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.
Myleen has 7+ years experience in the internet and mobile industry and has held various roles in programming, product management and recruitment. She earned her Computer Science and Management Information Systems degree from Western Kentucky University. Myleen has deep appreciation for process design, customer-focused technology, anticipating and managing conflict and building momentum towards agreement. She is progressively getting into yoga and is also passionate about the Aikido way.
Saul likes to build stuff, but since he isn't that handy he chooses to assist in growing great companies. As Zipcar Inc's first international employee, Saul launched the company's first foray into the Canadian market and was instrumental in getting the Toronto operation off the ground. Saul is an accomplished marketing professional, with more than a decade of diverse high-level experience and a respected publisher, having led his company SSS Comics to infamy, super-hero style. When Saul is not working he can be found watching TV or playing spin the bottle.
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...
Our own globe-trotter extraordinaire, Jaco's lived everywhere from the mean streets of Cape Town to the bustling markets of Kuala Lampur. Now in Toronto, he's part of the FreshBooks' award-winning design tandem, sketching up interfaces, marketing materials, and more. When he's not working, Jaco enjoys engaging in political and economic diatribes and meat-eating.
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.
Gregg brings all the essential elements of a recovering 1980’s hair-band keyboardist and 20+ years experience in technology sales and marketing to his role as Partner Marketing Manager at FreshBooks. The goal, as always, is to ensure that everyone is happy and everyone wins. When not kissing babies and shaking hands, Gregg can be found on the slopes, at the track, conquering the Grand Canyon (and fear of heights) or whipping up a burning pot of Vindaloo from scratch.
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.
Mike has been a practicing geek all his life, but has only applied himself professionally for the past 10 years. He’s written applications for various environments including the desktop, the internet and mobile devices. Mike is a platform agnostic programmer: he’s worked in domains as diverse as banking and entertainment, and with a wide range of languages that includes C++ and PHP.
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. His job is to listen and make sure you feel like someone's always got your back, and he thinks that's pretty sweet. He brings with him an interaction design degree and an eclectic mix of work experience in the technology industry. When not geeking out, Randy can usually be spotted at various live jazz clubs around town or flying during the weekends to dance congresses and exchanges. Randy loves hot jazz, low-light/high-speed photography, and performing air steps at breakneck speeds.
Hailing from Halifax, Dan Williams is FreshBooks’ resident expert on all things East Coast. With an uncanny nose for lobster and India Pale Ale, he has a penchant for aluminum briefcases, re-writing things in Ruby on Rails, and extreme personal fitness.
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.
Ottawa-educated and Newfoundland-grown, Rayanne joins the freshest team in town as Marketing Coordinator – her degree in Mass Communication and a public relations graduate certificate in hand. Rayanne is really into meeting cool people online (like on Seesmic and Twitter) and in person (like at Meetups and PodCamps). Other than sitting in front of a computer for hours on end, Rayanne likes to take stabs at song writing and performance.
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 being outdoors and playing guitar.
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.
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.
A Hogtown native, Josh is a fresh face with a mouthful of a title. By day, Josh works with the marketing folks to keep our customers loving and talking about FreshBooks. With a background in building and supporting wireless Internet & VoIP networks and users, Josh is always connected and rarely needs a reboot. Off the clock, Josh has been known to take a photograph or three, has recently learned the way of the kiteboard, can’t stop listening to new music, and often converses in 140 characters or less.
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