Our Team
Crystal is built by event planners, for event planners. Our team boasts international experience in running thousands of events, and we’re here to help you succeed.
Event Management Since 1996
Our team brings experience from all aspects of the event planning process, built on a foundation of smooth registration. We built Crystal out of necessity as an event planning agency and are now opening it up to other planners and agencies
Over the years, we have dealt with all types of events and fought fires like every event planner does. We are no stranger to last-minute agenda changes, speakers not showing up, and budget cut-backs.
We brought all of this knowledge into Crystal and the countless templates and workflows that you can access as a part of our community.
Our Values
Relentless
Service
We strive to make every event an amazing experience, and we bring that same energy to Crystal. Our team is dedicated to ensuring you have a great event planning process, and that you are supported from submitting a proposal down to event retrospectives.
Accountability & Transparency
Crystal is a constantly evolving product and our team is no different. We aim to give all of our customers full transparency on how our product is built and deployed, and enable you to be fully accountable to your clients via Crystal.
Creativity &
Flare
Event planners are known for bringing their own personality into their events and executing on big ideas; our team is no different! We love to showcase our unique approaches to event planning and try to build Crystal in a way that lets you put your best foot forward.
Our Team
Trevor Sookraj
President
Trevor is a founder and former marketer, with several years of experience scaling tech companies and agencies. After starting with Crystal in 2015, he went on to join Shopify as an early employee on the enterprise team (Plus), the 1st growth hire at Clearbit (acquired by HubSpot), and built the screening function at Shiftsmart to take thousands of calls per day. Most recently, he built Divisional, a marketplace that matches companies with part-time growth talent, to 7-figure revenue with more than 70 clients.
Judy Litchy
Managing Director
Judy has been involved with the management and execution of conferences and meetings for over 35 years for a wide range of clients including Fortune 500 companies, corporations, associations and various levels of government. The size of the conferences/events have ranged from 50 attendees, to over 17,000 and have spanned from 1-day events to 7-day events. Event execution has taken place on an international level, and virtually.
Robert Starnino
Project Manager
Robert brings over 18 years experience within the Conference & Event Planning Industry, focused on Project and Operation Management. He has deployed Crystal for several of our leading clients including CPMA and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS). Robert is fluent in both English and French.
Wajih Bilgrami
CTO
Wajih is the backbone of Crystal’s product, having initially built the product that was used to manage major sports events including Olympics (2004-2016), Wimbledon Tournament, Euro Cup. Over his tenure, he has led both design, development, and deployment for Crystal, in addition to building products in other sectors like BrightOrder (Fleet / Logistics) and NomosPay (FinTech).
Leila Somerville
Project Coordinator
Leila is an event management professional with a strong foundation in customer relations and a passion for creating impactful events. Throughout her career, she has supported the planning and execution of multiple conferences across Canada and the USA, including events of varying sizes and formats (both in-person and virtual).
A graduate of Queen’s University, Leila brings strong organizational and communication skills. Prior to event management, Leila honed her customer service skills, fostering a strong attention to detail and dedication to client satisfaction.
Bassel Annab
CEO
Bassel is a visionary entrepreneurial executive with deep expertise in IT management, globally and locally, delivering strategic client focused service operations. He has direct hands-on experience and executive oversight on over 500 global events and was responsible for individual project budgets of $40M.
