Management Team
Gerry Smith, President and CEO
Riyaz Somani, Co-founder & Vice President Strategic Accounts
Andrew Hillier, Co-founder and CTO
Chuck Tatham, Senior VP, Operations & Business Development
Jeff Pauze, VP, Engineering
Ayman Gabarin, VP, Europe, Middle East & Africa
James MacDonald, VP, Sales
Cynthia Bliss, CFO
Board of Directors
Gerry Smith, President and CEO
Riyaz Somani, Co-founder & Vice President Strategic Accounts
Andrew Hillier, Co-founder and CTO
Howard Gwin, Consultant
Derek Smyth, Partner, Venture Fund, EdgeStone Capital Partners
Michael Woeller
John Mandile, Managing Director, Sigma Partners
Management Team
 Gerry Smith
President & CEO
Gerry Smith assumed the role of president and CEO of CiRBA in November 2005. Prior to joining CiRBA, he served as executive vice president of IT Governance solutions at Compuware Corporation, a publicly traded company.
Smith was previously CEO and a founder of Changepoint Corporation, an IT Governance software company acquired by Compuware in 2004 for $100 million. During his tenure at Changepoint, Smith raised over $40 million in venture capital and grew the business from $0 to over $30 million in revenue. He is a member of the Young Presidents Association (YPO) and was honored in 2002 as one of Canada's Top 40 under 40™.
Smith graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in mechanical engineering from The University of Toronto and a Masters of Business Administration from McMaster University.
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 Riyaz Somani
Co-founder & Vice President Strategic Accounts
Riyaz Somani has over 15 years of experience in information technology software & services, with more than 10 years in executive management positions. A co-founder of CiRBA, Somani has been instrumental in setting strategic direction for the company. As Vice President of Strategic Accounts, he is responsible for CiRBA's strategic accounts.
Prior to CiRBA, Somani was president and co-founder of Opensoft Inc., a services company delivering IT consulting and technology staffing solutions to Fortune 1000 clients. He has played instrumental management and engineering roles on major technology initiatives for IBM, Sun, digital, Citigroup and Scotia Bank.
Somani is a Certified Professional Engineer and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering from The University of Waterloo.
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 Andrew Hillier
Co-founder & CTO
Andrew Hillier has over 15 years of experience in the creation and implementation of mission-critical software for the world's largest financial institutions and utilities. A co-founder of CiRBA, he leads product strategy and defines the overall technology roadmap for the company.
Prior to CiRBA, Hillier pioneered a state of the art systems management solution which was acquired by Sun Microsystems and now serves as the foundation of their flagship systems management product, Sun Management Center. Hillier has also led the development of solutions for major financial institutions, including fixed income, equity, futures & options and interest rate derivatives trading systems, as well as in the fields of covert military surveillance, advanced traffic and train control, and the robotic inspection and repair of nuclear reactors.
Hillier holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering from The University of New Brunswick.
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 Chuck Tatham
Senior Vice President, Operations & Business Development
Chuck Tatham has 15 years of experience in enterprise software marketing, sales and corporate management. As senior vice president of operations & business development for CiRBA, he is responsible for global marketing, product management, technical services & support, training, as well as strategic business development initiatives.
Prior to CiRBA, Tatham was vice president of IT Governance marketing at Compuware Corporation, responsible for global marketing of the IT Governance product. He previously served as vice president of marketing and business development for Changepoint Corporation, an IT Governance software company. As a member of Changepoint’s executive team, Tatham helped grow revenue from $1 million to over $30 million, resulting in the company’s 2004 acquisition by Compuware. Tatham has also held senior roles in sales and channel sales at Lotus Development Canada.
Tatham holds a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from The University of Toronto.
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 Jeff Pauze
Vice President, Engineering
Jeff Pauze has nearly two decades of experience in software development and engineering. As vice president of engineering for CiRBA, he is responsible for driving engineering, product development and technology strategy, to deliver additional business value to customers.
Prior to CiRBA, Pauze spent eight years at Changepoint Corporation, an IT Governance software company, before joining Compuware Corporation following the company’s acquisition. As director of software development, he was responsible for architectural design and implementation of the Changepoint solution. Pauze also spent 10 years in software development and engineering at American Express.
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 Ayman Gabarin
Vice President, Europe, Middle East & Africa
Ayman Gabarin has 20 years of experience in various business sectors including enterprise software and industrial services. As vice president, he is responsible for sales and delivery of the CiRBA in the EMEA region. Prior to CiRBA, Gabarin was the EMEA Vice President of IT Governance at Compuware Corporation and previously, he launched the EMEA business as Vice President for Changepoint Corporation, an IT Governance software company. As a member of Changepoint’s executive team, Gabarin grew revenues to 30% of Changepoint’s global sales resulting in the company’s 2004 acquisition by Compuware. Gabarin holds a Bachelor of Applied Science and Engineering degree from the University of Toronto.
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 James MacDonald
Vice President, Sales
James MacDonald is a performance-driven sales and marketing leader with a strong portfolio of successes orchestrating the start-up, global growth, and optimization of sales and marketing organizations for technology industry companies. As vice president of sales, he is responsible for leading sales globally for CiRBA.
MacDonald joined CiRBA in 2008 from Compuware, where he was senior vice president of Compuware’s North East Geography following Compuware’s 2004 acquisition of Changepoint Corporation, where he also served as executive vice president of sales. Prior to joining Changepoint, MacDonald served as vice president of business development for Platform Computing Inc., an independent provider of grid software. His more than 15 years in the technology sector also includes the position of vice president, global sales and marketing with Solect Technology Group (which was acquired by Amdocs for $1.2 billion), and various senior management positions including vice president of marketing and vice president of systems integration at Digital Equipment.
MacDonald holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from The University of Western Ontario.
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 Cynthia Bliss
CFO
Cynthia Bliss has over 27 years of experience as a financial executive focusing on growth, start-up and restructuring situations with large and small companies. She is skilled at balancing competing stakeholder interests in multi-jurisdictional environments.
Prior to joining CiRBA in 2008, she was CFO of Executive Risk Group in Toronto, a casualty insurer supported by Lloyd's of London, where she assisted in launching the company and implementing numerous mission critical systems, as well as helping raise private equity funding. Additionally, she was managing director of global corporate services for Proponix, an independent in-sourcing company where she managed corporate services and infrastructure throughout Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and the U.S. Cynthia is a chartered accountant who graduated from McMaster University with a Bachelor of Commerce degree.
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Board of Directors
Gerry Smith
President & CEO
CiRBA, Inc.
Gerry Smith assumed the role of president and CEO of CiRBA in November 2005. Prior to joining CiRBA, he served as executive vice president of IT Governance solutions at Compuware Corporation, a publicly traded company.
Smith was previously CEO and a founder of Changepoint Corporation, an IT Governance software company acquired by Compuware in 2004 for $100 million. During his tenure at Changepoint, Smith raised over $40 million in venture capital and grew the business from $0 to over $30 million in revenue. He is a member of the Young Presidents Association (YPO) and was honored in 2002 as one of Canada's Top 40 under 40™.
Smith graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in mechanical engineering from The University of Toronto and a Masters of Business Administration from McMaster University.
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Riyaz Somani
Co-founder & Vice President Strategic Accounts
Riyaz Somani has over 15 years of experience in information technology software & services, with more than 10 years in executive management positions. A co-founder of CiRBA, Somani has been instrumental in setting strategic direction for the company. As Vice President of Strategic Accounts, he is responsible for CiRBA's strategic accounts.
Prior to CiRBA, Somani was president and co-founder of Opensoft Inc., a services company delivering IT consulting and technology staffing solutions to Fortune 1000 clients. He has played instrumental management and engineering roles on major technology initiatives for IBM, Sun, digital, Citigroup and Scotia Bank.
Somani is a Certified Professional Engineer and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering from The University of Waterloo.
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Andrew Hillier
Co-founder & CTO, CiRBA
Andrew Hillier has over 15 years of experience in the creation and implementation of mission-critical software for the world's largest financial institutions and utilities. A co-founder of CiRBA, he leads product strategy and defines the overall technology roadmap for the company.
Prior to CiRBA, Hillier pioneered a state of the art systems management solution which was acquired by Sun Microsystems and now serves as the foundation of their flagship systems management product, Sun Management Center. Hillier has also led the development of solutions for major financial institutions, including fixed income, equity, futures & options and interest rate derivatives trading systems, as well as in the fields of covert military surveillance, advanced traffic and train control, and the robotic inspection and repair of nuclear reactors.
Hillier holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering from The University of New Brunswick.
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Howard Gwin
Consultant
Howard Gwin spent 13 years in senior sales, marketing and operations roles at IBM Corporation and Xerox Corporation before joining PeopleSoft Inc. From 1994 to 2000, Gwin held a variety of executive management positions at PeopleSoft including: VP and General Manager Canadian Operations, VP and Managing Director European Operations, SVP International Operations and EVP World Wide Operations managing a 5000 employee organization. During his tenure, the company grew from less than $100 million to $1.3 billion in sales.
In January 2000, Gwin became president of Solect Technology Group, a global provider of billing, customer care and service management software for the telecommunications industry. In April 2000, Gwin helped orchestrate the sale of Solect to Amdocs Inc., a world leader in customer management billing systems. The transaction was the largest ever for a private Canadian software company.
Gwin serves on the boards of Longview Solutions Corp., Mobile Computing Corporation, Marqui Corporation, Intelligauge Solutions, MKS Inc., Taleo Corporation, Blast Radius Inc. and CiRBA.
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Derek Smyth
Partner, Venture Fund, EdgeStone Capital Partners
Derek Smyth joined EdgeStone Capital Partners as Partner in February 2004. Prior to joining EdgeStone, he was president and CEO of Bridgewater Systems Corporation.
Before joining Bridgewater Systems, Smyth held the position of COO at Ironside Technologies, where he was responsible for the overall direction of global business development, marketing, sales operations and product development. As COO, Smyth grew the business from start-up phase to a multi-national organization, and a team of 14 to 240, while raising $72 million in private equity. Previously, he also held positions with Bay Networks Canada and Radius Inc.
Smyth serves on the boards of Maximum Throughput, pVelocity, Shoplogix, Solace Systems and CiRBA. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in commerce and economics from The University of Toronto and completed the Enterprise Program for Growing Companies (EPGC) at Stanford University.
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Michael Woeller
Michael Woeller has served in senior executive roles at three of Canada's financial organizations including Canada Trust, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and Toronto-Dominion Bank, part of TD Bank Financial Group.
Most recently he was vice chairman and CIO at CIBC, responsible for information technology, banking operations, and investment banking operations worldwide, as well as CIBC's market leading Visa credit card business. Prior to CIBC, Woeller was an executive vice-president for Toronto-Dominion Bank, where he developed the merger integration plan for TD Canada Trust, at the time Canada's largest financial services merger. Previously, he held a number of senior executive positions at Canada Trust, including executive vice-president of direct banking and information services.
Woeller has served on a number of industry boards, including the Interac Association of Canada and MasterCard Canada. He is past chairman of the board of directors of Intria Items Incorporated, a joint venture between CIBC and Fiserv Solutions. Currently he is a member of the HP Financial Services Advisory Board and sits on the board of directors for CiRBA.
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John Mandile
Managing Director, Sigma Partners
John Mandile is a Managing Director with Sigma Partners. With over 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur, a business unit manager, and an investor, John uses motivation, enthusiasm, and his own technology and operational expertise to support Sigma’s portfolio companies.
Prior to Sigma, John was the President & CEO of Vermeer Technologies, Inc., the developers of FrontPage, the leading Web authoring tool. Vermeer was acquired by Microsoft, providing Sigma and the other venture investors a very successful return. Previously, he was an early principal at SQL Solutions, where he created and led an engineering organization chartered to build heterogeneous database tools. Following an acquisition of SQL Solutions by Sybase, he took responsibility for the new Systems Management Product unit, which he grew to $55 million in sales in 30 months. Early in his career, John was recruited to Honeywell, where he worked on a variety of engineering projects in the areas of communications, operating systems, and unix co-processor design.
John is a graduate of Tufts (BSE in Engineering Science and Mathematics) and Worcester Polytechnic University (MS in Computer Science).
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