An entrepreneur with two successful start-ups to his name, Mike talks faster than he writes and can deftly juggle and keep his eye on hundreds of balls at one time. Mike is a founder of the mesh conference, lecturer at Humber College and a frequent speaker at Internet conferences. See what Mike's up to by reading his blog or catching his latest Twitter updates. Mike loves his work, and would rather be outdoors than inside.
In addition to being a co-founder of FreshBooks, Joe is also a tenured professor at an Ontario University. In 2000 Joe received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Victoria, specializing in the development of efficient algorithms. Following his degree, he spent two years on a prestigious NSERC post-doc visiting Charles University (Czech Republic), the University of Sydney (Australia), and the University of Toronto (Canada). Joe's most important role at FB: making sure the beer fridge remains well stocked.
Levi is a professional engineer with a BEng from the University of Victoria. Before joining FreshBooks, Levi managed projects at Apex Systems Integrators Inc., where his clients included Canadian Tire, Nestlé, and Parmalat. Levi is a systems integration specialist and has led multi-platform integrations with technologies such as: Oracle, SAP, .NET, Windows CE and Pocket PC. An ultimate frisbee, volleyball and basketball player, we suspect he may have stuffed toy dinosaurs hidden in his condo, such is the level of his support for the Toronto Raptors.
Mitch is a marketing guy that loves to grow companies, build killer teams and connect with customers. He started out at P&G before heading to Lavalife as their first marketing hire - he stayed for nine years, the last two as their VP Marketing. Mitch makes marketing and business sing. When he is not thinking about work Mitch spends time building his collection of magic books, playing Hold'em and thinking about work (he can't help it).
Cat Herding requires a wide range of skills -- Corey brings years of experience and a skillset that pretty much defines "wide-ranging": an instructor of Japanese swordsmanship who designs tabletop role-playing games and writes reasonably competent ottava rima, he remains bemused that an English degree has been useful in this industry. He writes about software development management, swordfighting and games on his website, and at FreshBooks, is expanding the hotshot development team to meet the challenges of the company's rapid growth. He has pretty crazy ideas on what makes a great software team, mostly involving "Making Sure Developers Are Insanely Happy".
Mic has over fifteen years broad-based experience in working with technology focused companies and has held senior marketing, business development, product or general management roles at Yahoo, Mozilla, CGI, itemus, in her own company - B-Innovative, Inc - and spent her earlier career at McKinsey & Company. Mic actively advises FreshBooks on its strategic, marketing and operations initiatives. When she's not doing that - or working with the handful of other start-ups in her roster - she's been known to sneak in games of backyard badminton whenever weather permits.
Jeff is a consummate perfectionist and ace designer. He was snapped up after finishing a Web Design and Internet Software Programming degree at Humber College. Jeff-fun includes creating awesome web sites, hockey and snowboarding, where he will not hesitate to take on any double black diamond he comes across. Jeff is also obsessed with washing his car (some say his left arm is twice the size of his right arm because of this). See what Jeff's up to by visiting his website or checking his twitter updates.
Daniel supports the FreshBooks team by coordinating customer feedback and marketing initiatives into each release. Daniel graduated from the U of T's Computer Science program and also worked for Biz-zone Internet Group Inc. before joining the FreshBooks team. In his spare time, Daniel likes to tweak his computer, work on his tennis game, and hit the local Cineplex for the latest blockbusters.
Ben is one of FreshBooks' full-time web developers. He is a graduate of U of T's Computer Science program, whose software development experience includes work for Epson Canada and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. Outside of work, Ben enjoys playing Floorball, writing to his personal blog, and rooting for the home team - whether it's the Raptors, Jays or Leafs, in that order.
Sunir has led many lives. He recently shed his software development background by attaining a Masters in Knowledge Media Design at the University of Toronto. He is most well-known for building up the wiki community through MeatballWiki, including his most recent project, BibWiki. He hails from Deep River, Ontario, and consequently he is an Ottawa Senators fan.
Justin is responsible for a number of our backend systems. As our resident programmer-philosopher, Justin's hobbies include playing with esoteric programming languages, attending Lisp conferences, and wasting time.
Rich is our systems and network infrastructure guy, keeping the webservers and databases running smoothly. Rich has spent the past decade honing his skills with Web applications on open-source platforms, and recently moved with his wife from Ottawa to Toronto in order to get closer to the heart of Canada's Internet industry. In his free time, he blogs, plays the cello and Irish flute, and throws rocks at houses.
Taavi is of two worlds: music and machine. So far, though, the machine has been winning the bread! After graduating in Computer Engineering from the UofA, he spent four years working as a systems C programmer. Needless to say, working at FreshBooks is a breath of Fresh Air! He hopes that it will give him an excuse to experiment with more new technologies than ever before. He also randomly bikes, cooks, does yoga...
Resourceful, humane and armed with a degree in psychology, Zoë is in charge of keeping FreshBooks' unruly employees in check. She's also the first point of contact for potential new hires, so beware - she has the grammar police on speed dial. Off the clock, Zoë enjoys running in High Park with her fuzzy dog Hildegard, making noise (by playing piano, singing and strumming the guitar, in that order) and espousing the unbridled joys of vegetarianism.
Fresh out of the University of Waterloo, equipped with a math degree and boundless enthusiasm, Grace is our first FreshBooks employee dedicated entirely to helping our customers. I guess you could call her the 'invoice of reason'. When she isn’t answering your questions, you can usually find her playing outside, talking to strangers, playing for the Argonotes or making her co-workers groan with her witty one-liners. She’s game for anything and flies by the seat of her own pants because she knows life is short. After all, time flies like an arrow and fruit flies like a banana.
Laleh is a recent U of T graduate who also spent a year in George Brown College. Her various degrees include Computer Science, Finance and Philosophy. Laleh is known for being able to make a great cup of coffee and is trying very hard to make sure her pet cat Jake, is well provided for. In addition to constantly singing, she enjoys playing the piano and reading.
Randy is here to help YOU spend less time sending invoices and more time doing what you love. He is an advocate of Executing on Extraordinary Experiences Everyday and treating customers right. When not geeking, Randy can usually be spotted at various live jazz clubs around town or hanging out at Linux Cafe. His two main loves include low-light/high-speed photography and dancing, both of which are highly encouraged in FreshBooks.
Diana doesn’t drive which ruled out midwifery. Can’t really sing either, so code monkey it is, although she has been known to birth the odd baby in her bedroom, and is currently seeking venture capital for Ani-Oke. A blurb about Diana lacking the coolest f-word ever just wouldn’t be complete. Oh, and ornery, and beer.
From organizing and executing zany events to globe trotting in attempts to take every customer out to dinner, everything Rayanne does at FreshBooks involves making people happy. When she's not tweeting something ridiculous, you'll probably find Rayanne shaking hands and kissing babies about town or singing at the top of her lungs to some live band. She's also a Newfoundland transplant, and is therefore really into Purity Syrup and Jam Jams.
Kevin brings a range of experience managing websites and online infrastructure to the FreshBooks team. Previously at one of Canada's largest interactive marketing agencies, Kevin created custom solutions for some of Canada's most well-known brands, and supported a fast-paced development team in a very demanding environment. In addition, Kevin has served many startups and non-profits over the years, providing back-end support, web programming and security auditing. Outside of work, Kevin enjoys the outdoors and being a new father.
Originally from Africa - the land of the Maasai and where the big game roam free. Asmita studied in Nairobi before moving to Canada and brings extensive office administration experience to her position as she has worked for several multinational corporations in Toronto. In her free time, you can find her at the gym or volunteering for charitable organizations.
Momchil brings plenty of quality assurance experience to the FreshBooks team, having worked for Bodog, amongst others. He works alongside developers and managers to constantly improve the awesome FreshBooks product by flushing out existing glitches and ensuring new functionality integrates smoothly into the existing system. Momchil is a UofT graduate with degrees in Computer Science, Criminology and Mathematics. Alongside his fascination for computers and modern technology, Momchil is also extremely passionate about cars. In his free time Momchil builds websites, bikes along the lake and practices TaeKwon-Do.
Zach is responsible for marketing analytics. With a BASc from the University of Waterloo in his right hand and Marketing for Dummies in his left, Zach assists in the glorious quest to attract and keep FreshBooks users. When not drinking coffee/working, Zach enjoys researching and analyzing equity derivatives/economic fundamentals, building random stuff, and planning an off the grid getaway.
Andrew lives at the intersection of geek and suit. He knows enough to stay naïve, which gives him an edge when making sense of the world. Problem-solver at heart, Andrew devotes his energy to right-brain thinking and baseball statistics. You can “check-check” him out on the interweb, or just trust that he carries a big stick. If Andrew wore caps, he’d sport feathers for singing for the Pope at the Vatican, learning from (and speaking to) bright people, and having a callused hand in companies made with love.
Owen arrived at FreshBooks HQ with nothing but assorted piercings and a beautifully streamlined head. He’s useful in that his head reflects light around the office, handy in our dark Canadian winters. His black leather jacket cannot be removed from his body without invasive surgery, and he feels no pain but the pain of changing requirements. He also writes software.
Jessamyn grew up in the wilds of British Columbia, but the life of a gentle lumberjack was not for her. She ran away to the city to become a burly computer engineer and web developer. This wide range of life experiences allows her to bridge the gap between computers and the people who use them. In her spare time, Jessamyn maintains her burly figure through athletic endeavors such as swimming across lakes and playing men's (flag) football.
Since kindergarten, Jon's report cards have all said that he's a smart kid, but doesn't know how to stop talking. As the latest member of the Sales Team at FreshBooks, Jon is hoping to apply his gift of gab to bringing new clients into the FreshBooks fiesta, and making sure that everyone has a rockin' good time. His favourite phrase is Oh Snap! and he has no inside voice, so you'll probably hear it more than once.
Andrei is a strategic thinker with entrepreneurial spirit. With great understanding of what makes a small business tick, Andrei knows how time-consuming the invoicing part of the work can be. When not helping new users optimize their experience with Freshbooks and building client relationships, you can find Andrei pumping iron, shooting videos, blogging or sharing on various social networks.
Paul has been an enthusiastic geek for most of his life. An information sponge, his collection of random computer science facts has led friends and colleagues to refer to him as the "Cliff Clavin of Programming" and he's okay with that. Paul's broad experience includes developing distributed resource management systems, writing statistics software libraries and of course, mind-blowingly cool web applications. Paul has worked for software companies and research institutions in Toronto, Victoria BC and Dublin, Ireland. When not glued to a keyboard, Paul can usually be found going for ridiculously long bike rides around Southern Ontario.
Kasey joins FreshBooks as a Sales Consultant, coming from the world of technology marketing. A U of T business grad with a ton of enthusiasm, Kasey is looking forward to helping our customers succeed. When she's not happily working or coming up with her latest new idea, Kasey can be found out on the deck, with her nose in a book, or planning her next travel adventure.
Tim's mesolimbic pathway is constantly flooded with dopamine when he's at Freshbooks — That is to say, he's elated to be here. Studying and working in a variety of fields and locations on planet Earth has allowed Tim to develop a sharp brain for interpersonal communication and a knack for empathy. Add his experiences in tech into the mix, and you've got yourself a support rock-star. When not figuring out the functions and bio-pathway of the Inward Rectifier Potassium Ion Channels, you can usually find Tim perfecting techniques on the piano, volunteering and singing in a choir, playing video games, practice photography, blog, watching Disney movies, and drinking down a pint of Dole Whip with friends.
John is a recent HBA graduate of the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and also spent a term abroad at University of Manchester. When he is not conversing with customers to convince them of the awesomeness of FreshBooks, he is usually trying to go as fast as he can on either a bicycle or skies. Or he is throwing discs during a game of Ultimate or Disc Golf. He also likes to travel, share marketing blog posts on his Tumblr or drink the most exotic and tasty beers he can find at Volo.
Beatriz brings to the table a wide range of experience in the IT/Tech world. As a self-proclaimed geek she loves technology, media and video games. Still a kid-at-heart, she enjoys to be silly and random. With an inquisitive-mind and a love of people she wants to know what makes your business tick. To relax and calm the chattering monkeys in her head she enjoys reading (her favourite is Latin American literature) and watching movies, especially foreign films.
Ben hit the snooze button on life, and spent a couple years working on his M.Sc. His research areas included Natural Language, Web-Services, and Cognition. He's always had a panache for programming, with interests spanning: AI, new media, compiler design, the semantic web, and countless other buzz words. In his spare time Ben loves climbing, playing the Guitar/Bass, and sitting on patios.
Peter joins the FreshBooks team straight out of the University of Waterloo, where he studied Systems Design Engineering. During this time, he also studied abroad at the National University of Singapore. Now, he hopes to combine his technical background with his passion for entrepreneurship. When he’s not working: he’s reading up on something random in order to feed his never ending curiosity, dabbling in photography, cheering on the Toronto Raptors, or (hopefully) travelling.
Sheheryar grew up in the concrete jungles of Space City and is now living his dream in Toronto. A self-described geek, usually found behind a computer monitor or a camera lens, Sheheryar is a University of Houston graduate with degrees in Computer Science and Business. His experience includes developing automated trading systems for stock trading firms and project accounting libraries for various ERPs. In his free time he blogs, plays pool and tries to hack the market.
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