Henry Hangs Up His Hat After Twenty Years

Henry Kowalewski has been in IT for 40 years. He moved to Vancouver from Ottawa in 1986 with some computer courses already under his belt and a brother who said there was work out here worth finding. There was. What followed was four decades of building, adapting, and moving through industries that had nothing in common except that they all needed someone who knew what they were doing. The last 20 years, and his longest tenure, have been at Van Kam. Now, he is ready for what comes next.

From Chemical Plants to Corner (or Coroner?) Offices

Henry’s career path reads less like a straight line and more like a highlight reel. He started out at Canoxy—an industrial chemical company that no longer exists—then moved through a couple of trust companies before landing at HSBC, where he spent several years in IT in global banking.

Then he switched gears completely. When his brother launched a software company from the ground up, Henry jumped in. For nearly a decade, they built order management tools and custom software for clients across a wide mix of industries.

A few unexpected stops followed – including a pharmaceutical wholesaler and even a funeral home chain – before Henry finally landed at Van Kam, bringing a refreshingly diverse mix of experience with him.

Forty Years In, Still Changing Hats

At Van Kam, Henry’s job has never fit neatly into one box. In larger organizations, roles tend to be narrow. At HSBC, a developer wrote applications and nothing else. At Van Kam, the work shifts depending on what is needed. One week, it is operations; the next, cybersecurity, product development, or analysis. “You change hats,” he says. “You can do operations, you can be in security, you can do software development. It really varies as to what’s needed.” That kind of range keeps the work from going stale, even when the demands pile up. He is also clear that IT is not a 9-to-5 job, as expectations do not stop when the clock does because the cyber-world never sleeps.

Digging Through Filing Cabinets

One of Henry’s most meaningful contributions at Van Kam has been modernizing the document imaging system. When he arrived, the setup was outdated. Getting to a document meant physically digging through filing cabinets, and information was only accessible to people in the building. He helped rebuild the entire system using modern scanners and software, and kept refining it over the years.

Now any document, whether it started on paper or arrived digitally, can be pulled up instantly by drivers, staff, or anyone who needs it. “Information is only good when you can actually get to it and access it,” he says. “In a quick fashion, in an easy fashion. As opposed to saying, I’ll look it up and get back to you tomorrow.”

The Part That Kept Him

Henry has worked at enough places to know what makes one different from another. At Van Kam, his answer keeps coming back to how we treat our customers. It’s not about chasing contracts. It’s about building something that lasts. “Van Kam doesn’t chase business just for the sake of chasing business,” he says. “They want to establish relationships.” For someone who has seen companies collapse, get absorbed, and lose their way, that steadiness means something. Van Kam has had his longest tenure at any one place. He thinks that says enough.

Six Thousand Frames Per Trip

Away from work, Henry travels. Not occasionally, but seriously. He and his wife have been to Kenya, Tanzania, Jordan, Egypt, India, South Africa, Madagascar, Myanmar, and Hong Kong. Wildlife, history, local people, all of it. He brings a camera everywhere. Photography has been part of his life since college, when he had his own darkroom and developed his own prints by hand.

On a single trip, he will shoot 6,000 to 7,000 photos. Working through them afterward can take two or three months on its own. “Usually on a lot of trips, I would shoot six, seven thousand photos in a trip,” he says. “Then you have to kind of get through all the stuff. It would usually be its own two or three-month process just after the trip.”

Running Ever Since

Running came later, starting at Van Kam when he joined the company’s Vancouver Sun Run team. Henry wasn’t a runner then; he walked the first year. Determined to improve, he planned to run the next year for half the distance and ended up running 9.5 of 10 kilometres. “In hindsight, not a smart thing,” he laughs. “I’d never run that distance before.” But he was hooked.

Since then, he has run the BMO Vancouver Marathon, the Granville Island Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Monday, the Great Trek at UBC, and the Roundhouse Half Marathon downtown in February. He enters races to stay motivated and trains consistently throughout the year. Cycling around Stanley Park fills in the rest. “It’s just a way for me to get some extra exercise,” he says. He will have plenty of time for all of it now.

Both Sides Held Up

Henry doesn’t focus on milestones. “To me it’s the entire journey,” he says. There have been good and tough stretches, as everywhere. Van Kam provided a good environment, and he worked hard. To him, it’s a relationship where both sides did their part. That’s what twenty years looks like. We will miss him, and we wish him well on whatever comes next.

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