Garry Heath

Garry Clifford Heath (born September 28, 1959) has had long career as an expert in software development and reverse logistics. In 2001 he started Dealtree.com, a reverse logistics and liquidation processing and logistics software company, providing services to Buy.com and Ingram Micro in Southern California, USA
Early life and childhood
Heath was born in Melfort, Saskatchewan. His mother, Gertrude Caroline Palmer (née Hann, Heath), was an emergency room nurse, while his father Donald was an award winning photographer in Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Heath is of English/Irish and German and Newfoundland descent. He has an younger sister, Lisa and older brother Doug (Douglas). From an early age, Heath had an interest in how things worked, and would take small electronic devices apart and re-assemble them to improve their design..
Heath spent part of his childhood in Saskatchewan, he attended Brunswick School in Melfort, Saskatchewan, and Shelbourne Elementary, Richmond Elementary, Tillicum Elementary, Bank Street Elementary, Oak Bay Jr High, and Oak Bay Senior High School in Victoria, British Columbia before starting a career in computers and electronics in 1977.
Career
Heath's career in technology began in 1977 with B.C. Sound and Radio, in Victoria BC. Heath installed and repaired communications and sound equipment in a small repair shop. While on Vacation in 1979 he and a friend wrote a technical aptitude test for employment with BC Tel, the provincial telephone monopoly at the time, and Heath was immediately offered employment based on his technical abilities. This career choice lasted about 18 months, and proved to be boring for Heath, so he applied for a job as a Deputy Sheriff with the Province of British Columbia. At this job, Heath began to us his research skills and demonstrated his resourcefulness by finding new ways of using publicly available data to find people who were hiding from prosecution or litigation. In 1989, Heath once arranged for a local radio station in Prince George, British Columbia to run a contest, announcing local criminals names as the winners. This led the criminals to come down to the station to pick up their prize, leading to their interception by Heath. In 1983 Heath transferred to the Ministry of Human Resources, where he worked as a purchasing manager in the accounting department in the provincial government offices in Victoria BC.
In 1985, Heath moved back to the Attorney General's ministry as Purchasing Coordinator. During this time, Heath gain exposure to the mainframe computer systems environment using Data General equipment to provide purchasing and email communication systems between ministries. Heath took advantage of educational opportunities being a government employee brought with it and attended Camosun College in Victoria BC for four years, while still working. Later, Heath set up the first email communication exchange between the Queen's Printer and the Attorney General's Ministry to electronically transmit orders and requisitions, rather than filling out forms and sending them for data entry somewhere else.
In 1987, Heath left the government to start his own business on the island of Maui, Hawaii. Heath and his long time photographer friend, John C Maw, started SwimShoots, a business teaching amateur photographers how to take great pictures of girls on the beach. This business took off quickly and died almost as quickly, when the two partners sold the business to a dive photographer Garry Paterson, in late 1987. That fall (1987), Heath returned to Canada to join Monk Office Supply as Operations and Purchasing Manager. He used his natural gift of a logical mind and assisted the company to bring technology solutions to the business. Heath became the defacto systems manager for Monk, managing all POS systems and Technology development for the distribution and purchasing of office products.
In 1990, Heath moved to Vancouver BC to join Norwestra, an office products distributor. Heath designed and implemented the Norwestra CPS Purchasing System, allowing Norwestra's dealers and customers to browse through electronic versions of the catalog, and order using a Modem connected to Norwestra’s Mini-Computer host. This was likely North America's first office product company to engage electronic ordering systems, and stop printing large catalogs.
In 1991, Norwestra was purchased from the Ayers family by private investor, and Heath left to join Shaben International, a Toy and Stationery Distributor Based in Edmonton Alberta as Product Manager in charge of the Stationery and office supplies product lines. Heath developed PC software written using Computer Associates Clipper Summer 87 database language and converted Shaben from using 40 lbs of computer reports to estimate requirements, to an automated forecasting and Purchase Order management system.
In 1994, Heath moved back to Victoria BC to re-join Monk office supply as director of Purchasing and IT. Heath brought with him, and set of software development and deployment skills that assisted Monk to launching CLIPS, a software platform for end-user customers to place orders for office products using their PC's. Heath was also responsible for Monk.ca, North America's first Office Products Commerce website. Heath found it extremely frustrating working at Monk, because the owners of the company did not believe that investments in web commerce technology were worthwhile.
In 1999, Heath left Monk and went to work for MegaDepot.com, an ecommerce start-up from Vancouver BC, who quickly moved their headquarters to Seattle Washington. While at Megadepot.com, the company changed its name to Onvia.com ,, and went public on the Nasdaq exchange. Onvia raised $230 million dollars , without a firm business plan. After raising all that cash, Onvia acquired DemandStar whose purpose was managing the bidding process for Government Contracts. Onvia changed its model from commerce to contracts almost overnight and Heath left to go to work for Buy.com in Aliso Viejo California.
In 2000 while at Buy.com, Heath designed processes for supplier catalog integration, and fulfillment services from distributors like Global Sports, Ingram Micro, and Las Vegas Golf, Ingram Book, and others. Heath also negotiated and a deal for Buy.com to use the services of a reverse logistics provider to assist the company with handling product returns that could not be sent back to the supplier. This problem was unique to ecommerce companies, since there was a desire to keep buy.com ecommerce "pure play" by not having company owned warehouses to handle returns. The solution was to develop service providers who could handle taking returns from customers, and disposing of these returns in a means that would recover the highest amount possible given the condition of the item being returned.
In 2001 - Heath and his friend Paul Fletcher got laid off from Buy.com and started Dealtree.com to fulfill this need for Buy.com. While managing Dealtree's growth, Heath built DTMS (Dealtree's Management System Platform), Dtdeals.com (Private Auction Platform), Eztradein.com (Consumer Electronics Trade-in Platform), Techliquidators.com (Surplus Liquidation), Dealadeal.com and Cowboom.com (ecommerce online Consumer store / auction sites)
in 2001 - Heath developed an artificial intelligence platform that could learn estimated marketplace values for consumer electronics, by using historical secondary market sales data from eBay.com. This platform is used to power EZtradein.com - which provides a Trade-in and recycling platform for manufacturers, retailers and distributors, and a valuation tool for consumers to calculate the fair market value of their used electronics.
Almost 8 years later, on December 8, 2008, Dealtree was sold to Best Buy[. and Dealtree became a Best Buy Brand.
Heath is still with Dealtree in Irvine, California.

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