Mat Burke

President

Mat Burke

President

T: (604) 697-6768

 

Mat is a results-oriented and service-focused leader with a track record of driving revenue growth, optimizing operational efficiencies, and fostering strategic partnerships in complex environments. His 25-year career spans two dotcoms, five years in the public sector, eight years at a global multinational enterprise, and he currently services as president of Softlanding.

As a passionate communicator, Mat has logged hundreds of hours presenting at conferences, in dialogue with executives, and writing for audiences broad and narrow. He has achieved meaningful business outcomes for hundreds of organizations spanning countries on three continents.

When not in the office, Mat torments his children with frequent camping trips and by coaching their soccer and basketball teams. He’s an avid runner and scotch drinker, escapes for the occasional international scuba expedition, and is married to the woman of his dreams.

Brian van Sickle

Director of Sales

Brian van Sickle

Director of Sales

Brian is passionate about helping people and organizations find their purpose and achieve their full potential. He believes that great leaders inspire others by starting with why, communicating their vision, and creating a culture of trust and cooperation. With 25 years of experience in the technology sector, he has a proven track record of providing value to clients, employees, and the companies he’s worked for.

Besides his career accomplishments, Brian finds equilibrium by participating and mentoring in basketball and volleyball. He is one of the original members and leaders of the New West Volleyball Association, a non-profit organization that aims to eliminate obstacles and enhance the community’s social cohesion through the sport of volleyball. He’s also an active member of Rotary, an organization dedicated to service above self and making a difference in our community.

Mahmood Jaffer

Technical Director

Mahmood Jaffer

Technical Director

T: (604) 697-6767

Mahmood holds over 15 years of experience in the IT industry and has devoted much of his career to becoming a recognized expert in Microsoft enterprise technologies and software architectures. As Softlanding’s Technical Director, Mahmood oversees the development and implementation of strategic IT initiatives and best practices for both enterprise clients as well as internally. As the senior technical mentor for Softlanding’s Microsoft infrastructure practice, Mahmood is involved in all aspects of Softlanding’s professional service lifecycle including business development, operations, pre-sales and consulting.

 

Mahmood became a partner in Softlanding in 2007. Prior to joining Softlanding he was a Consultant for Syscom Consulting in Vancouver.

Philip DeConnick

Director, Professional Services

Philip DeConnick

Director, Professional Services

T: (604) 697-5072

Beginning his career in IT 25 years ago as a night-shift programmer, Philip has since championed various senior technical and leadership roles across consulting, development and operations. Phil’s passion is delivering innovative consulting solutions to the dynamic and rapidly evolving IT landscape. In his role as Director of Professional Services, Philip provides leadership for Softlanding’s team of specialists to deliver complex advisory, business transformation, systems integration and technology solutions.

 

Prior to joining Softlanding, Philip led TELUS’ Professional Services team, ensuring consistent and high-quality delivery of business strategy, assessments, visioning workshops and strategic roadmap development across Canada. Other career highlights include being a Microsoft Certified Trainer, Senior Messaging Consultant and Systems Architect.

Paul Blake

Director, Managed Services

Paul Blake

Director, Managed Services

T: (236) 317-2674

Joining Softlanding in December 2019, Paul brings an extensive spread of Customer Support and Managed Services experience to the team. Most recently leading international teams across 2 global Microsoft Dynamics Gold partners, Paul combines his product and technical IT knowledge with his unending commitment to provide excellent service and maximise value to our customers. Working so closely with customers has yielded a wide understanding across many industry sectors including manufacturing, retail, public sector, resource sector, property management, hospitality and finance.

 

Having migrated to Canada from the UK in 2010, Paul’s other previous roles include 12 years as IT Manager in the flexible packaging industry and an early role in production scheduling for a large food manufacturer.

Brian Kuhn

vCIO & AI and Business Transformation Practice Director

Brian Kuhn

vCIO & AI and Business Transformation Practice Director

+1 (236) 317 1990

As Softlanding’s vCIO, Brian engages with clients on strategy, the art-of-the-possible, planning, transformation, road-mapping, business case development, architecture, cloud computing, change management, technology adoption, and project leadership.

Brian holds a Bachelors of Computing Science with Distinction from VIU and has gained a wealth of valuable experience with over 34 years in public sector roles. He served as CIO for Vancouver School Board, Manager of Information Services for Coquitlam School Board, Coordinator of Information Systems for Nanaimo School Board, and Network Manager / Software Developer for Fisheries & Oceans Canada.

Brian is passionate about being able to serve, guide, and help clients navigate ever evolving technological change and opportunity, to their business advantage. Brian loves to downhill mountain bike and hike mountains with his sons and friends, travel and bike with Shelley, and chill with a good book.

Rich Baumet

Team Lead, Data Analytics

Rich Baumet

Team Lead, Data Analytics

T: +1 (236) 317-4114

Rich has been working with data since 2001, with a wide range of experience in data-related areas such as infrastructure, modelling/cleansing, security/governance, and analytics/reporting. He came to Softlanding in 2019 to help develop and lead the Data & Analytics practice with a focus on Azure services such as SQL PaaS, Synapse Analytics, Power Bi, and Fabric. Before Softlanding, Rich worked at RBC Global Asset Management as a Data Architect, Database Administrator and Report Developer for 19 years. He was also a member of PASS (Professional Association for SQL Server), an MVP recipient for SQL Server, a Chapter Leader for Vancouver PASS, and a speaker at Microsoft events.

Rich has a Diploma in Business Computing Co-Op from Capilano College (now Capilano University) and many Microsoft Certifications in various fields of data and Azure. Rich likes road-cycling, boardgames, and espresso in his free time!

Anssi Numi

Team Lead, Enterprise Applications

Anssi Numi

Team Lead, Enterprise Applications

T: +1 (604) 697-6760

Anssi has been with Softlanding since 2017 and brings nearly three decades of industry experience. As the Practice and Team Lead for the Enterprise Applications team, he is dedicated to enhancing the delivery framework and practices while fostering team growth. The Enterprise Applications team specializes in custom applications built on .NET/React and hosted on Azure, Power Platform development including Power Apps and Power Automate, and SharePoint custom development with custom web parts.

Anssi holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Computer Technologies with honors. Known for his pragmatic approach and strong belief in Agile methodologies, Anssi excels in team collaboration and overcoming challenges. His extensive IT industry experience spans infrastructure and application development, including roles as a software developer, infrastructure consultant, project manager, and Agile lead.

In his free time, Anssi enjoys playing the electric guitar.

Amanda Oldring

Business Transformation Practice Lead

Amanda Oldring

Business Transformation Practice Lead

T: (604) 900-9947

Amanda joined Softlanding in 2018 and brings fifteen years of industry experience to clients navigating their digital workplace transformation journeys within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. As the Business Transformation Practice Lead, Amanda’s focus is on bridging people and technology in ways that empower organizations to thrive in a rapidly changing landscape. Her team sits at the forefront of technology innovation, providing leadership, continuity, and holistic productization each step of the way to hundreds of clients across numerous sectors. Their commitment to industry best practices in business analysis, solution design and delivery, and organization adoption and change management ensures a quality project experience where clients can learn, grow, and fully realize the potential of their technology investments.

Amanda holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Thompson Rivers University and a Masters of Arts in Communications from Simon Fraser University. As a member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and social justice advocate, she also leads Softlanding’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Committee helping to increase awareness, training, and belonging in projects and communities. Always on the go, Amanda enjoys snowboarding in the winter and motorcycling in the summer, and maintains a roster of gaming, artistic, machine learning and AI, and pop culture hobbies to keep her busy in between.

Chris Hall

Team Lead, Cloud and Infrastructure

Chris Hall

Team Lead, Cloud and Infrastructure

T: +1 (604) 343-9580

Chris came to Vancouver from Australia in 2013 and became a senior administrator at a global mining company in Vancouver. Chris has been working in IT Infrastructure since 2000, mostly with Microsoft partners. In 2015, Chris joined Softlanding as a senior infrastructure consultant and then became the Team Lead of the Cloud and Infrastructure team.

Chris pays attention to detail and aims to deliver high quality work, with satisfied customers who can benefit from his expertise.

Iva Harris

Project Management Lead

Iva Harris

Project Management Lead

T: (604) 697-6755

Iva has been with Softlanding since its inception in 2000 and leads the Project Management Office. She has over 25 years of experience in successful project delivery across our varied customer base and solutions including application development/modernization, services transformation, O365 migration, modern transformation, data architecture, document and records management and infrastructure transformation. With a wealth of experience in project and Change Management, Iva brings a strong body knowledge to each engagement and team she works with.

Before joining Softlanding, Iva was a Senior Project Manager at Syscom Consulting where she was responsible for implementing Enterprise Content Management solutions. Iva has a Business Administration and Technology Diploma from BCIT.

Caroline Blivet

Marketing Lead

Caroline Blivet

Marketing Lead

T: (236) 317-4113

Caroline is a passionate marketing professional with over 12+ years in the IT sector across France, the US, and Canada.

Caroline joined Softlanding in August 2019 as a Marketing Lead and is responsible for driving lead generation, developing a go-to-market strategy and, delivering marketing campaigns. Before joining Softlanding, Caroline worked at Hewlett-Packard France in multiple areas of marketing, communications, and program management.

Caroline holds a master’s degree in International Business from Paris-Dauphine University and a certificate in Digital Marketing from the University of California, Los Angeles. Outside of work, Caroline enjoys hiking the beautiful trails of British Columbia.

Oliver Jiang

Controller

Oliver Jiang

Controller

T: (604) 697-5073

Oliver joins Softlanding with more than 25 years of international experience in finance and accounting. As Controller, he provides strategic operational leadership and direction in managing the full cycle of accounting and reporting, payroll, taxation, and related policies and procedures.

 

Prior to joining Softlanding, Oliver held positions with Venzee, Tuangru and Peer 1 Hosting where he provided experience across a broad range of finance areas including compliance, business process, audit and financial reporting. He holds an MBA from Laurentian University, a CPA designation, as well as an ACCA designation.

Mandeep Sihota

Technical Lead, Managed Services

Mandeep Sihota

Technical Lead, Managed Services

T: (604) 697-5078

Mandeep Sihota is the Managed Services Team Lead with over 13 years of experience in the IT field. He has been with Softlanding since 2015 where he leads the deployment and management of SFB with telephony for managed services clients, works on transitioning clients from Skype to Teams with focus on telephone side, and helps clients migrate from an on-prem environment to cloud environment with services hosted in Azure and Office365.

Previously, Mandeep worked at KPU where he administrated AD, Exchange, Citrix, SCCM and Terminals Services Farm in the 8 years employed there.

Matt Mogdan

Operations Manager, Managed Services

Matt Mogdan

Operations Manager, Managed Services

T: (604) 697-6762

Matt has been with Softlanding since 2014, progressing his position into increased leadership roles. As the Operations Manager for the Managed Services department, he focuses on establishing all Service Level Agreements and processes are defined and met, while maintaining efficiency, and ensuring client satisfaction.

Prior to Softlanding, Matt grew his IT experience in support and project-based roles supporting VoIP systems, server virtualization (Hyper-V), and server migrations. As his career progressed, Matt’s effective leadership skills brought him into management positions where he drove conversations with clients around best practices and projects to take on to improve their environment.