Bring life to work

Faiz Abdulla
CEO

Faiz has over 25 years of extensive financial, operational, and leadership experience as well as consulting experience. He holds CPA, CMA, and PMP designations and has been involved in the successful restructuring of several multi-million-dollar organizations. An active member in his community, Faiz is the recipient of a number of awards for his entrepreneurial efforts, including the Economic Development of Southern Manitoba Regional Entrepreneur Award. Faiz also pioneered “The Breakfast Club” at Rise, where he demonstrates his love for getting to know everyone he works with. 

Julie Bevacqua
Co-founder

With extensive experience generating value and high growth at SaaS organizations, Julie is driving the next phase of Rise’s expansion with a focus on enhancing employee engagement and work wellness initiatives. She brings more than 20 years of experience in operational efficiencies, governance, and strategies that expand market share and drive revenue generation. Julie is also a successful entrepreneur, having started Yocale, a wellness platform for small businesses. Julie’s leadership style emphasizes her vision of “Bring Life to Work”, where employees are given the tools to not only be the best employees they can be, but also the best versions of themselves. 

Misha Abasov
Chief Operating Officer

Misha is an operationally-minded business leader and entrepreneur. Over the past decade, he's helped entrench customer and product excellence at fast-growing SaaS companies including Allocadia, Mobify, and Hootsuite. Misha has spent over seven years in the HR technology space, working directly with hundreds of organizations to help optimize their people practices.

Tim Abdulla
Chief Technology Officer

Tim is a technologist and entrepreneur with 10+ years of experience building products and leading software engineering teams. Tim co-founded the award-winning people management app Hazel, which was later acquired by Rise. Tim thrives on building great things and great teams, shipping good and small things fast, and embodies empathy and kindness in all the work he does. 

Naim Husaini
Chief Financial Officer

Naim has over 15 years of comprehensive and diverse experience in finance, with expertise in digital and financial technology, startups, and financial services. Naim previously worked at Finance360 Inc. and prides himself on his unique ability to create a story behind the numbers that everyone can understand. Through strong communication, collaboration, and team building, Naim’s track record proves how thought-leadership, innovation, and transformational change helps create sound business decisions. 

Suzi Beckett
Sr. Director, Group Benefits

Suzi has over 18 years of benefits consulting and client management experience for private and not-for-profit firms. Her goal is to lead teams and leverage industry partnerships and professional alliances to help businesses maximize their employees' health, engagement, and productivity. She is passionate about empowering organizations’ collective business and talent health. She is described as a driven and motivated leader by her peers and is a constant source of positivity on the Rise team.

Brent Christie
Director, Customer Success

Brent is a self-described veteran of the software industry, having managed implementation and client services teams in the HR, payroll, and information technology industries. He is passionate about creating customer loyalty through great customer experiences. At Rise, Brent’s focus is on building an incredible team of implementation and client services professionals to help our clients make managing HR, payroll, and benefits more personal and effortless than ever before. He is proud to be elevating our service to new levels, ensuring that top class support and guidance becomes an integral part of the Rise brand.