That September chill in the air foretells a change of seasons. With it comes sweeping change across Canadian tech C-suites.
This week’s headliner was undoubtedly Shopify chief operating officer Kaz Nejatian leaving Canada’s largest tech company to become CEO of San Francisco-based Opendoor. The proptech firm is in the midst of a meme stock moment (partially fuelled by Canadian hedge fund boss Eric Jackson), with retail investors now expecting Nejatian to take Opendoor to the moon.
Elsewhere in the public markets, Sue Ozdemir resigned as CEO of struggling Calgary EV tech firm Exro Technologies following layoffs, lifeline financing, and class action threats. Meanwhile, Q4 Inc. has added a new CFO, chief marketing officer, and chief revenue officer since exiting the public markets last year. The company completed its go-private transition this week, replacing founding CEO Darrell Heaps with former SolarWinds CFO Lewis Black.
Other notable executive changes this week: Oren Gelman was appointed CEO of Toronto healthtech firm Arthrolense, former Benevity CEO Kelly Schmitt joined mental health platform Headversity, and AbCellera named Dr. Sarah Noonberg as its first-ever chief medical officer. InBC also added Thomas Park as chief investment officer following CEO Jill Earthy’s recent departure.
The scale and consistency of Canadian executive turnover was one of BetaKit’s biggest stories of 2024, which saw us cover nearly 50 CEO swaps alone. Industry experts we spoke with at the time pointed to a tough macroeconomic environment that had created strict leadership expectations.
In public statements on his new role, Nejatian laid out one clear expectation for Opendoor.
“The only thing that should matter is building something people want,” he wrote on X
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