Plank

Plank

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Our Story

Experienced. Collaborative. Friendly.

Over the past 12 years, we’ve gathered a group of diversely talented and highly motivated individuals who believe problems are best solved collaboratively. Our experienced team work with you to unleash the power of pixel-driven connectivity.

Principal & Founder

Warren Wilansky

In 1998, just three years out of university, Warren co-founded Plank with his personal savings and a dream to make the internet a beautiful place. With no formal business or entrepreneurial training, he’s graduated from a real world MBA by turning Plank into one of the most highly respected boutique digital agencies in Canada. His high standards and ability to create and maintain strong client relationships are the foundation of the company’s success. But enough about him – Warren truly believes a company is not an entity unto itself but a reflection of the people who make it special.

Managing Director

Steve Bissonnette

As Plank’s longest serving employee (over 12 years!), Steve is the embodiment of the company’s evolution. In 1999, he became our first full time lead designer and was responsible for the quality of much of our early work. As the team grew, Steve’s natural leadership ability and attention to detail made him the best person to serve as Managing Director, using his innate ability to find slick, elegant solutions to all our technological challenges, while keeping creativity and usability at the forefront.

Creative Director

Gary Brazier

Since 2007, Plank’s creative vision has been placed in GW’s immensely capable hands. A self-taught designer from the age of twelve, some of his previous gigs include Senior Designer at Airborne Entertainment, Art Director for The Montreal Mirror, and Co-Founder of Blue Dot Communications. Asked to sum up his design philosophy, he turns to a Cary Grant quote: “It takes 500 small details to add up to one favourable impression.” Given the quality and creativity of our work, you can only imagine the number of small details worked on each day.

  • v1.0 Photoshopping Since
  • 1 Billion+ Pixels Served
  • 10,000+ Hours Playing Bass
Senior Account Executive

Sarah Bagnall

How do you keep projects on track, understand a client’s needs, and keep people informed and happy, all in a manner that is equal parts professional and enthusiastic? Actually, it’s a trade secret. But we can tell you that it’s what Sarah does — unbelievably well. With her previous work at PUMA Canada and Cossette, she brings to Plank a wide range of experience in both public relations and marketing. Content, strategy, branding, design…she gets it. And that’s why, for over four years, she’s been building great relationships.

  • 900+ Basecamp Posts / Year
  • 500+ Client Calls / Year
  • 200+ LinkedIn Connections
Interactive Director

Jennifer Lamb

Jennifer’s days with us are almost as old and numerous as the agency itself. Her early, award-winning Flash work helped put Plank on the map as an agency pushing the limits of online interactive projects. In 2006 she returned from some time living in East Asia, and we jumped at the chance to have her back on the team. Immersing herself in HTML and CSS development, she quickly became our resident browser-bug-busting expert, and still sets the standard for our pixel-pushing production team. Her experience, efficiency, and desire for results translate into amazing work, on time and within budget.

Director of Mobile Development

Geoffrey Weeks

Geoff joined Plank in 2004 and quickly established himself as a core member of our team, with his diverse skill-set and focus on interactivity and motion graphics. Coming from a background in music, photography, and film, he brings artistic sensibilities to every project, while his programming and managerial experience guarantees that all those little technical issues are never overlooked. Geoff’s role at Plank is now focused on channeling our well-honed interactive and interface design skills into mobile development, ensuring that the quality of all our mobile projects exceed expectations.

Senior Developer

Patrick McFern

A self-described “anti-stereotypical” programmer, Patrick is a health and fitness nut that comes to Plank with formal training from both Concordia University (BA Computer Science) and Vanier College (DEC, Computer Science). He has a ton of experience, including stints at Motorola, OZ Communications, and Airborne Entertainment, and he blends his dry wit into his ability to work – and deliver – on multiple projects simultaneously. He has a profound love and respect for several extreme sports, still can't describe what style of music he listens to (metal something?), and can likely bench-press you and your momma.

  • 369 Tasks Completed / Year
  • 128 Workouts / Year
  • 3,156 km Snowboarded
Developer

Emerson Lackey

An early penchant for gaming soon evolved into a love of problem solving, and in no time Emerson’s extensive freelance programming career was off and running — that is until we enticed him to settle down with us at Plank. Our resident WordPress expert, he also likes to work with CakePHP, Ruby on Rails, jQuery, and iOS development in Objective-C (and all because it’s “fun”). His insatiable appetite for programming compels him to spend his spare time on projects like brokenbixi.com, a small location-based app supporting the city’s public bike system.

Senior Front-End Developer

Jean-Frédéric Fortier

JF is an expert in ... a lot. He compliments his HTML, CSS, and JavaScript skills with a strong sensibility for user interface and user experience. When he’s not busy squeezing every last bit of quality from every pixel (in every browser), he’s ensuring sites are perfectly optimized for search engines, or teaching us how to get even more out of Google Analytics. Building web sites is an art and a science, and lucky for us, JF has a gift for both.

Office Manager

Colin MacKenzie

As a former label owner, artist manager, tour coordinator, and festival organizer, Colin came to bookkeeping by way of indie rock. As our ‘numbers guy’ he keeps Plank organized so that our team can focus on delivering killer projects. But we love that beyond the books he’s a true creative at heart. A producer and director of music videos and documentaries with a BFA in Photography (University of Ottawa) — and a wicked taste in music, to boot — it’s all made him right at home here at Plank.

Mascot

Cliff Lackey

By far the most photogenic member of the Plank family, Cliffy has licked and drooled his way into all our hearts. He’s our official office greeter and often doubles as a stress-reliever on days that require an added dose of support. He can usually be found under the desk at Emerson’s feet, or learning tricks and stealing treats from Warren. Though relatively new to the industry, his natural talent for creative lounging quickly earned him internet street cred on reddit.

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