Board of Directors

Krista LaRiviere is Chairperson of the Board, CoFounder & CEO. gShift is Krista’s third software startup having co-founded cgk Technologies Group (1999) and Hot Banana Software (2004), both of which were purchased by Lyris, Inc in 2006. Krista drives the strategic direction of gShift and is responsible for the overall operations and results of the company.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, named by the BDC as one of Canada’s Top Ten Young Entrepreneurs and 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 including the York Technology Association.

Joe Regan is a VP at Growthworks Capital. He sits on Boards of many software companies.

Michelle McBane is a Director for MaRS’ Investment Accelerator Fund. Michelle has held positions with VenGrowth Equity Partners and Primaxis Technology Ventures. She attended McMaster University and the University of Ottawa.

Peter Smith is a 30 year veteran of the information technology industry having held senior management roles in sales, professional services and operations. He was an Executive Vice-President at Information Resources Inc; a Group Vice-President, Managing Director and Regional Sales Vice President at PeopleSoft; and has held a variety of technical, sales, consulting and management positions at IBM. Peter currently leads his own management consulting company, The Meaford Group Inc, and serves on the Board of CSDC Systems and Headcount Corporation.  Peter has previously served on the boards of Grantium Corporation and The Georgian Peaks Club.

Robin Hopper is founder of Awareness, Inc. and a serial entrepreneur with years of experience in social media, marketing automation, and content management. Robin’s skills span all operational areas, with core focus in product strategy, sales, marketing and business development. With the founding of both iUpload and Awareness, he pioneered SaaS content management and social media technologies for enterprises and publishers including McDonalds, Kodak, Exxon, CVS, State Farm, Newsweek, Sony, The New York Times, American Airlines and many others.

Scotty Vanderwel is the Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Planning for Rogers Communications Inc.  In this role he is responsible for guiding the strategy for the overall company and driving initiatives to improve performance, strengthen Rogers’ competitive position and accelerate growth.

Prior to joining Rogers Scott was a partner with the Monitor Group, a global Tier I Strategy Consultancy.  While there, Scott held many roles the most recent being Head of the Toronto Office and Canadian practice.  While at Monitor Scott managed a broad set of commercial relationships, advanced the media business area and covered regional management responsibilities

While most of Scott’s work has been with Fortune 1000 firms (within Canada and the US), he has maintained a focus on – and passion for – more entrepreneurial endeavors, and he sits on the advisory and professional boards of a variety of entrepreneurial technology firms and is a volunteer advisor with the MaRS discovery district, a Toronto based community for start-up enterprises.