The Team
Co-Founder & CEO
Krista LaRiviere is an entrepreneur to the core. Having purchased her first business (a paper route) at age nine, she is on a constant mission to achieve business success. Krista co-founded both cgk Technologies Group (1999) and Hot Banana Software (2004), both of which were purchased by Lyris, Inc in 2006. gShift Labs is Krista’s third start up and her vision is to execute the business plan textbook style.
Krista holds a degree in Economics, a Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours) and a post-graduate degree in Information Technology. She has been recognized by numerous organizations for her leadership and business success including being awarded Barrie’s Business Woman of the Year, being named by the BDC as one of Canada’s Top Ten Young Entrepreneurs and being honoured by Nipissing University as Alumni of the Year for success in her chosen career.
While not working, Krista spends time with her family, is an active Rotarian and sits on a handful of volunteer boards and software Advisory Boards.
Co-Founder & CTO
Chris Adams is a serial software entrepreneur and thrives in early-stage software-as-a-service (SAAS) start-ups. As past co-founder and CTO of Hot Banana (HB) Software that was acquired by Lyris Inc. Chris was directly responsible for all engineering, product management and data infrastructure of the Web Content Management software offering.
Post-acquisition of HB by Lyris, Chris was the Director of User Experience at Lyris Inc. He was directly responsible for the LyrisHQ Web 2.0 application user interface design and usability. Chris believed in providing clients with the ability to easy manage advanced Internet marketing best practices in a simple way. Along with the product team, Chris was progressively combining Web Content Management, Email Management, Website Optimization, Analytics, Pay-Per-Click Management and other Marketing Automation features into one marketing solution.
He is a published author, advisor, and speaker on a variety of Web Content Management and Website optimization topics. He is an expert in the area of Websites, Landing Pages, Web Analytics and Search Engine Optimization, and how Web content management can be best leveraged.
In his personal life, he is the Board Chair of the Barrie Film Festival, Advisory Council member of Georgian College – School of Visual Arts & Design (SVAD), and is also Advisory Chair of Georgian College - Web Design & Development Curriculum.
Senior Product Manager
A seasoned, creative and strategic thinker with a passion for building user-centric, cutting-edge and standards-compliant websites. A Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing leader with more than 10 years of experience designing, implementing, optimizing and monetizing websites for diverse organizations ranging from small/medium b2b and high-end corporate, to travel, realty, software, religion, not-for-profit, education and multinational organizations.
Jeff has also worked as an independent web site consultant for many years while also working as a designer, implementation specialist and Search Engine Optimization Specialist for Hot Banana Inc. and Lyris Inc.
He is a published author, advisor and speaker on a variety of Search Engine Optimization, Web Content Management and Website optimization topics. He is also an expert in the area of Landing Pages, Web Analytics and Social Web Optimization
In his personal life, Jeff has a degree in Psychology and has worked with "At-Risk Youth" through outreach programs and counseling. He is an Advisory Board Member for the Web Animation and Design Curriculum for Georgian College and runs a one-man Web Development Consultancy creating and optimizing sites for small businesses called The Wired Serf.
Jeff is crossing his fingers that an SEO reality show will shoot soon - He's confident he'll win (using only White-Hat techniques of course…).
Advisory Board
Advisory Board Member
Founder of Toronto based PPC centric online advertising firm Page Zero Media, Andrew Goodman has been an influential voice in the world of online marketing since 2002. Speaking and moderating at countless industry conferences, Andrew is also an accomplished author in the Marketing sphere.
In 2005, he published Winning Results with Google AdWords (McGraw-Hill; 2nd ed. 2008), considered the leading resource in the field. In 2007 (and signed through 2009), he is Chair of Search Engine Strategies Toronto, a key stop on the conference circuit.
Advisory Board Member
Sean G. Ryan, a Minnesota native, began his career working for a leveraged buy-out company (LBO) while obtaining his degree in Entrepreneurial Sciences from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. Upon graduating, he spent seven years at Accenture, a global management consulting company, performing business process consulting and technology implementations for Fortune 500 companies.
Sean's early entrepreneurial background led him to start-up company Digital River. He joined Digital River as the Director of Software Development and during his four years with the firm (which culminated in a successful IPO), he was responsible for building and managing a centralized commerce platform supporting sites for large clients. Digital River is now the global leader in e-commerce outsourcing.
A call from a college friend led him to ExactTarget, another technology start-up. ExactTarget is a SaaS provider of enterprise marketing and email solutions. As one of the four founders and CTO, Sean was responsible for all aspects of the product, its development and its highly scalable architecture. ExactTarget’s fast growth helped it attract $70 million in investments from Battery Venture Partners and TVC in 2009. ExactTarget is now the recognized leader in its field.
On the heels of his success with ExactTarget, Sean began looking for business opportunities in the Southeast. After investigating a North Charleston company, BookSurge LLC, he became a huge believer in print-on-demand and inventory-free distribution of books. Sean invested in the company, and acted as the COO, playing a significant role in preparing the company for its subsequent sale to Amazon.com.
Sean is currently the Senior Vice President of Engineering at Lyris, inc. a hosted marketing service provider in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Advisory Board Member
John Pliniussen, PhD, is the resident expert in eMarketing, Innovation, and Sales at Queen's School of Business, where he specializes in helping new and growing ventures evaluate and enhance their online performance.
Currently, he is Canada's most-quoted marketer in the national media. Until recently, he was Director of Queen's Consulting, Canada's longest-established and premier consulting program, where he coached managers and their teams on how to boost performance.
John has worked or consulted for some of Canada’s fastest growing SMEs, most Federal and Provincial Ministries, and numerous agencies and NPOs. Prior to becoming an educator, he worked in finance, MIS, and sales and marketing. Dr. Plinussen was raised in Copenhagen, Denmark, and educated in Denmark, England, Canada, and the United States. John is multi-lingual, and after moving to Canada, worked in Calgary, London, Toronto, Halifax, and St. John's.
Krista's LinkedIn Profile
Krista's Twitter Profile
