiwork.
Rob Kelly
Web Application Developer, Linux administrator
Rob is an A+ Certified Computer Technician, a Web Application Developer, and web server administrator. He has been repairing computers for over 8 years, designing websites for over 5 years, and a Linux administrator for 3 years
A northStudio.com Systems Professional. An experienced Programmer, DBA, and Business Analyst. Working tirelessly to bring your data live to a web page near you. He is responsible for database design, development, and implementation.
Dan Adams
Microsoft Applications Instructor
Dan teaches the full range of Microsoft applications including: Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, Access, Project.
He is infinitely patient with novice users, can take the frustration out of using Microsoft products; and is particularly adept at showing time saving tips and techniques to the more experienced user.
Dan has over 8,000 hours of computer teaching experience and has taught an incredible range of students at various private and public education institutes in Victoria since 1994. Hundreds of his past students are now out in the workplace.
Dan recently returned from 3 years in Tokyo where, as a Senior Instructor, he taught Microsoft applications, in English, to multinational professionals and executives at some of the world's most prominent corporations (Citibank, Merrill Lynch, Disney Japan, British Embassy, Ericsson Japan, World Health Organization, Hilton Hotels Japan, Credit Suisse First Boston, Sony Japan, American Express, ING Barings, Air France, Bloomberg).
When not teaching, Dan is currently pursuing an interest in documentary film making and is having a ball with digital video editing
Dave Slipp
A total geek! To Dave, a day without a computer in it is like a day without sunshine. He's one of the laziest guys around - he likes to teach his computer things that he can't be bothered doing himself. Despite that, he's a pretty good teacher. He specializes in web and print design applications and is a dedicated fan of open source and the Grateful Dead
Hoel Ibardolaza
Graphic Artist
Hoel Graduated with a Degree in Bachelor of Arts, Majored in Mass Communications.
Formerly worked as an Advertising Head in a Prominent Department Store in his hometown – responsibilities included Conceptualization of Store Promotions in Print (Posters, Streamers, Fliers, Tickets, manuals and News Ads) and has handled both Radio and Television Promotions.
Other works include Interactive Cds used in kiosks for Colgate-Palmolive Philippines and IAMS Eukanuba Philippines, Story boards for Colgate-Palmolive, Story boards Development for an Indian Feature Film, Poster Conceptualization and Layout for Adventure Feature Film, and Character Designs for an Adventure Horror Feature Film.
Hoel also developed our LodgingChannel.com mascot, the endangered Vancouver Island Marmot
Ryan James
Web Application Developer & Resident Hardware Systems / Network Admin
and Unix OS Expert
Ryan is a Computer Systems Engineering (CENG) graduate from the University of Victoria. He has extensive experience with Unix and computer hardware.
His academic interests include robotics, artificial intelligence, and brainwave communication. Outside of school he enjoys all types of recreation activity including soccer, baseball/softball, hockey, frisbee etc
Gord Christmas
Head Programmer / Web Application Program Instructor
After spending nearly ten years working with an Internet Service provider on Salt Spring Island, Gord has decided to join our team. He has many years of hands on troubleshooting with computers and complex networking. Also, having worked as a private in-home computer consultant, Gord has honed the ability to listen and explain their needs simply.
Programming for Gord started early with BASIC, Hypercard and Pascal in the mid eighties. From there he has had experience in Delphi, Assembly, JavaScript, PHP, Visual Basic, and many others. Working with PHP and databases has recently been his focus, developing online web applications for niche markets. Reading technical manuals and programming bibles doesn't put him to sleep, as would any sane individual.
Gord enjoys extracurricular activities like trail riding on dirt bikes, motorcycle riding, hiking and woodworking. He has also enjoys computer gaming, and radio controlled model cars.
Gord is enthusiastic about helping other people break into this relatively new and exploding technology. Being able to understand how people learn is key, small class sizes help greatly.
Through structured description, with illustrative examples, you will work directly on a project of your own design. Gord strives to bring a new outlook to teaching programming where you will enjoy learning code as well as gain confidence in your abilities.
Simon Vreeswijk
Web Application Developer
Simon is a former VSBT graduate and intern. He completed both the Web Designer and Web Application Programmer tracks, each followed with a 6 month internship. Simon is now working as a programmer with the northStudio.com team.
Simon has over 3 years experience as a Web Developer. He has taught basic computer courses, office courses, and provided one-on-one Macromedia Dreamweaver training as well as in-home tech support for VSBT. Aside from programming Simon is skilled in search engine optimization, internet marketing, graphic design, css, and most other aspects of the web design business.
If Simon is not in front of his computer you may find him making music with his band or out playing one of the many sports he enjoys.
Aysha Ozcetin
A graduate of our Web Design Certification Program. She is
an amazing lady with grace and heart! We are lucky to have her around.
Carolin Smith
Vice President of the Ontario Division
Carolin is our Ontario webmaster. She handles all aspects of customer service from web design, hosting, domain registration and search engine optimization for our Eastern Canada clients.
Carolin also administers all of our RecreationCanada.com sites as well as all of our regional BedandBreakfastOntario.com clients for LodgingChannel.com
Carolin is one of our northStudio.com web development graduates now working from her home in Oshawa, Ontario. Her specialty is customer service and marketing. Carolin reports directly to our head office in Victoria, from where she also receives full support.
Debbie Yu
4th year Computer Science Student at UVIC
Ryan Dowell
Ryan graduated from the Web Design Certification program in December of 2005. After taking the 11 week Web Design Certificate course he decided to further his education and knowledge by enrolling in the 6 month Work Internship Program at northStudio.com. "I knew that the experience I would gain would be invaluable to a career in Web Design. When I'm not in front of my computer you can find me listening to music, playing poker or watching my beloved Edmonton Oilers, Green Bay Packers and Miami Heat on TV."
Jen Craft
Web Design Certification Program is
now interning with us.
