John Baker
President and Chief Executive Officer
John founded D2L in 1999, at the age of twenty-two, while attending the University of Waterloo as a Systems Design Engineering student.
He saw that online digital tools could open the door to entirely new and more effective models, and create learning experiences that are more personal, engaging and inspiring. The company is on the journey of transforming the way the world learns.
A strong believer in community involvement, John devotes both his personal and business efforts to supporting young entrepreneurs who are developing and applying technology to improve society worldwide.
He was recognized in 2013 as an EY Entrepreneur of the Year within Ontario, received the Young Alumni Achievement Medal from the University of Waterloo, and inducted into the Waterloo Region Hall of Fame as an Intrepid Entrepreneur.
He was appointed to the Governing Council of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, is Chair of the Board of Communitech, and is a board member of Canada’s National Ballet School and other organizations.
John graduated from the University of Waterloo with an Honours B.A.Sc. in Systems Design Engineering, with First Class Honours and an option in Management Sciences.
Jeremy Auger
Chief Strategy Officer
Jeremy drives company-level strategy within D2L, and provides executive leadership of mergers & acquisitions, government relations & public affairs, corporate communications, Labs, IP Strategy, and philanthropy.
Jeremy has been actively involved in starting and running transformative tech companies for over 20 years, and was part of the founding team at D2L. Over the last 17+ years has served as the COO, CTO, and continues to take a leadership role in driving the organization’s success as Chief Strategy Officer.
Jeremy participates in a number of boards, including serving as Chair of the Economic Development Advisory Board for the City of Kitchener (Canada), a board member for the IMS Global Learning Consortium, a national board member for ITAC – Canada’s IT association, and a number of other for-profit and not-for-profit boards.
Jeremy has an Honours B.Math in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo, and a Master of Science in Management from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Brandon Nussey
Chief Financial Officer
Brandon oversees all financial and administrative functions at D2L as Chief Financial Officer.
Prior to joining the company in 2010, he served as Chief Financial Officer at Descartes Systems Group, a publicly traded software company. He was also an Executive in Residence at Communitech, acting as a coach, mentor, and advisor to both start-up and established tech companies.
Brandon holds an Honours Business Administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and obtained both his Chartered Accountant (CA) and Certified Professional Accountant (CPA) designations at KPMG LLP.
Cheryl Ainoa
Chief Operating Officer
As COO for D2L, Cheryl is responsible for delivering solutions that so profoundly amplify the impact of educators that people can’t imagine learning any other way. She directly oversees the functions of product management, development, delivery and support for all Brightspace solutions.
An accomplished technology executive, Cheryl has built innovative, high performing teams that have successfully delivered many of the web’s most popular and award-winning consumer experiences. Prior to joining D2L, Cheryl was SVP of Product Development at Intuit, a leader in personal and small business financial software. There, she led the transformation of Intuit’s product strategy to mobile-first, SaaS-based solutions. Before Intuit, Cheryl led product development for Yahoo’s market-leading media sites, including the Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Sports and Yahoo! News. As Yahoo’s SVP of Global Service Engineering, Cheryl was responsible for the reliability and scalability of all of Yahoo’s sites worldwide. Previous to joining Yahoo!, Cheryl was the VP of Product Development at A&E Television Networks/Genealogy.com, where she oversaw the development of Geneaology.com into an award-winning, profitable online subscription business.
Cheryl has been a recipient of the YMCA Tribute to Women and Industry (TWIN) Award, which recognizes women who have excelled in their fields and made significant contributions to industry in executive, managerial and professional roles. Cheryl was also a recipient of the 2013 Intuit CEO Leadership Award.
Cheryl holds an MBA from the Santa Clara University – Leavey School of Business and a BSEE, Electrical Engineering from Washington State University. She is also a member of the Industry Advisory Board for the College of Engineering at San Jose State University.
Nick Oddson
Chief Technology Officer
Nick brings over twenty years of design and enterprise-level software experience to his role with D2L as Chief Technology Officer. He’s responsible for guiding our product team as they continue to scale and develop the company’s industry-leading learning solutions.
During his previous fifteen-year tenure at another Waterloo-based software company, Nick supervised an engineering organization of more than one thousand employees distributed globally across forty offices. He worked extensively with customers and sales support teams around architecture, SaaS enablement, technical analysis of systems integrations, and optimization of deployments and implementations. Beginning in 2005, he took responsibility for the organization’s enterprise products. This included overseeing technical design and architecture evolution, overall product strategy, and further expanding the product portfolio with complimentary offerings.
In addition to supporting local startups as part of Communitech’s Hyperdrive incubator, Nick has also mentored young entrepreneurs through the University of Waterloo’s VeloCity program. He was a 2013 recipient of the Region of Waterloo’s Top 40 Under 40 Award in recognition of his contributions to the local arts and technology communities.
Nick studied Computer Science and Physics at the University of Waterloo.
Kevin Biggs
Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales
Kevin brings more than twenty years of experience building and leading global sales organizations in the sale of SaaS, enterprise software, network, and security products in highly competitive markets.
His extensive background working to scale and grow emerging companies is defined by a focus on enabling salespeople to sell solutions, not just products. This experience contributes directly to Kevin’s role at D2L as he drives the development of a world-class sales team that will support the company’s mission and vision. Prior to joining the company in 2014, Kevin was the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Professional Services at Serena Software, Inc. He previously held various senior executive roles with IBM, Blue Coat Systems Inc., and The Active Network.
Kevin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Mathematics from Drury University.
Anna Forgione
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Anna joined D2L’s legal team in 2013. Anna brings twenty years of experience in corporate leadership, technology advocacy, business development, negotiations, and strategic planning. She oversees all legal and regulatory matters for D2L worldwide. Her responsibilities include directing company transactional, intellectual property, litigation, acquisitions, and compliance matters.
Prior to joining D2L, Anna served as General Counsel Americas for Open Text Corporation and Assistant General Counsel for Geac Computer Corporation. Anna was also a founding executive of Telephony@Work. Anna is an engaged community leader and holds various directorships for non-profit organizations, The Canadian Children’s Opera Company and Bannockburn Montessori School.
Anna holds a J.D. Degree from Osgoode Hall and has been a Member of the Bar in the province of Ontario since 1994.