Originally from Sweden, Johan moved to Canada after falling in love with the lifestyle — and his future wife — while backpacking through in the late ‘90s. By 2003, he’d planted roots in Alberta, graduated from Mount Royal and founded an IT company with fellow graduate Rob Pittman.

Over a decade later, Urban Lighthouse is still going strong, developing custom web-based and mobile applications that give businesses the power to work more efficiently.

Renée (wife) and her family launched Elevate Auctions in 2009 to provide online and in-house auctioneering services to charitable organizations. Urban Lighthouse has provided support and development as a Technology Partner. In 2012, Elevate Auctions was named RBC Small Business of the Year in Calgary.

In September 2014, Johan and Rob cofounded Oplii, a SaaS solution that manages operations and asset integrity data for oil and gas producers. At the end of 2014, Oplii was featured in The Globe and Mail and Calgary Herald for our innovative use of mobile technology in the oil and gas industry and was also recognised by Alberta Oil Magazine as a Top 25 Canadian Innovator in the spring of 2016.