Management

Derek van der Plaat, CEO, SilverBirch Inc.
Derek van der Plaat brings both investment banking and operating experience to SilverBirch.

Prior to joining SilverBirch, Derek was a founder, CEO and CFO of Puretracks Inc. (www.puretracks.com), a North American leader in value added digital file based music services. Previously, Derek was a Managing Director, Investment Banking with CIBC World Markets and focused on mergers and acquisitions and private financings for technology companies.

Derek holds an MBA from Concordia University, a BA from McGill and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.


Paul Haber, SVP & CFO, SilverBirch Inc.
Mr. Haber is an experienced senior financial executive with a successful track record for growing companies from a strategic, operational and financial standpoint.

Mr. Haber is responsible for the accounting and corporate finance functions of the Company and its subsidiaries and also actively supports the M&A activities of the Company.

Mr. Haber started his career with Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoppers LLP). Mr. Haber is both a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Public Accountant, and has an Honours Bachelors of Arts Degree in Management from the University of Toronto.


Graham Lowman, CAO (Secretary Treasurer), SilverBirch Inc.
Mr. Lowman is a graduate Chartered Secretary, Management Accountant and Administrator with a strong background in the media/communications industry, having worked in the UK as Chief Accountant with United Artists, and as Divisional Accountant for the Record and Tape marketing arm of Readers Digest Association. Mr. Lowman holds FSCA and ACIS designations.

Mr. Lowman also gained considerable experience in Public Company reporting and compliance, both in Canada and the US, first as V.P. Finance with a Canadian listed corporation, and later in his capacity as CFO with SilverBirch Studio's former parent, a role that he continued to fulfill at SilverBirch Inc. until the recent appointment of Mr. Haber. He will be responsible for a wide range of administrative and HR functions in his current role as Corporate Secretary.


Derek Colfer, Vice President Strategy, Jambo Mobile Solutions
Derek has over 12 years of experience in the digital media space. Prior to returning to Canada and founding Jambo in 2002, Colfer served as Interactive Director for Omnicom's interactive service group (Agency.com) in London England. It was during his time in the U.K., where he gained a significant amount of mobile media strategy experience utilizing a variety of mobile protocols (SMS, LBS & WAP). Derek's unique understanding of the mobile channel has led the development of several award winning mobile solutions in both the UK and North America including a 2001 Digital Marketing Award in the UK and the wireless winners for the 2004 and 2006 Digital Marketing Awards in Canada.

In his role as VP Strategy, Derek is responsible for the strategic direction of the company as well as leading the development of innovative mobile media solutions for Jambo Mobile's various clients and partners.

Derek has been asked to speak at various conferences on both the emergence and convergence of mobile based media in North America. Derek obtained a Bachelors Degree in Political Studies and Economics from Bishop's University and a Masters Degree in International Relations from Trinity College Dublin.

Matthew Kim, Vice President Technology, Jambo Mobile Solutions
Matthew Kim co-founded Jambo Technologies in 2002 drawing from international experiences in engineering research and IT development strategies. He has honed his skills at institutions such as Korea Advanced Research for Science and Technology (KAIST University) in Tae-Jon South Korea while working as a researcher in Neuro-Fuzzy and Soft Computing methods for wireless communication, and Daewoo Heavy Industries in Atlanta Georgia USA working as an IT Administrator throughout the Y2K preparation for the multinational corporation.

His most recent role before starting Jambo Technologies was that of a Systems Engineer at Nortel Networks in Canada’s capital, Ottawa. During his tenure he was intimately involved in architecting solutions for high profile clients such as Visual Media, Qwest, SBC, CenturyTel, InfoLibria, and SGi. He was also actively involved in the conference circuit presenting at technical conferences on behalf of Nortel in both Canada and the US, and also mentored students at Georgia Tech, Atlanta for Nortel sponsored engineering programs.

Throughout the growing phases of Jambo Technologies, Matthew was actively involved in bringing to market many firsts in the industry such as North America’s first text chatting service, and North America’s first SMS-based pharmaceutical compliance solution (with 1:1 Mobile) that won the wireless category at the 2004 Digital Marketing Awards.

Matthew holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering (telecommunications specialization)from McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario, Canada.

Philippe Van Hecke, CEO, CrossRoad Mobile
Philippe Van Hecke has been working in the entertainment telephony industry for more than a decade. Under his leadership, Oneworld Interactive USA was the first company to market premium text chat services across multiple wireless carriers in the US. Besides entertainment voice telephony, Mr. Van Hecke has an extensive background in wireless and audiotext entertainment and billing solutions.

He holds a MBA in Finance from Woodbury University, California with post graduate studies in Finance from the University of Southern California

Wojtek Kawczynski, SVP and General Manager, SilverBirch Studios and Metin2
Wojtek Kawczynski joined SilverBirch Studios in 2007 in the role of Senior Vice President and General Manager. In this capacity Wojtek divides his time between setting strategy, developing relationships with key partner organizations such as publishers, technology vendors and outsourced service providers, and running the operations of the studio.

Wojtek is an avid gamer with a passion for growing businesses. His professional experience spans venture capital investments and technology startups. Prior to SilverBirch Studios Wojtek spent close to 3 years running the product management group at Avokia a venture-backed startup in the database market.Prior to Avokia Wojtek spent 5 years at Ventures West, one of Canada’s top venture capital firms, focused on investments in the technology sector.

Wojtek holds an MBA from York University, a MSc from McGill and a BA from Concordia University.