September 2005 Volume 9, Number 2

Meet Paul Thiel, Director of Professional Services

By Deb Holmes

Please help us welcome Paul Thiel, one of the newest additions to our SoftLanding family. When you talk to him on the phone, the first thing you'll notice is his British accent. That's right — Paul hails from our sister company in the UK. Paul started working with SoftLanding back in 1990 when Oasis/400 became the SoftLanding distributor in the UK and Ireland. When SoftLanding purchased Oasis/400 in 2002, he became an official SoftLanding employee. Paul took the trip "across the pond" about nine months ago to accept a position as Director of Professional Services, and is now settled here in Peterborough.

Paul says he has always enjoyed working with SoftLanding, but as an employee he appreciates the "fun and relaxed culture" that is SoftLanding. He also enjoys working with ". . .the diverse range of personalities" and interacting with almost every department on a daily basis.

When asked to describe his educational background, Paul says he "didn't mix well with school." However, since his school days and throughout his career, Paul has completed a number of professional certifications, including a Professional Diploma in Management and a number of Microsoft technical certifications.

Paul began working in the midrange arena when he was 17 — starting with the IBM System/36 and System/38 computers. Throughout his 18 years in IT, he has maintained his technical and programming expertise, and has spent a significant amount of time writing RPG/ILE code. He has also worked on the Microsoft platform, developing Web and client server solutions using VB/.NET and SQL Server. "I am a competent Web, HTML, XML, and CSS developer too," he says.

There's a growing group of racquetball players here at SLS. Paul has put down his squash racquet and regularly plays racquetball with the rest of us. He observes, "I have always loved sports of every sort, particularly soccer, racquetball, squash, running, and hitting the weights." He also enjoys traveling and spending time with his wife and two beautiful kids.

Welcome to the gang, Paul. Cheers!

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