Familiar Faces, ‘New’ Places

I wanted to take a moment to recognize a couple of long-term Echidnas who have recently been appointed to new roles in the company -- and to reflect upon what that means for our company and its future.

I am absolutely thrilled to announce that, earlier this week, Yan Zhang was appointed as Echidna’s Director of Development, and Michael Grant assumed the role of Vice President, Strategic Solutions.

If you know Echidna at all, you’ve likely interacted in one way or another with these two. Yan has been the foundation upon which our development team has been built and Michael has been integral to our sales growth and our successes in key verticals, including healthcare and education.

As we approach our 15th anniversary, the company has come a long way from its humble one-man-in-a-basement beginnings. Over the past couple of years, we’ve really started to refine our senior management positions, starting with the 2015 hire of a VP-operations, Warren Helland. But some things haven’t changed: we still embrace that concept of humble confidence; we still prioritize our customers and work diligently to deliver solutions that meet their needs; and we focus on fostering a supportive, engaging workplace where talented people can learn, grow, and succeed.

It’s just the scope has changed. And that’s really what these two new roles reflect.

We’re not one man in a basement. We’re over 65-strong, with staff in Ottawa and Kitchener, as well as our home base of London, ON. We’re still supporting those local causes and companies that have helped us get to where we are, but we’re comfortable playing on an entirely larger field. Our clients, increasingly, are enterprise-level in scope and come from all across North America. And our corporate structure, policies, and practices have to reflect that.

Appointments like this, in my mind, send out two clear messages. One, we’ve got the talent, scope, and protocols in place to handle whatever you can throw at us -- and to do it really, really, well. And, two, it means that Echidnas have room to grow and develop their career, right here in the Forest City.

We’re committed to London -- and downtown, specifically. We’re committed to supporting our educational partners like Western and Fanshawe. And we believe in putting our words into action, giving people graduating from those institutions a chance to work, learn, grow, and continue their careers right here.

We’re here and we’re only getting bigger. And we’re part of a large, talented local development community that continues to grow and thrive in London.

So I invite you to join me in congratulating Yan and Michael on their new roles. And I invite you to keep an eye out for Echidnas in London and far afield. We may be spreading the Forest City’s influence far and wide -- but we’re proudly rooted right here in London.