| Dan Souwand
VP Equipment, Systems & WarehousingBefore working with Christie Lites Dan worked at several regional theaters around Ontario such as Victoria Playhouse Petrolia, Huron Country Playhouse and Sudbury Theatre Center. Full Bio
Dan SouwandVP Equipment, Systems & WarehousingBefore working with Christie Lites Dan worked at several regional theaters around Ontario such as Victoria Playhouse Petrolia, Huron Country Playhouse and Sudbury Theatre Center.
Dan's first contact with Christie Lites was an interview in the early 90s with Huntly for a job as a salesman. Not wanting to tie himself to a desk at that time Dan declined the job only to be contacted a few weeks later by Huntly with the offer of a tour in Northern Ontario. Who could resist 2 months in a cube van in the winter traveling from Kenora to Iroquois Falls"
After this first run of shows he never looked back taking any and every gig that Christie would send his way. He spent the next 8 years doing every thing from sweeping the shop floor to touring around the world with Julio Iglesias and Harry Connick Jr. Somewhere along the road Dan decided it was time to trade in his bunk for the comfort of his own bed (Queen sized with matching sheets that he never has to wonder whether the driver actually washed).
The timing could not have been better. The position of Operations Manager in the Toronto Office became available and Dan jumped at the opportunity. Ironically the job included the desk that Dan had traveled thousands of kilometers to avoid.
In 2006 opportunity knocked again. This time it was the position as the Head of Operations. The chance to work with the Operations Managers to build the strongest, most efficient operations team seemed too good to be true.
He currently lives in Toronto with his wife Kirsten and son Zie. In his spare time Dan is working on a cure for the common cold and a perpetual motion machine. Unfortunately, Dan now has even less spare time than he did as the CLT Operations Manager.
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| 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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