Bring life to work
It’s the rise of people engagement
Happiness at work isn’t the cause of employee engagement. It’s the result.
At Rise, we know it, we feel it and it’s what drives us.
Engaged employees are change agents. They inspire others, view failure as an opportunity for learning, and achieve more in their role and for their company.
We’re changing how work happens—and how people work—through people management solutions that seamlessly integrate and can scale up with a company as they rise up.
Businesses power the Canadian economy—but it’s the people that power businesses, both as consumers and employees. We built Rise to help companies and their people thrive, no matter where the work takes place.
Julie Bevacqua, Co-founder, Rise People
We become the fastest-growing Canadian payroll provider.
We have a growth spurt, tripling the number of our clients.
Our name changes to Rise People to reflect our values.
We launch Rise HR, forever changing the people and culture space.
We partner with our investor Sun Life to reinvent benefits admin.
We go where you go, with the launch of our mobile app.
We disrupt the market with an integrated benefits experience.
Bonjour! We become bilingual and offer support from coast to coast.
We add career coaching to our platform.
We set a new benchmark with a record year.
Time to embark on the next phase of our journey: HR 4.0.
Leadership Team
Faiz Abdulla
CEO
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.
Kimberley LeComte
President of Rise Health
Kimberley LeComte
President of Rise Health
Kimberley is a business leader and expert with an extensive background in the health and benefits industry spanning over 20 years. She has worked with clients in Canada, the US and the UK creating human resource alignment with the business they support, creating value for dollars spent, maximizing employee engagement and wellbeing. From program design through delivery and governance, Kimberley supports a team of experts who are passionate about delivering value in a transparent and easy to communicate way. Her favorite days include problem solving, investing in people and contributing towards a healthier, more balanced workforce.
Misha Abasov
Chief Operating Officer
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.
Steve Bond
VP, Engineering
Steve Bond
VP, Engineering
Steve is a seasoned Technology and Engineering leader with a demonstrated history of building great teams and products. Over the past two decades, Steve has helped launch digital products and services for top-tier brands including Nike, Land Rover, TELUS, FitBit, and Heineken. More recently, Steve has helped engineering teams scale and flourish at SaaS companies including Jane App, REW, and now Rise People.
Liam Cannon
VP, Marketing
Liam Cannon
VP, Marketing
Liam is an expert in multi-pronged strategies that bring marketing, sales, business development, partnerships, and customer success teams together to achieve and exceed pipeline and revenue goals. Over the past decade, Liam has led marketing and demand generation teams at Metadata.io, Resolve (the B2B spinout of Affirm), and MediaValet. His first-ever marketing role was with Bizimply, which is HR software for small businesses in Ireland and the UK. Liam is a metrics-driven marketer who is not afraid to get into the weeds and implement at the highest level.
James Power
VP, Sales
James Power
VP, Sales
James describes himself as a sales enablement and strategy architect—and a poutine lover. With more than sixteen years of sales experience, he is a passionate, data-driven, dynamic leader. Prior to Rise, James led sales at Builddirect Technologies, Prime Communications (largest Rogers communications dealer in Canada), and Open Connection, a premier Telus dealer. James’ goal at Rise is to create pragmatic, scalable, and defendable growth strategies.
Suzi Beckett
Sr. Director, Group Benefits
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.
That’s our story. What’s yours?
We want to learn more about your people goals and help you create the absolute best employee experience from onboarding onwards.