In the last week, three Canadian startups have added new members to their teams. Here’s a breakdown of who is joining, and what they bring to the table.
RenoRun Names Christian Lavoie VP Engineering
RenoRun, a Montreal-based construction material delivery service, has named Christian Lavoie as the company’s new vice president of engineering.
“I’m looking forward to helping RenoRun meet such a critical need in the construction industry.”
– Christian Lavoie
In his new role, Lavoie will work with RenoRun’s executives to define the industry pioneer’s engineering protocols, strategies and implementation. Lavoie’s previous experience includes technology and engineering consulting for startup companies, six years working in Silicon Valley as a senior tech lead for Google’s ads database, and a stint co-founding his own tech startup in Montreal.
“RenoRun is a fast-growing company, and I’m delighted to be joining such a talented and passionate team at an early stage,” Lavoie said. “Once I saw the team’s market approach, their philosophy, and the caliber of people I’d be working with, there was no hesitation. I’m looking forward to helping RenoRun meet such a critical need in the construction industry, as its success so far has demonstrated.”
RenoRun launched in Montréal in 2017 and quickly expanded to Toronto. The company raised a $3 million seed round in February, and announced at the time that it planned to expand to the United States. RenoRun claims deliveries of construction materials take less than two hours.
“Christian brings a lot to our team in regards to his experience in technology management, and we feel certain our engineering department will flourish under his guidance,” said Eamonn O’Rourke, CEO and founder of RenoRun. “His accomplishments in startup consulting will help shape our entire engineering strategy moving forward. Our executive team is made up of highly qualified, capable individuals, and we feel ready to take RenoRun into its next season of growth together.”
Universal mCloud hires three execs, appoints one board member
Vancouver-based Universal mCloud Corp, which provides asset management solutions combining IoT, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and analytics, has recently hired three new executives to its team, and has added a new member to its board of directors.
“Mr. Russell brings extensive experience in the global capital markets that will accelerate the company’s expansion.”
– Michael A. Sicuro
The company hired Jim Christian as vice president of emerging solutions and Patrick Kelly as director of solutions business development. mCloud also promoted Jason Brown to president of smart process industries. Ian Russell, CEO of the Investment Industry Association of Canada, has joined the company’s board of directors. Russell will serve on all of mCloud’s independent committees and will actively work to prepare mCloud for listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
“We are privileged to have Mr. Russell join mCloud’s board of directors,” said Michael A. Sicuro, mCloud’s non-executive chair. “As one of Canada’s most prominent figures in the investment industry, Mr. Russell brings extensive experience in the global capital markets that will accelerate the company’s expansion into new geographies and propel organic growth across all lines of business.”
Christian has previously held positions with Exxon, Honeywell, and Siemens. He has three decades of experience in applying emerging technologies to the oil and gas, refining, and petrochemical industries. Kelly is also a former Honeywell executive, and he will be responsible for driving new revenues for mCloud, pertaining to smart process solutions. Brown will be responsible for scaling mCloud’s reach to new oil and gas centres globally.
Finaeo taps Steve Henry as CTO
Toronto-based Finaeo has hired Steve Henry as chief technologyy officer. Henry, formerly CTO of ScribbleLive, will scale the company’s carrier integrations and drive the startup’s marketplace expansion.
RELATED: Finaeo raises $5.35 million CAD to help create ‘the Amazon of the insurance industry’
“Steve has a unique blend of technology, go-to-market and executive experience to help take Finaeo to the next level,” said Aly Dhalla, CEO and co-founder of Finaeo. “In addition, Steve is fundamentally dedicated to helping grow talent, which is a core tenant of our philosophy. We couldn’t be more excited to have Steve’s leadership and expertise on our team to help bring our vision to life.”
Finaeo, was founded in 2016 by Dhalla, as well as Donald Chu, now CCO. The company launched the beta of its digital assistant platform in early 2017, looking to connect insurance advisors with an AI-enabled digital assistant and sales coach, informing advisors of upsell and cross-sell opportunities. Now, it offers a software platform for insurance advisors that helps with repetitive tasks, such as auto-filling applications. It also offers real-time application submission, adjudication, and application status of insurance claims.
Image courtesy Unsplash