Scott is a comic book fan and collector, and was once a partner is an Ottawa-based comic distribution company. He loves Lego and has been known to incorporate it into corporate team-building activities. He also has a collection of guitars and other stringed instruments—the banjo is his current favorite.
About Open Hands
Principals
D. Scott Clarke, President
Scott Clarke combines his understanding of organizational culture (B.A. in Sociology from Trent University) with the technical knowledge required to provide expert advice and sound management for Web projects, database development, and technology transitions (Computer Science / Computer Technology diploma from Algonquin College). He is able to effectively grasp organizational goals and structures, develop clear and detailed specifications in response to client needs, and manage project implementation to ensure a smooth transition from client expectations to a completed product that meets them.
Scott gained business experience as a senior project manager for Global-X-Change (1995-1996), a prominent Ottawa Internet development firm. (OnX.com acquired Global-X-Change in its entirety.) He was responsible for all aspects of project management on assigned files, from initial meetings through production to final approvals. At Global-X-Change Scott handled Web site development projects valued up to $100,000.
Since forming The Open Hands Group, Scott has worked extensively on Internet-based projects, taking on a variety of challenges ranging from the creation of significant Web sites, to developing custom database solutions, to investigating and consulting on transitions in wireless technologies and applications, including handheld GPS.
Scott Clarke has been the president of The Open Hands Group since 1997. During that time he has also participated in a number of external business ventures. The most significant of these was Cold North Wind.
Scott was one of the founding partners of Cold North Wind, Inc., a privately held firm specializing in the digitization of archival newspaper materials, making them available for the Internet in a fully searchable form. Cold North Wind processed the entire history of the Toronto Star and the Globe & Mail, among other clients. Cold North Wind was sold to Google in 2008.
During his tenure as Cold North Wind’s Director of Research (1999-2001), Scott was responsible for locating, reviewing and integrating technologies ranging from image digitization and optical character recognition to search engines capable of returning images of newspaper pages with search term highlighting superimposed on the image. In addition to that project, Scott was responsible for devising methods of electronically publishing daily editions of newspapers concurrently with the paper versions.