Meet The Founder

EARLY CAREER: FOUR SEASONS HOTELS & RESORTS

Gary embarked on his hospitality career in 1994 by working full time hours at Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts Global Reservations Centre, while still attending Ryerson University in the Hospitality & Tourism Program.  This experience was invaluable, providing top notch training and insight into one of the world's leading companies and innovators of customer service.

THE SUTTON PLACE HOTEL TORONTO

After graduating from Ryerson University in 1996, Gary furthered his career as an Assistant Night Manager/Night Auditor at The Sutton Place Toronto.  

The following  year, he was promoted to  Assistant Front Desk Manager, and then  in 1998, moved into the IT Department.   

Gary's goal was always to learn operations in  every department of a hotel:  Front Desk, Sales, Housekeeping, Engineering, F&B, Catering etc.   Little did he know at the time that IT would provide him  with exactly this opportunity.  

In 1998,  Sutton Place Toronto transitioned from a Nortel telephone network to Mitel,   The Hotel also implemented Fidelio Front Office & Sales & Catering and Gary was in the right place at the right time to learn, be trained, and subsequently train hotel staff in these new technologies.   

THE SUTTON PLACE VANCOUVER

In 2000, Gary embraced the opportunity to move to Vancouver to be IT Manager at Sutton Place Vancouver.  

SUTTON PLACE CORPORATE

In 2001, working closely with the President & VP Finance for Sutton Place Hotels, they  opened up The Sutton Place Hotels Corporate Office based out of Vancouver, BC.  His  responsibilities now included Sutton Place Hotels Vancouver, Toronto, Newport Beach & Chicago.

In 2003, ownership sold The Sutton Place Newport Beach and Gary was fortunate to be involved in the sale of that property.  This provided him with valuable insight into a level of Negotiation, Finance, Real Estate, & HR that would otherwise be unavailable to someone in his position.  

 Later that same year, ownership purchased the then Sheraton Hotel Downtown Edmonton, Alberta and Gary was an integral part of that opening team.  This provided him his first opportunity to transition and rebrand a property.   Gary immediately discovered his passion for hotel openings.

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NORTHLAND PROPERTIES: SANDMAN & SUTTON PLACE HOTELS

In 2006, ownership sold 2 Sutton Place Hotels (Vancouver & Edmonton) to Northland Properties who also owned Sandman Hotels and a host of Restaurant chains, among other entities.  

Northland appointed Gary as IT Manager for both Sutton Place Properties well as their 44 Sandman Hotels.  He instantly went from managing 4 hotels to 46 hotels.  This was a fabulous experience as he  was exposed to different PMS (Maestro) and POS (Positouch) systems, a much larger network, and exposure to business practices that have made Northland such a successful company.  

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Additionally, Northland was a growing company and were in the process of building and acquiring new properties.  Gary was fortunate to be part of this growth and it fueled even more his  passion for hotel openings.  This included several Domestic & International opening & rebranding projects.  

PARQ VANCOUVER

In 2017, Gary joined the brand new Parq Vancouver Casino as Director of IT.  Parq Vancouver is a multi use entertainment complex with a full service Casino, 2 hotels (JW Marriott & Douglas), 8 F&B outlets, and the 2nd largest convention space in the city with state of the art A/V equipment.   

His responsibilities at Parq Vancouver as a member of the Executive Team included building the IT team, managing all aspects of IT for the Casino, manage the 8 F&B outlets, and collaborating with all stakeholders, which included Ownership, the Provincial Gaming Commission (BCLC), the Executive Team, Marriott, Westpark, Surveillance, Security,  Facilities, and the F&B Executive to ensure a seamless and superior guest experience.   

PNI DIGITAL MEDIA

In 2019, Gary  expanded his career horizons & experience by being hired at the Digital Media Company, PNI Digital Media as Manager of Office Systems where he was responsible for the Office IT environment as well as Facilities Management. 

NEXPLAY

Gary began working for Nexplay in 2021 to May 2022 as Director of Projects.  Below are highlights of some of the Projects for which he was responsible:

1. Sheraton San Diego's complete IT technology overhaul, including meeting space technology.
2. Opened the Hyatt Branded Thompson and Tommie Hotels with a combined 8 F&B outlets in Hollywood, Los Angeles.  his involved all of their IT (PMS, POS, Networks etc) and interfaces
3. Opened MotherWolf Restaurant and  Citizen News Meeting and Conference Space in Hollywood , Los Angeles
4. Was part of a team that performed a complete PCI Audit for the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club in San Diego  California

ACCOR

In 2022, Gary signed an 18 month contract with Accor to transition  their hotels, including 24 Fairmont Hotels in North America from Opera Version 5 to Opera Cloud.  Over 35 hotels were transitioned during this time including other brands like Sofitel and Novotel in Mexico and Latin America.

In May 2024, Gary also contracted with Accor to transtion 3 All Inclusive Resorts in Mexico to Opera Cloud.

Langdon Hall Country House Hotel & Spa 

In January 2024, Gary project managed the transition of this iconic property in Ontario Canada to Opera Cloud as well as all of their legacy IT Systems to modern technologies.