Leadership
Ryan Holmes
CEO
Ryan Holmes is the CEO of HootSuite. Thought leader, dog lover and serial entrepreneur, he has redefined the face of social media - bringing Twitter, Facebook and other social networks out of the dorm room and into the boardroom.
Holmes has grown HootSuite from a lean startup to a global leader in social media with 8 million users, including 79 of the Fortune 100 companies. A college drop-out, he started a paintball company and pizza restaurant before founding Invoke Media, the company that developed HootSuite in 2009.
Today, Holmes is an authority on the social business revolution, quoted in The New York Times and Wall Street Journal and called upon to speak at TEDx and SXSW Interactive Conferences. An angel investor and advisor, he mentors startups in Canada and around the world. Through HootSuite University, Holmes partners with major universities to deliver social media coursework to the next generation of business leaders.
Ryan Holmes
@invoker
Steve Johnson
CRO
Steve Johnson is the Chief Revenue Officer at HootSuite. Steve is a senior level technology executive with experience in start-ups, turn around and mature software companies. Steve has been involved in a number of areas, from strategic accounts, partnerships, web analytics, SaaS to database and email marketing applications.
Steve acquired his MBA from Northwestern University with emphasis in Marketing, Strategy, Entrepreneurship and International Business Management. His passion for start-ups, technology and business development is matched by his passion for charity. He founded a SaaS application called iAbida for special needs children, to help improve team communication. It is now owned by Denver based National Care Connection. Steve also loves to travel and wants to one day go around the world in a jet-pack.
James Rumble
CFO
James Rumble has been involved in a wide range of industries including airlines, telecoms and local search and has worked in large multinationals, turnarounds and start ups. James is happiest building high growth companies in a rapidly changing environment. His career has covered operational as well as CFO roles.
Originally from England arriving in Canada 5 years ago, he holds the ACMA and CGMA accounting designations and graduated from Sunderland University with a degree in Business Studies with Finance. Away from work, James enjoys coaching and playing soccer, photography, history, time with his family, and long hikes with the dog, Biscuit.
Simon Stanlake
CTO
Simon Stanlake is Chief Technology Officer at HootSuite where he is focused on scaling and improving the HootSuite technology platform. His career has seen him involved in a number of different areas such as location based services, DBMSs, logistics and analytics.
Simon acquired his Bachelor of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Honors Physics from Queens University. In his personal life, Simon is an avid cyclist and rides for the HootSuite racing team.
Gregory Gunn
VP Business Development
Gregory Gunn launched the HootSuite Enterprise Sales team and currently heads up partnerships, integrations and international expansion for the social media dashboard leader. His passion for people, technology and data has driven his career towards developing successful SaaS business solutions where the three intersect.
Greg earned both a BCOM from the University of Victoria and an MBA at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. Combining practical experience with comprehensive research, Greg was the lead on projects focused around digital strategy, online commerce and hybrid business models. Outside of his professional endeavors Greg can be found enjoying basketball, photography and is a “semi-professional” wedding MC.
Ambrosia Humphrey
VP of Human Resources
As VP of Human Resources, Ambrosia's tech, operations, and hyper growth experience provide invaluable assets for leading HootSuite's talent management.
Overseeing human capital strategies across our global operations, she specializes in organizational development and stakeholder maximization She has grown and managed teams in North America and Europe; developing top talent, culture, and innovative practices across all organizational levels.
Ambrosia works with many local non-profit foundations and is the co-founder of children’s music initiative Sing it Fwd. She is a graduate of Simon Fraser University, has motorcycled across three continents, and is a general enabler of dance parties.
Kevin O'Brien
VP Partners
Kevin O’Brien is HootSuite’s VP of Partners. He brings over 18 years of technology leadership experience to HootSuite and has a deep understanding of how to build and manage large scale partnership and channel programs. He has developed and implemented strategies for monetizing distribution/reseller partners, app partners, franchise and distributor companies into million dollar programs.
Since graduating from University of Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and from Brandeis University with a Master’s of Software Engineering, Kevin worked at MediTech managing the development and implementation of software to interface systems. He spent 12 years with Constant Contact, from its early stages through an eventual IPO, managing various channel programs to foster growth. Currently, Kevin lives in Boston with his wife and 2 sons where he loves to ski and enjoy the outdoors.
Kirsten Bailey
Director of HootSuite University
After two years with Invoke, the agency that founded HootSuite, Kirsten Bailey is currently the Director of HootSuite University. Her passion for education paralleled with her belief in the power of social media has led her to a role strategically building product and industry education for individuals as well as corporate communities.
A Queen’s University graduate with a Double Major in Art History and Classics, Kirsten enjoys spending time with friends and family, traveling, cooking, and Cranium tournaments.
Sharad Mohan
Director of Customer Success
Sharad Mohan is Director Customer Success at HootSuite. In pursuit of driving the best customer experience in the social media industry, he is responsible for identifying and implementing improvements to drive customer loyalty and success across channels, segments and products. Sharad is a key driver on HootSuite's NPS Loyalty Program and leads our Global Customer Service, Professional Services, and Customer Success programs.
Sharad has an entrepreneurial background having taken products from concept to market with solutions for the fitness industry, one of which was listed as 2009's BC Top 30 Startup. Over the years, he has directed teams that are responsible for delivering customer-centric solutions in both B2B and B2C environments.
In his spare time, Sharad volunteers as an ambassador with "The Future is Mine" program at the BC Burn Fund. He holds a BSc. in Computer Science from The University of British Columbia, with a Minor in Commerce.
Jeanette Gibson
VP Community
Passionate about social media, technology and building and activating online communities, Jeanette brings 20 years of digital marketing and communications experience in the technology sector to HootSuite. In her role as VP of Community at HootSuite, Jeanette is responsible for managing HootSuite’s vibrant community of 8M users globally through online engagement, advocacy and community events.
Previously, Jeanette served as global head of social media and digital marketing at Cisco. Jeanette is an early adopter in social media and built Cisco’s social presence in 2005, achieving recognition as #1 B2B company on Twitter and 280% ROI using social listening to accelerate sales. Prior to joining Cisco in 1998, Jeanette worked for a start-up and several high-tech PR agencies, providing a birds eye view into the rapid growth of the Internet industry and the emergence of the dot-com era.
Jeanette has a Bachelor in Communications from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Jeanette enjoys public speaking and is a frequent speaker on social media and business transformation. She lives in San Jose, CA with her husband and two sons.
Darren Suomi
VP Sales
Darren has been involved in the technology industry for the past thirteen years. During this time, he has worked with both small start-ups and larger, more mature firms establishing strategic accounts, sales, business intelligence as well as enterprise resource planning. Darren is also experienced with international business, having driven global sales strategies for large organizations as well as participating in three global brand acquisitions.
Darren graduated from the British Columbia Institute of Technology with a focus on Business and Marketing, spawning his passion for technology and business. This passion is paired with his dedication to coaching sports and community volunteering. He is currently coaching an elite girls soccer team and has coached both basketball and baseball teams. As a past board member of local charities, volunteering and community involvement hold an important place for him. When he’s not boosting sales numbers or crafting coaching strategies, Darren can be found wrangling fish on the open seas.
Matt Switzer
VP Partnerships and Corporate Development
Matt Switzer is HootSuite's VP of Partnerships and Corporate Development and has spent his career helping start and grow companies. Matt's diverse background lends itself to his passion for building businesses and creating value for customers, partners, employees and investors.
Matt has a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Western Ontario and an MBA from University of Toronto. He was involved in a tech startup that went public, advised on mergers, acquisitions and financings at a large investment bank, and worked with startups at a venture capital firm. He has lived and worked in Toronto, Sydney, Hong Kong, and London and currently resides with his wife in Vancouver.
DeeAnna McPherson
VP of Marketing
DeeAnna McPherson is VP of Marketing at HootSuite, where she is responsible for leading marketing strategy, driving growth and building the global brand. Previously DeeAnna was VP of Marketing at Yammer, one of HootSuite’s App Directory integration partners, where she established Enterprise Social Networking as a new category of business software and helped propel Yammer to a leading market position, 300% annual growth and a $1.2 billion acquisition by Microsoft.
Since graduating from Purdue University with Bachelor of Communications, she has had an accomplished marketing career. Dee Anna was a partner at Horn Group in San Francisco, where she led the San Francisco office and provided counsel to startup executives. At PeopleSoft, McPherson was the global head of Public Relations, and she was a Senior Vice President at both Edelman and Ogilvy. Dee Anna lives near San Francisco with her husband and young son.
Michael Tippett
Director, New Products
Michael Tippett brings deep startup knowledge to the Corporate Development team where he leads new product development and advises on M&A initiatives.
He is a 2 time Emmy nominee and successful entrepreneur with almost two decades experience founding, managing and selling startups in New York and Vancouver.
Recently he founded Nowpublic. The online service was named one of the Top 50 Websites by TIME Magazine. After selling NowPublic, Tippett ran GrowLab, a leading Canadian technology accelerator. He is a member of the University of British Columbia’s School of Journalism Advisory Board, and is on the Capilano University, Bachelor of Professional Communication Advisory Committee.