Leadership

Brendan King is the innovative force behind Vendasta. Responsible for providing the vision, thought leadership, and business strategy, it is Brendan’s ability to focus on the big picture while maintaining quality on the finest details that drives Vendasta’s success. Prior to starting the company, Brendan has many business ventures, including a computer chain which was nationally franchised and was entrepreneurial force behind Point2 Agent, a real estate software company, where he grew its membership to more than 185,000 agents and brokers in 85 countries. He was named one of the Top 50 Saas CEOs by the Software Report in 2019. Brendan and Vendasta are almost synonymous. Both are governed by four core values: Drive, innovation, respect and agility. Brendan is extremely passionate about upholding these values while helping Vendasta on its path of becoming the #1 platform for selling digital solutions to local businesses.

Sandy Lohr, previously the CEO of MatchCraft, a Vendasta-acquired brand, is passionate about the ongoing success of the local business ecosystem. Moving into Vendasta’s Chief Operating Officer role, Sandy helps shape Vendasta’s long-term strategy and works to align the culture, organizational design, company metrics, and overall operations toward those long-term objectives. She is responsible for the company’s revenue growth and customer-facing Channel Partner division, which encompasses demand generation, sales, customer success, account management, support, and retention, and the brilliant people within who take Vendasta’s platform and marketplace of solutions to market.

Thought leader, dog lover, mother, wife, golfer (wannabe), media executive, tech enthusiast…

Sandy is enjoying the SoCal lifestyle and leading the talented team at Vendasta. One of her many passions is working with non-profit organizations including educational organizations, a performing arts center, Rotary, Make-A-Wish, and the United Way.

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 is Vendasta’s Chief Technology Officer, reporting to CEO, Brendan King. Over the past 10+ years Dale has been responsible for guiding the processes, technologies, and tools that make up the Vendasta ecosystem. Through his leadership Vendasta has scaled to over 20 Agile software teams with over 100 developers supporting millions of users in the platform.

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.

Jeff Folckemer is Vendasta’s GM of Channel Partner Expansion, and is the GM of Marketing Services. Reporting to the COO, Jeff is responsible for retaining, growing, and servicing the existing customer base of partners. This includes training, selling techniques, and overall understanding of Platform use, as well as Products and Services available to the partners SMB’s (customer base). Jeff joined Vendasta in September of 2018 to help scale and expand partners. Prior to Vendasta Jeff spent 20+ years working at the Hearst Corporation. His mission was to grow digital and help transition Hearst to a digital first mindset. Jeff holds degrees from Cansius College, and various other instutional learning progams included the Hearst Leadership/Management Institute.

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 Parchewsky is Vendasta’s VP of People Operations. She is responsible for ensuring Vendasta is continually attracting, developing, and retaining an amazing team. Jean joined Vendasta in 2015 to lead the implementation of people programs and to grow the inspiring culture at Vendasta. Vendasta has been named Company of the year, the Best Place to work, and Canada’s Top 100 Employers, along with other numerous awards for being an innovative and highly people-focused workplace.

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.

Shakya Abeywickrama is Vendasta’s VP and Divisional GM of white-label Marketing Services. one of North America’s largest digital agencies. Focused on providing world-class service digital marketing offerings to local businesses, Shakya leads the division of five cross-functional teams with over 140 employees in website development, social media marketing, digital advertising, digital reputation management, and product marketing, helping over 600 channel partners support over 6,000 local businesses with their digital presence. A born and raised Sri Lankan, Shakya has called Saskatoon, Canada home for more than a decade. She is an alumni from the University of Saskatchewan and Edith Cowan University with bachelors in business specializing in marketing. She’s a leader who is passionate about female empowerment, gender equality, and diversity in the workplace and community.

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.