Honouring Our Heritage: From Paper Trails to Cloud Solutions , A CTO’s Journey
At WPM, our story is one of transformation, not just in technology, but in people, purpose, and progress. As we celebrate our heritage, I’d like to share my personal journey through the company, which began long before we became known as WPM.
At the end of 2001, I began my career at Whitfield Property Management as a part-time filing clerk. It was a modest beginning, but one that laid the foundation for everything that followed. Soon after, I signed on the dotted line and joined full-time and became the receptionist in our company’s new offices. My role was simple yet vital: taking phone messages from clients, writing them on slips of paper, and placing them into pigeonholes for staff who were out of the office. Back then, internet and email were still unfamiliar tools used in Property Management, and sending levy statements, AGM & SGM notices, minutes and necessary communication was done by post and fax and was the cornerstone of our operations.
As the company grew, so did I. I moved from receptionist to personal assistant, then to owner care consultant, and eventually to portfolio manager. Each role taught me something new and brought me closer to the heart of our business. Throughout it all, my passion for IT solutions, websites and graphic design kept me inspired, pushing me to work alongside the teams who were using technology to make our work more efficient.
With time and innovation, my path led me from working in the property management department of WPM and into IT, a natural progression that aligned with my interests and the company’s evolving needs. Today, I serve as the Chief Technology Officer of WPM. As I look back, I am proud to look back and see a company that has grown from its humble beginnings into a forward-thinking leader in property management. Our name may have changed, but our values, rooted in service, innovation, and care, remain the same. Where Properties, People and Professionals Matter.
Our heritage is more than just a timeline of events. It’s the foundation of who we are. It reminds us of the handwritten notes, the fax machines, the long hours spent filing documents and the people who made it all possible. It’s a legacy of resilience, adaptability, and teamwork.
From paper trails to cloud-based solutions, our journey has been remarkable. And as we continue to innovate, we carry our heritage with us, using it to guide our decisions, inspire our teams, and serve our clients with excellence.
At WPM, we believe that remembering where we came from helps us build a better future. And I’m grateful to have walked this path with so many dedicated individuals who helped shape the company into what it is today and because of that we gain the wisdom to build a better future for our clients, our staff, and those we will meet along the way.
Merna Osborne
CTO