Leadership Team

Ian Cavanagh, Chief Executive Officer
As CEO of Ambir, Ian brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record working with high growth software and services companies. More>>

Al Carson, President & Chief People Officer
As President, Al focuses on the day to day management of operations and delivery and as such is instrumental in building and tooling the Ambir team and responsible for establishing and managing the metrics that measure our progress against our vision. More>>

Paul Mansz, Chief Technology & Delivery Officer
Paul is responsible for charting Ambir’s technology direction and focus while acting as a strategic technology consultant for many of our established clients. More>>

Chris Magee, Vice President Telecom Practice
With over 21 years in the Information Technology sector Chris has extensive experience working with both consulting and software product companies. More>>

John Munro, Vice President Sales & Marketing
John has been employed in various technology–oriented positions for the past 15 years. More>>

Claude Richard, Vice President Government Practice
Claude is responsible for establishing Ambir’s presence in the Fredericton market by securing business opportunities and building a strong team to support the Fredericton market. More>>

Adrienne O'Pray, Vice President Management Consulting
Having lead Marketing, Sales, Information Technology, Client Service and Organizational Development teams, Adrienne has a broad knowledge of ... More>>

Jeff Sheehan, Vice President Business Operations
Jeff has worked in systems and software development in a wide variety of industries such as telecommunication, e-government, e-health, tourism and financial payments. More>>

Ian Cavanagh, Chief Executive Officer

As CEO of Ambir, Ian brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record working with high growth software and services companies. His knowledge of the global outsourcing industry is propelling Ambir towards realizing its full potential and capturing growth opportunities from our home base in Atlantic Canada. Ian’s strengths lie in his expertise in Executive Management, Business Development & Strategy, Sales & Marketing, International Markets, M&A, Venture Capital & Operations.

Experienced in both private and public high growth technology companies, Ian was most recently Canadian President of a global outsourcing company where he gained a comprehensive insight into the opportunities in the IT services sector. Previously, Ian founded Daruma Consulting Inc. where he focused on providing strategic guidance to start-ups both in Canada and the United States. Prior to founding Daruma, Ian held senior executive roles in business development with Kana Communications, Redwood City, California and Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc., Daly City, California, which was later acquired by Alcatel Communications.

Ian is an Advisory Board Member of Comprecultures, Digant Technologies PVT (India), SaleNorth Solutions and Acadia University’s F.C. Manning School of Business Administration. Ian is the Co-Chair of the New Brunswick IT Council and a Director of PropelICT, the IT Association of Nova Scotia (ITANS) and the Associated Alumni of Acadia University. Ian also sits on the Roundtable on Self Sufficiency in New Brunswick and was formerly member of the National NASSCOM/ITAC Steering Committee on Outsourcing. Ian holds a Certificate of Applied Science and a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering Degree from Acadia University & Dalhousie University (formerly TUNS) and is a Registered Professional Engineer in New Brunswick.

Al Carson, President & Chief People Officer

As President, Al focuses on the day to day management of operations and delivery and as such is instrumental in building and tooling the Ambir team and responsible for establishing and managing the metrics that measure our progress against our vision. Al has worked in the Information Technology field for two decades and has been involved with both professional services and software product companies.

Through his various assignments, Al has acquired unique and valuable skills, and has been a member of the start-up teams of three IT companies. Working with leaders in the IT industry, Al has undertaken a diverse set of roles, challenges, and responsibilities. Al has held positions as VP Development and VP Consulting with Kinek Technologies and CGI Group respectively. Previously Al was one of the founding members at MCM Technology and played a key role focusing on managing the services within the Center of Expertise in Component Based Development. During his career, Al has work in various business verticals and worked with leaders in the IT field.

Al holds a Bachelors of Science, in Computer Science, and a Bachelors of Business Administration, both from University of New Brunswick.

Paul Mansz, Chief Technology and Delivery Officer

Paul is responsible for charting Ambir’s technology direction and focus while acting as a strategic technology consultant for many of our established clients. Paul brings both a depth and breadth in technical matters that are well balanced with practical and pragmatic learning from over 20 years of industry experience. He leverages a strong track record in business success along with a unique blend of both technical architecture and business management skills.

Prior to Ambir, Paul's career has spanned a wealth of industries, technologies and roles, ranging from personal services consultancies to the starting up and co-founding of two technology firms. He was co-founder and CTO of Kinek Technologies, and Vice President of Product Architecture and Product Management of 724 Solutions.

Paul has a Masters of Business Administration from Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from University of Waterloo. Paul is committed to innovation and the practical application of technology and working with a team to fulfill that vision in a commercial context is his metric for success.

Chris Magee, Vice President Telecom Practice

With over 21 years in the Information Technology sector Chris has extensive experience working with both consulting and software product companies. In the consulting stream, Chris has worked closely with private and public sector companies in the application of technology to define cost-effective and innovative answers to their business and process problems. He has a wide breadth of experience in the management, planning and deployment of IT solutions.

Previous to joining Ambir, Chris was a member of Exigen’s Strategic Assessment Team, with responsibility for planning, leading and executing Joint Value Assessment (JVA) assignments. Chris was a founding member and Vice-President of Product Management for Kinek Technologies Inc., responsible for the definition, development and evolution of Kinek’s e-commerce distribution and payment products. Chris also served as Vice-President of Product Management for Genesys Labs and was responsible for the delivery and management of a suite of contact centre software products. Prior to Genesys he was a founding partner of MCM Technology.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of New Brunswick. He is actively involved in the community through coaching and has been a youth soccer and basketball coach for the past 10 years.

John Munro, Vice President Sales & Marketing

John has been employed in various technology–oriented positions for the past 15 years. Over this time he has acquired diverse experience working for, and partnering with, various IT companies and a major communications company. John has gained increasing responsibilities throughout his career in the areas of project management, systems design and architecture, software design and development, operations and business process consulting.

Previous to joining Ambir, John led Exigen’s Technical Review Board and was responsible for software reuse, solution architecture and project estimation. Prior to this, he headed the Solution Architect Practice and its team in developing enterprise solutions for a global market based on a business process utility model. He was also accountable for the design and implementation of Exigen’s Managed Services offerings. Prior to joining Exigen, John was the Vice President of Operations for Connectivity Contact Centre Solutions Inc., the premier ASP (Applications Service Provider) of Computer Telephony applications in the world.

John holds a Bachelors of Science in Industrial Engineering from the Technical University of Nova Scotia, Halifax, NS.

Claude Richard, Vice President Government Practice

Claude is responsible for establishing Ambir’s presence in the Fredericton market by securing business opportunities and building a strong team to support the Fredericton market.

Having served clients in different market segments such as provincial government, local governments and private sector, Claude has a substantial exposure to different business/technical models that allow for the creation of innovative and best of breed technical solutions that in turn become solid business solutions.

Fluent in both French and English, Claude has been in the IT profession for the past 20 years. Most of his experience is in the area of software development, process improvement, methodologies and IT project management. With the various roles ranging from project manager to technical architect, Claude has a wide set of skills and knowledge that allow flexibility in his assignments and brings value to his clients by using his experiences to deliver high quality results. Claude excels at understanding and translating business needs for the various technical and non-technical project members and stakeholders.

Claude has a Diploma in Information Technology from NBCC, New Brunswick. Claude was a member of the New Brunswick Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS) committee that spearheaded the efforts to have the Information Systems Professional (I.S.P.) designation recognized by the New Brunswick legislature in 2001. He currently sits on the CIPS New Brunswick executive. Claude is also a volunteer in various community organizations in Fredericton.

Adrienne O'Pray, Vice President Management Consulting

Having lead Marketing, Sales, Information Technology, Client Service and Organizational Development teams, Adrienne has a broad knowledge of business and the ability to link its elements together. She has worked with companies develop realistic, sustainable business plans. This broad experience is valued by clients as means of ensuring corporate plans can actually be executed by the organization. Adrienne leads Ambir’s management consulting practice.

Adrienne works with organizations to engage in honest dialogue with the involvement of all stakeholders. This approach allows organizations to build sustainable enterprises that balance profitability, purpose and the common good. She has over 20 years’ of experience working in large corporations in senior operational and strategy roles such as Vice President of Customer Relations, Corporate Strategist, Chief Operating Officer. Her achievements were recognized on the national level in 2008 when Adrienne was named one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40.

Adrienne has a Bachelor of Science degree from Dalhousie University and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of New Brunswick (UNB). She was awarded the Certificate of Achievement; the highest honour from the Faculty of Business Administration at her alma mater UNB in 2007.

Adrienne has a strong reputation for community involvement by lending her experience over the years to organizations such as the University of New Brunswick Board of Governors, Friends of the Moncton Hospital, Mount Saint Vincent University, Downtown Moncton Inc., and the Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce.

Jeff Sheehan, Vice President Business Operations

Jeff has worked in systems and software development in a wide variety of industries such as telecommunication, e-government, e-health, tourism and financial payments. His activities have reached from tactical to strategic, holding a variety of roles ranging from Functional Architect, Project Manager, Product Manager, and Delivery Manager among others.

Jeff specializes in finding ways to improve the approaches companies take in developing IT solutions through the intelligent adoption of formalized methodologies, standards and productivity tools, and understanding better how people interact with technology from the perspective of user-centred design.

Jeff holds a Bachelors of Business Administration from the University of New Brunswick and studied Technology Management at the University of Waterloo. He is a Certified ScrumMaster, Certified Pragmatic Marketing Manager, and has consulted extensively in the adoption of the Unified Process.