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
Jacqueline Cook
Chief Operating Officer
Brian Shelton
CHIEF FINANCIAL 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.
Brian Shelton
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
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.
Dale Hopkins
Chief Technology Officer
Jeff Tomlin
Chief Marketing Officer
Eric Clark
VP, Corporate Development
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.
Eric Clark
VP, CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT
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 (acquired company)
Joel Stevenson
VP, Growth
Willem Els
VP, Financial Planning & Business Intelligence
Sandy Lohr
CEO of MatchCraft (acquired company)
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 Stevenson
VP, Growth
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.
VP, Financial Planning & Business Intelligence
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.
Jeff Folckemer
SVP, Customer Expansion
Bryan Larson
VP, Strategy
Jean Parchewsky
VP, People Operations
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.
Janessa Yeomans
VP, Platform Operations
Shakya Abeywickrama
GM, Marketing Services
Peter Torn
General Counsel
VP, Strategy
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.
VP, Platform Operations
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.
General Counsel
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.