Because I CEDS so …

Welcome to the first edition of who’s who at CEDS!

When people meet us they normally see us as being a fresh, fun, innovative and young company, having a lot of fun while helping our clients meet their business goals. Actually that’s a quite good description that fits who we are, but most people never meet all of our great people, and have no idea who’s working behind the scenes to make the magic happen.

(Disclaimer: this is only the author’s humble opinion and a weird explanation of the CEDSers, actually some might be even funnier in real life. You’ll have to experience us to know the difference!)

Before we start the fun, I just need to explain the following; all CEDSers are normally referred to as ‘Systems’. Don’t ask, it’s just us being weird, but if you see a ‘System’ here and there, you know that it’s someone from CEDS.

Ready for it? Let’s get started.

Carlo:If you ever come to the supermarket and all the hair products are gone, you probably live close to Carlo. His ever changing hair designs are demanding, and everyday we wonder at what time he gets up to do his ‘creations’. Carlo is our chief visual designer and a damn good one. He keeps track of our E-learning, designs all the last-minute stuff we always throw at him, and makes sure that ChiChi (see below) is never bored.

ChiChi: Is never bored when Carlo is around. But ChiChi is not the guy that would buy all the hair products in your local supermarket. Actually he likes to have no hair at all, so we think he spends his time fine tuning his ukulele for the daily in-office concerts. ChiChi oversees content development as well as being a hardcore CEDSstructor. Oh by the way, ChiChi actually has a real name too; it’s Mauricio.

Omar: We always make sure our printers are running non-stop to keep a nice smell of ink in the office, and of course to make sure all students have the right material. If we all lived in the old Greek mythology, Omar would be the God of material creation and assembly. This guy always spreads guy vibes at the office and is also a pretty fine ‘bowler’.

Ana Banana: In case you were wondering, the ‘Banana’ is not really on the birth certificate, but Ana sure is. Aside from making sure we never forget a birthday in the company, she takes care of every fine detail in our operation and is indeed the fluid the keeps the wheels turning. Ana is also (as is Ivy; see below) a big fan of the “WooHoo” screaming, which always keeps team spirit high.

Ivy: The true discoverer of the Wombat, and a true adventurer, Ivy always wanders around with a cool plastic bag she bought somewhere in the U.S. years ago. This bag can be filled with everything you can possibly imagine, and we never know what goodies to expect when she’s around. Besides make sure that the Wombat is not being extinguished, Ivy is a first class CEDSstructor and therefore very in-demand by our clients (which is why we don’t hear the “WooHoo”s as often as we might like at the office).

Chofo:If you ever wonder why our stuff is so cool you need to know Chofo. This guy is our main IT/Database/Server expert and makes sure the IT wheels are spinning faster and faster. Chofo has brought many a new technology to the office and makes sure that we are never outdated. As was the case with ChiChi, Chofo also has a real name; Rodolfo. Chofo invented the ‘underarm bowling throw’ showcased at various bowling nights, and truly a crazy trick that has awarded him many strikes.

Diana: Considering that she’s Ivy’s sister, Diana doesn’t really share the same passion for the Wombats and “WooHoo”s. That aside, she’s been with us for a long time and is a true CEDSstructor, and always there to spread good vibes at all our events and happenings. We recently figured out that Diana is also a first-class bowler, a fact we hadn’t noticed before.

John: If CEDS was a boat, John would be Captain Jack Sparrow, steering the ship through giant squid attacks, dead pirates, ghost ships and heavy storms (That was a metaphor if you didn’t get it, really meaning ‘changing business environments’, we don’t actually have squids or dead pirates at the office). John is a big fan of funny Canadian videos, where the humor is not always understood by the rest of the team. He’s also the reason why we all have the “Canadian Hockey Night” soundtrack on our minds, after years of exposure to his BlackBerry ringtone.

Lis: Lis System, or simple Listem, is Omar’s liaison in spreading good karma at the office. She’s also the owner of the craziest way of sneezing at the office, and we sometimes get worried some vital organs might fall out when she sneezes. That hasn’t happened though, and she’s also a sought after instructor with our clients, which is why we don’t always see her at the office. Lis also has a sidejob being camera-woman for Carlo and ChiChi when they are creating the next big YouTube hits.

Pao: This young lady likes fast, gas-guzzling cars. First we saw her huge Cadillac’ish Nissan, and now she just upgraded to a 2.8L beast that makes sure at least half of her salary goes into the pockets of Shell and Texaco. Also a sought after CEDSstructor, Pao is mostly keeping our clients happy, but she does drop by the office to discuss Wombats every now and then. Pao’s real name is… Surprise! Paola.

Esther: Babies seem to be very 2010 and the big thing at the office right now. Esther jumped right on this new wave and we hope she’ll be the first female to reach a 12 month pregnancy, so we don’t lose her anytime soon. Besides teaching everyone at the office to speak Spanish without using ‘S’ sounds (she’s from Nicaragua), giving out Nicaraguan candies, and having a healthy appetite - sometimes assaulting defenseless chips bags (pregnant) - she’s making sure our clients stay happy, and is also generating more new ones.

Carolina: If someone started the baby trend, it was indeed Carolina and we do believe she has a zipper installed in her belly so the next ones come out more easily. She’s been with the company for as long as we can all remember and has been the master-squid, keeping track of everything, until she recently took over the Translations department. Carolina is also our chief legal expert, making sure everything goes according to the law. When not translating herself, or handling client’s translation requests, she’s taking care of her kids and also teaches at university.

JJ: We’ve said “JJ” for so long that we’ve almost forgotten his real name. We first found him in a basket outside the office, and since then adopted him to be a real CEDSer. Anyhow, JJ is our very own process engineer, making sure every step of our internal processes is optimized and ready to go. If Ana is the fluid that makes the wheels go round, JJ is the one designing the wheels. Besides that he’s a fabulous musician, currently performing on a regular basis with his band.

Yours truly: Besides being the weird Marketing guy doing something to attract new clients, yours truly was also adopted by the CEDS family some years ago, and I’ve been stuck in the chair ever since. Characteristics include always wearing weird, colorful clothing ( the socks especially seem to draw attention), and besides being from Europe, having adopted a strong, Guatemalan accent when speaking Spanish.

Besides all these wonderful people we also have a big team of instructors and translators. We’ll keep adding to the list as the family grows..

Written by Malte Holm

Visit Malte Holm's Website