Michael Fergusson - Founder and Leader of The Kinzin Team
For nearly fifteen years, I’ve been building internet-related products and companies to fuel my deep passion for uniting the technical and the social, using technology to change people’s lives for the better. I have friends and family all over the world: Spain, Jamaica, England, Australia, South Africa, as well as all across Canada and the US. To me, Kinzin is a perfect way for a family like ours to create a space where we can share our lives and experiences, even though we’re separated by time and distance. My four (smart, strong, beautiful) children are growing up quickly, and it’s important to me to capture those memories where I can, and share them with my friends and family in safety and privacy. I built Kinzin for myself and my family, and I’m proud to be part of it.

Paul Prescod - Director of Application Development (DAD)
I am (chronologically speaking) a son, brother, husband and father. After years of building enterprise software, I’m happy to make something family-oriented. I am especially thrilled with my position as Director of Application Development (DAD). I have instilled in the Kinzin team the same discipline and obedience accorded by my two year old daughter. If it were not for enthusiasm and professionalism, things might get messy…

Frank Lee - Creative Director
My passion is designing easy to use and desirable user experiences that solve common problems we all share. I have a comprehensive background in software engineering, interaction design, project management, art and photography.

My specialty is creating products from the ground up. This includes work at several startups and a brief nine year stint designing products at Microsoft.

Julie Gendron - Participation Designer
I would like to enable people to create their own culture and communities.

My main inspiration in life is to create experiences for people that allow them to explore and create. Currently, I am doing this by working as Kinzin’s Interactive Designer and by creating artworks for people to play with.

I completed my graduate work in Art, Design and Technology at Concordia University specializing in Participatory Design. Previous to this, I completed and lead numerous projects that consider accessibility, playfulness, learning, change and community. I have gratefully received awards and grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Art Council, Centre interuniversitaire des arts mediatiques, Dora and Avi Morrow Award for Excellence in Visual Arts and BC Film. I’ve shared my work at various conferences in Canada, Australia and the US.

Dethe Elza - Senior Code Poet
I spend my work days pushing the limits of browser technology to make web applications that are fun to use. I spend my evenings and weekends teaching my kids programming and learning from them about all sorts of interesting things. My home is a hodgepodge of art, robots, poetry, computers, books, pet rats, more books, board games, and the smells of good food cooking. I've worked as a pizza delivery driver, hospice office manager, legal secretary, and dishwasher. I've helped build a house and restored 100+ year old farmhouses. I've studied to be an emergency medical technician. In college I majored variously in physics, creative writing, and mathematics, eventually graduating in Computer Science with a minor in Linguistics, and following that up with a Master's in Electrical and Computer Engineering. I try to bring lessons from all of these things to my work, making cool and useful things for real people.

Vince Hodges - Senior Software Samurai
My career as a software developer started at the age of 13, the first day of grade 8 to be exact. Since then I have written software for systems ranging from embedded micro controllers to personal banking on commodity game consoles to web applications. I have worked in a diverse set of industries such as finance and banking, gas and oil, telephony, music sharing and now social networking.

As an 'old' guy with glasses and a beard, who knows 'C' and Unix (and Java and Ruby, but not, alas, Smalltalk), I bring a lot of knowledge and experience to the team while having the wisdom to know that there is so much more to experience and learn.

At this point in my life as a new husband and one day father, I am happy to be working on software that helps to bring together friends and families by helping them collect and share their special memories.

Brian Oberquell - The Fireman
I like to create things - whether building a prop for a science fiction TV show or setting up a fireworks exhibition watched by thousands of people. Despite my love of fireworks, I work hard to make sure that our software never blows up in our customer's faces (unlike some other companies you may know). It's great to be teamed with the talented group of people at Kinzin, which allows me to put my 10 years of hardware and software test experience to work making creative things to enhance YOUR life.

Tom Kukuljevic-Pearce - Code Ninja
I am an occasional globe-trotter who likes computer science and oranges. Not much is publically known about me!

Ian Suda - Software Sensei
They call me the jūdōka. Yes, I am a Judo black-belt and Sensei (for real, not like the pretenders above). But I also gently grapple Ruby code into submission. I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in Computer Science.

Mike Nemeth - Greybeard
I'm the oldtimer of the group, constantly having to tell the rest of these young whippersnappers how things really were in the dark ages and yelling at them to stay off my lawn. When I'm not doing that, my job is to keep things running, making sure the invisible stays invisible, that crises are avoided if at all possible, and ensuring that crises don't become disasters. This entails, but isn't limited to, infrastructure maintenance, system administration, backups, DB, email, security, and general moral support.

I have 5 grandchildren and 2 cats who, amongst their other pastimes, help me to fix old pinball machines and inspire me to learn to play the piano well.

Stewart Yu - Interface Chorus Boy
When not developing Kinzin's interface, you'll find me working on my computer science and music degrees, performing in musicals or writing/directing shows. I might take seven years to do my undergrad, but at least I'll never have the urge to sing "I Wish I Could Go Back To College".

Connect with the Kinzin’s community news on Kinzin’s Magazine, The Zin, which is currently having a minor face-lift and will be coming to a web browser near you soon.

We know how tough it can be to keep in touch with a geographically dispersed family—we want to share our adventures, our kids and our traditions, and also be able to participate in on the lives of the far-off adventurers in our midst.

We’re passionate about developing tools, planners and creative outlets that help our families (and yours!) stay effortlessly connected—no matter how busy our lives become.