Management
Harry Chemko
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Harry Chemko's passion for entrepreneurship started at a young age when he co-founded Elastic Path in 2000, fresh out of university. With a $15,000 start up loan from a non-profit organization, Harry's optimism and energy drove the business forward. Through long days, hard work, and cheap pizza, the co-founders were able to successfully grow the business the old fashioned way–through profits and persistence.
Today Harry is responsible for leading corporate strategy and for driving Elastic Path's vision. He believes that elastic commerce–commerce that is frictionless, social, and everywhere–will be the driving force shaping ecommerce in the future, and that Elastic Path is well positioned to deliver on that vision. For the last three years running, Elastic Path Software was listed at #23, #25, and #26 on the PROFIT 100, the definitive guide to Canada’s fastest growing companies. Harry also received the 2005 Young Entrepreneur Award for being the youngest CEO on the PROFIT Hot 50.
Harry graduated from Royal Roads University with a Bachelor of Commerce in Entrepreneurial Management and was awarded the school's Eric C. Douglas Award for excellence in entrepreneurship. In 2008, he received the Business Development Bank of Canada’s (BDC’s) Young Entrepreneur Award and Business in Vancouver’s Top Forty Under 40. He strives to empower other young Canadian entrepreneurs and is an active Board member of the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF), a national charity that provides start up financing and mentorship to young entrepreneurs. He has represented Canada as a delegate to the 2005 Summit of the Americas in Buenos Aires, and more recently at the G8 Young Business Summit in Stresa, Italy, and at the G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit in Toronto in 2010. Harry also sits on the Advisory Committee for Small Business & Entrepreneurship (ACSBE), a private sector committee created to advise the Government of Canada on a wide range of issues affecting entrepreneurship in Canada.
When Harry is not taking over the world of ecommerce, he can be found travelling, scuba diving in warm tropical waters, hanging out at Summit Series events, taking flying lessons, livening up a party or cheering on the Vancouver Canucks during hockey season. He also prides himself on throwing the best company holiday parties in town.
Harry's favorite quote:
"Right now I'm just delighted to be alive and to have had a nice long bath." – Richard Branson
Mark Williams
Co-Founder & Executive Vice President
Mark Williams co-founded Elastic Path alongside Harry Chemko in 2000. With over a decade of experience in consulting on enterprise-level ecommerce projects for major brands, Mark has become fluent in the world of ecommerce and enterprise software implementation.
Today he manages the global sales team and is responsible for driving Elastic Path's sales and channel strategies. Mark's passion and leadership has helped Elastic Path double revenue in the past three consecutive years and expanded the customer base worldwide. Mark is a fervent advocate for customers and works closely with their senior level executives to help develop their long term ecommerce strategy.
Around the office Mark empowers staff to challenge the status quo and push the envelope of ecommerce innovation. When Mark isn't winning over global enterprise clients, he is watching football games and waving his foam finger for the Dallas Cowboys.
Mark's favorite quote:
"Leadership is getting someone to do what they don't want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve." – Tom Landry, American football player and coach of the Dallas Cowboys
Gord Janzen
President and Chief Operating Officer
Gord has held leadership positions in the technology industry for over 20 years. He began his career with IBM in technical roles, authoring texts on relational database and supporting enterprise systems. He went on to lead a highly successful consulting practice that helped launch some of the earliest major ecommerce sites in the world. In 2000 he co-founded Apparent Networks, which won numerous awards for innovation and grew to become a leading player in network analysis software. Gord has also served as a management consultant to governments and corporations in North America and Europe. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia.
Gord joined Elastic Path in 2004 as a board member and came on as a full time executive in 2006. He is responsible for strategic planning, building the Elastic Path team, international and strategic partner development, and the day-to-day operations of the firm. What he enjoys most is spending time with Elastic Path customers, learning about their business ambitions, and connecting the dots back to what Elastic Path can bring to the table.
In his spare time, Gord sits on the board of various software firms and charities, and is particularly interested in economic development in Africa’s Great Lakes region. He is a runner and golfer, with 13 marathons and 2 holes-in-one to his credit.
Gord's favorite quote:
"A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow." – George S. Patton
Sal Visca
Chief Technology Officer
Sal is responsible for developing Elastic Path's long-term technology strategies as well as spearheading a process to bring new enterprise ecommerce solutions to market.
Sal has over 24 years of experience developing long-term technology strategies, understanding emerging markets and technologies, and bringing new consumer and business solutions to market. Previously the chief technology officer for Business Objects, Sal led the technical due diligence efforts resulting in the company's acquisition by SAP for $6.8B USD. At the time, this was the third largest software acquisition in history. He continued on in an expanded role for several years as chief technology officer for SAP’s Technology Development Group. Prior to this, Sal worked for IBM as a software development executive for ebusiness solutions and was instrumental in IBM's early entrance into the ecommerce market.
Sal enjoys hiking, mountain biking, and doing renovations.
Sal's favorite quote:
"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is." – Oscar Wilde
Matt Dion
Vice President Marketing
Matt Dion is responsible for overseeing marketing strategies and strengthening brand awareness at Elastic Path. Matt has over 16 years of experience in partnering strategy, business development, public relations, analyst relations, product marketing, product management and strategic alliances. He has helped grow revenue and market companies such as Crystal Decisions, Apparent Networks, and Meridex.
Matt holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and Psychology from Simon Fraser University. He has served on the board of directors for Active State, 90 Degree Software, Meridex Software Corporation, ACETECH and Inetco Systems. Matt also supports non profits and social enterprises that help woman and children at risk in Vancouver's downtown east side where he volunteers his time.
When Matt isn't transforming companies or improving the community, he can be found tearing up the slopes at Whistler, scuba diving, spending time at the lake with his family, or competing in various triathlons.
Matt's favorite quote:
"Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there" – Will Rogers, humorist and actor
Mark Miller
Vice President Sales & Business Development
Mark Miller is responsible for sales in NASA and Asia, and growing Elastic Path’s global network of strategic partners including technology partnerships and channel of system integrators.
Mark is a seasoned ecommerce veteran and brings over 13 years ecommerce expertise and business development experience to Elastic Path. He joins Elastic Path from Plimus (now BlueSnap), an ecommerce company that provides a platform for small to mid-market customers. Prior to Plimus, Mark served as the Senior Director of Sales at Digital River, an ecommerce outsourcing company. He has worked with the most influential names in the industry and was instrumental in closing key accounts such as Electronic Arts, Webroot Software, NetIQ, Mattel, Fisher-Price, Parametric Technology Corporation and THQ.
Mark holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and Management from the University of Minnesota. When not spending time with his family, Mark can be found rock climbing, mountain biking and skiing.
Mark’s favorite quote:
"Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results."
– Albert Einstein
John Hayase
Vice President Client Solutions
As VP Client Solutions, John Hayase leads Elastic Path’s project delivery, support, and training teams to ensure continued customer success. John is a veteran interactive media and digital commerce executive that understands the unique challenges facing businesses that sell digital goods and services.
He joins Elastic Path from a role at Electronic Arts, where he was responsible for developing and maintaining the ecommerce features of Origin, a direct-to-consumer digital distribution service that allows users to purchase and download games on demand. John’s career with Electronic Arts began at EA.com where he led development of the company’s first ecommerce platform and continued with leadership roles in game development and online publishing. He has also held key product development leadership positions at Atari and Sony Online Entertainment.
John holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado and started his career designing life support systems for the International Space Station. After receiving his MBA from the University of Michigan, he joined PwC’s management consulting group focusing on operational strategy development that included use of emerging internet technologies and ecommerce applications.
In his spare time, John enjoys golf, skiing and spending time with his family outdoors.
John's favorite quote:
“…when a defining moment comes along, you define the moment... or the moment defines you.”
– Roy “Tin Cup” McAvoy
