About Tehama
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Tehama is the fastest, easiest, most secure way to deploy a virtual workforce. With our next-generation DaaS platform, enterprises can create cloud-based virtual offices, rooms, and desktops anywhere in the world. No other solution on the market today connects remote workers with mission-critical and data-sensitive systems, with the speed, agility, unparalleled security, and comprehensive audit trail via built-in SOC 2 controls, real-time activity feeds and session recordings that Tehama offers.
Tehama's Origin Story
Tehama was born inside Pythian, a managed services business focused on high-value revenue generating systems in media, technology and e-commerce. Originally known as Adminiscope, Tehama was the technology that permitted Pythian’s workforce, mostly working from home in 36 countries, to provide privileged services to compliance-sensitive customer data and systems using their own devices.
In an era of frequent headlines and rising concerns about data breaches, we identified a need to provide better cybersecurity and compliance measures to customers.
Pythian developed groundbreaking tools that enabled teams to work and interact seamlessly with sensitive systems while working from home, eliminating the need to ship laptops all over the world. These tools evolved to become Tehama.
As demand for the platform surged in its first year of availability, Tehama spun out from Pythian as a totally separate, standalone company in 2019.
Our remote work vision for Tehama has been dramatically accelerated as a result of the global pandemic. Enterprises are rethinking their way of working and urgently need to adopt tools that enable the secure exchange of work over the internet.
Tehama Leadership Team
Paul Vallée
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Paul Vallée
Paul Vallée is the founder and CEO of Tehama and a serial entrepreneur who has spent his career at the forefront of cutting-edge technologies that enable the exchange of work over the internet.
When founding Pythian in 1997, Paul envisioned a future that allows anyone to work from anywhere. Perceiving an opportunity for the Internet and related technologies to unlock human potential, he set out to apply and invent technology that could securely connect global workforces to enterprise IT systems.
Paul was a pioneer in remote connectivity technology and lays claim to the first application of IPSEC VPN technology to enable enterprises to consume services over the internet. Paul founded Pythian as a data-centric services business with a focus on remote work, and under his leadership, the company developed groundbreaking tools that enable teams to work and interact seamlessly and securely even when dispersed across multiple continents. It is at Pythian that Tehama was born, then launched to the public in 2018, and now spun out to develop its opportunity to help global enterprises seeking to secure their services supply chain.
With Tehama now independent, Paul has redoubled his commitment to the future of work. Tehama’s Virtual Office as a Service technology makes it easy for enterprises to manage, onboard and audit third-party vendors, remote teams, and freelancers by providing compliant, secure, cloud-based virtual desktops available on-demand globally.
Paul is a sought-after speaker who was named 2016’s Diversity Champion by Canada’s Women in Communications and Technology, is active in the Council of Canadian Innovators, and the CIO Strategy Council.
Rob White
Chief Financial Officer
About Rob
Gene Villeneuve
Chief Revenue Officer
About Gene
Gene Villeneuve is a seasoned IT leader with more than two decades of experience. He is passionate about helping customers and partners adopt technology for better business outcomes. At Tehama, he directs the strategy, market growth and customer success of the cloud-based platform. Before Tehama, Gene held several executive positions at IBM, most recently as Worldwide Director of Lab Services for Financial Crimes Insight Solutions in the Watson Financial Services Solutions division. He has also held European and Global executive roles at IBM, Cognos, SAP (Business Objects) and [email protected] Gene is recognized as a visionary thought leader and is a sought-after speaker for both client and industry events.
Gene has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Ottawa.
Nabeel Youakim
Chief Development Officer
Nabeel Youakim
Nabeel Youakim has decades of experience in the End User Computing (EUC) industry. As Chief Development Officer at Tehama, he is responsible for providing strategic guidance spanning all areas of the business to accelerate success for Tehama’s next-generation Desktop as a Service platform.
Prior to joining Tehama, Youakim provided business development and consulting services, advising businesses, technology providers and investment firms on technology trends, investment opportunities and go-to-market strategies. Before that, he spent 22 years at Citrix Systems, Inc., where he most recently served as Vice President, Products & Solutions Architecture. Youakim was also Vice President, Product Management & Strategic Partners, in these roles he has led various teams of product managers and architects responsible for the Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop roadmaps and developing the Citrix Cloud. While at Citrix, Youakim also held several other executive leadership positions supporting product development, strategic alliances & sales for the APAC region and Australia. He also led the development of Citrix’s global strategic relationship and engagement with Microsoft. Under his leadership, Citrix was named Microsoft Global ISV of the year for both 2003 and 2005 and Citrix has won this award many times since. Earlier in his career, Youakim held director-level positions in sales and marketing at Microsoft.
Jacopo Toccacieli
Vice President of Engineering
About Jacopo
Jacopo currently oversees both technical planning and development of the Tehama platform. Under his leadership, the team self-organizes for consistent delivery of the project milestones.
Over the last six years, Jacopo held a variety of Engineering positions in several high-tech startups. In Ottawa based FarmLead, the Engineering team he assembled was critical to raising $8.5M Series A financing in 2017. In addition to his professional accomplishments, Jacopo also worked as a Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks researcher for the University of Ottawa.
He holds an MSc in Computer Engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy.
Chief of Staff
Bev Hemish
Bev Hemish is a seasoned senior administrator with more than two decades of experience. At Tehama, she is the CEO’s executive partner and a key member of the executive leadership team. Bev plays a critical role in facilitating the strategy and execution of Tehama’s business goals and company-wide corporate communications. She is recognized for her exceptional project management skills and ability to create accountability across the organization. Before Tehama, Bev held an executive assistant position at Pythian and worked closely with the management team, helping document and improve processes for optimal productivity and business sustainability.
Vice President of Sales and Partners
Terry Ansari
Terry is a passionate and accomplished business, strategy and sales leader in the technology industry. He has worked with a range of companies, from startups, to scaleups, to recognized pioneers and visionaries such as Accenture, Cisco, SAP, Adobe, and now Tehama. Terry has earned a reputation for breakout thinking and breakthrough work in the most complex business environments and geographies.
He also works with community and professional organizations, including the Institute on Governance (where he served on the National Board and as Board Chair), the National Board of the Certified Management Consultants of Canada (Board Member and Chair of the Public Policy Committee), TechNation Canada (as a member of the National Board of Directors, Co-Chair of the Public Policy and Advocacy Committee, and Chair of the Public Sector Business Committee) and the Imagining Canada’s Future initiative.
Terry is also a Fellow and Member of the Association of Public Sector Information Professionals (DPI) Advisory Board, a member of the Internet Society’s IOT Security and Digital Access Advisory committees, the Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association, the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada’s National Capital Board, and the boards of the Ottawa Hunt Golf Club and the Royal Ottawa Hospital Foundation for Mental Health.
Vice President of Finance
Lee-Anne has held VP positions at a number of leading Ottawa businesses, spanning more than 20 years. Her background includes work in a number of different sectors, from manufacturing and consumer goods, to healthcare and software development. She acts as industry leader to college and university students through the Mindtrust Leadership Program. Lee-Anne is a CPA,CMA and holds a Bachelor of Commerce, Honours Accounting degree from the University of Ottawa.
Director of Product Strategy
Jaymes Davis
With nearly two decades of experience in the IT services industry, Jaymes has implemented more than 1,000 virtualization, end-user computing and access delivery projects for clients ranging from global enterprises to local and regional small and medium businesses. At Tehama he focuses on business first outcomes for customers and partners, helping them leverage Tehama to get real time to value benefits for projects and IT workflow efficiencies in place around the contingent workforce that focus on security and compliance.
Jaymes designed and developed the Virtualization Oriented Architecture™ (VOA), a methodology that closely aligns business strategies with IT infrastructure solutions. His white papers and articles have been endorsed by the industry’s top virtualization experts and innovators. He has also been a speaker at numerous high-profile industry events, including VMworld, Citrix Synergy Best Practices for Xendesktop and Autodesk University. Jaymes is recognized by CRN for the top virtualization practice in North America in 2012 and by Tech Elite 250 #1 Virtualization Practice for 2011 to 2015.
Jaymes is studying Advanced Computer Security at Stanford University. He also enjoys spending time deep inside a virtual reality holodeck battling monsters.
Vice President of Legal
Thomas has more than three decades of experience as a lawyer in both in-house roles with technology companies like QNX/BlackBerry and Nortel and private practice with the Prowse Technology Law Office and as a partner and associate in the Ottawa office of a major Canadian law firm. Thomas, whom his peers selected to be included in The Best Lawyers in Canada in the Technology Law specialty, is a frequent speaker on technology law matters and an active member of professional associations including the Canadian Technology Law Association. He is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and has an LL.B. from Queen’s University and a B.A. from the University of Saskatchewan.
Director of Human Resources
Julia Duffy
Julia is an HR leader with over a decade of experience. Since 2016, she has worked with Tehama’s Executive Team to lay the foundations of Tehama’s People & Talent growth strategy.
Julia has a Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University. She holds numerous professional HR certifications, is a keynote speaker on talent management trends, and in 2014 won the Vision Award for Innovation in Talent Acquisition.
Outside of work, Julia enjoys volunteering, travelling and spending time with her family & friends at the cottage and by the pool.
Director of Operations
Carson White
Director of Operations
Carson is an experienced delivery leader who is responsible for IT, procurement, vendor management and cloud financial management at Tehama.
Director of Marketing
Lesley Slack
Lesley is a seasoned B2B and B2C marketing and communications professional with two decades of experience. She joined Tehama after several years with Pythian’s Services Business and leads the marketing and communications strategy to boost brand awareness and drive lead generation.
Early in her career, Lesley recognized the power of digital marketing, first at TVOntario, where she led the communications strategy for the launch of TVO’s Digital Public Archives, and later at Global Knowledge where she managed high impact digital marketing campaigns. Lesley also spent many years in the publishing industry and held management roles at Penguin and Random House Canada.
In her spare time, Lesley is an avid reader who is determined to crush the goal of reading 50 books a year in the annual Goodreads Reading Challenge.
Director of Customer Success
Jason McDonald
Jason leads the Customer Success team at Tehama with a driving passion for delivering the best outcomes for his customers. He brings more than 15 years of experience managing international support and services teams covering technology, software and hardware with an intense customer-centric focus.
Director of Public Sector
James Short
James Short has been involved with providing advanced cyber security solutions to the Government of Canada for almost 25 years. This includes leading corporate business development efforts at industry leaders including Entrust, CA Technologies, Telus Security Solutions and ThinkRF.
Director of Industry & Government Programs
Karen Chase is regarded as a strong relationship builder and practitioner of effective communications. At Tehama, Karen manages industry and government programs, with interests that span the whole of our business. She seeks business growth and research-based funding opportunities, manages complex application processes, and oversees contractual project reporting requirements. Representing Tehama, Karen is also an active contributor on industry specific Canadian standards councils
Before Tehama, Karen held senior and director level positions across major sectors including defence and security, professional services, life sciences, and commercial real estate. Her roles included managing and mentoring personnel, managing operations and facilities, contracts management, complex government and private sector proposal management, and developing detailed processes and procedures for document control and reporting.
Karen obtained her Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Ottawa, Telfer School of Management.
Director of Security and Compliance
Chuck oversees the security and compliance aspects of Tehama. Tehama’s compliance standards continue to evolve over time, inspiring confidence in the product as well as including it in our customers own compliance regimes.
Chuck is a 20 year software development veteran where he focused on security features in both telecom and remote work industries. He has brought that deep technical knowledge to the secure development life cycle of the Tehama product.
Director of Technical Support
Mark Peppiatt
Mark heads the Technical Support team at Tehama, bringing 15 years of technical support leadership in various disciplines the Information Technology and Identity Management space. At his core, Mark understands that the most valuable asset an organization can have are their customers. Mark is driven by providing the best possible user experience, and technical & support needs of his customers.
Board of Directors
Paul Vallée
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Paul Vallée is the founder and CEO of Tehama and a serial entrepreneur who has spent his career at the forefront of cutting-edge technologies that enable the exchange of work over the internet.
Paul Vallée
Paul Vallée is the founder and CEO of Tehama and a serial entrepreneur who has spent his career at the forefront of cutting-edge technologies that enable the exchange of work over the internet.
When founding Pythian in 1997, Paul envisioned a future that allows anyone to work from anywhere. Perceiving an opportunity for the Internet and related technologies to unlock human potential, he set out to apply and invent technology that could securely connect global workforces to enterprise IT systems.
Paul was a pioneer in remote connectivity technology and lays claim to the first application of IPSEC VPN technology to enable enterprises to consume services over the internet. Paul founded Pythian as a data-centric services business with a focus on remote work, and under his leadership, the company developed groundbreaking tools that enable teams to work and interact seamlessly and securely even when dispersed across multiple continents. It is at Pythian that Tehama was born, then launched to the public in 2018, and now spun out to develop its opportunity to help global enterprises seeking to secure their services supply chain.
With Tehama now independent, Paul has redoubled his commitment to the future of work. Tehama’s Virtual Office as a Service technology makes it easy for enterprises to manage, onboard and audit third-party vendors, remote teams, and freelancers by providing compliant, secure, cloud-based virtual desktops available on-demand globally.
Paul is a sought-after speaker who was named 2016’s Diversity Champion by Canada’s Women in Communications and Technology, is active in the Council of Canadian Innovators, and the CIO Strategy Council.
Shawn Chance
Partner, OMERS Ventures
In his role as Partner, Shawn is focused on driving investments in enterprise computing technologies, including virtualization, cybersecurity, and voice.
Shawn Chance
In his role as Venture Partner, Shawn is focused on driving investments in enterprise computing technologies, including virtualization, cybersecurity, and voice. Shawn also oversees and provides strategic direction to the global operations team. Shawn has over 15 years of product, sales and marketing leadership. Prior to joining OMERS Ventures in 2019, Shawn worked at various startups, leading GTM strategy. Previously, Shawn spent five years in global product management at Spin Master, as well as five years at Microsoft during the launch of the first and second generation Xbox consoles. Shawn lives in Toronto, Canada and holds a psychology degree from Ottawa University. Shawn is a passionate motorcycle racer, rider and builder.
Mike Aiello
Chief Product Officer, HUMAN
Mike has more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry with a focus in cloud security, privacy, risk management, large scale infrastructure security, machine learning and fraud protection.
Mike Aiello
Mike Aiello has more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry with a focus in cloud security, privacy, risk management, large scale infrastructure security, machine learning and fraud protection. He uses this expertise to fight cybercrime with HUMAN as Chief Product Officer.
Prior to HUMAN, Aiello served as the CEO of AppGate and was previously at Google, where he served as Director of Product Management for Google Cloud Security leading the strategy for Google’s enterprise cloud security products. Aiello also served as Chief Information Security Officer at Goldman Sachs where he helped secure and launch Marcus, the company’s digital retail bank, and established the company’s Consumer Trust and Technology Risk Committee.
Aiello earned an MBA from the University of Oxford and a M.S. and B.S. Computer Science, with a focus on Information Assurance, from New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering. Mike serves on boards of cybersecurity focused companies and has authored several patents related to cybersecurity and privacy.
