Brendan King is our CEO. 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 is VendAsta's Chief Technical Officer, 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 Chief Technical Officer 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 is a VendAsta 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 is our Vice-President, Marketing. Jeff is in charge of strategic partner development, industry development, and strategic planning. Prior to VendAsta, Jeff was a senior business development executive who 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, is our Vice-President, Product Management. John oversees the user experience and overall design of our social 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 studied economics and urban planning at the University of Saskatchewan and web design at Vancouver Film School.
Guy Kelsey is VendAsta's Vice-President, Product Development. 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 is our Vice-President, Usability Engineering. 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 HR and office culture at VendAsta, and is our head coach in Agile and Scrum processes.
Tavis McPherson is the Vice-President, Finance. Prior to joining VendAsta, he was a Senior Analyst at Victoria Park Capital, structuring private equity and venture capital deals and performing detailed due diligence and financial analysis. While at VPC Tavis worked closely with management teams from investee companies to improve business performance and address shortfalls. Earlier in his career, he worked for BNP Paribas in London, where he expanded his knowledge of the global investment banking industry. Tavis is a CFA charterholder and has a degree in commerce from the Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan.
Ryan Baldwin started off as a beekeeper, then a drama major, before settling into his computer career. He spent four years at Saskatoon's Point2 Technologies, then joined iQmetrix in Regina, where he led a team responsible for integrating the company's flagship product, Retail IQ, with third-party vendor systems. At VendAsta he developed a dynamic forms system for our asset management project.
Janak Kapadia acquired a B.Comm from the University of Mumbai, then came to the University of Saskatchewan to pursue computer science. He worked at Point2 Technologies, where he was Program Manager for a number of major products, including the heavy equipment website UsedIron.com. At VendAsta he implemented an MSMQ-based queuing system for our asset management project that saved the client "about a quarter of a million dollars".
Dave Mosher was born in Nova Scotia and has lived all over Canada. He has classical arts training and diplomas in computer systems and desktop publishing. Here at VendAsta he is known for his design chops. The branding and user interface work he has done on StepRep have significantly improved conversion rates and the overall user experience. Dave plays drums, guitar, and piano, and ate ants once in fifth grade.
Shawn Rusaw got his bachelor's degree at the University of Saskatchewan and his master's at Simon Fraser, then went to Oxford for his doctorate in computer science. After returning to Canada he lived for a while in Vancouver where he worked for Cray building supercomputers. He enjoys running, playing soccer, and building robots with Lego NXT.
Blair Kelsie, born in Halifax, gave up a career as a chef and restaurant manager to study software engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. Before joining VendAsta he worked as a web designer, programmer, and team manager at various high-tech companies in Saskatoon. Blair is a mobile wizard who has developed apps for PDAs, Blackberries, and iPhones.
Michael Charles has little formal education but was known, in his high school days, to skip class and head to the library. He spent his early twenties in Vancouver, writing an unsellable screenplay, then returned to Saskatoon, taught himself Flash, and created the beloved animated short film Garson Hampfield, Crossword Inker. Since joining VendAsta he has had a hand in composing most of our written materials, including these bios for the website.
Nicole Stavness moved up from Regina to study at the University of Saskatchewan. Attaining a master's degree specializing in workflow processes, she worked in the local IT industry for a while, then returned to the Computer Science department to teach an introductory computer course and serve as Internship Coordinator. She is a regular volunteer at sporting events in Saskatoon and was one of the official bloggers for the 2010 World Junior Hockey Championships.
Phoenix Mao came from Zhengzhou, China to study computer science at the University of Saskatchewan. After graduating she designed and implemented web content management systems for a local internet startup. Since joining VendAsta she has contributed to our social software and corporate training solutions. Phoenix is interested in fashion and good food, and loves karaoke.
Chris Daviduik has a dual degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Saskatchewan. He came to VendAsta straight out of school and has contributed to our asset management and StepRep projects. He also writes, records, and performs with the band Sexy Mathematics, whose debut album we've all listened to and agree is pretty awesome.
Mariatta Wijaya grew up in Indonesia and came to Canada at the age of 19 to study computer science at the University of Saskatchewan. Graduating with honours, she went on to help design automatic toll road systems at IRD Inc. before joining VendAsta, where she has contributed to our asset management and StepRep projects. Mariatta is a world traveller and avid video gamer.
Marie-Louise de la Harpe, our graphic designer, studied applied graphics at the University of Stellenbosch, near Cape Town. She made her living as a freelance graphic artist and web designer before coming to Canada. She describes herself primarily as a frustrated painter.
Krystian Olszanski, born in Poland, studied computer engineering at Montreal's Concordia University. He subsequently worked for a trucking company, implementing fuel management and satellite tracking devices for industrial applications. As a freelancer he designed software for a motion-aware field safety monitor used by the oil and gas industry. Krystian is our unofficial office photographer.
Michael Bree, originally from Ottawa, has a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Saskatchewan. As a freelance software designer he created a medical office management system that does scheduling, billing, and document management. While employed at QCC Communications he designed and implemented software for Nortel DWDM optical fibre systems. He lived in Florida for a couple years but returned to Saskatchewan for the superior beach culture.
Jeffery Read studied computer science at the University of Saskatchewan, then went on to manage software development at Pic'N'Del, the online grocery store, and Cover-All Building Systems. Here at VendAsta he developed the Sentimengine sentiment analysis system for our StepRep project, utilizing a combination of AppEngine and EC2 resources. Jeff is a colossal science-fiction nerd.
Jordan Boesch grew up in Regina, then headed east to acquire his Interactive Multimedia Developer diploma in Ottawa. While working for a web design firm there, in his spare time he developed TaxiMe, a handy online application for estimating the cost of taxi rides, which was featured on CBC radio and in the Ottawa Metro newspaper.
Tiffany Pennycook grew up in Carrot River and moved to the comparatively big city to study at the U of S. After graduating with degrees in marketing and operations management, she spent a couple years in the marketing department at Cover-All Building Systems before joining us at VendAsta. Her job description encompasses marketing, research, and using transcendental meditation to neutralize customer complaints.
