Management
Lindsay Sparks, Executive Chairman
In his last position with Microsoft as corporate vice president of Microsoft Education Strategy, Products and Solutions, Lindsay Sparks was responsible for leading Microsoft’s education efforts across the company and bringing to market education solutions in both developed and emerging markets. He and his team worked with customers, industry partners and Microsoft product teams to improve the learning experience for students, educators and institutions.
Sparks' previous roles at Microsoft include corporate vice president of Managed Solutions which helped customers to improve operational efficiency of their desktop environments, corporate vice president of worldwide sales of products and services to small and medium-sized enterprises, and corporate vice president of MSN e-services, in which capacity he supervised the development and deployment of services designed to provide a rich, network wide customer experience. He also served as corporate vice president for marketplaces and content business development.
Sparks joined Microsoft in 1992, leading the Enterprise Customer Unit in Canada. He transferred to Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash., in 1994 and became director of the Microsoft Solution Provider Program, Small and Medium Business program, and the education marketplace. In 1995 he became general manager of worldwide field strategy and integration. In that role he was responsible for driving field sales as well as product introduction strategies, business planning and business reviews. In 1997 Sparks joined the CarPoint business unit as general manager, where he was responsible for development, testing, design and business management.
Sparks began his career as a mainframe systems programmer in 1980. Before joining Microsoft, he participated in two technology startups and helped establish Fujitsu's presence in Canada.
Steve Irvine, Chief Executive Officer
Steve Irvine is the founder & CEO of 80/20 Solutions, where he leads the vision for the company.
Steve is a successful serial technology entrepreneur with a strong background in digital marketing and innovative marketing technologies. He is an active member of the digital marketing community including being a founding member of the IAB emerging technologies committee and speaking at many conferences and events on 1:1 marketing and social media.
Steve was formerly a senior strategic advisor on technology, new media and social marketing to the managing director of IMG, the world's largest entertainment, sports and media company.
Prior to IMG, Steve was the CEO of Motion Media Interactive, developers of the first updatable and trackable CD-ROM application, where he worked with large strategic accounts such as Microsoft, Sprint and Sun Media to drive innovative new revenue streams for traditional media companies.
Steve started his career in the financial sector as a technology analyst and was one of the early champions of the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery model.
Steve is an academic all-Canadian graduate from York University in Toronto.
Andrew Muroff, VP Corporate Development & General Counsel
Andrew Muroff has extensive experience leading technology and media companies. He is the former President of SoftQuad Software Ltd. (SXML:Nasdaq OTC), co-inventor of XML technology, where he led the sale of the Company in 2001 to Corel Corporation for over U.S.$50 Million. Prior to SoftQuad, he led an active mergers and acquisitions program for Cyberplex Interactive Media (CX:TSX) and helped Managed Network Systems, Inc. (MNSi) become southwest Ontario's largest independent ISP.
Before joining 80/20 Solutions, Andrew spent 4 years advising growing media and technology companies on strategic corporate and legal development issues. Andrew was a pioneer in digital music distribution in 1997 leading Ind-X (Independent Musicians’ Xchange), one of the first to adopt the online distribution model and the first to broadcast an international music festival LIVE over the Internet. He is an accomplished musician and producer and gives back to the community by producing and performing music, as well as lecturing for a non-profit Latin American legal reform organization.
Andrew has published multiple articles and is a frequent lecturer on M&A, technology, Intellectual Property and the law. He has earned Economics, Commerce, M.B.A. and J.D. designations and is a member of the State Bar of Michigan.
Roland Lopes, VP Technology
Roland Lopes has developed java IT expertise within a wide spectrum of sectors, from financial (Prebon Yamane, Deutche Bank) to telecommunications (Yapalot Communications), culminating in the co-founding of Appwerx Inc, which specialized in java development and technology. Appwerx rode the IT wave, winning awards for cutting-edge application development thought impossible within the java realm. Such applications include a completely interactive catalog on the internet and one of the first voice-over-ip internet clients.
Managing the development of a large-scale web presence is nothing new to Roland, whose portfolio includes workopolis.com, the family of Globe and Mail websites, and YellowPages.ca.
Roland holds a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of Toronto.
Shane Sincich, VP Product
Shane Sincich is the creative designer and usability expert behind the impressive MCC user interface. He has received awards and online honors for his mastery of the Macromedia suite of programs. Shane has taught courses on Macromedia Flash and Director and is considered a leader in multimedia design and development in Canada.
Shane is a former partner of Motion Media Interactive where he lead an application design and development team which created new media programs for clients such as Microsoft, Quebecor, and Mail-Well. Shane is an honors graduate of the Multimedia Design and Production program at Humber College, the leading institution for new media development in Canada.
Lawrence Tepperman, VP Client Services
Lawrence Tepperman has over 15 years of experience in marketing and customer relationship management strategy and execution. He has extensive experience in client relationship management, strategic management consulting, marketing services, and software & technology. He has managed client relationships at the executive level with a knack for understanding client challenges, and coming up with solutions that are pragmatic, business performance enhancing, and highly differentiated. Lawrence possesses an MBA in Strategic Management, and is recognized as one of Canada’s top CRM strategy professionals. Lawrence is an executive-level relationship manager with solid experience in the boardroom as advisor, influencer and decision maker on key corporate initiatives.
Prior to joining 80/20 Solutions, Lawrence was Head of Enterprise Customer Experience for BMO Financial Group, where he lead customer experience strategy and design for all BMO business units. Prior to BMO, Lawrence spent his career in Marketing Services and Software where he was VP, Corporate Development at Capital C Communications helping clients align traditional brand marketing with one-to-one targeted marketing, and Vice President, Client Solutions & Professional Services at Exchange Solutions, where he was responsible for executive level client relationship management, project implementation, and ongoing client success. Lawrence also lead Customer Intelligence Solutions at SAS Institute (Canada) helping CMO’s drive financial value from customer insight and understand, and he has worked in management consulting for Deloitte Consulting and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young leading Customer Strategy, Marketing and CRM engagements on a global basis.
Cynthia Lewis, VP Sales and Marketing
With 30 years of leadership experience, Cynthia Lewis is known for her expertise in creating, developing and leading start-up business operations to double digit growth in revenues, profit and market share.
During her career within publicly traded companies she held the positions of President and CEO of SIRIT Technologies, President of Telus Integrated Communications, Executive Vice President TELUS Corporation and World Wide Vice President XBS - Xerox Corporation.
Over her career, Cynthia has successfully managed operations in the USA and Canada and has advised subsidiaries in Europe and South America on operational and sales processes, management practices, leadership development and company culture. She has served on the Board of several publicly traded companies and not for profit institutions.
Cynthia has an MBA from the University of Rochester and a Bachelors degree in Landscape Architecture from Mississippi State University. She is a citizen of both Canada and the USA and resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Marc Tremblay, VP Application Development
Marc Tremblay has extensive experience in software development across a range of companies. Prior to joining 80/20 Solutions, Marc held senior positions at Veer Inc, where he worked on various business process automation projects; Wmode, Inc., where he developed the ClearMode mobile payment system and lead customer integrations in both North America and Europe; and EyeWire, Inc, where he built a high performance digital asset search engine.
Marc holds a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of Calgary.
Advisors
Kevin Albrecht, President & C.E.O., iSport Media and Management
Kevin Albrecht is the President & CEO of iSport Media and Management, Canada’s leading athlete, digital media and event sponsorship representation company. Kevin is the former President & CEO of Insight Sports Ltd., creators and distributors of sports and entertainment content across multiple platforms, including broadcast television, DVD, online, mobile, in-arena and video on-demand. He recently completed a 16-year career at IMG, most recently as Head of Global Business Development and a member of IMG’s new media team. Named by the Globe & Mail as one of Canada’s top 3 most influential people in sports, he has managed the careers of superstar athletes such as Wayne Gretzky, Mike Weir and Kurt Browning, and developed event properties such as Stars On Ice and golf’s Skins Game into powerful sports brands. He is a founding board member of Right To Play and was also on the Executive Committee of the FIFA World Youth Championships, held in Canada in 2007.
David Lloyd, CEO, Intelliresponse
David is a seasoned technical executive that has extensive experience leading large-scale software development teams. He is currently the CEO of Intelliresponse, an innovative search company. Prior to Intelliresponse, David was the Chief Information Officer at Dexit, an innovative electronic payment and RFID technology firm. David was responsible for ensuring that the technology supporting the Dexit service remained robust as the business continued to grow as well as leading the initiative to integrate product and technology to sustain Dexit's ongoing leadership position in the market. David was also heavily involved in fundraising for the company. Prior to Dexit, David was the Senior Director of Technology Services at Carlson Marketing Group based out of Minnesota where his responsibilities included managing the architecture group, solution engineering, service and product management and delivery, technology process management and external software partnerships. David also brings an impressive business background including an MBA distinction from Queen’s University.
Kerry Munro, former General Manager, Yahoo! Canada
Mr. Munro joined Yahoo Canada as General Manager in 2005 after more than 20 years of executive management experience in the technology products and services sectors. In his role at Yahoo! Canada he was responsible for the company's overall operation and strategic growth, and in the latter capacity he has significantly increased the size and influence of Yahoo!’s presence in Canada by expanding the operational staff, increasing revenue and making Yahoo! Canada one of the fastest growing Yahoo! business units worldwide. His previous experience includes both corporate and entrepreneurial leadership positions such as leading new ventures, alliances and applications as a Senior Director at Bell Canada, and prior to that as founder and President of KBM Marketing which provided market analysis and business unit turnaround strategy for numerous Canadian corporations. He has also held executive marketing positions at leading technology companies including ACC TelEnterprises and Allstream. Mr. Munro is a graduate of the University of Toronto and has an MBA from Queen's University. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and an in-demand media interview on the business of the Internet. He is also a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards program.
Kevin Shea, Former Chairman, Sirius Satellite Radio
Mr. Shea is a well-respected media and wireless visionary. Mr. Shea currently works with prominent private equity firms and emerging media and technology companies to provide board-level leadership. Mr. Shea was the former Chairman of Sirius Satellite Radio in Canada. Prior to Sirius, he was the C.O.O. & Group Executive Vice-President, Convergence for Bell Globemedia, the largest media company in Canada. Before joining BCE, Mr. Shea had been the President and C.O.O. of the Global Television Network. Previously, he was President and C.O.O. of Atlantis Communications Inc. for three years and prior to that, from 1988 to 1993, was President and C.E.O. of YTV Canada and GRC Productions Ltd. Earlier in his career he held senior positions with Rogers Cablesystems Inc. and Cable Satellite Network Inc.
Eric W. Slavens, Former Managing Partner, IPO Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Mr. Slavens is a Bachelor of Commerce graduate of the University of Toronto and a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario. He was a partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP for thirty years and was most recently the National Leader, IPO Services. Mr. Slavens retired from the partnership on June 30, 2005 to act as an independent director and business consultant. He is a graduate of the Directors Education Program, co-sponsored by the Rotman School of Management and the Institute of Corporate Directors. Mr. Slavens currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Titanium Corporation Inc., Altus Group Income Fund, The Effort Trust Company, Canada-Israel Securities Limited and Heritage Toronto.
