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Canada’s Top Lending Leaders of 2021

December 16, 2020

The Canadian Lenders Association released its 2021 Leaders in Lending awards. The association is the voice of Canada’s lending ecosystem and represents more than 100 companies in commercial and consumer lending.

All CLA members are vetted and accredited based on their corporate standards
and values. Their role is to support the highest level of lending in Canada,
servicing a wide spectrum of business and consumer borrowers’ growth requirements.

See previous year’s leading lending companies

See previous year’s leading lending executives

2021 Award Winners:

Lending Woman of the Year

	Tiffany Kaminsky \| Co-Founder of Symend Tiffany Kaminsky is the co-founder of Symend, a fintech that uses analytics and behavioural science to create individualized debt recovery programs. The startup, which has offices in Calgary, Toronto and Denver, received USD $52 million in funding earlier this year and plans to hire up to 200 more roles in 2021.
	Nicole Benson \| CEO of Valeyo Nicole Benson is the President & CEO of Valeyo, a business solutions provider to financial institutions in Canada. Nicole drives every facet of business forward, with a focus on growing, evolving, and innovating Valeyo’s suite of solutions to meet the changing needs of its clients and the financial services industry.
	Andrea Fiederer \| CMO of goeasy Andrea Fiederer is EVP & CMO of goeasy, a leader in non-prime financial services with over 2000 employees. Andrea is responsible for goeasy’s overall marketing and brand strategy for both the easyhome and easyfinancial business units.
	Elena Ionenko \| Co-Founder of Turnkey Lender Elena Ionenko is the Co-Founder of Turnkey Lender, a loan origination platform. Under Elena’s leadership, the company has entered 50+ local markets, raised over $3.5 million in venture capital and launched regional offices all over the globe.
	Minal Shankar \| CEO of Easly Minal is the CEO of Easly, a SR&ED financing firm. This year Minal has doubled Easly’s capital under management & customer base. Prior to leading Easly, Minal was an investment manager for the VC firm Northgate Capital and an associate in the Technology Investment Banking group at J.P. Morgan Chase. Minal holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.

Fintech Innovator the Year

	Flinks Flinks is a data company that empowers businesses to connect their users with the financial services they want.
	REPAY REPAY is a leading provider of vertically-integrated payment solutions.
	VoPay VoPay seamlessly connects you to the banking ecosystem enabling anyone to offer efficient and simple bank account payment processing.
	Fundmore FundMore.ai is an automated underwriting system that uses machine learning to streamline the Pre-Funding process for loans.
	Provenir Provenir offers a suite of risk analytics tools for lenders to make adjudication faster and simpler.

Executive of the Year

	Jason Mullins \| CEO of goeasy Jason Mullins is the President & CEO of goeasy, a leader in non-prime financial services with over 2000 employees. Since joining goeasy in 2010, Jason has helped the company scale to $1 billion in market capitalization with compound earnings growth of 28%. Jason is a recipient of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award.
	Wayne Pommen \| CEO of PayBright Wayne Pommen is the CEO and Founder of PayBright, a Canadian leader in the BNPL space. His firm has partnered with 7,000 domestic and international retailers, and has approved over $1 billion in consumer credit. This year PayBright was acquired by Affirm in a $340 million transaction.
	Lawrence Krimker \| CEO of Simply Group At just 33 years of age, Lawrence Krimker has built Simply Group into a category leader in home equipment financing. This year his firm acquired competitors Dealnet & SNAP Financial in transactions that totalled over $750 million and brought his firm to $1.45 billion in assets under management.
	Andrew Graham \| CEO of Borrowell Andrew Graham is the CEO and Co-Founder of Borrowell, Canada’s first fintech to provide free credit monitoring. This year Andrew launched Borrowell Boost to help the 53% of Canadians living paycheck to paycheck meet their bill payments.
	Maria Soklis \| President of Cox Automotive In the 6 years that Maria Soklis has led Cox Automotive Canada, the company has become a category leader in software and financing solutions for consumers and dealers across the country. Maria has also left her mark with initiatives that promote diverse and inclusive workplaces, and this year signed the BlackNorth Initiative CEO Pledge.

Emerging Lending Platform of the Year

	Moselle Moselle is a digital platform that simplifies the importing workflow for small medium business owners.
	Moves Moves is a financial services platform for independent “gig” workers.
	Vendor Lender VendorLender is Canada’s first POS lender for dealers in the equipment finance space.
	Lendle Lendle is Canada’s first interest free credit provider.
	goPeer goPeer helps everyday Canadians to achieve financial freedom through Peer-to-Peer Lending

Small Business Lending Platform of the Year

	Merchant Growth Merchant Growth is a leading Canadian financial technology company that specializes in small business financing. Over the past decade, Merchant Growth has supported Canadian businesses with hundreds of millions of dollars in growth financing.
	Loop Launched this year, Loop builds credit & payment products specifically for online merchants. The company is operated by the LendingLoop team that popularized P2P lending in Canada.
	Thinking Capital Thinking Capital is one of Canada’s best known fintech lenders to the small business sector. This year the firm has forged relationships with multiple Credit Unions and hit $1 billion in loans deployed.
	OnDeck Since its launch in 2015, OnDeck Canada has pioneered the use of data analytics and digital technology to make real-time lending decisions and rapidly deliver funding to Canadian small businesses.
	Clearbanc Canadian based Clearbanc is the world’s largest e-commerce funder. Their data-driven approach takes the bias out of decision making. Clearbanc has funded 8x more female founders than traditional VC.

Consumer Lending Platform of the Year

	Flexiti Flexiti is a leader in point of sale financing for retailers and has been named one of Canada’s fastest growing companies two years straight.
	CHICC CHICC is one of the country’s leading rental & homeimprovement financing companies.
	Marble Financial Marble uses fintech to empower Canadians to improve their credit score, manage debt, and budget to achieve financial goals.
	PayBright PayBright is one of Canada’s leading buy now, pay later providers. This year the firm was acquired by BNPL giant, Affirm for $340 million.
	goeasy Canada’s leading alternative financial services provider servicing non-prime Canadians through its easyhome and easyfinancial divisions.

Auto Lending Platform of the Year

	GoTo Loans GoTo Loans is a fintech lender focused on helping consumers access the equity from their vehicle and the leading provider in Canada for automotive repair loans.
	Auto Capital Canada AutoCapital Canada is a national auto finance company that works with dealer partners to help clients finance the purchase of new and used vehicles. This year the firm acquired competitor Rifco.
	Carfinco The Western Canada based lender is a leader in non-prime lending to the auto sector.
	Canada Drives Canada Drives is a leader in fintech auto lending. This year the firm hit over 400 employees and 1 million transactions, servicing consumers across Canada, the US, and the UK.
	Clutch Clutch aims to bring speed and convenience to used car sales by taking the experience completely online. The fintech raised a $7 million round this year from Real Ventures.

Technology Lending Platform of the Year

	BDC Launched only five years ago, BDC’s Tech Group has become a leader in lending to Canadian technology entrepreneurs.
	TIMIA TIMIA is a specialty finance company that provides growth capital to technology companies in exchange for payments based on monthly revenue.
	Flow Capital Flow Capital Corp. is a diversified alternative asset investor, specializing in providing minimally dilutive capital to high-growth businesses.
	Venbridge Venbridge is a Canadian finance company offering non-dilutive venture debt, SR&ED financing, and tax credit consulting services.
	SVB SVB has lead the technology lending movement for 35 years. The firm opened their first Canadian office last year.

Presented By:

Canadian Lenders Association Announces Creation of Covid-19 Working Group

March 20, 2020

Article by: Brendan Garrett

The Canadian Lenders Association has announced its establishment of a covid-19 working group to support its members’ response against the coronavirus. The group will act as an advisory committee and resource for CLA members, while also serving as a lobbyist group to various government entities.

“We presently are in an unprecedented period in Canadian business,” CLA President Gary Schwartz said in a statement. “In the weeks and months ahead, CLA members will have an important role to play in supporting small business and in providing much needed credit to consumers across Canada. The goal of this initiative is to engage with and advocate on behalf of all stakeholders across the innovative lending ecosystem to help mitigate the disruption that covid-19 create in Canada.”

The working group will engage Canadian policy makers on key issues relating to small business lenders and small businesses. In a call, CLA Board Member and Merchant Growth Partner CEO David Gens said that “there’s a lot that governments can do to bridge businesses through this, so that once this virus is over, life resembles, as much as possible, what it looked like pre-virus … I don’t think we have seen enough yet in terms of the government response as it relates specifically to mom and pop small businesses … And I think that those businesses, those local storefronts really do make up the fabric of communities.”

2019 Top 25 Executive Leaders in Lending – Canadian Lenders Association – Presented By BMO

November 11, 2019

Article by: deBanked Staff

The Canadian Lenders Assocation (CLA) received 124 nominations for these awards from leaders in lending across the country. The CLA’s goal is to support access to credit in the Canadian marketplace and champion the companies and entrepreneurs who are leading innovations in this industry.

The Top 25 ﬁnalists in this report represent various innovations in the borrower’s journey from innovations in artiﬁcial intelligence powered credit modelling to breakthroughs in consumer identity management using blockchain technologies. These ﬁnalists also represent solutions for a wide spectrum of borrower maturity and needs, ranging from consumer credit rebuilding all the way to senior debt placements for global technology ventures.

See The Leading Companies Report Here

See The Leading Executives Report Here

	Mark Cashin CEO of myBrokerBee \| Ontario After a career in commercial ﬁnance and being CEO of Transpor, Mark Co-founded myBrokerBee a mortgage broker platform that provides transparency to private lenders and their clients.
	Avinash Chidambaram CEO of Ario Platform \| Ontario Through his experience as Product lead at Interac and Blackberry, Avinash has helped bring together an accomplished and talented group of experts in Data Science, Machine Learning, Security, Software Development to successfully develop this banking services software platform Ario.
	Evan Chrapko CEO of Trust Science \| Alberta Evan is the founder and CEO of Trust Science, a leader in organizing alternative credit data. As a saas founder and CEO, Evan has done over 500mm in startup exits.
	Kevin Clark President of Lendified \| Ontario Kevin is a recognized leader in the ﬁnancial services industry with over 30 years of experience. Kevin has helped create the voice of Canada’s SME lending ecosystem through his leadership of Lendiﬁed and the CLA.
	Jerome Dwight VP of Cox Automotive \| Ontario Jerome established Nextgear Capital in Canada to become the largest specialty ﬁnance company in the automotive sector. Jerome is a Globe & Mail 40 under 40 winner and previously lead RBC’s international wealth management, private banking and asset servicing business.
	Saul Fine CEO of Innovative Assessmer \| Israel Saul is a licensed organizational psychologist and psychometrician, and a former lecturer in psychology at the University of Haifa. Saul is a global leader in the use of psychometric data for credit scoring and ﬁnancial inclusion.
	David Gens CEO of Merchant Growth \| BC David is the Founder and CEO of Merchant Growth, which grew from its humble beginnings in his apartment to ofﬁces in both Toronto and Vancouver. David now leads one of Canada’s largest online small business ﬁnance companies.
	Bryan Jaskolka COO of CMI \| Ontario Nominated for the 2018 Mortgage Broker of the Year, Bryan Jaskolka is an expert in Canadian mortgage ﬁnancing with a particular focus on the alternative lending space and mortgage investing.
	Peter Kalen CEO of Flexiti \| Ontario Peter is a leader in Canada’s retail ﬁnancing market. Before founding Flexiti, Peter was in senior leadership positions at Citi, PC Financial, and Sears Canada. Flexiti was recently named #7 on the Deloitte Fast50.
	Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf CEO of Flinks \| Quebec Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf is the co-founder and CEO of Flinks. Under his leadership, Flinks has become a Canadian leader in banking data enablement.
	Derek Manuge CEO of Corl \| Ontario Derek, also known as the “the quant from Canada” is the founder of the data-driven venture ﬁrm, Corl. Corl is one of Canada’s leaders in the use revenue-share ﬁnancing models.
	Keren Moynihan CEO of Boss Insights \| Ontario Keren Moynihan is co-founder and CEO of Boss Insights, a company that uses big data and AI to accelerate lending from months to minutes. With a Joint JD/MBA, Keren has a diverse background as a commercial banker, wealth manager and former founder of an impact startup.
	Jason Mullins CEO of Goeasy \| Ontario Jason is President and CEO of goeasy, a publicly listed consumer lender. Jason has lead the company to become one of the largest and most innovative lenders in the country.
	Paul Pitcher CEO of SharpShooter Funding \| Ontario After founding First Down Funding, an alternative lending ﬁrm for SMEs in Baltimore, Paul expanded his business to Canada through the subsidiary Sharpshooter Funding.
	Brendan Playford & Cate Rung Co-Founders of Pngme \| USA Cate, ex-Uber and Brendan, a blockchain and agro-ﬁnance entrepreneur are the co-founders of Pngme, an alternative lending platform for ﬁnancial institutions in emerging markets who serve Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises.
	Wayne Pommen CEO of Paybright \| Ontario Wayne is the President and CEO of PayBright. Wayne is also a director of IOU Financial Inc and of HBC. Previously, Wayne was a Principal at TorQuest Partners, one of Canada’s leading private equity ﬁrms, and a management consultant with Bain & Company in the UK, the US, and Canada.
	Adam Reeds CEO of Ledn \| Ontario Adam is a pioneer and thought leader in the digital asset backed lending space. Ledn is focused on building innovative ﬁnancial products in the emerging digital asset space, with a focused mission to help people save more in bitcoin.
	Adam Rice CEO of LoanConnect \| Ontario Adam has played a pivotal role in building one of the largest online markets in Canada for unsecured loans.
	Mark Ruddock CEO of BFS Capital \| Ontario Mark is an experienced international CEO with two successful exits and over 20 years of experience at the helm of VC backed technology and ﬁntech startups. In 2019 Mark announced BFS Capital’s expansion to Canada with a new 50 engineer data science hub in the heart of Toronto.
	Vlad Sherbatov President of Smarter Loans \| Ontario Vlad Co-founded Smarter Loans in 2016 with the goal of helping Canadians make smarter ﬁnancial decisions. Since then, Vlad has grown the platform into one of the go-to resources for Canadian borrowers.
	Steven Uster CEO of FundThrough \| Ontario Steven is the Co-Founder & CEO of FundThrough, an invoice funding service that helps business owners eliminate “the wait” associated with payment terms by giving them the power and ﬂexibility to get their invoices paid when they want, with one click, and in as little as 24 hours.
	Dmitry Voronenko CEO of Turnkey Lender\| Singapore Dmitry, CEO and Co-founder of TurnKey Lender, holds a PhD in Artiﬁcial Intelligence. Dmitry was recently named SFA’s Fintech Leader of the year.
	Neil Wechsler CEO of Ondeck Canada \| Quebec Neil brieﬂy practiced law before becoming President and CEO of Optimal Group Inc. where he grew the company from a start-up to a leading NASDAQ-listed self-checkout and payments company. Neil later co-founded Evolocity, which in 2019 became OnDeck Canada.
	Michael Wendland CEO of Refresh \| BC Michael has led Refresh Financial’s rapid growth since its founding in 2013, including a recent ranking of number 40 on Deloitte’s Fast 500.

Canadian Lender’s Association Awards Leading Executives and Companies

November 11, 2019

Article by: Brendan Garrett

Today the CLA announced the winners for its 2019 Leaders in Lending Awards. Highlighting the efforts of exceptional players within the fintech and alternative finance fields, the awards seek to “celebrate the industry and celebrate all the cool fintech things happening in Canada,” according to the CLA’s Strategic Partnerships Director Tal Schwartz.

Now in its second year, the Leaders in Lending Awards are split into two categories, with one focusing on the efforts of companies in the industry and the other on individual executives. 2019 will be the first year that the latter of these categories is incorporated. The awards will be imparted to their new owners at the Canadian Lenders Summit later this month, where a special prize will also be given to one winner from each category.

Among the winners in the first category are Borrowell, IOU Financial, and Michele Romanow’s Clearbanc. While making an appearance in the second category are David Gens of Merchant Growth, Paul Pitcher from SharpShooter Funding, Smarter Loans’ Vlad Sherbatov, and Kevin Clark from Lendified.

The criteria for the awards were based upon three tenets, these being a commitment to the “use of advanced fintech solutions” to solve challenges in the lending process, the “implementation of new or innovating lending strategies or business models,” and evidence of successful outcomes following the implementation of new fintech or a new business model.

When asked about possible expansions to the awards in the future, Schwartz was receptive to the idea of covering more ground with the prizes, saying “I definitely think we’ll expand the categories.” Mentioning that there’s a host of niches that are worth highlighting, such as blockchain, psychographic credit scoring, and credit rebuilding, which deserve their day in the sun.

“We have a mandate as a trade group to celebrate the industry,” emphasized Schwartz. And that celebration will be taking place on November 20th at the Canadian Lenders Summit in Toronto.

See The Leading Companies Report Here

See The Leading Executives Report Here

“You’re Not an Entrepreneur Until…”: How IOU Financial Worked its Way Out of ’08

July 9, 2019

Article by: Brendan Garrett

“It makes you feel old, but I don’t feel that old,” is how Robert Gloer, President and COO of IOU Financial, describes what it’s like to have been in finance since the early nineties. With his career predating social media and the explosion of tech in the workplace that has marked the previous two decades, Gloer could be presumed to be behind the times with regards to digital resources, but the practices of IOU indicate otherwise.

Born from a chance meeting between Gloer and his business partner, Philippe Marleau, at Finovate in 2008, the two men combined their businesses to form IOU, Marleau bringing the tech support and Gloer providing the operations team. Beginning this venture together just before the economic collapse of ’08, the early days of IOU were rough, and it took them a year of operating before even making their first loan.

Saying that “you’re not a true entrepreneur until you’ve put payroll on your equity line,” Gloer now laughs about those first few years. And what’s not to laugh at? With offices in Atlanta and their headquarters in Montreal, IOU is operating in two markets with a staff of 50 employees and has funded $700 million since its founding, averaging just over $15 million a month via small business loans. And they’ve even gone public, claiming a place on the Canadian stock exchange – sans a flashy IPO announcement party.

Those initial years of graft seem to have paid off, and Gloer assures me that throughout their time operating, he and Marleau, the CEO and director of IOU, have stuck to those initial visions and core values they set out to practice upon founding the company: to provide secure loans to good quality debtors with the aid of technology.

In fact, it is the last aspect of this goal that Gloer is keen emphasize. The incorporation of technology in their lending process is the reason why the COO believes IOU competes at such a high level in the industry for a company of its size. Their B.E.S.T. system is an example of this, as it offers direct access to the small business loans world for every player in the ecosystem. Banks, business, suppliers, credit card and payment processors, and more can sign up to B.E.S.T. and shop around to see which party they’d like to deal with.

Built with the ethos of quality over quantity, IOU charges a relatively low entry fee for B.E.S.T., as Gloer asserts that he’d “rather make $1 from one million people, than $1 million from one person.”

Comparing his company’s adoption of technology to the infamous story of how Blockbuster CEO John Antioco turned down an offer to buy Netflix in 2000, Gloer claims that the key to long-term success is a company culture that both looks to the future to see incoming trends and incorporates a willingness to change and adapt new developments within the field.

And it is just that which IOU is doing in Canada. Explaining that the alternative finance scene there is still in its “infancy,” Gloer is anticipating what’s to come as an opportunity to implement the lessons learnt in the American market before the mistakes that yielded them are made. Listing COJs specifically as an example of something so muddled that he’d like avoid them north of the border, Gloer believes Canada offers a chance to build an industry cleanly, without as many of the growing pains he’s contended with throughout his decades-long career.

And with business going well, as well as IOU’s recent entry into a $50 million credit facility with Credit Suisse, it looks like Gloer’s, as well as his company’s, time in alternative financing is set to continue.

Robert Gloer is also speaking on a risk management panel at deBanked CONNECT Toronto on July 25th alongside Merchant Growth CEO and President David Gens.

Bitty Introduces New Small Business Loan Program

August 27, 2025

Article by: Press Release

Fort Lauderdale, FL – August 26, 2025 – Bitty is proud to unveil the launch of a new small business loan product designed to expand access to working capital for entrepreneurs, starting the rollout in Texas.

Beginning September 1, 2025, Bitty will offer a fixed-term, installment-style loan option. This program complements our existing revenue-based financing solutions while maintaining the fast, transparent, and business-friendly process that partners and merchants have come to expect from Bitty.

The new loan product is tailored to meet the needs of small business owners who prefer scheduled payments and fixed payoff timelines. By broadening our funding suite, Bitty continues to strengthen its commitment to empowering business growth through flexible and responsible capital solutions.

Further details about this program, along with operational updates, will be available on the Bitty website and official social media channels in the weeks ahead.

“This launch marks another exciting milestone for Bitty, our partners, and the thousands of small businesses we serve nationwide,” said Craig Hecker, CEO of Bitty.

For additional information, please contact our team directly.
Website: www.bittyadvance.com
PRESS CONTACT
Charlie Siegel
Director of Partner Relations
partners@bittyadvance.com

LightSpeed Capital Has Over $100M in MCAs on Balance Sheet

August 5, 2025

Article by: deBanked Staff

LightSpeed Capital, the MCA division of LightSpeed Commerce, has over $100M in merchant cash advances on its balance sheet, according to the company’s latest quarterly earnings report. The POS company reported that LightSpeed Capital’s revenue grew 34% year-over-year.

The company’s balance-sheet-driven approach has made them relatively conservative and cautious with originations growth. For example, in the preceding quarter, Lightspeed CFO Asha Bakshani said “There is a lot of opportunity. We can move faster if we wanted to. When we look at our peers, for example, they are giving out 1% of their [Gross Transaction Volume] in merchant cash advance. Lightspeed is well below that. 1% of our GTV would be almost $1 billion in merchant cash advance. So when we think about the opportunity, it’s there. It’s just that in this macro, we want to move carefully on a product like Capital. Like I mentioned earlier, our default rates are in the very low single digits, and we want to keep it there.”

Cloudsquare Launches the New and Most Powerful Integration With Loot

June 18, 2025

Article by: Press Release

Los Angeles, CA – June 17, 2025 – Cloudsquare, a leader in Salesforce MCA and Salesforce lending solutions, has announced the release of its newest Lender API module—this time with Loot, a fast-growing alternative funder known for speed and automation.

This API-powered connection is now available within Cloudsquare, the most robust Merchant Cash Advance CRM built on Salesforce. With it, brokers can submit deals, track statuses in real-time, manage files efficiently, and generate offers faster—all without leaving their CRM.

Key Benefits of Loot:

Real-Time Status Tracking via webhooks
Simplified File Uploads through a dedicated endpoint
Automated Offer Generation—no pre-approval waiting
Decline Reason Visibility for smarter resubmissions
Categorized Industry Picklists to streamline underwriting

Built for funders and brokers who rely on Salesforce for MCA, this new module eliminates redundant tasks and helps users close more deals in less time—with greater accuracy.

How Cloudsquare is Elevating the MCA Industry

Cloudsquare continues to lead the charge in redefining the lending landscape by offering fully integrated, Salesforce-powered solutions tailored for MCA brokers and lenders. With a suite of over 20 lender API integrations, Cloudsquare Broker empowers brokers and lenders to streamline processes, increase deal volume, and elevate customer satisfaction.

Explore More on Our Website Here.

About Cloudsquare

Cloudsquare is the leading end-to-end lending platform, uniquely powered by Salesforce, to deliver unparalleled flexibility and innovation for lenders and brokers. With a commitment to optimizing lending processes through cutting-edge technology, Cloudsquare provides robust, scalable solutions that empower clients to achieve greater efficiency and growth. Celebrated by industry leaders, Cloudsquare has earned a place on the Inc. 5000 list as one of America’s fastest-growing companies and is consistently rated a top service provider on platforms like Salesforce AppExchange, G2, Clutch, and Manifest.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Cloudsquare Marketing Email: marketing@cloudsquare.io

	Tiffany Kaminsky \| Co-Founder of Symend Tiffany Kaminsky is the co-founder of Symend, a fintech that uses analytics and behavioural science to create individualized debt recovery programs. The startup, which has offices in Calgary, Toronto and Denver, received USD $52 million in funding earlier this year and plans to hire up to 200 more roles in 2021.
	Nicole Benson \| CEO of Valeyo Nicole Benson is the President & CEO of Valeyo, a business solutions provider to financial institutions in Canada. Nicole drives every facet of business forward, with a focus on growing, evolving, and innovating Valeyo’s suite of solutions to meet the changing needs of its clients and the financial services industry.
	Andrea Fiederer \| CMO of goeasy Andrea Fiederer is EVP & CMO of goeasy, a leader in non-prime financial services with over 2000 employees. Andrea is responsible for goeasy’s overall marketing and brand strategy for both the easyhome and easyfinancial business units.
	Elena Ionenko \| Co-Founder of Turnkey Lender Elena Ionenko is the Co-Founder of Turnkey Lender, a loan origination platform. Under Elena’s leadership, the company has entered 50+ local markets, raised over $3.5 million in venture capital and launched regional offices all over the globe.
	Minal Shankar \| CEO of Easly Minal is the CEO of Easly, a SR&ED financing firm. This year Minal has doubled Easly’s capital under management & customer base. Prior to leading Easly, Minal was an investment manager for the VC firm Northgate Capital and an associate in the Technology Investment Banking group at J.P. Morgan Chase. Minal holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.

	Jason Mullins \| CEO of goeasy Jason Mullins is the President & CEO of goeasy, a leader in non-prime financial services with over 2000 employees. Since joining goeasy in 2010, Jason has helped the company scale to $1 billion in market capitalization with compound earnings growth of 28%. Jason is a recipient of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award.
	Wayne Pommen \| CEO of PayBright Wayne Pommen is the CEO and Founder of PayBright, a Canadian leader in the BNPL space. His firm has partnered with 7,000 domestic and international retailers, and has approved over $1 billion in consumer credit. This year PayBright was acquired by Affirm in a $340 million transaction.
	Lawrence Krimker \| CEO of Simply Group At just 33 years of age, Lawrence Krimker has built Simply Group into a category leader in home equipment financing. This year his firm acquired competitors Dealnet & SNAP Financial in transactions that totalled over $750 million and brought his firm to $1.45 billion in assets under management.
	Andrew Graham \| CEO of Borrowell Andrew Graham is the CEO and Co-Founder of Borrowell, Canada’s first fintech to provide free credit monitoring. This year Andrew launched Borrowell Boost to help the 53% of Canadians living paycheck to paycheck meet their bill payments.
	Maria Soklis \| President of Cox Automotive In the 6 years that Maria Soklis has led Cox Automotive Canada, the company has become a category leader in software and financing solutions for consumers and dealers across the country. Maria has also left her mark with initiatives that promote diverse and inclusive workplaces, and this year signed the BlackNorth Initiative CEO Pledge.

	Mark Cashin CEO of myBrokerBee \| Ontario After a career in commercial ﬁnance and being CEO of Transpor, Mark Co-founded myBrokerBee a mortgage broker platform that provides transparency to private lenders and their clients.
	Avinash Chidambaram CEO of Ario Platform \| Ontario Through his experience as Product lead at Interac and Blackberry, Avinash has helped bring together an accomplished and talented group of experts in Data Science, Machine Learning, Security, Software Development to successfully develop this banking services software platform Ario.
	Evan Chrapko CEO of Trust Science \| Alberta Evan is the founder and CEO of Trust Science, a leader in organizing alternative credit data. As a saas founder and CEO, Evan has done over 500mm in startup exits.
	Kevin Clark President of Lendified \| Ontario Kevin is a recognized leader in the ﬁnancial services industry with over 30 years of experience. Kevin has helped create the voice of Canada’s SME lending ecosystem through his leadership of Lendiﬁed and the CLA.
	Jerome Dwight VP of Cox Automotive \| Ontario Jerome established Nextgear Capital in Canada to become the largest specialty ﬁnance company in the automotive sector. Jerome is a Globe & Mail 40 under 40 winner and previously lead RBC’s international wealth management, private banking and asset servicing business.
	Saul Fine CEO of Innovative Assessmer \| Israel Saul is a licensed organizational psychologist and psychometrician, and a former lecturer in psychology at the University of Haifa. Saul is a global leader in the use of psychometric data for credit scoring and ﬁnancial inclusion.
	David Gens CEO of Merchant Growth \| BC David is the Founder and CEO of Merchant Growth, which grew from its humble beginnings in his apartment to ofﬁces in both Toronto and Vancouver. David now leads one of Canada’s largest online small business ﬁnance companies.
	Bryan Jaskolka COO of CMI \| Ontario Nominated for the 2018 Mortgage Broker of the Year, Bryan Jaskolka is an expert in Canadian mortgage ﬁnancing with a particular focus on the alternative lending space and mortgage investing.
	Peter Kalen CEO of Flexiti \| Ontario Peter is a leader in Canada’s retail ﬁnancing market. Before founding Flexiti, Peter was in senior leadership positions at Citi, PC Financial, and Sears Canada. Flexiti was recently named #7 on the Deloitte Fast50.
	Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf CEO of Flinks \| Quebec Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf is the co-founder and CEO of Flinks. Under his leadership, Flinks has become a Canadian leader in banking data enablement.
	Derek Manuge CEO of Corl \| Ontario Derek, also known as the “the quant from Canada” is the founder of the data-driven venture ﬁrm, Corl. Corl is one of Canada’s leaders in the use revenue-share ﬁnancing models.
	Keren Moynihan CEO of Boss Insights \| Ontario Keren Moynihan is co-founder and CEO of Boss Insights, a company that uses big data and AI to accelerate lending from months to minutes. With a Joint JD/MBA, Keren has a diverse background as a commercial banker, wealth manager and former founder of an impact startup.
	Jason Mullins CEO of Goeasy \| Ontario Jason is President and CEO of goeasy, a publicly listed consumer lender. Jason has lead the company to become one of the largest and most innovative lenders in the country.
	Paul Pitcher CEO of SharpShooter Funding \| Ontario After founding First Down Funding, an alternative lending ﬁrm for SMEs in Baltimore, Paul expanded his business to Canada through the subsidiary Sharpshooter Funding.
	Brendan Playford & Cate Rung Co-Founders of Pngme \| USA Cate, ex-Uber and Brendan, a blockchain and agro-ﬁnance entrepreneur are the co-founders of Pngme, an alternative lending platform for ﬁnancial institutions in emerging markets who serve Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises.
	Wayne Pommen CEO of Paybright \| Ontario Wayne is the President and CEO of PayBright. Wayne is also a director of IOU Financial Inc and of HBC. Previously, Wayne was a Principal at TorQuest Partners, one of Canada’s leading private equity ﬁrms, and a management consultant with Bain & Company in the UK, the US, and Canada.
	Adam Reeds CEO of Ledn \| Ontario Adam is a pioneer and thought leader in the digital asset backed lending space. Ledn is focused on building innovative ﬁnancial products in the emerging digital asset space, with a focused mission to help people save more in bitcoin.
	Adam Rice CEO of LoanConnect \| Ontario Adam has played a pivotal role in building one of the largest online markets in Canada for unsecured loans.
	Mark Ruddock CEO of BFS Capital \| Ontario Mark is an experienced international CEO with two successful exits and over 20 years of experience at the helm of VC backed technology and ﬁntech startups. In 2019 Mark announced BFS Capital’s expansion to Canada with a new 50 engineer data science hub in the heart of Toronto.
	Vlad Sherbatov President of Smarter Loans \| Ontario Vlad Co-founded Smarter Loans in 2016 with the goal of helping Canadians make smarter ﬁnancial decisions. Since then, Vlad has grown the platform into one of the go-to resources for Canadian borrowers.
	Steven Uster CEO of FundThrough \| Ontario Steven is the Co-Founder & CEO of FundThrough, an invoice funding service that helps business owners eliminate “the wait” associated with payment terms by giving them the power and ﬂexibility to get their invoices paid when they want, with one click, and in as little as 24 hours.
	Dmitry Voronenko CEO of Turnkey Lender\| Singapore Dmitry, CEO and Co-founder of TurnKey Lender, holds a PhD in Artiﬁcial Intelligence. Dmitry was recently named SFA’s Fintech Leader of the year.
	Neil Wechsler CEO of Ondeck Canada \| Quebec Neil brieﬂy practiced law before becoming President and CEO of Optimal Group Inc. where he grew the company from a start-up to a leading NASDAQ-listed self-checkout and payments company. Neil later co-founded Evolocity, which in 2019 became OnDeck Canada.
	Michael Wendland CEO of Refresh \| BC Michael has led Refresh Financial’s rapid growth since its founding in 2013, including a recent ranking of number 40 on Deloitte’s Fast 500.