Leadership

As Vendasta’s CFO, and in conjunction with other senior executives, Brian is responsible for the financial oversight, financial planning and analysis of the company. He joined the company in 2023 to lead the company’s finance function.

Prior to joining Vendasta, Shelton was the CFO at a US-based technology company. Prior to that, he spent eight years at a leading global provider of software and data analytics to the real estate industry in the Dallas, Texas area. Shelton brings more than 25 years of financial experience to Vendasta, including broad exposure to mergers and acquisitions, treasury management, and raising capital, financial planning and analysis, and accounting.

Prior to co-founding Vendasta, Jeff was the VP of strategy and business development at Point2, where he helped grow a real estate platform from the ground to power more than 165,000 agents in 85 countries. He first developed a love for marketing and technology in 1996 when online digital marketing was in its infancy. He earned a bachelor degree in economics from the University of Saskatchewan in 1993 and an advanced certificate in economics in 1994.

As Vendasta’s VP, Corporate Development, Eric leads Vendasta’s growth strategy through its fundraising and its carefully executed global M&A strategy. Eric joined the company in early 2021 to build the company’s acquisition and integration engine.

Prior to joining Vendasta, Eric was Chief Operating Officer and partner of a Western Canadian-focused Private Equity firm where he was responsible for origination, fundraising, and a variety of other corporate matters. Eric is a member of the board of directors of the Regina Chamber of Commerce and has served on the Board of the Saskatchewan Capital Network and the Canadian Venture Capital Association (CVCA).

Sandy Lohr, CEO of MatchCraft, is passionate about the ongoing success of the local business ecosystem. Under Sandy’s leadership since 2015, MatchCraft has developed award-winning solutions for resellers and agencies across the globe. MatchCraft’s successful transition to a fully remote workforce in early 2020 exemplifies Sandy’s ability to lead during a time of global crisis and respond to the changing needs of both customers and employees. 

Joel is the CEO of Yesware. He previously served as Yesware’s COO and SVP of Sales & Marketing. Prior to Yesware, he held several senior roles at Wayfair. He earned a BS from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, and an MBA from Yale School of Management.

Joel brings much experience in building B2B business. Prior to his tenure at Yesware, he founded Wayfair’s B2B division, growing it to over $400M in annual revenue and laying the groundwork for a division that now generates over $2B in annual revenue. Joel shares some of these secrets on the Hard Sell podcast. The goal of The Hard Sell is to help you win when sales opportunities present themselves by bringing experienced leaders in the field together to share what works and what doesn’t.

Willem Els leads Corporate Business Intelligence and Financial Planning. He has extensive public company experience at Microsoft Corporation and The Walt Disney Studios. He specialized in Finance, Strategy, and Business Intelligence for North America markets; during this time he worked and lived in Toronto and Los Angeles. His last three years at Disney as Vice President of Finance and Planning focused on worldwide emerging businesses and leading the cross-functional Five Year Plan process.

After Disney, Willem joined a private fast growing company with a China-based supply chain and distribution across North-America. He started and led several central planning functions; his last role as Executive Vice President included oversight of Financial Planning, Business Intelligence, Business Integration, and Demand Forecasting of Products and Distribution Channels.

Willem holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Economics) and completed a program in Advanced Managerial Accounting.

Prior to Vendasta, Ed was based in London and worked across 8 countries in Europe to transform a $1.3B Media company to digital, created the Martech market’s first PayPerCall Marketplace, is a founding innovator in the call tracking and call attribution market, and spent 6 years designing and product managing consumer and Pro skis, rackets and scuba equipment for HEAD Sports.

Bryan Larson is Vendasta’s Vice President of Strategy, reporting to CEO, Brendan King. Bryan has been instrumental in the formulation, facilitation, and communication of the organization’s strategic initiatives and future goals. His contributions to product vision, and ability to align and mobilize teams has made a considerable impact on the company’s ongoing success. In addition to his role at Vendasta, Bryan provides consultation and mentorship to startups, is a guest lecturer at numerous post-secondary institutions, and an active public speaker in the tech community. Bryan joined Vendasta in 2013 to instate a scalable, world-class design team, set and govern experience standards, and enhance the corporate brand.

Prior to Vendasta, Bryan held positions with Yardi Canada and Point2 Technologies in the area of brand and design. He earned a B. Ed. degree from the University of Saskatchewan and holds certifications in scrum and UX management.

Jean is an alumna at the University of Saskatchewan with a degree in Psychology. She spent 20 years growing retail brands in Canada such as Zara, Esprit and Target before moving into technology. With over 500 employees, Jean leverages her education in psychology and expertise in leading effective teams to ensure employees do not come to Vendasta just to work but are able to be their best and live out their passions.
Jean is involved with the SaskTech Board and has been a speaker at Edwards School of Business, the University of Saskatchewan, Co. Labs and various Technology events.

Janessa Yeomans is the Vice President of Vendasta’s Platform Operations. Focused on the entire lifecycle of Vendors in Vendasta’s Marketplace, Janessa leads the team that powers Channel Partners with new products and services they can offer to local businesses while ensuring the success of vendors in Vendasta’s ecosystem. The Vendor Division’s goal is to make Vendasta the channel of choice for vendors who sell digital solutions to local businesses.

Prior to Vendasta in 2014, Janessa held positions with Shaw Cable in the areas of training and development, and sales. She is an alumnus of the University of Saskatchewan with a B. Comm degree.

During her volunteer hours, she serves on the board of SODS (a settlement agency for new immigrants), and also supports the emerging local tech community in Saskatchewan by working as a Tech Start-up Mentor for the provincial tech incubator Co.Labs. Shakya is intensely customer-focused with an intuition for consumer patterns and trends. She connects people across divisions and ideologies to drive innovation throughout Vendasta, and brings a contagious brightness to each project.

Ian Jones is Vendasta’s Vice President of Revenue. He leads Vendasta’s Sales and Customer Support teams of more than 140 professionals, driving a growth and customer-centric mindset. Ian is responsible for shaping and executing the strategies that deliver Vendasta’s revenue growth targets as well as the world-class customer experience we aspire to deliver each and every day. Ian started with  Vendasta in August 2020, and made the journey across the pond from Wales to join the team at our Canadian HQ in January 2021. He quickly picked up Canadian business culture, and has brought many new processes and ideas to Vendasta. 

Prior to joining Vendasta, Ian spent seven years working for Archant, one of the UK’s oldest and largest independent publishers, where he led the development of the Digital Marketing Services and Digital Sales Teams. He also spent almost 10 years working in the financial services industry, and enjoyed a brief stint in consultancy. Ian earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Biology at the University of Hull in 2002, and his Executive MBA from Cranfield University in 2019. Between his accent and his experience, Ian is a skilled, empathetic leader that Vendasta is lucky to have.

If you’re going to ask him “if he’s heard the one about…” the answer is probably yes. Peter has decades of experience, and has practiced corporate commercial law for more than 20 years, advising companies in Canada, Europe, Asia, and the US. Peter has a JD and MBA from the University of British Columbia and is a current member of the British Columbia Law Society and Alberta Law Society.