Meet the Team

Aashti Vijh

Communications Specialist

Aashti embarked on her career in public relations after completing an honours bachelor of arts from the University of Toronto and post-graduate certificate in corporate communications from Seneca College. After almost two years in the PR agency world, Aashti joined the Ratehub.ca team as the company’s PR Coordinator. In her role, Aashti is responsible for getting Ratehub.ca noticed and noted by all of Canada’s top media outlets and influencers, while building on Ratehub.ca’s reputation as Canada’s go-to personal finance resource. In her free time, Aashti can be found planning her next travel adventure, exploring Toronto’s west end and curating Spotify playlists for every occasion.

Abhinav Dushetti

Senior QA Analyst

Abhinav was born and raised in a place both culturally heterogeneous, yet integrated by common values: India. After completing his bachelor's degree in computer science from Jawaharlal Nehru University in Hyderabad, he moved to London, Ont., to complete a post-grad diploma in information security management at Fanshawe College. Abhinav started his career as a software QA analyst working for companies such as Synergsye and Google Canada. He joined Ratehub.ca to provide impeccable financial products to help Canadians to save money. Besides breaking in software, he enjoys playing cricket with his local community team, watching movies, and spending time with friends.

Alyssa Furtado

Co-Founder Ratehub Inc., CEO Ratehub.ca

Alyssa studied business and math at Queen’s University, before going into management consulting for two years. She left the corporate world in 2009, launched Ratehub.ca on January 1, 2010 and hasn’t looked back since. Passionate about building amazing products that help Canadians make smart financial decisions, Alyssa uses her expertise in SEO to drive people to the site. She empowers the team to do their best work, which is a large part of what makes the company culture so great. Family, friends, travelling and kiting are important to her, and she is happiest when all four are combined. Alyssa lives in Leslieville with her husband Rob.

April Barcier

Director of Talent

Since 2007, April has been supporting some of the most dynamic organizations in the GTA to connect with top talent and has helped hundreds of candidates launch successful careers. April studied human services counselling at George Brown College and obtained a designation in human capital strategy. She is passionate about helping organizations to refine their brand and make smart hiring decisions through a people-centric approach. Today, April is working to build the Ratehub.ca dream team and ensure our values permeate throughout the organization. April is a proud soccer mom to her son, Roman. She loves to travel, with her favourite trip being a backpacking adventure in Nicaragua. When she's not a work, you'll find her trying out fitness studios around the city, or frequenting local festivals and music events.

Brandon Legault

Lead Software Engineer

Brandon was born in a small mining town of about 8,000 people, where his interest in computing and technology was ignited at the age of 4 when his uncle built him a DOS game. He graduated from St. Lawrence College's computer programmer analyst program in 2009 and worked in the print industry for four years, later working at a design startup and as a senior developer and development operations administrator at Bombardier Transportation before joining Ratehub.ca. Outside of work, he loves spending time with his wife and daughter. He's also a huge sports fan (Maple Leafs and Blue Jays) and keeps active with volleyball in the winter and baseball in the summer.

Chris Richard

Chief Technical Officer

After graduating from the Computer Engineering program at Waterloo, Chris spent five years in Seattle working as a software engineer for Microsoft. In moving back to Canada, Chris joined the Ratehub.ca team and helped turn the website into what you see today. From coding the mortgage calculators, to developing new features of the site, he doesn’t get away from his screens often. But don’t expect to find Chris on Facebook or Twitter. When he manages to leave his lines of code, Chris spends time with his wife and two kids, and brews his own beer at his home in Kingston.

Chrissy Spilchuk

Product Designer

Born and raised in North Bay, Chrissy made the move to Toronto to complete her Bachelor of Design degree from OCAD University. She joined the Ratehub.ca team as its full-time graphic designer in late 2014 but has since made the move to product, where she’s helping create a more seamless and exciting financial experience for Canadians. On the weekends you can find her chilling in a park, spiking a volleyball at her opponents or chasing after her German Shepherd.

Fritz Seitz

Lead Software Engineer

Fritz was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and relished a childhood of open field and skies, skateboarding, and heavy metal music. He graduated with a Programming Analyst Diploma from CDI College, and promptly took the train to the big ol’ city - Toronto. There, he scored his first software development gig at BMO. At around the same time, he began studying Computer Science at Ryerson University. Since then, he has accrued over 17 years of development experience, building software for financial, transportation, and food services sectors. In 2014, Fritz moved to Kingston with his wife and three children, to pursue a long-standing dream of having a hobby farm. He now has a flock of sheep and goats (and a very sweet donkey) to keep him busy when he’s not coding or playing guitar. Life is good.

Greye Smyth

Software Engineer

Hailing from the mountains and valleys of Vermont, Greye made the move north to pursue his Bachelor in Software Engineering at Queen's University. After completing an internship with Ericsson and graduating with First Class Honours, he took a position on IBM's open-source team in Toronto. Having left the corporate world to return to Kingston and join Ratehub.ca's new development arm, Greye is putting his engineering skills to use on new features and helping to keep the site running smoothly. Out of the office, Greye likes working on indie games and other hobby tech projects, reading novels, watching movies, and taking in the ambience of Kingston's downtown and waterfront.

Jacob Foster

Software Engineer

Jacob grew up near Vancouver and moved out east in 2011 to attend Queen's University for Software Design. After completing a 16-month internship with IBM and finishing his degree, he joined our development team in Kingston. As a Software Engineer, Jacob enjoys the variety of getting to work on both the front-end and back-end of Ratehub.ca. Outside of work, you're most likely to find him attempting to expand his musical horizons or watching football, rooting for the Seahawks and BC Lions. He also loves reading, travelling, and a good craft beer.

James Laird

Co-Founder Ratehub Inc., President CanWise Financial

James graduated from Queen’s University with an honour’s degree in Commerce and Economics. He ran College Pro Painting franchises while studying, which stoked an entrepreneurial passion. After graduating he declined an offer to pursue his accounting designation so he could continue his entrepreneurial pursuit. He bought into a small retail based mortgage brokerage and expanded it across the country, making it the 23rd fastest growing company in Canada. In 2009 James noticed mortgage consumer activity shifting from in person to online, which was the genesis for launching Ratehub.ca. Today, James runs Ratehub Inc.’s mortgage brokerage CanWise Financial which funds more than $1 billion of annual mortgage volume.

Jamie David

Senior Business Unit Manager

Jamie is a graduate of the systems design engineering program at the University of Waterloo. After earning her bachelors (and her iron ring), Jamie joined the JET Programme and moved to Japan, teaching at a local high school in Ishikawa for two years. She spent another two years in Australia as a marketing manager at Trading Pursuits, a financial education company. Ever the entrepreneur, she also started her own online retail company, Quinte Gifts, in 2016. As the mortgages marketing manager, Jamie takes care of everything related to the mortgages vertical for Ratehub Inc. Outside of the office, Jamie loves adventuring in different countries and hiking up tall mountains.

Jennifer Pollock, CPA

Director of Finance & Operations

After graduating from the Queen’s School of Business, Jennifer decided to pursue her CPA designation at EY in their Private Mid-Market group. Her finance background has made her passionate about financial education and loves working with the Ratehub.ca team to help people make informed decisions. Outside of work she enjoys theatre (especially musicals), reading, travelling, and checking out new restaurants.

Jon Vassallo

Director of Sales

Jon studied English language and literature at Queen’s University and then spent four years teaching English in South Korea and travelling around Asia and Australia. He started his sales career when he returned to Canada, first at Worldwide Business Research selling conferences to executives all over North America and Europe, then at LinkedIn where he went from sales development to account executive for their talent solutions team. His latest job before joining Ratehub.ca was head of direct sales for Kijiji. In his spare time Jon loves to read, watch movies, travel, and work on side projects to keep himself busy.

Justin da Rosa

Managing Editor

Inspired by great fiction writers of the past, Justin pursued a degree in professional writing from York University. He put that experience to use covering real estate and finance for various Canadian and American publications, while procrastinating writing his own novel. In his spare time, Justin likes to ride his motorcycle, golf, walk his dog, and binge Netflix. He believes the Toronto Maple Leafs will soon win the Stanley Cup and that there are few things as satisfying as enjoying a cold beer on a warm patio.

Kaman Hui

Senior Digital Ads Specialist

Kaman is a digital marketing enthusiast. Shortly after earning her commerce degree from University of Toronto, she decided to kick-start her career on the agency side. Specializing in SEM, she managed accounts for various clients ranging from telecommunications to automotive. Now a part of the Ratehub.ca team, Kaman helps to develop, execute, and optimize our SEM, PPC and email marketing strategies. When she’s not at work, Kaman is most likely dancing, eating or watching a movie at the theatre (all genres except for horror). She recently caught the travel bug as well!

Kayla Shaw

Senior Business Unit Manager

Originally from Chatham, Ontario, Kayla moved to London to attend the University of Western Ontario. After completing her degree, Kayla worked and travelled throughout Australia before starting a post-graduate program in corporate communications and public relations. After graduation, Kayla made the move to Toronto to pursue a career in digital marketing. Outside of the office, Kayla enjoys travelling, spending time with friends and family, cottaging, and shopping.

Luke Sheehan

VP Marketing

Originally hailing from London (the U.K. version), Luke made the move to Toronto in February 2012 as a member of the leadership team at Just Eat. Passionate about brand building in the e-commerce space, he has held senior marketing roles across a variety of businesses and sectors. Luke loves to travel the globe with his family and friends, and prides himself on complaining less about the winters in Toronto than the average Canadian.

Matt Hands

Senior Business Unit Manager

A native of London, Ont., Matt made the decision to move to Waterloo to pursue a degree in communications studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. After completing his HBA, Matt worked and travelled for a year before starting post-graduate program at George Brown College in Toronto. While completing the sport and event marketing program, Matt was able to fulfill a life-long dream of working at MLSE as an intern for the Toronto Marlies. He graduated from George Brown with honours and spent the next three-and-a-half years honing his marketing skillset at CARPROOF. A recent addition to the Ratehub.ca team, Matt is looking forward to the challenge of growing both ad sales and the deposits vertical. Outside of the office, Matt enjoy's being active, digesting all things related to sports (most notably the Toronto Maple Leafs), and checking out the latest movie releases.

Melissa Mangos

Front-end Engineer

Melissa graduated from Queen's University with a degree in Computer Science and a specialization in Software Design. After graduation, she joined the Ratehub.ca development team. As a passionate developer, Melissa founded Sudo; an organization focused on encouraging women in tech, after seeing a lack of programming resources in Kingston. Outside of the office, Melissa is usually at a coffee shop either planning events for Sudo or reading.

Nathanael Morrison

Senior Software Engineer

After spending most of his childhood in Quebec's Laurentians, Nathanael began creating web applications as both a hobby and career. Beginning in high school, he worked for a Kingston company designing and building their online store. While studying computer engineering at Queen's University, he also created client-facing portals for CMC Microsystems. Nathanael then spent eight years with his brother leading a team to create a new web content management system used by enterprises to power their intranets. He's now a part of Ratehub.ca's development team following his passion and looking to explore new challenges. Outside work, he enjoys spending time with his wife and two children, early morning runs, cycling, and gaming.

Roger Amin

Associate Ad Operations & Yield Manager

Roger graduated with a bachelor of commerce from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in 2015, and jumped right into graduate school at Ryerson University's MBA program. While in school, Roger worked for the media agency OMD. Now at Ratehub.ca, he manages processes, systems and projects that support the sale and delivery of online advertising. Roger is the New England Patriots' number one fan, and no one on this planet loves pizza more than he does.

Scott Affleck

Director of Product

After graduating with a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Queen’s University, Scott started his career working in strategy roles at Bain & Company and Bell Canada. Scott’s entrepreneurial spirit and passion for technology then led him into the world of product management, where he has spent much of the past decade building products that delight consumers. When he's not in the office, Scott spends much of his time playing or watching hockey, or traveling with his wife, Helen. If you need a trip planned, give Scott a call - he's been to over 70 countries and lived in five cities across three continents!

Victoria Shinkaruk

Business Unit Manager

Originally from St-Petersburg, Russia, Victoria grew up in Montreal and attended Desautel’s Faculty of Management at McGill University. After graduating, she worked with a number of innovative startups including Lufa Farms, the world’s first commercial rooftop greenhouse. During her three years at Lufa, she learned enough to write a book on urban agriculture. Having recently moved to Toronto to pursue a career in marketing, Victoria joined the Ratehub.ca team to help grow the deposits vertical. When not at work, Victoria likes to spend her free time painting, running, hiking up mountains, and reading books about cognitive sciences.

Wallace Welles

Lead Software Engineer

A lifelong Kingstonian and tech geek, Wallace started taking things apart and figuring out how they work at an early age. Even before having a Windows PC at home, he began learning Visual Basic and HTML. He studied at St. Lawrence College, earning a Computer Programmer Analyst diploma. Wallace spent 10 years at a tech startup before spending two years in the health care system. He's now a part of Ratehub.ca's development team doing what he loves, making stuff work together. Outside of work, when not chasing his four boys, he enjoys watching Netflix with his wife, playing video games, or playing guitar.