Bring life to work

Faiz Abdulla
CEO

Faiz has over 25 years of extensive financial, operational, and leadership experience as well as consulting experience. He holds CPA, CMA, and PMP designations and has been involved in the successful restructuring of several multi-million-dollar organizations. An active member in his community, Faiz is the recipient of a number of awards for his entrepreneurial efforts, including the Economic Development of Southern Manitoba Regional Entrepreneur Award. Faiz also pioneered “The Breakfast Club” at Rise, where he demonstrates his love for getting to know everyone he works with. 

Misha Abasov
Chief Operating Officer

Misha is an operationally-minded business leader and entrepreneur. Over the past decade, he's helped entrench customer and product excellence at fast-growing SaaS companies including Allocadia, Mobify, and Hootsuite. Misha has spent over seven years in the HR technology space, working directly with hundreds of organizations to help optimize their people practices.

Steve Bond
VP, Engineering

Steve is a seasoned Technology and Engineering leader with a demonstrated history of building great teams and products. Over the past two decades, Steve has helped launch digital products and services for top-tier brands including Nike, Land Rover, TELUS, FitBit, and Heineken. More recently, Steve has helped engineering teams scale and flourish at SaaS companies including Jane App, REW, and now Rise People.

Liam Cannon
VP, Marketing

Liam is an expert in multi-pronged strategies that bring marketing, sales, business development, partnerships, and customer success teams together to achieve and exceed pipeline and revenue goals. Over the past decade, Liam has led marketing and demand generation teams at Metadata.io, Resolve (the B2B spinout of Affirm), and MediaValet. His first-ever marketing role was with Bizimply, which is HR software for small businesses in Ireland and the UK. Liam is a metrics-driven marketer who is not afraid to get into the weeds and implement at the highest level.

James Power
VP, Sales

James describes himself as a sales enablement and strategy architect—and a poutine lover. With more than sixteen years of sales experience, he is a passionate, data-driven, dynamic leader. Prior to Rise, James led sales at Builddirect Technologies, Prime Communications (largest Rogers communications dealer in Canada), and Open Connection, a premier Telus dealer. James’ goal at Rise is to create pragmatic, scalable, and defendable growth strategies. 

Brent Christie
Director, Client Experience

Brent is a self-described veteran of the software industry, having managed implementation and client services teams in the HR, payroll, and information technology industries. He is passionate about creating customer loyalty through great customer experiences. At Rise, Brent’s focus is on building an incredible team of implementation and client services professionals to help our clients make managing HR, payroll, and benefits more personal and effortless than ever before. He is proud to be elevating our service to new levels, ensuring that top class support and guidance becomes an integral part of the Rise brand.

Suzi Beckett
Sr. Director, Group Benefits

Suzi has over 18 years of benefits consulting and client management experience for private and not-for-profit firms. Her goal is to lead teams and leverage industry partnerships and professional alliances to help businesses maximize their employees' health, engagement, and productivity. She is passionate about empowering organizations’ collective business and talent health. She is described as a driven and motivated leader by her peers and is a constant source of positivity on the Rise team.