Board of Directors
Instrumental in the decisions we make at Vendasta, our board of directors come with a wide and diverse range of experience across multiple industries, offering their aptitude and talent to our long-term goals.
Board Members
Paul Hollands
Brendan King
Chris Nicola
Amy Rae
Lisa Reeves
Robert Simon
Hai Tran-Viet
Amy’s previous venture capital experience was as an associate with JLA Venture Partners (co-managing partner of the Blackberry Partners Fund), where she provided due diligence and investment candidate screening that eventually led to the financing deal that saw the formation of ZipLocal in August 2006. Prior to joining JLA, she was an analyst with Latitude Partners, a private equity and strategic advisory firm focused on the technology sector. Amy holds a BComm with a finance specialization.
Robert brings over 25 years of experience as a successful serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist in the field of information technology. He began his career as co-founder of T/Maker Graphics, a developer of Macintosh and IBM PC graphics and desktop publishing products. After founding and co-funding other high-tech businesses, in 1997, he moved into venture capital as a partner with Sierra Ventures, where he identified, sourced and evaluated business opportunities in the internet e-commerce and enterprise software sectors. During this time, he also founded DotBank, a direct competitor to PayPal, where he negotiated partnerships and its sale to Yahoo. In 2000, Robert became a general partner with Alta Partners, with an investment focus in Internet infrastructure, enterprise software, network security and wireless. More recently, he has been the managing director/venture partner with Saints Dakota/Saints Capital, a portfolio of companies purchased from Safeguard Scientifics. Robert holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.
Prior to CBGF, Hai worked at Regimen Equity Partners, Signal Hill Equity Partners, and TD Capital (TD Bank’s merchant banking group). Hai graduated with an MBA from Columbia Business School and received a Bachelor of Science degree from McGill University. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit in France.
Throughout her 25 year career, Lisa Reeves has championed emerging trends and technologies, market disruption, entrepreneurial ecosystems, diversity, and global opportunities. She is the Chief Product Officer at TriNet, which provides HR solutions delivered through configurable products on a service and technology platform. Before TriNet, Lisa led Product at Zenefits, Corporate Strategy at Workday, was Co-founder and CEO of Gridcraft and joined WDAY after it acquired Gridcraft. She was also GM for the GoToMyPC line of business at Citrix, which she joined from Vista Ventures. Before Vista, she spent 14 years at SAP, nine years in operational and five years on venture capital.
Lisa enjoys spending time with her family, supporting the Colorado innovation ecosystem, entertaining, and running outside of work. She is a 10-time Chicago Marathon finisher and a six-time Boston Marathon finisher.
Board Observers
Saif Hashmi
Brian Hefter
Ghalib Hemnani
Paul Lee
David Little
In 1996 Lee was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from the University of British Columbia (UBC). Lee was awarded the British Columbia Technology Industries Association Person of the Year Award in 2002. Lee has also received numerous awards for his community service including the Commemorative Medal for the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for significant contribution in the form of public service in 2003. In 2005 he was recognized as an Honorary Fellow of the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business. Lee has served as Chair of the British Columbia Technology Industries Association from 1998 to 2001. Lee currently serves as a member of the Premier’s Technology Council and is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Sauder School of Business at UBC. He is Chair of the Board of Directors of DigiBC and is one of Canada’s representatives to Asia Pacific Economic Council’s Business Advisory Council.
Lee previously invested in A.L.I. Technologies, Blast Radius, ActiveState, Bycast, and remains active as an angel investor and Director in Pacific Bio-Energy, the leading manufacturer of wood pellet biomass fuel; and D-Wave Systems, developer of the first commercial quantum computer of which he is also Chair.
Prior to BDC, Saif worked as a trading analyst with BroadGrain Commodities where he was responsible for analyzing active trading strategy. He previously served as an equity research associate at Industrial Alliance Securities where he closely worked with analysts on research publications covering mid-cap financials, technology, oil & gas, and mining industries. Saif started his professional career working as a private equity associate at MTL Capital in Montreal, where he participated in buy-side diligence and negotiations with business owners in the SMB space.
Saif is also President of the Toronto Chapter of Young Canadians in Finance, a group of diverse ambitious young professionals within the field of finance, with a common goal of becoming the leaders of tomorrow in their respective fields through the many networking and professional development opportunities.
Saif holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Finance (Joint Honours) from McGill University. He has also completed levels I and II of the Chartered Financial Analyst program. Saif is also a recipient of a Mark J. Bertus prize for his outstanding research and publication in the Journal of Undergraduate Research in Finance.
Ghalib Hemnani is a Director – Investments at PFM Capital Inc., Saskatchewan’s largest private equity investment firm. Ghalib joined PFM in 2017 and is responsible for providing and leading analysis on the portfolio’s current investments and investment opportunities. Prior to joining PFM, Ghalib was an Analyst with a corporate finance advisory firm in Ottawa, focusing on business valuations, financial modeling as well as buy-side and sell-side M&A transaction support. Ghalib holds board observer roles on a number of PFM’s portfolio companies and sits on the investment committee of the Conexus Venture Capital Fund. He received a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from the University of Ottawa, a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Carleton University and is a level II candidate in the CFA program.