The People at HALCO Software

HALCO was founded in 1988 by Howard Leach, a true industry pioneer who was active in the company until 2010. Howard was a great mentor, and a wonderful friend to his many industry clients, and to the staff at HALCO who continue to honour his legacy.

Howard Leach (1933-2016) — Founder







HALCO has a total staff of 9, the majority of whom are engineers or professional software developers.

Principals of the company are:

Brad Turner, P.Eng. — Principal and Senior Consultant
B.A.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, 1983, (Honours), University of British Columbia.
Member, Association of Professional Engineers of B.C.
Holder of COFI AII-Species Lumber Grading Certificate.
Joined the company in 1988.
Responsibilities include business development, consultation, research, problem solving with client's management and production personnel, analysis of study results, and submission of recommendations.
 

Alex Rapoport — Principal and General Manager
M.Sc. Management Science, 1998, University of British Columbia.
B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, 1993, (Honours), Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterey, CEM.
Joined the company in 1996.
Responsibilities include business development, consultation, research, problem solving with client's management and production personnel, analysis of study results, and submission of recommendations.
 

Alex Gerbrandt — Principal and Senior Consultant
B.Sc. Wood Products Processing, 2005, University of British Columbia, Canada.
Joined company in 2005.
Responsibilities include business development, consultation, research, problem solving with client's management and production personnel, analysis of study results, and submission of recommendations.

 

Other staff members are:

Hong Chin — Senior Software Developer
PhD Applied Mathematics, 1995, University of British Columbia, Canada.
B.Sc Mathematics, 1984, Liaoning University, China.
Joined the company in 1998.
Has been involved in several software development projects, principally WOODMAN™ maintenance and development.
 

Mabel Chu — Accountant and Office Manager
Joined the company in 2006.
Mabel's experience includes financial accounting, office management, human resources and business administration.  She holds a Financial Management diploma from British Columbia Institute of Technology.  Mabel ensures the office is running smoothly and looks after our financials.

Igor Ivanov — Senior Software Developer
PhD Structural Mechanics, 1983, All-Russian Scientific and Research Institute of Hydraulic Engineering, USSR.
Diploma, Mechanics and Control Systems, 1977, St. Petersburg Technical University, USSR.
Joined company in 1998.
Has been involved in several software development projects, principally WOODSIM™ and HalcoMiner™ maintenance and development.
 

Om Prakash Singh — Senior Software Developer
M.Sc. Computer Science, 2013, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India
B.Sc. Computer Science, 2000, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India
Joined company in 2018.
Responsibilities include research, development, and maintenance of various software products and packages, principally SAWSIM^®.
Responsible for the functioning of the Company's computer hardware, network, phone and Internet connections.

Karl Trachuk — Operations Analyst
B.Sc., Wood Products Processing, 2014, University of British Columbia, Canada.
Joined the company in 2014.
Responsibilities include modelling and analysis of sawmill operations using the SAWSIM^® program.

Anderson Lu — Operations Analyst
B.Sc., Wood Products Processing, 2023, University of British Columbia, Canada.
Joined the company in 2023.
Responsibilities include modelling and analysis of sawmill operations using the SAWSIM^® program.