The Team

Richard G. Williams
Richard G. Williams

President & Co-Founder

Rich has been instrumental in the design and development of several learning management and knowledge certification systems over his career for large organizations like Prudential Insurance and the Royal Bank of Canada. He's a professional engineer with a B.App.Sc. from the Univerity of Waterloo.

Rich spends his winters coaching skiing to 12-year-old future ski champions and the rest of the year putting far too many miles on a bike than is healthy.

Stefan Leyhane
Stefan Leyhane

Co-Founder

Stefan devours all things Web and wears many hats at Firmwater. He leads the product development but also plays a role in sales, marketing, and customer service. He holds a BMath in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo.

Stefan loves all sports and, until running into concussion issues, spent much of his time playing violent ones. He now devotes his time to marvelling at his baby daughter.

Jan Vopalensky
Jan Vopalensky

Co-Founder

Jan is the scientist of the group. He has worked at some of the largest labs such as Nortel Networks and Bell-Northern Research. Along with advising on company direction, he often finds himself knee-deep in code and XML Schemas. Jan holds a Masters degree in Computer Science from the University of Toronto.

Jan lives much of his free time outdoors. He somehow finds pleasure in Nordic skiing and also loves hiking, camping, and x-country running.

Sean Power
Sean Power

Director of Sales

Sean works with our prospects and clients to ensure that they walk a path to success. He worked in England and Australia doing advertising sales for news organizations and publishers before moving to Canada.

Sean talks really fast with a funny accent. At least his email communication is short.

Mario Pareja
Mario Pareja

Lead Developer

Back in the dark ages, Mario was Firmwater's very first intern. He is now our go-to developer for everything that requires deep thought. He tries to keep us lean and agile and came to us by way of the University of Waterloo and Humber College.

Amid raising two daughters under the age of two, Mario finds time to hack on various projects and play Aussie Rules football.