Professional Summary
Versatile leader with 20+ years of proven success across marketing & brand
strategy, product management, Agile team leadership, digital publishing, broadcast media, training,
and sales — a breadth that is increasingly rare in an era of narrow specialization. Founder of
Mindspan, delivering product management, go-to-market strategy, and execution to clients from
venture-backed startups to large public-sector organizations across SaaS, AI/data science, agtech,
and media. A CSPO who moves fluidly between technical and business domains and translates complex
capabilities — including AI-driven predictive analytics — into clear value for non-technical
stakeholders and customers.
Professional Experience
Managing Director & Principal Consultant — Mindspan
1998 – Present
Founder of an independent consultancy delivering product management, marketing,
Agile delivery, training, and technical strategy. Selected engagements below.
Chief Marketing Officer — Fermata (Contract)NOV 2021 – APR 2025
- Led end-to-end marketing strategy and execution for a global horticultural data-science company applying AI to agriculture.
- Directed a complete corporate rebrand — new logo, website, collateral, trade-show presence, and business identity.
- Built foundational marketing infrastructure and automation, then launched brand-awareness and lead-generation campaigns across global markets.
Marketing & Product Consultant — Priva BV (Contract)NOV 2020 – JUN 2021
- Engaged by the world's largest supplier of greenhouse environmental-control systems to launch the Priva Horticulture Innovation Lab (PHIL) to a global audience.
- Owned key messaging and built automated digital workflows supporting inbound and outbound marketing across platforms.
- Led the team defining the vision and technology roadmap for a redesign of Priva's legacy labour-management ERP, FS Performance.
Product Director — Motorleaf (1-Year Contract)2018 – 2019
- Led product development and the Agile team across a suite of 6 hardware sensors/controllers and 2 software applications powering Motorleaf's AI solutions for indoor agriculture.
- Directed data scientists, engineers, and developers to ship AI-based predictive analytics — crop yield, disease-location forecasting, and quality/waste insights.
- Owned the roadmap and priorities, ensuring predictive analytics reached non-technical clients in an easily understandable format.
Product Manager — Island Buyers (1-Year Contract)2016 – 2017
- Stood up operations for a hybrid digital/print media company, product-managing bilingual (English/Mandarin) B2C products from inception through release.
- Delivered two print publications and corresponding web apps with back-ends supporting B2B e-commerce and B2C advertising.
Product Manager & Digital Marketing Consultant — Fundstream2009 – 2016
- Over a 7-year rolling engagement, product-managed e-fundraising services across three web applications (admin portal, supporter site, marketing site) for public- and private-sector clients.
- Drove qualified traffic via SEO, SEM, and social advocacy, helping Canada's largest gift-card fundraising company achieve substantial traffic and revenue growth.
Product Manager — OneBigPlanet2008 – 2009
- Defined product vision and roadmap for an extensible white-label loyalty platform; authored PRDs and use cases, defined KPIs, and prioritized across iterations.
- Served as central point of contact across working groups; led usability testing, focus groups, SWOT analysis, and investor presentations.
Producer / Analyst — Reunion.com (now MyLife.com)2004 – 2007
- Shepherded email products from concept through delivery of 20M+ emails per week with copywriting, design, and front-end teams.
- Managed deliverability with Return Path and IT; built analytics for investors and C-level leadership and developed revenue-positive strategies from the metrics.
- Led major iteration kick-offs on-site in Los Angeles and participated in remote Scrums.
Product Manager — GoodContacts Research2003 – 2004
- Drove new features for the flagship auto-updating contact-management product; authored PRDs, defined KPIs, and tuned features through the company's acquisition by Reunion.com (which retained Ray).
Writing, Media & Publishing
17+ years as a featured technology columnist and editor across seven national publications, plus broadcast and digital-publishing experience.
Editor & Publisher — DarkroomPro Magazine2010 – 2015
- iOS digital photography magazine distributed by Apple in 155 countries; reached the “What's Hot” list in 146 and #1 in Arts & Photography in two markets.
Host — The Computer Radio Show, CHUM Group / CFRA2003 – 2005
- Wrote, produced, and hosted a weekly two-hour tech show on Ottawa's largest talk-radio station.
Columnist / Contributing Editor — TechKnow · HUB · Ottawa Computes · Government Computer · Monitor1996 – 2010
- Featured technology columns and editing across seven national publications over fourteen years.
Earlier Career — Business Development & Sales
Director, Business Solutions — FreeBalance Inc. (public-sector ERP), 1998–1999 ·
Account Executive — Lanvista Corporation (IT solutions to Canadian federal departments), 1995–1998 ·
Sales Manager — Majestic Electronics (acquired by Adventure Electronics; promoted post-acquisition), 1992–1995.
Consistent top-performer and multiple sales-award recipient.
Training & Instruction
Instructor for Statistics Canada (via Mindspan, 2002–2004): delivered Project Management
Fundamentals (PRINCE2-based), Web Design (HTML/CSS, W3C and federal accessibility standards), and
Presentation Skills to groups of up to 35. Designed and delivered web-design training and deployment
for the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC).