Kirk Simpson
President and CEOThe man with the plan. Kirk started Wave Accounting after 13 years in digital media. He’s also the guy with “and another thing” on the tip of his tongue: always brainstorming new ways to make the tools work for small business owners. Kirk has headed up business development, advertising sales and has built tech teams for some of Canada’s largest media brands, corporations and financial institutions. Wave is his third start-up. With the time he’ll save using Wave for his own accounting, he plans to go sailing.
James Lochrie
CTOJames hates the challenges that small businesses experience while trying to meet their accounting requirements. He got that way by leading the accounting and tax development team at one of Canada’s most successful small business accounting firms, and spending a load of time working directly with small business owners on their accounting. His mission at Wave: to continue to develop revolutionary tools that make accounting headaches disappear.
Rob Maurin
Community and MarketingHe’s the talker and the evangelist. He loves Wave and wants the world to feel the same love, so he’s spreading the word far and wide. He also gets paid to be stubborn, and insist on making accounting tools adapt to small businesses and not the other way around. During 15 prior years in web and media, Rob’s clients and projects included Canadian financial institutions and category-leading media properties.
Stephen Dixon
Sales, Business DevelopmentYou may notice Stephen’s fashion sense (now those are socks!), love of extreme sports, and even his never-ending love for ’90s alt-rockers Ween. What you can’t miss, though, is his knowledge of the tech space. Managing business development for Deloitte’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications Practice, Stephen worked with, well, almost everyone on the Canadian tech scene, from small startups to giants like RIM. So now you know our master plan: to grow from small startup to tech giant. Get busy, Stephen.
Scott Zandbergen
Professional Network Development, Product MarketingSomewhere, a long time ago, Scott developed a crush on accountants and bookkeepers. (Haven’t we all…) He’s spent the last 14 years building networks of awesome, loyal accounting pros for global software giant Sage, and joins Wave to continue with his calling. Scott hates bureaucracy, and loves cutting through the noise and getting stuff done, whether he’s serving as the voice of the customer, or convincing you of the glories of Apple products.
Dan Lelovic
Senior Director of Business IntelligenceDan joins Wave with 14 years of experience in the area of business intelligence and database management techniques. His role at Wave is to set the company up for long-term success by architecting Wave’s business intelligence infrastructure. Aside from being an undercover nerd, Dan finds balance in organic gardening and hockey.
Sean Walberg
Lead Payroll GuySean is a computer engineer by training, and yes, he wears the pinkie ring. With 13 years of IT experience network engineering for Ceridian and Canwest and two published books behind him, Sean came to the team to head up Wave Payroll. The only Wave staffer working off-site, Sean lives in Winnipeg, where he claims the mosquitoes are big enough to shave (that is until the glacial temperatures kill them off in winter).
Sara Rosenfeld
Community Manager & Customer AdvocateWith a background in hospitality, Sara is a natural people-person. She’s here to make sure that we hear what you have to say, no matter whose door she has to knock down to make that happen. Whether you want to comment or just say hi, you’ll find her behind our Twitter and Facebook accounts. And of course, she’s here for you via email.
Nathan Duthoit
Programming and DevelopmentLike a one-man United Nations, Nathan grew up in Angola, Congo, France and Cuba, and finally came to Canada to get his Computer Science degree at University of Toronto. (He actually got 100% overall on a math proofs course — this guy is a machine.) His code-crunching chops brought him together with Dimitri on projects for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, and then to Wave. Thorough and thoughtful, he shows bugs no mercy, which is just one reason we like him. When he says his favorite editor is Vim, we just smile and nod like we understand.
Ehab Dahdouli
Customer Support and QualityWhen our customers need an answer, Ehab’s the one who jumps in. We picked Ehab for his unconventional but awesome mix of accounting and tech experience, ensuring our customer support is focused on getting answers and solutions that work for you as well as your accountant. Ehab has degrees in math and accounting, and geeks out over gets excited by all kinds of online tech, as long as it works properly.
Dieter Limeback
Design, UXDieter is multilingual, in that he can speak the wildly different languages of design, UX, front-end and back-end with equal ease. Also fresh from an agency, he has worked on high-profile sites for clients including WIND Mobile, Kraft, and Canadian Tire. He’s restless unless he’s learning new things, and keeps the user foremost in his mind when making decisions. Offline, Dieter was a jazz musician in a previous life, and currently holds a black belt in Aikido (so not only is our code good, but our office is safe from intruders).
Mohammed Taher
UX/UIWhen the adrenaline flows in action movies, you’ll find Mohammed there. When rocks need to be climbed, or Chelsea needs to be cheered to victory, you’ll find Mohammed there. But at Wave, his mission is to take all the drama out of your user experience, and ensure that things just work intuitively. He has several years of experience doing exactly that, at big tech companies and small online retailers.
Brian Masson
QAYou know that kid at school who always had an unexpected question that would stump the teacher? That’s what we have Brian for. His role is to make sure Wave stands up to even the least expected uses. Brian brings order to our processes, which is awesome. We all covet his motorcycle.
Shawn Burant
Programming and DevelopmentCoding without tests, big design up front — an Agile Jedi craves not these things, and neither does Shawn. His goal is to keep the development team focused in order to develop awesome new features in Wave. He’s always on the lookout for the latest programming languages and frameworks, which feeds his passion for learning. At any one time, Shawn will have at least 4 books on programming and agile development on the go, and that’s not including what’s on his Kindle.
Tim Cheng
Customer Support HeroHave you seen The Fast and the Furious? Welcome to Tim’s non-work life. He loves modified cars, but he doesn’t race. (That would be illegal.) Instead, he channels his energy into golf and downhill skiing. He comes to Wave with over 5 years of customer service experience and has a background in economics and statistics.
Michael Warkentin
UX/UIAn Apple enthusiast and fan of “the usual geeky stuff,” Michael was an immediate fit in our development department. A front-end developer by day and a bass-playing soccer pro (striker or winger) by night, Michael spends his days at Wave crafting the user interface using HTML, CSS, and Javascript. When he’s not in the office, Michael can be found sipping India Pale Ales at a local bar or playing with Zoey, his adorable dog.
Marcin Kwietnieswski
Programming and DevelopmentMarcin’s interests are diverse, ranging from puzzles to sci-fi novels to ballroom dancing (we’re still waiting to see that last one in action here at the office). An avid problem solver, he lives to be challenged. That’s why, after getting a masters degree in database systems, he moved on to a new challenge: video-processing software. Now, he’s at Wave, where he’s tackling his newest endeavour, web development. In his spare time, he’d also like to find a way to make the world a better place, one line of code at a time.
Ash Christopher
Programming and DevelopmentA west Calgary native, Ash is an avid photographer (and has the awesome camera to prove it). When he’s not busy getting his photos published in travel brochures, Ash spends his time staying up to date on the latest development technologies, and dabbling in new coding techniques. Our newest superhero developer, Ash is a bug-fixing, feature-adding maverick on a mission to help small business owners everywhere simplify their accounting experience.
Christina Ironstone
Keeping the wheels on the busIn addition to having the coolest name in the office, Christina is on board to make sure Wave’s various projects and departments work smoothly while the company grows. Christina is always connected or plugged into some form of technology, and rarely without her Android, laptop or Ipod. Christina joins wave with over 4 years of administrative experience. When she’s not working you’ll find her either with friends or baking up a storm—though so far her legendary apple pie remains an elusive rumor.
Dan Langer
Programming and DevelopmentA self-described geek who eats, breathes and sleeps software development, Dan has been programming in some form or another since he first learned C++ in the eighth grade. Here at Wave, Dan magically works the back-end functionality of our software with a sleight of hand so smooth that you will never know how he does it. When he’s not in front of a computer Dan’s curling with the Thunderdales, so look for him to represent Wave with pride in a future Winter Olympics.
Vinita Persaud
Multimedia EditorVinita’s goal is to take all of your problems and make them disappear. Ok, maybe not all of them, but she will answer your most common questions by turning them into useful FAQs, videos, and blogs. When she’s not building content for Wave, she’s obsessively checking her Twitter account, searching for new music and learning about all things digital.
Azucena Saucedo
Customer Support HeroForget what you think you know about accountants, Azucena is an avid runner, black-metal aficionado, lover of racquetball and Warhammer enthusiast. As part of our awesome support team, Azucena is dedicated to giving our customers the answers they need so they can stay focused on their businesses.
Mitch Gillespie
Ruby on Rails AdvocateDie-hard hockey fan, (and slowly becoming a Maple Leafs fan), you’re likely to find Mitch at the local ice rink when he’s not in the office. At Wave HQ, he’s the lone ranger of Ruby on Rails, which he uses to ensure Wave Payroll is just as simple and easy to use as Wave Accounting. A competitive cook, Mitch is aiming to take home the prize at the next Wave cooking competition.
James Jee
Customer Support HeroLost? Don’t stress, we have James here to help you find your way around Wave. With a comprehensive background in tech and customer support, he knows where you need to go and how to help you get there. Outside of the Wave, his hobbies include design and photo manipulation. In his spare time, he loves to learn new things and watch all kinds of different movies.
Daniel Para
Content & Communications InternDaniel is here at Wave to create exciting blog content to help small business owners just like you. His passion for writing started at age 9 when he read the entire Goosebumps series. Daniel hopes to become rich and famous writing for the movies. Until that happens, he’s busy spending his time spreading the word about Wave to any small business owner who will listen.
Kathy Ho
Marketing & Advertising InternLetting the entire world know about Wave… that’s her goal. Kathy helps the Wave team find fun and new ways to connect with you. Before Wave, she worked in social media marketing for some great artists including The New Cities, A Friend in London, and even Howie D of the Backstreet Boys. A lover of culture, Kathy can often be found exploring local shops, and hopes to one day become an artist in the fields of both art and advertising.
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