Bio – Dwight E. French

Dwight French is a Senior IT Executive, Systems Manager and Innovator with 25+ years of experience designing, building and managing large, complex, geographically dispersed IT systems and software solutions on the international stage. He is a Certified Engineering Technologist with an in-depth, theoretical and practical knowledge of advanced infrastructure engineering, computer networking, network security, information systems design, software development and electronics.

Over the years, Dwight has delivered solutions to a diverse range of business sectors including: Electrical, Mechanical and Architectural Engineering firms; Marketing and Advertising agencies; Research and Call Center organizations; Public Relations companies; Media Monitoring companies; Creative and Graphic Design shops; Online Marketing businesses; Web Development and Hosting companies; TV Production studios; Event Management companies; Software Development organizations; the medical supply and veterinarian industries; and various Government agencies.

In September 1995, Dwight joined the Bristol Group where he remained for more than 14 years as the Director of Information Technology. During this time, he was the senior go-to technology person on all corporate initiatives; he built the Bristol computing network throughout Atlantic Canada and Qatar; set up and managed the hosting of hundreds of client websites; engineered, coded and deployed the corporate project and time-management intranet; designed coded and deployed a call center management system used to track the data collection activities behind Omnifacts Research; and he built the management information and product processing system that tracked business transactions and electronically delivered headlines, transcripts and digital media for 709News.

In March of 2010, Dwight co-founded NL News Now Inc.; a Newfoundland leader in media monitoring and news gathering and distribution. His primary focus in this partnership was the deployment of a secure, searchable data warehouse and product delivery system. His overarching role was to manage the tech and provide IT leadership and guidance to the NL News team. Dwight remains a trusted consultant for NL News today.

In April 2011, Dwight joined a Newfoundland high-tech contracting company, where he spent just over two years as the Deputy Program Manager on a major software development project (NGDS) for the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. NGDS (Net-Centric Geospatial-Intelligence Discovery Services) is the search and discovery facility providing access to geospatial holdings warehoused throughout the United States.

In July of 2013, Dwight took on the role of Chief Information Officer (CIO) with Telelink; an ISO certified communications centre specializing in 24/7/365 emergency response and live safety services (journey management and lone worker monitoring) and traditional telephone answering services. In his role as CIO, Dwight was a member of the executive team that oversees strategic planning and corporate growth. He was responsible for the authoring, negotiation and review of partner, client and supplier contracts; oversaw all IT operations, engineered and constructed the Telelink state-of-the-art, high-security data centre and colocation facility; developed and deployed a backup Journey Management system and designed, coded and deployed the corporate and various partner portals.

Today, Dwight is 100 percent focused on providing IT consulting and management services through his consulting and management company ASCS — founded in 1995. His philosophy is that IT is really just an enabler — while IT solutions are technology driven they must always be people focused. He believes strongly that creative thinking and innovation, coupled with a positive attitude, communication and collaboration, is at the center of success.