Brendan King
Chief Executive Officer

Before co-founding VendAsta, Brendan was COO and a Director of Point2 Realty Solutions, where he was the entrepreneurial driving force behind Point2 Agent, growing its membership to over 165,000 agents and brokers in 85 countries. In 2007, he was named one of the “100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders” by Inman News. Earlier in his career Brendan founded and sold two successful computer retailing operations, Delron (1990-1995) and CompuSmart (1995-2000), the latter of which was franchised across Canada. He has also worked for Cameco as a geophysicist, and holds an advanced bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Saskatchewan. Those of you who are familiar with Brendan will know that his laugh is frequent, infectious, and identifiable in a room full of 200 people.

Jason Collins
Chief Technical Officer

Jason is responsible for all aspects of technological evaluation, direction, and strategy. He is the primary software architect for VendAsta’s suite of web-based social software and was in charge of developing our mobile, message-based data collection systems for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers. Previously Jason was the CTO for Point2 Technologies, where he grew the technical team from three people to fifty. In that role, he was responsible for setting the architectural directions for their business systems for both the heavy equipment and real estate divisions. He has also worked as a software consultant, a research associate at the University of Saskatchewan, and a software engineer for IBM Canada in the AS/400 languages group. Jason has a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Saskatchewan.

Ches Hagen
Co-Founder

Ches has over a dozen years experience building software in the industrial equipment space. From 2003 to 2005 he served as CatUsed Global Product Manager, travelling the world to meet with stakeholders from Caterpillar and its global dealer network. Earlier in his career, Ches worked for Finning International, the Caterpillar-authorized dealer headquartered in Vancouver. In addition to his work with VendAsta, Ches is a co-founder and partner at Alta Pacific Mortgages, which operates in three western Canadian provinces. He studied marketing management at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

Jeff Tomlin
Vice-President, Marketing

Jeff is in charge of strategic partner development, industry development, and strategic planning. As a senior executive at Point2 Technologies, Jeff spearheaded strategic relationships with some of the largest media companies in the world, including Google, Yahoo, the New York Times, CanWest Media, Classified Ventures, and IAC. Jeff has more than twelve years experience in online marketing and software development and eight years in real estate property management, development, and acquisitions. He holds a B.A. and an advanced certificate in economics from the University of Saskatchewan.

John Fothergill
Vice-President, Product Development

John oversees the user experience and overall design of our software. Prior to VendAsta he helped develop many products that focused on the sale of complex capital goods, including Point2 NLS, CatUsed, and UsedIron. As Director of Product Development at Point2 Technologies, John capitalized on an opportunity for the company to branch out into real estate by creating the first real estate website prototype. Once the product had gained momentum, John was critical in the success of the larger vision, that of a National Listing Service. John holds a B.A. in economics and advanced certificate in urban planning from the University of Saskatchewan. He went on to study web design at Vancouver Film School.

Guy Kelsey
Vice-President, Product Management

Guy has served as Product Manager on many of our key projects, including our online training solution and our mobile inspection system. He brings over two decades of experience in software and business consulting, including five years with Caterpillar as the CatUsed.com Product Manager. Other experience includes employment at a fee-for-service firm managing a large portfolio of e-commerce, web, and custom application projects for a diverse set of over a hundred clients. He was also employed at Morris Industries and a family-owned business, both in the agriculture sector. Guy has lived abroad for some time and is well-travelled; he has good knowledge of the issues facing corporations and people that operate around the world.

Allan Wolinski
Vice-President, Operations

Allan studied computer science at the University of Saskatchewan, focusing on user interface design. Before joining VendAsta, Allan pioneered mobile development initiatives for heavy equipment dealer software systems. While working at Point2 Technologies, he designed and implemented the front end of the Mobile Caterpillar Certified Inspection module, now used by CatUsed dealerships worldwide. Later, Allan managed a large team of Tier 1 and Tier 2 support for Point2 Agent. More recently he designed the user interface for the mobile, desktop, and online components of our Asset Inspection Management solution. Allan is in charge of all day-to-day operations of the company, and is our head coach in Agile and Scrum processes.

Ken Barteski
Chief Financial Officer

For the last fifteen years, Ken has worked as a financial consultant to small and medium businesses, including several local startups. He has served VendAsta in an advisory capacity since the company’s founding, but only recently took on the role of CFO. Ken spent the first decade of his career with Deloitte & Touche in Regina, then in 1986 relocated to Saskatoon to join Joytec, makers of computerized golf simulation technology. Subsequently he managed financial operations for two local biotechnology companies, BIOSTAR and ALviva. Ken is a Chartered Accountant and has a degree in commerce from the University of Saskatchewan.