At COO (Boardroom Media) we track over 1,000,000 startups and over 5,000,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top Canada based COO’ operating in the Finance space. If you think a COO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on [email protected].
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Vahid Mirjalili
Co-founder & COO of Owl.co
Vahid Mirjalili has been serving as Chief Operating Officer since March 2018.
Follow Vahid Mirjalili:
About Owl.co: Owl is an insurance claims monitoring platform that detects non-eligible claims through evidence and facts with an audit trail.
Bradley Vannan
President and Chief Operating Officer, ICE Futures Canada of IntercontinentalExchange
Brad Vannan is President and Chief Operating Officer of ICE Futures Canada, a subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE). ICE Futures Canada is a regulated, agricultural exchange based in Winnipeg. Vannan was appointed to his position in April 2008. Vannan has over two decades of experience in global agricultural markets. Prior to joining ICE, he was Vice President of Merchandising and Transportation Services at Agricore United, where he had responsibility for four major divisions, including grain merchandising, transportation and logistics, specialty crops operations, and grain accounting. Before joining Agricore in 1994, Vannan was a grain merchant at James Richardson and Sons and a domestic merchant at Pioneer Grain.
Follow Bradley Vannan:
About IntercontinentalExchange: Intercontinental Exchange is an operator of regulated exchanges and clearing houses serving the risk management needs of global markets.
Richard Smith
Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer of Acasta Enterprises
Richard has served as COO and CFO of AEI since its inception in 2015. Previously, Richard was the Executive Vice-President of Finance for Cosma International, an operating group of Magna International Inc. Cosma operates 73 manufacturing facilities and 21 product development and engineering centers in 18 countries worldwide, and designs, manufactures and sells a comprehensive range of metal body systems, components, assemblies and modules including complete vehicle frames, chassis systems and body-in-white systems to automotive original equipment manufacturers. Prior to joining Cosma, Richard was the Chief Financial Officer of Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust and previously the Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of MI Developments Inc. (now Granite REIT). He holds a bachelor of commerce (honours) degree from the University of Ottawa, and a juris doctor degree and MBA from the University of Toronto.
Follow Richard Smith:
About Acasta Enterprises: Acasta Enterprises operates as a special purpose acquisition company.
Andrew King
Chief Operating Officer of Verafin
Andrew joined Verafin in 2003 and immediately focused on training and implementing new customers on Verafin’s system. He quickly became experienced in fraud and money laundering detection and understood the Canadian and US regulatory environments inside and out. His focus and dedication has played an instrumental role in Verafin’s reputation for providing superior customer service.
Follow Andrew King:
About Verafin: Verafin offers a fraud and AML detection platform that helps detect, investigate, and report money laundering and financial fraud.
Tina Goulbourne
COO of Vena Solutions
Tina (Walker) Goulbourne is the Chief Operating Officer at Vena Solutions.
Follow Tina Goulbourne:
About Vena Solutions: Vena connects people, existing systems, and data to power finance-led business planning and real-time reporting.
Casper Wong
Chief Operating Officer & General Manager of Financeit
Casper is a co-founder and the COO of Financeit. Financeit facilitates better commerce by allowing businesses to offer fair and transparent payments plans to their customers anywhere. Since launching in early 2011, Financeit has signed up thousands of merchant Partners that process billions in sales per year through the platform. As COO, Casper has worn many different hats over the years and has been instrumental in scaling the business. Prior to this, Casper was with goeasy, where he was responsible for business development and launching their lending business – easyfinancial. Casper joined easyhome after working in investment banking on the Mergers & Acquisitions team at BMO Capital Markets. Casper also sits on the boards of ZayZoon and Dwello.
Follow Casper Wong:
About Dwello, Financeit: Financeit simplifies complex sales transactions for businesses and their customers.
Eva Wong
Co-Founder & COO of Borrowell
Eva has 15 years’ experience in the business and not-for-profit sectors, both in Canada and abroad. She has worked at Oliver Wyman, Maple Leaf Foods and the United Nations Development Programme. She is co-founder of Toronto Homecoming and serves on the board of The Scott Mission. She graduated from Queen’s School of Business and Harvard University. Eva loves lemon squares, food blogs, and baking projects with her kids.
Follow Eva Wong:
About Borrowell, Toronto Homecoming: Borrowell offers free credit scores, education, and weekly credit monitoring, as well as innovative financial digital tools.
Paul Magis
Chief Operating Officer & CTO of inStream
Paul joined inStream’s executive team as Chief Operating Officer in the spring of 2015. Paul oversees inStream’s Toronto-based technology and client support teams and is a member of the Company’s Executive Committee. Previously, he spent over 25 years in various leadership and executive positions within BCE, (Canada’s leading telecom and multi media company) including Operations, Client Care, Information Technology and Product Management. Most notably, he was the key figure responsible for planning and delivering various enterprise wide software solutions, managing large annual capital and expense programs, and devising and introducing scores of process and system automation efficiency initiatives. Paul is a member of the Board of Directors of Toronto’s “Fight to End Cancer” supporting the world-renowned Princess Margaret Cancer Research Foundation, and is active in a variety of other Toronto-based charitable organizations.
Follow Paul Magis:
About inStream, inStream: InStream is an innovative, cloud-based financial planning and wealth management platform.
Jeff Lucassen
Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer of Northleaf Capital Partners
Jeff leads Northleaf’s Corporate team and is responsible for the financial and operational activities of the firm. Jeff manages and provides strategic oversight for key business functions, including Investor Operations, Finance & Corporate Operations, Human Resources, Tax, Technology and Corporate Development. Jeff is a member of Northleaf’s Management Committee and is actively involved in Northleaf’s global investment, asset and risk management, and investor relations activities. Prior to joining Northleaf in 2017, Jeff was a Partner of The Carlyle Group, a global alternative asset manager, and Chief Operating Officer of Carlyle Liquid Markets, formerly Diversified Global Asset Management (DGAM), a diversified hedge fund manager. Jeff was a co-founder of DGAM in 2004 and served as DGAM’s Chief Operating Officer until its acquisition by Carlyle in 2014. Previously, Jeff served as the Controller, Investment and Corporate Finance, at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan where he built the portfolio, risk management and compliance systems as the pension plan grew to more than $100 billion in assets and expanded its investment activities in alternative assets globally. Jeff began his career as an auditor with KPMG where he focused on the financial services and asset management sectors. Jeff received a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) from the University of Windsor and a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) from the University of Western Ontario. He holds the Chartered Professional Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst designations.
Follow Jeff Lucassen:
About Northleaf Capital Partners: Northleaf Capital Partners is private equity firm that manages pension plans, endowments, foundations, financial institutions accounts.
Robert M. Aziz
Chief Operating Officer of Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System
Bob Aziz is OMERS Chief Operating Officer. In this role, Bob oversees the connectivity, relationships and resourcing required for the success of our global operations. Bob has additional responsibilities that involve leading and supporting the partnerships integral to our investing success. Prior to this, for 10 years Bob was with Oxford Properties Group, the real estate arm of OMERS where he held the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Counsel, and was a member of the Oxford Senior Executive team. Before joining Oxford, Bob was President of Great Gulf Homes and held senior roles at TD Bank Financial Group. Earlier in his career, Bob was a Partner at Torys LLP and Davies Ward Phillips Vineberg LLP. Bob sits on the Boards of The Beer Store and Woodbine Entertainment Group. He is also a committed fundraiser on behalf of several charities, having served on the boards of the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation and the Lighthouse for Grieving Children. Bob received his Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Western Ontario. He and his family reside in Toronto, Ontario.
Follow Robert M. Aziz:
About Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System: We manage a diversified global portfolio of stocks and bonds as well as real estate, infrastructure and private equity investments.
Paul Mennega
Chief Operating Officer of Goldmoney
Follow Paul Mennega:
About Goldmoney: Goldmoney is a financial services group that combines the unique attributes of gold with technology-driven innovation.
Charles St.Louis
COO of Element Finance
Follow Charles St.Louis:
About Element Finance, MakerDAO: Element is an open-source protocol that offers BTC, ETH, and USDC at a discount for fixed and variable yield markets.
Natalie Cartwright
Co-Founder, Board Member & Chief Operating Officer of Finn AI
Natalie Cartwright is a co-founder, board member, and chief operating officer at Finn AI.
Follow Natalie Cartwright:
About Finn AI: Finn AI provides AI-powered conversational banking technology for personal banking and finance.
Thomas Battle
Chief Operating Officer of Flahmingo
My passion in life and work is helping organizations, people, groups and causes get to the next step. I help accomplish this by creating organization when there is none, delivering successful projects and by truly understanding how communication leads to more effective organizations. I especially love doing this with startups. I love the challenging work, sense of urgency and the amazing people. Specialities: Project Management, Project Management Body of Knowledge, Technology, Communication, Organization, Startups, Innovation, Growing Startup Ecosystems, Grant Writing
Follow Thomas Battle:
About Flahmingo, The Accelerator: Flahmingo is an investment app for retail investors to begin investing commission-free using fractional shares starting at $1.
Mike Anderson
COO and Founder of Echosec Systems Ltd.
Follow Mike Anderson:
About Echosec Systems Ltd.: The Echosec Systems Platform gathers critical information from hidden online sources to deliver threat intelligence and risk mitigation
David Côté
Co-Founder & COO of TickSmith
Entrepreneur, consultant and IT Architect with 20+ years of experience developing, architecting, deploying and running technology solutions and infrastructure for banks, travel and IT companies including Desjardins, Transat, IBM, SunGard and National Bank of Canada.
Follow David Côté:
About TickSmith: TickSmith provides a cloud-based Enterprise Data Web Store that enables firms to monetize their data
Sonia Maloney
Chief Operating Officer of Norrep Capital Management
Sonia Maloney is the Chief Operating Officer at NCM – Norrep Capital Management Ltd, an independent investment management firm, based in Calgary, Canada. In her role as COO, Sonia leads the operating side of the business incorporating operational risk management, finance, investment operations, technology, dealer & client services, and vendor relationship management. Sonia also serves on the firm’s executive team, responsible for developing and executing the firm’s strategic plan as well as the day to day management of the business. Sonia has over 20 years of diverse, global experience in financial services and holds a Master of Applied Finance as well as a Bachelor of Business with an accounting major.
Follow Sonia Maloney:
About Norrep Capital Management: Norrep Capital Management provides Canadians with an independent choice for their investments.
Enio Lazzer
COO & CFO of Espresso Capital
Enio brings over 20 years experience in finance, capital markets, operations and technology. Prior roles include divisional CFO/COO and Managing Director of CIBC World Markets, where he also served as Head of Prime Brokerage and Trading Services, and Vice President & CFO of The Northern Trust Company, Canada, where he was part of an executive team that established the first foreign owned trust company in Canada, successfully growing it to over $40 billion of assets under management.
Follow Enio Lazzer:
About Espresso Capital: Espresso Capital offers lines of credit and term loans to enable entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.
Mike Monty
Chief Operating Officer of Hyperwallet
Follow Mike Monty:
About Hyperwallet: Hyperwallet provides growing organizations with a frictionless, transparent, and reliable way to send payments almost anywhere in the world.
Patrick Farrar
COO of Venture For Canada
Follow Patrick Farrar:
About Venture For Canada: Their mission is to provide opportunities for the best and brightest to create dynamic companies