| Paul Dhingra VP of Software DevelopmentPaul's career began in 1989, when at the age of 17, he decided to force his way into Radio. By repeatedly and continuously calling the request lines at Toronto radio station CFNY (several times a day for over 6 months), he was eventually given a daily 30 second bit on the morning show, followed by a brief internship in the music department. Full Bio Paul DhingraVP of Software DevelopmentPaul's career began in 1989, when at the age of 17, he decided to force his way into Radio. By repeatedly and continuously calling the request lines at Toronto radio station CFNY (several times a day for over 6 months), he was eventually given a daily 30 second bit on the morning show, followed by a brief internship in the music department. 2 weeks later, Paul was hired as Assistant Music Director, a position he would hold for the next 4 years. During his time in the music department, Paul branched out to learn about many aspects of running a radio station, and had the opportunity to participate in activities such as on-air production, studio/commercial production, and on-air hosting.
In 1992, Paul started Club 102 the first time that music of this type was played in a nightclub of this size, and the first time a show like that was broadcast on the radio. Paul DJ'd on Saturday nights at the Phoenix for the next 7 years. Shortly thereafter, similar shows (also with music chosen, mixed, and played by Paul) were started on Fridays at the Kingdom in Burlington, and Sundays at Whiskey Saigon - Retro 80's night. (Incidentally, all of these shows continue to be broadcast today).
In 1994, Paul decided to DJ full time, and started his company Music Sucks. By the end of 1994, he was working in nightclubs in downtown Toronto and across Southern Ontario, 6 nights/week. He was also often doing extra gigs after his nightclub gigs at raves and after-parties.
Also in 1994, Paul began his career as a professional skydiver. It wasn't long before Paul became an instructor, and progressed to many different areas of the sport, including everything from teaching first-time jumpers to freefly (sit, stand, head-down) coaching at a higher level. Paul participated (and won a few medals) in several competitions. He then became interested in demo-jumping, went through the difficult licensing process, and was hired to do things like commercials, and jumping into Air Shows, Football Games, and Ontario Place. Paul has jumped out of over 30 types of aircrafts, including helicopters and hot-air balloons, in many places throughout North America.
In 1999, after the birth of Paul's son Koen, he decided to change careers (jumping out airplanes and hanging out at nightclubs until 5am wasn't really appropriate anymore), and found Christie Lites through a lighting operator at a nightclub as well as one of his skydiving students. Paul taught himself how to run computer networks, was hired as IT Manager, and left the world of radio, nightclubs, and skydiving behind.
After completely redesigning Christie Lites' computer network, Paul implemented many new systems, both hardware and software, to support Christie Lites Toronto's business operations. He then continued to make changes and upgrades, and, not satisfied with working with one office, he expanded the department to cover all Christie Lites locations.
During this time, Paul learned the intricacies of software development, including everything from Clipper to SQL to .net web services, and was recently named Christie Lites' Systems and Software Development Manager. Paul and his department are responsible for several exciting areas of growth for Christie Lites, including data warehousing, data mining, and procedural/operational development.
Paul lives in Mississauga with his girlfriend Colleen, and their children Kyle, Danielle, Andrew, Koen, and Gabriel (that's right, there's five of them, but they haven't realized they outnumber us yet). And two cats, and a dog too!
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| Joel Van Netten VP Asset ManagementJoel began his technical theatre career at the tender age of sixteen under the guise of a sound technician for such musicals as Bye Bye Birdie and Fame, the musical. From the beginning, he was hooked.
Full Bio Joel Van NettenVP Asset ManagementJoel began his technical theatre career at the tender age of sixteen under the guise of a sound technician for such musicals as Bye Bye Birdie and Fame, the musical. From the beginning, he was hooked.
After a short but sweet stint as a student at Ryerson University's Technical Theatre program, Joel landed a job working in the warehouse at Christie Lites Toronto.
His next step was to move from prepping the shows to teching the shows. Joel started his show tech career with a cross Canada tour with Jann Arden. From there, the gigs kept on coming. From Barrage to The Barenaked Ladies; from The Much Music Video Awards to the Wow Awards, Joel has excelled in the capacities of dimmer tech, crew chief, and operator.
Now Joel has moved forward again, accepting a role as Operations Manager for the Toronto shop of Christie Lites. Here he hopes to combine experiences as a technician and his years in the Christie Lites organization to overcome any challenges that come his way.
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