Team

Keith Bates, Founder & CEO

Mr. Bates is a successful entrepreneur and investor. As a tech CEO he has raised over $12 million for his companies. Before founding Kibboko in 2008, his career included two stints at Ventures West, where his venture capital practice focused on early-stage Java, media, and wireless companies. His portfolio companies were sold for over $130 million and ranked at the top of their respective funds. His investments in wireless software developer Plazmic won the 2002 CVCA Deal of the Year Award for their high IRR. Mr. Bates joined Plazmic as its CEO and built its operations in Canada and Japan. Plazmic was the first company in the world to introduce mobile SVG software, and was bought by RIM; its technology is used in the BlackBerry's UI today. Mr. Bates holds a Bachelor of Laws from Dalhousie University.

Tel: (416) 969-0307x222
Email:

 


Patrick Gostovic

Patrick is a senior developer at Shweet.com. Patrick holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Linguistics from the University of Toronto. He has over ten years of programming and web experience. During that time Patrick designed the application for Chapters/Indigo in-store kiosks that run nationwide in retail stores. In addition to his work as a developer, Patrick is also a music producer, engineer and artist.


Bo Xu

Bo Xu is a senior software engineer at Shweet.com. Bo received a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of Shanghai for Science & Technology in 2000. Following this accomplishment he completed a Master of Computer Science at the University of New Brunswick where he earned the MITACS Internship Award. Bo has been with Kibboko, the parent company of Shweet, since 2008.


Stacey Feero

Stacey is the Manager, Business Operations at Kibboko. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts from the University of Toronto in Cinema Studies.  She has won numerous awards in her academic career including an Ontario Graduate Scholarship and the University of Toronto Graduate Award in Cinema Studies. Stacey has been with Kibboko since 2008 except during the period when she was completing her Masters degree. 


Pendar is the User Experience lead at Kibboko. He has a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto, which helps him speak the mysterious native language of the development team. When he's not busy designing experiences, Pendar likes to work on his comic strips.


Claire Midgley

Claire handles marketing and customer support at Shweet.com. She started in engineering but found her calling in the field of psychology and graduated with High Distinction with an Honours Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto in 2009. Claire has been with Kibboko since 2009.


Sally Boucher, Controller

Sally is a Certified General Accountant with more than 20 years of varied financial, operational and business development experience, working with small and medium sized enterprises, both private and public. She is a past member of the Board of Governors of CGA Ontario, and recently received an Ontario Distinguished Service Award from the Certified General Accountants Association of Ontario.

 


Board of Directors

Keith Bates


Rainer Paduch

Mr. Paduch is a co-founder of the Ottawa Angel Alliance and a Band of Scoundrels founder (Ottawa-based Angel groups) and is the Chairman of investee companies Recognia and Distil Media. Rainer was founder of iSTAR Internet Inc., successfully leading it through rapid growth to IPO. Mr. Paduch also has held senior positions with such leading companies as Fonorola, Newbridge, Mitel, Systemhouse and Canadian Marconi. Mr. Paduch holds B. Eng (Honours) and M. Eng from McGill University.

Lance Greggain

Mr. Greggain is a co-founder and CEO of Fresco Microchip, and is a veteran of five other start-ups. Of these, four have enjoyed positive liquidation events: three successful IPOs and one acquisition. Mr. Greggain was the sole founder of Jaldi Semiconductor, and served as its CEO until that company’s acquisition by Pixelworks (NASDAQ: PXLW). Prior to Jaldi, Mr. Greggain held several positions with Genesis Microchip, including CTO and VP Product Development. Mr. Greggain holds a B. A. Sc. and M. A. Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo, and is the author of 16 patents.