In This Section:
Who We Are, Who is Who, How We Work , Our Values

FileMaker consultant experts

Call us FileMaker experts, or FileMaker enthusiasts; we’ll always go out of our way to provide you a software solution that meets your exact needs.

The core FileMaker crew comprises:

Steven Barer
Steve Cooper
Deborah Norton
Brian Panhuyzen
Allen Poole
Marcus Swift
Jordan Wald

Doug Hilton (Retired)

Steven Barer

You might expect the founder and leader of a software company to be a bit of a propeller-head, but that’s not what you get with Steven.

"I’m not the whizziest technical guy, my strength is in understanding and resolving problems that businesses face," he says.

Steven describes himself as: "a person who listens, understands business, identifies issues, and manages a team of highly competent specialists who create solutions that work." He assesses the business proposition up front, ensuring members of the team always work on solutions that deliver true value. He thrives on business issues, process and workflow. He’s the guy who makes sense of chaos.

Of all his business achievements, Steven is most proud of building a tight, intelligent team – that truly works collaboratively, and oozes of integrity and honesty. "There’s no glitz or overstatement here,” he says, “We work closely together with our clients, bringing real value to their business. What you see is what you get."

Steve Cooper

Some of our clients see a lot of Steve. He gets involved early in a project, when the focus is on understanding the business and conducting a needs analysis. He then takes this information and designs and programs the right FileMaker solutions. "I enjoy getting to know how the client’s business operates,” he says, “plus having the creativity to come up with a solution that meets their needs.”

Steve spent a long time in project management before becoming a FileMaker developer. “I think this is the ideal career for me,” he says. “I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do—unless someone wants to pay me to ski."

Deborah Norton

Deborah Norton’s path to FileMaker is one shared by many other FileMaker developers: While looking for off-the-shelf time tracking software in 2003, everything was either too much solution, too expensive, or not quite right. But somehow, during that search, she downloaded FileMaker, realized it was for building software, and built a timecard. Within a year, she’d designed and created a system that was running an entire business, and launched herself into a twenty-year career building custom FileMaker solutions. And, like so many FileMaker developers, this wasn’t the original plan, which started with a lot of theatre work and a degree in American History at the University of Hawaii.

Now, after many years of working with FileMaker, Deborah has worn all the hats: requirements gathering, product design, building systems in-house and as a contractor, revamping existing software and building it from scratch. Her favorite part of the process is designing the interface. “I love being able to put something beautiful in front of the user, to improve the place they have to spend their time. I’m still being an artist, just doing it with ones and zeros.”

“What I like most is improving systems. We as humans are inundated with systems in our lives — more all the time as technology is integrated into our way of life. I have the ability to improve how information moves between entities, whether software or people. And I always try to make it better.”

Deborah lives just outside Eugene, Oregon with her husband and many goats, dogs and cats. Her one-acre property on the water means she can (and does!) hop in a kayak anytime.

Brian Panhuyzen

Our Eastern-most employee is Brian Panhuyzen, a seasoned and certified Filemaker developer who resides in Toronto. His time-zone head start gives him two advantages. He can get a jump each day on West Coast projects when necessary, and he can also use those morning hours for his second career: novelist. Brian has published two novels and worked for a while as a typesetter.

Brian particularly enjoys diving into existing solutions, matching their style and flow, weaving in new requirements and enhancements in a seamless fashion.

“Being a writer has been extremely useful to me as a FileMaker developer, because going from idea to finished product is similar to taking a plot and fleshing it out into a story,” he says. “Because so much of our work involves written communication, my clients appreciate my clarity and listening skills, and they’re happy that the software I build jives with what they’re asking for.”

Allen Poole

We call Allen Poole our “accidental programmer” because he got started with Filemaker after someone handed him the software in university and said “Try this.” That was 25 years ago, so it’s safe to say the experiment was a success: Allen has been planning, designing, building, and supporting Filemaker systems ever since.

Allen is most engaged by the potential of automation to save people time, to make their work more effective and powerful—and less tedious. Projects that result in a long-term win for the client are his favorite.

It’s Allen’s ability to take a broader perspective that produces such great results. “I’m frequently both the developer and a consultant on overall project strategy and planning. Part of making everything work well is my effort to understand the organizational culture and language of my customers, rather than expecting them to understand my tech jargon.”

Allen lives in Portland, Oregon. His two young children keep him very busy, but when there’s time he enjoys bicycling, hiking, wood-working and other hands-on hobbies. And somehow he’s managed to study 13 (human) languages as well!

Marcus Swift

Marcus Swift took an unlikely path to FileMaker development by way of a Master’s of Science in Marital and Family Therapy. In need of secure client management tools, Marcus bought a copy of FileMaker and the FileMaker 10 User’s Guide, and wrote his own.

After some additional experience building a CRM tool for his father’s janitorial business, Marcus found himself dreaming about making a living working with FileMaker. After hiring Oak Bay Softrends for assistance there, Marcus realized his background was actually very well suited to software development.

“My psych training lets me just listen and not take sides, which often results in a solution that is both flexible and powerful,” Marcus says. “Working with somebody to invent a solution is inherently a human dynamic. I’m not psychoanalyzing my clients! But I am driven to understand without taking sides and by recognizing different values.”

Add in an enjoyment of solving puzzles, a love of variety, and a focus on solving real-word problems, and a software developer was born!

Marcus raises honey bees and chickens from his home in Victoria, BC, where he lives with his wife and one of their three children.

Jordan Wald

Jordan Wald was first introduced to Oak Bay Softrends as a client, where he helped facilitate a complex overhaul of an existing FileMaker system. Finding that he enjoyed working with the team, he had an “I could do this!” moment. He then spent a year studying FileMaker and being mentored by now-coworker Bryan Panhuyzen, and has joined Oak Bay as a developer.

A self-taught computer programmer, he has been learning about technology from a very early age. “I remember learning to type and spell in MS-DOS at the age of three, before I could even write by hand.”

Jordan has long pursued work that would help others. He brings a broad professional background that includes a psychology degree, electronic music production, and holding a license to practice acupuncture.

“In software development, I do feel there is tremendous value in maintaining a variety of interests and perspectives. One way that I might break the norm for my industry is the emphasis I place on empathy for my client’s needs. Often, by the time someone reaches out for our help, the issues affecting their business are having significant impacts on their own life. Knowing that, I very much appreciate the level of trust involved in this work.”

Jordan lives with his fiancée, two cats, and more than 100 houseplants in BC’s Comox Valley.

Doug Hilton (Retired)

Following a 10-year gig consulting for large corporations like BC Hydro and Motorola, Doug craved a lifestyle change and joined Oak Bay in 2004. For 16 years he enjoyed the intimacy and camaraderie of a small team, and the chance to have close personal contact with a wide variety of small business clients.

During his time at Oak Bay Softrends, Doug also got to indulge his passion for change and exploring the unknown —in his own improv theatre troupe! “Software development means you have to plan, anticipate, be thorough and meticulous,” he says. “In improv theatre, you don’t know what will happen. You have to learn to trust your own deep intuition, and you have to trust other people. Learning to be playful, flexible and interacting outside your normal persona is liberating!”


If you’d like to discuss your FileMaker questions, contact us.