Toronto Association of Systems and Software Quality - TASSQ

Joe Larizza, is the Senior QA Manager for RBC, and previously held the positions of QA Manager, CPP Investment Board, Director, QA for Loblaw Companies Inc., and Senior Manager, QA with RBC Dexia.  He also has held support management roles with International Financial Data Services and its sister companies.  During his career, he has undertaken a number of strategic initiatives, including the expansion of testing programs and establishment of testing standards and procedures, implementation of a Quality Metrics program, evaluation of an IT Division against the Capability Maturity Model, and implementation of Automated Testing using the Behavior Model and Data Driven scripts. Mr. Larizza has earned a reputation for competency and excellent leadership ability in the field of quality assurance and testing of software.

Joe Larizza is President of the Board of Directors for the Toronto Association of Software Quality and volunteers for the Quality Assurance Institute of Canada. He is a Certified Quality Analyst and holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics, and the Canadian Securities Course.

A proven leader with a demonstrated passion for software testing. A reputation for being able to build, mentor and lead strong software testing teams that understand the value of providing effect testing services with a focus on customer needs. A strong contributor to helping software project teams get off the rail projects get back on track.

An effective communicator which enables collaborative agreement on where testing focus must be in order to provide the highest level of impact within the scope and timelines permitted.

Experienced with the offshore model and an embracing believer in offshore teams for providing cost effective testing without compromising quality. This together with the appropriate testing methodology and correct levels of automation can provide the right mix of ingenuity and thought leadership to get the job done right.

Neil Price-Jones has degrees in Math, Geography, and Business.. He has 25 years experience in software testing and implementation of automation in a variety of areas like financial, telecommunications, and pension administration. He started work in SIT at BMO and then moved to the CIBC in testing automation. Subsequent to that he moved to a Software development shop. In 1993, Neil founded NVP Software Testing that provides testing expertise to numerous organizations.

His testing projects have included Billing projects, cell phone activations, Y2K testing, Financial Trading Systems, and assessment and QA improvement processes for software development shops. He was also QA Director for BCE Emergis - E- Health division.

Darla Somerville has a BSc in Computer Science from University of New Brunswick with over 20 years of experience as a hands-on IT professional, IT solutions salesperson and IT senior recruiter. She began her career as a UNIX shell scripter and application developer, she then worked as a Senior Systems Engineer at Toshiba Canada for 8.5 years. Venturing into sales and marketing roles, she worked as a pre-sales network consultant for SHL Systemhouse, National Marketing Manager for NEC, then Client Executive for Soroc Technology selling IT solutions and services to McDonald’s Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Moneris and RBC Dain Raucher for 6.5 years. The last 10 years of her career have included IT recruiting both contract and permanent placements into tier 1 Canadian companies. She established “preferred vendor status” with one of the top 5 banks in Canada and was one of the top sales people achieving President’s Club at Planet Personnel Agency. She continues to be involved in the IT community where she is Vice President and serves on the Board of Directors for the Toronto Association of Systems and Software Quality (TASSQ). She is a member of The Albany Club. She is an active member of the PMI and IIBA organizations. Invited speaker at the Toronto College of Technology, TASSQ and Job Search Networking Event for IT Professionals. Darla Somerville is owner of Direct IT Recruiting Inc. specializing in IT placements for both permanent and contract roles within the financial, insurance, supply chain and consulting verticals.

Ettore Dell'Aquila has been a member of TASSQ for over 15 years and a Board Member for at least the last 10, serving as the Membership Chairperson. He continues to be active in the QA arena, contracting to major companies in the Toronto area. He has been actively engaged in implementing changes to the TASSQ website and member database as we progress towards a more streamlined registration process. For the future, he'd like to expand the reach of TASSQ to the larger corporate community and get their QA staff and others more actively involved in TASSQ events and meetings.

Raymond began his QA career in 1999 at International Financial Data Systems, a company that provides shareholder record keeping systems for the mutual fund industry. It is here that he learned his craft doing functional, regression, SIT, and automated testing. In 2005, Raymond moved to RBC Dexia Investor Sevices which provides trust and custody services to the financial services industry. He currently manages the Technical Infrastructure team for the largest IT project in the company's history. His team is responsible for building and supporting several testing environments accessed by testers from Bangalore, Luxembourg, London, and Toronto. Prior to this position,  Raymond led a team of technical testers responsible for connectivity, SIT, and performance testing for the same project. Raymond served as treasurer of TASSQ from May 2002 to December 2008 and has recently returned to serve as a board member.

Jorrit has an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario.   He has over two years recruiting/sales experience in the IT industry.  He has served a total of 5 years on the board of two Associations and served as the Chairperson of the Marketing Committee for the Durham Region Manufacturers Association.   At both associations, he helped develop ideas and new programs to benefit members and drove membership to grow 50-100% in size.  Specifically, he assisted with websites, marketing materials, golf tournaments, training and social events, but most importantly spoke to decision makers about the Association to build awareness.  He hopes to bring the same excitement to TASSQ.

Jorrit is currently a Director at NTT Vertex Software with a North American Head Office based out of the Exchange Tower in Toronto.  NTT Vertex Software is part of one of the Top 10 IT service companies in the world, NTT Data, based out of Japan.  NTT Vertex Software specializes in Quality Assurance (Manual, Automation, Performance, Application Security, Mobile and Specialized Testing) as well as .Net and Java Projects. NTT DATA was chosen as one of the "Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World" in 2009.  www.vertexsoft.com