Steve Krenzer will be pulling double duty at Thinkific Labs Inc. (TSX:THNC) for the foreseeable future.
The Vancouver-based online course creation company revealed Thursday it was tapping board member Krezner to serve in the new role of president. He will be keeping his seat on the board as he makes the jump over to the executive ranks.
Thinkific said in a news release his term as president is expected to last 18 months.
"The opportunity to work more closely with the excellent team at Thinkific and play an active role in advancing the business as it moves into its next stage of growth was very compelling, and one I'm looking forward to,” Krenzer, who joined the board earlier this year, said in a statement.
Thinkific was among the first B.C. tech companies to begin shedding workers this year in what would turn out to be a wave of layoffs affecting much of the tech sector both globally and within the province.
It cut 20 per cent of its 500-person roster back in March after the company completed what it described as “a rigorous review of our organizational structure.”
“We just went through a very unprecedented time – not just for the company, but for the planet,” CEO Greg Smith told BIV shortly after the layoffs.
His tech firm saw growth explode in the immediate wake of the pandemic as people hunkered down and turned to the Vancouver company’s online course creation platform, which saw activity surge 200 per cent in early 2020.
Thinkific went public in April 2021, pricing 12.3 million shares at $13 each. They’re now trading at just under $2 as of Thursday morning.
“We've been growing and adding to our team as rapidly as we can to be able to support [growth], especially over the last couple of years, and it got to a point just coming into 2022 as we looked ahead and recognized it was prudent to control costs,” Smith said.
“It really came down to controlling costs, but doing it with a view to preserving our growth.”
Just over a month after the March layoffs, Thinkific’s quarterly financials revealed losses of US$12 million – up from just under US$1 million during the same period one year earlier.
Its next quarterly financials, released in August, showed losses reached US$10 million during the three-month period ending in June. That’s up from the US$5.3-million lost posted during the same period a year earlier.
Before joining Thinkific’s board, Krenzer previously served as chief operating officer at Groupon Inc. (Nasdaq:GRPN) and CEO and Core Digital Media LLC.
Notable B.C. tech sector C-suite shuffles of 2022:
- GeoComply Solutions Inc.: co-founder Anna Sainsbury hired as CEO; replaces co-founder David Briggs
- Zymeworks Inc. (NYSE:ZYME): former board member Kenneth Galbraith hired as CEO; replaces co-founder Ali Tehrani
- Clio (Themis Solutions Inc.): Curt Sigfstead hired as chief financial officer; replaces Rob Froment
- Trulioo Information Services Inc.: Michael Ramsbacker hired as first chief product officer
- Mogo Inc. (TSX:MOGO): Allan Smith hired as first chief people officer
- BuildDirect.com Technologies Inc. (TSXV:BILD): David Lazar hired as interim CEO; replaces Dan Park (announced in October 2021, effective January 2022)
- Cymax Group Technologies Ltd. (January): Shouvik Roy hired as chief financial officer; replaces Faheem Gwadry
- Canada Drives Ltd.: Darcy Reno hired as chief technology officer
- Bench Accounting Inc.: Jean-Philippe (JP) Durrios hired as first president and CFO
- Copperleaf Technologies Inc. (TSX:CPLF): Miranda Alldritt departs as president
- Electra Meccanica Vehicles Corp. (Nasdaq:SOLO): Kim Brinks hired as first chief revenue officer; co-founder Henry Reisner resigns as executive vice-president and board member one week later
- PDFTron Systems Inc.: Cassidy Smirnow hired as CEO, Joel Martins hired as CTO; replace co-founders Catherine Andersz and Ivan Nincic, respectively
- General Fusion Inc.: Greg Twinney promoted to CEO; replaces Christofer Mowry
- Cymax Group Technologies Ltd. (July): Mike Herenberg hired as chief operating officer, Brad Kent promoted to CTO, Travis Huff hired as vice-president of sales, freight club division
- Copperleaf Technologies Inc.: Judi Hess announces impending retirement as CEO, with president Paul Sakrzewski set to assume CEO duties in January 2023.
