Board of directors

Ian Giffen joined Kinaxis as a Director in December 2010, became lead independent Director in 2014 and then Chairman in 2018. He is also the Lead Director of D2L Inc. (TSX-listed), a global developer of cloud-based learning software and a Director of the CSA Group, a global standards organization dedicated to safety, social good and sustainability. Mr. Giffen is active in the not-for-profit sector, currently serving on the Board of Governors of the Stratford Festival.

In all, Mr. Giffen has previously served as a director of over 30 public and private companies, including Alias Research Inc (1992-1996, Nasdaq-listed) and Macromedia Inc., (1997 – 2005, Nasdaq-listed) until it was sold to Adobe Systems Inc. for $4 billion. He has served as either chair of the board or chair of the audit committee for most of those companies and is known for his business acumen, broad financial perspective and unyielding commitment to value for shareholders.

Ian holds Chartered Accountant and Corporate Finance designations and was recently awarded the distinction of Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario.

A recognized transformation leader, Angel Mendez brings over 30 years of management expertise with some of the world’s leading companies. Until June 2020, for four years he served as the Chief Operating Officer, HERE, where he led the strategic and operational execution of the company’s core business, with a particular emphasis on operational excellence, business process innovation and systems automation. Prior to HERE, Mr. Mendez served as SVP-Cisco Transformation, leading the Accelerated Cisco Transformation Program, a multi-year effort that helped redirect Cisco's business model and enabled significant increases in growth and shareholder value. Prior to this role, Mr. Mendez led Cisco's Customer Value Chain Management organization, responsible for corporate quality, new product introduction, strategic sourcing, manufacturing, logistics, and customer service. Prior to Cisco, he served as SVP of Global Operations for Palm, where he led the company’s operational turnaround. Mr. Mendez began his career at GE, graduating from the Manufacturing Management Program and serving 11 years in increasingly responsible assignments. Following GE he served in senior executive roles at AlliedSignal, Citigroup, and Gateway, Inc.

Mr. Mendez also serves on the boards of Peloton Interactive, Inc. and Sleep Number Corporation. A native of Cuba, he holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Lafayette College and an MBA from the Crummer School at Rollins College.

With over 20 years’ experience in financial services, Jill Denham brings a diverse skillset to the Kinaxis Board of Directors. Among her past roles, she was head of the Retail Bank at CIBC, with responsibility for the European business of CIBC and before that she was President, Merchant Banking. She has also been a director of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan board and National Bank of Canada. Ms. Denham is currently a member of the board of Canadian Pacific Railway Limited. She was also a member of the Task Force on the Future of Securities Regulation in Canada. She holds an HBA from the University of Western Ontario School of Business Administration and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Robert Courteau is an accomplished senior executive with extensive experience in leading new business initiatives and achieving growth objectives with some of the world’s foremost companies. From 2012 to 2020, Mr. Courteau was the Chief Executive Officer of Altus Group Limited, a leading provider of independent advisory services, software and data solutions to the global commercial real estate industry. Prior to that, he was President of SAP North America, a global market leader in enterprise application software, with other previous roles including COO of its Global Customer Operations. Mr. Courteau has been an active board member of numerous North American not-for-profit organizations and has served on the boards of several publicly traded organizations. Mr. Courteau graduated from Concordia University with a Bachelor of Commerce degree and also holds an Honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from Concordia University.

Pamela Passman brings both top-level industry and global risk management experience to the Kinaxis board as well as ESG, climate, cybersecurity, intellectual property protection and ethics and compliance expertise. Ms. Passman culminated a 15-year career at Microsoft as Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Global Corporate and Regulatory Affairs. She advised the Board and led the company’s regulatory compliance in over 100 countries, addressing a range of privacy, security and other issues related to cloud computing, and its public policy, corporate philanthropic and citizenship work. Ms. Passman is currently Chair, Corporate and Managing Director (New York) of APCO Worldwide, a global advisory and advocacy firm where she advises clients on ESG, managing risk in global operations and the intersection of technology and policy. Ms. Passman is the former Vice-Chair of the Ethisphere Institute and former President of the Center for Responsible Enterprise and Trade, organizations that work with global companies to advance risk management internally and with their supply chains. She currently serves as a Trustee of Lafayette College and serves as the Vice-Chair of the Board of Kids in Need of Defense (KIND). She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on its Nominating and Governance Committee. Ms. Passman is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law and Lafayette College.

Betsy Rafael joined Kinaxis as a Director in February 2020, and has over 30 years of executive financial experience in the technology industry. Ms. Rafael completed a five-year tenure at Apple as Vice President and Corporate Controller and Principal Accounting Executive, retiring in October 2012. She also enjoyed a successful career at Cisco Systems, which spanned 2002 to 2007, where she was Vice President, Corporate Finance and also served as Vice President, Corporate Controller and Principal Accounting Officer. Ms. Rafael currently sits on the Board of Autodesk, where she is the Audit Committee Chair, and has also been a Director at several other innovative technology companies.

Ms. Rafael graduated magna cum laude from Santa Clara University with a B.S.C. degree in Accounting, and sat on the Santa Clara Board of Trustees from October 2012 through 2018.

Kelly Thomas has more than 30 years of experience in leading teams in design, development, sales, and delivery of supply chain management and manufacturing execution solutions. He is currently CEO of Worldlocity, a research and advisory firm, specializing in supply chain management software. Previously, he was Chief Product Officer of JDA Software, a leading supply chain management software company. Prior to that, he was with i2 Technologies, where he held a number of executive positions, including SVP of product strategy and SVP and GM of the manufacturing sector. Mr. Thomas helped grow i2 from a startup company to a global leader in supply chain management software. Prior to that, Mr. Thomas was with EDS, where he held a number of technology leadership positions and led the implementation of large systems integration and software development programs. He is a former board member of the Supply Chain Council. Mr. Thomas holds a degree in chemical engineering from Rutgers University, where he was a Slade Scholar.

John Sicard assumed the role of President and Chief Executive Officer of Kinaxis in January 2016. With nearly 30 years’ tenure at Kinaxis, Mr. Sicard first started at the company as a key contributor to the architecture and development of Kinaxis’ supply chain management solutions in early 1994, and has since held a number of senior management roles in development, professional services, business consulting, sales, marketing and customer support. Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Sicard was Chief Products Officer, overseeing all aspects of the product life cycle, including product vision and strategy, design and development, product management and quality assurance.

Before joining Kinaxis, Mr. Sicard held senior software architect and management positions in research and development at FastMAN Software Systems, Inc. (also known as Promira before being purchased by Manugistics), and Monenco Agra. Mr. Sicard earned a Bachelor of Computer Science, from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, with a strong focus on software architecture and UI Design. He is also a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.