Leadership
Our executives bring more than just experience to the table. Consistently striving for a brighter future in digital, Vendasta leadership works tirelessly to solve the problems facing local economies around the globe.
Brendan King
Chief Executive Officer
Richard Cheung
Chief Financial Officer
Jacqueline Cook
Chief Operating Officer
She is an alumnus of NEXT Canada, Canada’s premier entrepreneurial leadership initiative. During the program, she co-founded and was CEO of Triumf Mobile Rewards: a tablet and Smartphone-based platform for small and medium-sized businesses to customize their own loyalty rewards programs. She has been a speaker at events such as TEDx UofS and WE DAY 2015, and has represented Canada at the 2010 G8 and G20 Summits, the 2010 APEC Summit in Japan, and at the 2011 G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit in France.
Dale Hopkins
Chief Technology Officer
Jeff Tomlin
Chief Marketing Officer
George Leith
Chief Customer Officer
Prior to Vendasta, Dale founded a software consulting company that specialized in digital video diagnostics and processing. Customers included Time Warner Cable and his previous employer Vecima Networks. Dale earned a bachelor degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Saskatchewan in 2005 with a dual degree in Computer Science.
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.
Willem Els
GM, Channel Partners
Gib Olander
GM, Platform
Jeff Folckemer
SVP, Customer Expansion
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
VP, Design
Jean Parchewsky
VP, People Operations
Janessa Yeomans
GM, Vendor Division
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.
Prior to Vendasta in 2014, Janessa held positions with Shaw Cable in the areas of training and development and sales. She is an alumni from the University of Saskatchewan with a B. Comm degree.
Shakya Abeywickrama
GM, Marketing Services
Roy Pereira
GM of SMB Division
Ian Jones
VP, Revenue
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.
Roy Pereira has founded and led several tech startups based in Silicon Valley and Toronto. While at Cisco in California, Roy was an integral part of the team that launched the security business unit, generating more than one billion in annual revenue. As an inventor, Roy holds patents on remote access IPSec VPN software. In 2007, Roy started the world’s first Facebook marketing agency. In 2009, he started his fifth startup, known as Shiny Ads, to help the world’s top digital publishers better monetize premium ad buys and, in the process, invented an alternative to RTB called “automated guaranteed.” Shiny Ads was later acquired by Rubicon Project (NYSE-RUBI), based in Los Angeles, in 2014.
Ian Jones
VP, Revenue
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.