Joel’s Bio
Fore!
It all started when…
Previous to LDS Joel worked in finance, holding a business administration diploma and a bachelor’s of commerce degree from Humber College and Ryerson University He studied marketing management minoring in entrepreneurship & innovation, and faced the ‘graduate dilemma’ of struggling to find work in his field, after graduating. 4 months into the job search he landed an entry level role with a major bank, however he truly saw himself (one day) establishing his own company in the tech space…he just didn’t know when or what it would involve.
Joel founded Lone Drone Solutions in May of 2016, with a Phantom 3 thanks to a max’d credit card and TTC tokens to get to whatever job he could land; many unpaid in order to (hopefully) build a portfolio. He focused on professionalism and thoroughly understanding the regulations since if LDS was going to grow, these would be important pillars to build the company upon.
After a year of long nights working on LDS and working full-time at the bank, Joel met Jonathan while taking his dog for a walk. Jonathan was helping an older man fly a drone in the area, and at this time, drones were still fairly uncommon to see in your neighbourhood. Joel felt that he had to chat to these guys and was glad he did. He recognized Jonathan’s immediate friendliness and Jonathan insisted that if Joel needed help on jobs when he was available, he’d help out - free of charge and lucky for Joel because he couldn’t afford to pay much! As they say, ‘the rest is history’, better told over a cold beverage on a golf course.
Flash-forward to today - Joel oversees business development and financials while proving extremely effective in the boardroom. While his ‘day-to-day’ is predominantly computer work, meetings and phone/conference calls, Joel gets out to projects and pilots drones as much as he can. With hundreds of hours of flight time across dozens of RPAS/UAV platforms, he thoroughly understands the drone industry in Canada and the US, as he is also FAA Part 107 certified.
His in-depth regulatory knowledge led to establishing a lot of internal procedures and protocol that helps set LDS apart from the competition, including Beyond-Visual-Line-of-Sight approvals. Understanding where the industry is moving on the industrial side and maximizing scalability has helped him grow LDS to offer such a vast portfolio of services and technologies across North America.
Building a successful business means offering top-notch products and services, made possible by listening closely to consumer demands and retaining these clients. This is the foundation on which Joel has built Lone Drone Solutions Inc. Projects are always executed safely and professionally, leaving clients feeling truly valued, educated and involved during every phase of work.
When Joel isn’t working he enjoys being outside with his spouse Lizzie and golden doodle Georgia, and spending time with family. He’s a coffee aficionado with quite a knack for golf, which seems to pair very well with business!
