Education and Career Profile

In 1980, Steve entered the Hospitality and Tourism Management program at Ryerson University, having a strong background in the restaurant industry.  In 1982, he moved into the Food and Nutrition program at Ryerson to broaden the scope of foodservice operations in which he could be involved.

Following his graduation, Steve studied at Tyndale Seminary (majoring in cross-cultural communications and counseling), after which he managed the Scott Mission’s Meals on Wheels and Seniors Services Department. During his four years with the Scott Mission, Steve worked closely with a computer programmer to develop and implement a UNIX-based system to manage client information and the provision of appropriate meals to Meals on Wheels clients (as per new provincial guidelines).

In 1991 and 1992, Steve updated his Food and Nutrition degree and completed an administrative dietetic internship at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.  During this time, he began to learn more about the CBORD Menu Management System, with Mount Sinai being one of the first Canadian hospitals to implement this system.

Since completion of his administrative dietetic internship, Steve has held a number of foodservice administration contract positions at the Toronto Hospital (Western Division), Markham Stouffville Hospital, and Toronto East General Hospital.  During his time at Markham Stouffville Hospital, Steve implemented CBORD’s Inventory Management, Menu Management, and Nutritional Accounting modules, and developed a proposal to purchase the Diet Office Management module.  He also participated in the expansion of the Local Area Network (upon approval of the Diet Office proposal), and worked with hospital MIS staff to develop an interface between the hospital ADT system and the Diet Office Management module.

In 1995 Steve upgraded his computer-related technical skills by enrolling in the Programming, Systems Design & Analysis certificate program offered by York University's Computing Services.  During this four-month intensive full-time program, Steve developed programming skills in Oracle’s SQL*Plus, PL/SQL, SQL*Forms and SQL*ReportWriter database programming languages, as well as in Visual Basic, C and C++.  He continued upgrading his skills through the Memorex-Telex "Brains II" training centre in the Toronto area, pursuing the Certified Novell Engineer (CNE) designation, achieving this industry standard computer networking certification in the spring of 1996 (for versions 3 and 4 of Novell's network operating systems).  In October of 1997, he achieved his (NetWare 4) Master CNE (MCNE) designation in the area of wide area connectivity and internetworking.

Steve began Nu Connexions, his own nutrition and foodservice-oriented computer networking and Internet training consulting business, in 1996.  This consulting business is targeted at meeting the needs of those interested in using computers to enhance nutritional well-being.  Since starting Nu Connexions, Steve has been involved with various dietetics and healthcare-oriented organizations and consultants (the first being the Dietitians of Canada), assisting them in the development and implementation of their networking and technology plans, including implementation of various nutrition care and foodservice management software systems.  He has also ventured into the areas of nutrition software re-selling and web integration, web site development and marketing, online education, and most recently the Canadian nutrition labelling and regulatory affairs arena.