Matt McKinley
CEO
Matt McKinley has enjoyed a 30-year career working with software companies. Always focused on outcomes and results, Matt has been engaged in a variety of industries including oil, gas, and energy sectors, as well as infrastructure and manufacturing markets. Matt has helped many businesses address the challenges that surface when determining vision and success criteria, leading to the identification of strategic options that meet execution goals. Matt is delighted to work as CEO with the Ascertra team where he focuses on delivering the vision to create essential information management software to help companies build & operate better.
Crystal Lau
Chief Financial Officer
With over 10 years of financial experience and designation as a Chartered Professional Accountant, Crystal Lau has been instrumental in the growth of Ascertra in her role as Chief Financial Officer. After graduating with an international Bachelor of Business Administration from Schulich School of Business, Crystal began her career at Ernst and Young before transitioning into external financial reporting for one of Canada's biggest retailers. Now, with diverse expertise ranging from financial analysis to internal controls to performance management, Crystal leverages her extensive background and knowledge to manage financial initiatives and sustain a trusted environment for all stakeholders.
Jenn Spencer
Head of Global Marketing
For over 20 years, Jenn Spencer has been helping technology companies promote their advanced solutions. Over her career, Jenn has worked alongside extremely passionate innovators who have been driven to help their customers overcome their challenges and achieve their goals through technological solutions. Inspired by these colleagues, Jenn has focused her work on connecting the knowledge, expertise, and passion of these innovators with the the customers who will gain professional value from the solutions and knowledge the innovators can provide. Jenn’s view of marketing has always been on sharing knowledge and growing communities around industry practices such that the industry can progress overall.
Jens Stabo-Eeg
Chief Compliance Officer
Jens Stabo-Eeg brings more than 20 years of experience working in national and international B2B software sales and services with renowned companies in their market sectors. Jens has worked on the Proarc team providing successful EDMS software solutions to customers since 2008. His career started as a trainee at Norsk Hydro, the largest industrial company in Norway at the time. Jens has held various managerial and operational roles over the years within sales, bid management, project management, customer service/success, and contract management. His vast experience has helped him gain in-depth understanding of business processes that are essential to successful operations.
Chris Herridge
Chief Technology Officer
With over 20 years of experience in software development, Chris Herridge is driven by the efficient development of software aligned to its end use. Starting his career path in new media, Chris spent 15 years building his own software business in the retail industry before moving into government-scale systems with a focus on security and governance. After architecting complex software systems for some of the world’s largest offshore wind farms and national power generation projects, Chris joined Ascertra in 2021 and employs his expertise to optimize Ascertra’s software and Cloud platforms, ensuring clients receive the highest level of security & performance from our solutions. When he has a spare weekend, Chris enjoys hiking, sailing, and working on his classic cars.
Girish Hegde
Head of Development
Girish Hegde brings more than 2 decades of IT experience in leading product engineering teams, project management, and software development. With his extensive experience in Agile & lean software development and his passion for clean code practices, Girish has coached and mentored several product development teams in his career, to be highly efficient in their throughput. Over the last few years, Girish has worked closely with his team to take Ascertra products to new levels, to meet the ever-increasing demands of security, scalability, and flexibility. Beyond work, Girish loves playing table tennis and long-distance running.
Joel Gray
Head of Product
Joel Gray has built an extensive professional background delivering enterprise software and services for the world's largest companies. He's guided solution development in different industries and in software organizations large and small, but Joel's time with Ascertra has been the most enjoyable and rewarding of his career. Joel has a passion for delivering great software products, and believes that starts with empathy for users and a focus on providing strong business value. Joel is inspired by the practices for engineering and construction in major projects due to the constant evolution of tech tools and the fact that the value of information management has never been higher.
Keith Simons
Chief Customer Success Officer
With 30 years of industry experience, Keith Simons offers a wealth of expertise supporting clients with the implementation of successful software solutions. He has adeptly guided clients worldwide in the deployment of intricate information management solutions that have helped them effectively minimize risk and achieve their business objectives. Beginning his career as a chartered mechanical engineer, Keith initially delved into the oil and gas sector as a discipline engineer. His journey later transitioned into IT consultancy through his involvement with maintenance and inventory management systems. Equipped with a comprehensive skillset that encompasses both functional and technical aspects, Keith helps to ensure every Ascertra client successfully adopts and achieves ongoing value from their Ascertra software solutions.
Heidi Østli
Head of Global Services
Heidi Østli started her career as a computer engineer and brings 30 years of experience working in IT-focused roles and companies. In addition to her extensive technical knowledge & experience, Heidi has gained the trust of customers by always listening to gain a better understanding of their needs and then delivering solutions that provide value to their business and their day-to-day operations. Heidi is extremely successful at building and supporting internal and external teams who deliver excellence. When Heidi is not in the office, you can find her running or cross-country skiing in the forest with her family.
Jim Smits
Customer Support Manager
Working in the tech industry for over 30 years, Jim Smits' extensive experience and knowledge help deliver expert advice and support to project teams worldwide. Starting his career in 1988, Jim has worked in technical and support roles for global IT companies across Europe, ensuring customer success and satisfaction through his efforts in international IT, operations, and service management and delivery in private and public cloud infrastructures. Jim leads our global support team, working with clients every day to improve their efficiency with our solutions and their business processes, helping them attain their goals.
Prashant Rana
Head of Delivery
With 17 years of industry leadership experience in software quality assurance (QA) and delivery management, Prashant Rana helps empower software excellence at Ascertra. At the beginning of his career, Prashant oversaw and led the biggest merger and acquisition projects in banking. Joining Ascertra in 2011, he initially led the QA team for Proarc, eventually transitioning to Lead Product Delivery 4 years ago. Prashant’s dedication to continuous improvement, optimizing product release cycles, and elevating quality standards has helped deliver innovative software solutions that surpass expectations, ensuring consistent, excellent quality. Away from the office, Prashant enjoys photography and is enthusiastic about exploring the world and diverse cuisines from around the globe.
Jeremy Schefter
Chief Sales Officer
Jeremy Schefter is a sales executive with an engineering degree and more than 25 years of experience helping companies choose and implement enterprise software solutions that help improve their business. Jeremy is a self-motivated innovation leader who is passionate about supporting customers through business and digital transformation, leveraging his vast experience in enterprise software sales, information systems & technology, business analysis, manufacturing, and process industries. With his constant focus on listening first and then helping customers choose the right solution to meet their needs, it’s no surprise that so many customers have trusted Jeremy to help them make successful major solution purchases over the years.
Jordan Chelsom
Head of Global Sales
Jordan brings over 20 combined years of professional services and software sales experience to help enable better information management and risk mitigation for clients. Starting his journey in 2000, Jordan worked in software development roles across the globe before transitioning into professional services 9 years later in the energy sector. Jordan has worked with mid-size to Fortune 500 companies, collaborating with customer stakeholders, executing implementations, and managing highly effective globally distributed teams. Since joining Ascertra in 2022, In his Head of Global Sales role, Jordan continues to promote customer care and a people-first practice when working with clients. Jordan also served as an Officer in the Royal Canadian Navy Reserve before concluding his service in 2013.
Graham Coy
Head of Solutioneering
Graham Coy brings over 20 years of experience developing and implementing information management software solutions used by Ascertra clients around the world. Starting his journey as a software developer, Graham participated in the original development of Ascertra solutions before transitioning to a client-facing role in leading global implementation. Since merging Mpower into Ascertra, Graham's role has evolved to help expand offerings from our Perth, Australia office to all 3 software solutions in the Ascertra portfolio. As Head of Solutioneering, Graham and team will help guide customers on their evolution to managing information more effectively, allowing them to build and operate better, and thus power progress forward. On his off-time, Graham is an avid tenpin bowler and yogi.
Thomas Klinker
Head of Global Programs
Thomas Klinker is Head of Global Programs and oversees plans and strategy for the overall deployment of Ascertra solutions. Thomas joined the team in 2019 and brings more than 20 years of experience in enterprise software project management, deployment, and consulting, working with multiple companies in the industrial engineering software space. Thomas graduated from the University of Applied Science in Bochum with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science and has worked in industrial enterprise software, engineering, and automation since 1999. During his career, Thomas has worked with clients on all continents except the Arctic and Antarctic.