Michael Garrity
President, CEO and Co-Founder
Michael has spent most of the last 10 years devoted to driving growth in businesses dedicated to innovation in financial services.
Prior to co-founding CommunityLend, Michael was the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at epost
(www.epost.ca),
a world leader in
the electronic bill presentment and payment industry. Michael was responsible for leading the team that built the epost customer
network which grew to include every major Canadian Financial Institution, over 100 of Canada's largest companies and over 3 million
online users. Previous to this role, Michael was on the founding team of an Ottawa based Internet start-up creating online enterprise
solutions, on the launch team of a successful Ontario Labour Sponsored Investment Fund and was a management consultant with a Washington,
DC based Systems Integration firm. Michael also served as a Legislative and Special Assistant to a number of Members of Parliament at the
House of Commons in Ottawa. Michael attended both the University of Manitoba and Carleton University and holds a B.A. in Political Science
and Economics. Michael was born in Churchill, Manitoba, and has lived in British Columbia, Ontario and the North West Territories. He
currently resides with his family in Toronto.
Colin Henderson, C.M.A.
Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder
Colin is CommunityLend’s Chief Technology Officer and a long time Banking professional. Colin took his first position in banking in his homeland of Scotland and has worked in England, Canada and the US. His extensive experience in the banking industry included positions in branches and headquarters, retail and commercial. Colin was instrumental in the launch of online banking in 1996, and the subsequent development of self service channels at the Bank of Montreal (online banking, ATM’s, telephone banking, and branch investment). Colin maintains an active blog at
www.thebankwatch.com
which explores banking and the web lifestyle. He holds a CMA designation from the Society of Management Accountants, and earlier graduated from the Institute of Bankers in Scotland. Colin is a strong believer in harnessing the power of Internet, and in particular open source, to take us beyond simple automation of existing transactions and towards better capabilities to meet peoples needs.
Roger Couldrey
Chief Operating Officer
Roger is CommunityLend’s Chief Operating Officer and Compliance Officer and is a long time banking professional. Roger joined the Bank of Montreal in 1971 and had a variety of executive responsibilities including his last position as Vice President of Telebanking and PC Banking. After leaving the bank in 1999, he was Executive Vice President of Operations with epost
(www.epost.ca),
was the General Manager of Corporate Services for Orlick Industries Ltd in Hamilton before returning to epost in 2004 as President and CEO. Roger has extensive experience serving on community boards, most noticeably McMaster University, where he is Chair of both the Finance and Audit Committees. He completed the Financial Studies Diploma, the senior qualification of the UK Institute of Bankers, in 1982 as the top candidate. As the father of three university-aged children, Roger has found that his new Facebook profile page has given him a whole new stature in their eyes.
Karel Volenik
Director Integration & Operations
Karel is an internationally recognized expert in online identity, risk management and decisioning. Karel has spent the last 27 years with Equifax Canada, holding various positions within the information technology, business solutions, marketing and technology solutions areas. His last position was the AVP Technology Solutions and he helped to architect many of the core systems CommunityLend uses for its service today. Karel graduated from Concordia University in Montreal with a degree in Computer Science and is fluent in 3 languages.
Sandra Stephenson
In-House Counsel
Sandy is CommunityLend’s In-House Counsel and brings extensive legal and corporate experience to CommunityLend. Sandy has been in-house counsel at both a large trust company and a medium-sized private company, and for many years, ran her own general law practice. Sandy has a B.A. from York University, a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School and recently obtained a Masters of Information Studies degree from the University of Toronto.
Duarte Da Silva
Senior Manager, Content and Client Care
Duarte is responsible for CommunityLend's content and client care. Duarte has almost 20 years experience in banking. He has held various positions in branch, head office, retail, commercial and most recently, online banking. Duarte is obsessed with all things internet and is a news junkie. He spends his time reading RSS feeds, blogging, participating in social networks, posting photos to flickr and discovering new music. When he's not online Duarte enjoys road cycling, wine collecting, photography and he moonlights as an indie DJ.
David Coleman
Community Advocate
Dave is CommunityLend’s lead Community Advocate. He joins us from two years in the Toronto Startup community where he was involved in a wide range of projects through his company Fish on Ice Consulting. He is very passionate about online and interactive marketing as well as globalization and its effects on international development. Dave has an Honours degree from Queen’s University in Political Science with a focus on International Relations.