Age: 38
Birthplace: Montreal
Company: Video game developer
OBJ360 (Sponsored)
Deep retrofits, done differently: new model for building upgrades
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Sharing “PapaJo’s” story to shine the spotlight on the Campaign to Create Tomorrow
Visitors to the seventh floor of The Ottawa Hospital’s General campus may do a double take outside Room 7123. A plaque beside the door references “PapaJo” Johns. Who, you may
Education: Bachelor of computer engineering, Polytechnique Montreal (2001)
Charitable involvement: International Game Developers Association
Biggest biz achievement: Starting my company, making it grow to 25 employees and favouring diversity in employment.
Biggest biz obstacle: Taking a group of talented individuals working in a troubled economy after the 2008 economic crisis and building a studio from scratch while there was an overall slowdown of our sector.
Biggest influence: There is not one single answer to this question. I was influenced by a group of brilliant people from the local industry (John Criswick, Scott Simpson, Andrew Fisher) as well as other industry influencers (Jason Della Rocca) and other entrepreneurs (Wes Tam, David Fugère Lamarre) going through similar challenges.
Biggest lesson learned: Communication and honesty are the most prized values when working with customers. After a tough project where I was trying to maintain the company’s image by hiding some issues from a client, things got bad and eventually even worse. That was the last project I did where I was not upfront with a client about problems. Today, transparency is key to all our projects.
First job: Working on a golf course
Advice I’d give the younger me: Don’t be shy; go out and meet people. (It’s a lesson it took me years to learn!)
What’s left to do: Professionally, I want to build the biggest game development studio in Ottawa, a home for hundreds of brilliant game developers. Personally, there are so many countries left to be visited!
Favourite pastime: Biking
I’m currently reading: Pain and Prejudice: What Science Can Learn about Work from the People Who Do It by Karen Messing
Favourite movie: Life is Beautiful
Favourite song: Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2
Favourite local pro sports team: Ottawa Senators
Favourite local summer event: Ottawa Bluesfest
Preferred social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
Twitter handle: @jssormany
