Canada
My passion is around designing and building human-centric organizations. I believe that all products, technologies and services, begin with the people. And the greatest power a leader has, is in the selection of who they surround themselves with and in creating and curating an environment for those people to thrive. This is arguably the messiest build of all, but also has the greatest ROI if done right. I led the Talent & Culture division at Shopify, before leaving to pursue Backbone Angels. The past 11 years building Shopify was as beautiful as it was challenging. What made it truly remarkable was the amazing, talented and hard-working folks I got to learn from and work alongside. I joined a start-up with big ambitions and helped grow and evolve the organization to be Canada’s fastest growing public company. Over the years, my role changed often, but my focus always remained the same. Finding and empowering the right people while designing an environment focused on solving tough problems. Going from 20 employees to over 10,000 is no easy feat, but with challenges comes failures, learnings and most importantly growth. I've spent my time growing my strengths in talent acquisition, talent development and operations, culture evolution, building systems, behavioural economics, and people analytics to drive data informed decision making. Since Leaving Shopify in May, I have spent my time on Backbone Angels, board and committee work and advisory roles. More important than any funding is the 1:1 time spent advising and supporting founders in the quest to grow and succeed. And it's been fun! My expertise is in hyper growth, talent and strategic cultures and it’s been wonderful to be able to apply this expertise to help other young companies scale.
Advising Bessemer portfolio companies on scale, growth and leadership.
I have a unique expertise in hyper growth and talent systems that I've acquired through my experience as Chief Talent Officer at Shopify. Since leaving my full-time role, I continue to teach and learn through advising. I partner with founders, talent leaders or other C-level roles that are experiencing scaling challenges or looking to leverage their talent and culture as a strategic asset. My expertises are around scaling a company and culture, driving a leadership team forward, taking a company public (IPO) and transitioning to a digital first work environment.