Ralph Desando
Director
Mr. Desando has been the Managing Director of Private Investments at Yorkville Asset Management since its inception in 2010. He is responsible for leading Yorkville’s strategic initiatives to provide clients access to investment opportunities in high quality Canadian healthcare companies through its Health Care Fund. Mr. Desando has been a member of the Southbridge Healthcare LP Investment committee since November 2012 and a board member of CareRX since November 2019. He has also served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council Compensation Fund from 2000 to 2007, and as Chair of its Investment Committee from 2004 to 2007.
Mr. Desando has a background in tax, completing the in-depth tax program from the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA), as well as assisting the institute with its tax program as a facilitator. He was an instructor at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies in the area of credit and market risk management.
Ian McLelland
Director and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Mclelland co-founded Proactive in 2006 from his spare bedroom in England after starting a blog on his own investments. After 12 months of blogging and researching how companies communicated with investors, he identified a gaping hole in how companies were tackling the shrinking coverage of financial news in the mainstream media and newspaper industry. Since then, Mr. Mclelland has guided Proactive’s expansion into the United States, Canada and Australia to present day, where Proactive has 6 offices in 4 countries with 1700 clients supported by 100 staff.
Mr. Mclelland led a Series A round with a U.K. based venture capital fund in 2018 which funded a ground up investment in people, process and products, resulting in approximately 300% growth in top line bookings. In 2020, Mr. Mclelland secured $6 million of debt from a Tier 1 Canadian Bank, completed a Series B equity round lead by a Toronto based fund, negotiated a Series C investment and Strategic Alliance Agreement and negotiated the acquisition of Adnet. Mr. Mclelland often comments that he is just getting started.
Mr. Mclelland has Bachelor of Science degrees in Biology from Trent University and in Business Development from Bournemouth University. He also completed the following qualifications: Commodities and Derivatives, and the Directors, Partners and Officers (PDO) exam, Canadian Securities Course (CSC 1&2) and Accountancy of the Canadian Securities Institute. He has held the SMF 3 (executive director) with the FCA (UK) since 2013. He obtained his Australian Securities Financial Licence in 2017.
Craig Ribton
Executive Director and Corporate Development Director
Mr. Ribton is a co-founder of the Company and is an expert in financial media, advanced web design and high impact digital transformation strategies and has guided over 500 publicly listed companies on successful IPOs. Mr. Ribton is FCA (UK) regulated and holds the SMF 3 (executive director) with the FCA. Mr. Ribton has a BA in Design from the University of Surrey and an OCR in advanced web design.
Ian McLelland
CEO & Co-Founder
Mr. Mclelland co-founded Proactive in 2006 from his spare bedroom in England after starting a blog on his own investments. After 12 months of blogging and researching how companies communicated with investors, he identified a gaping hole in how companies were tackling the shrinking coverage of financial news in the mainstream media and newspaper industry. Since then, Mr. Mclelland has guided Proactive’s expansion into the United States, Canada and Australia to present day, where Proactive has 6 offices in 4 countries with 1700 clients supported by 100 staff.
Mr. Mclelland led a Series A round with a U.K. based venture capital fund in 2018 which funded a ground up investment in people, process and products, resulting in approximately 300% growth in top line bookings. In 2020, Mr. Mclelland secured $6 million of debt from a Tier 1 Canadian Bank, completed a Series B equity round lead by a Toronto based fund, negotiated a Series C investment and Strategic Alliance Agreement and negotiated the acquisition of Adnet. Mr. Mclelland often comments that he is just getting started.
Mr. Mclelland has Bachelor of Science degrees in Biology from Trent University and in Business Development from Bournemouth University. He also completed the following qualifications: Commodities and Derivatives, and the Directors, Partners and Officers (PDO) exam, Canadian Securities Course (CSC 1&2) and Accountancy of the Canadian Securities Institute. He has held the SMF 3 (executive director) with the FCA (UK) since 2013. He obtained his Australian Securities Financial Licence in 2017.
Betty Soares
Chief Financial Officer
Ms. Soares has over 15 years’ experience as a senior executive of various publicly listed companies in the energy and mining sector. From 2018 to 2022 she served as Chief Financial Officer of Jade Power Trust (TSXV: JPWR). In 2018, she served as Chief Financial Officer of Argo Gold Inc. (CNSX: ARQ). From 2014 to 2016, she held various positions at Yamana Gold Inc. (TSX: YRI, NYSE: AUY, LSE: AUY) including Chief Accounting Officer, Vice-President Corporate Controller and Vice-President, Enterprise Financial Performance Management. In 2022, Ms. Soares also served as Chief Financial Officer of Spark Commercialization and Innovation Centre. Ms. Soares has also ran an advisory practice helping organizations across a broad spectrum of finance issues across the mining, real estate and technology sectors. She currently also is a partner of Hive Advisory Inc., a business management consulting firm.
Ms. Soares is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (CPA Ontario). She holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management (University of Toronto, Toronto), an Executive MBA from SDA Bocconi School of Management (Bocconi University, Milan) and a Bachelors of Administration from Lazaridis School of Business and Economics (Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo).
Craig Ribton
Executive Director and Corporate Development Director
Mr. Ribton is a co-founder of the Company and is an expert in financial media, advanced web design and high impact digital transformation strategies and has guided over 500 publicly listed companies on successful IPOs. Mr. Ribton is FCA (UK) regulated and holds the SMF 3 (executive director) with the FCA. Mr. Ribton has a BA in Design from the University of Surrey and an OCR in advanced web design.
Richard Cook
Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Cook has over 20 years of experience as a senior executive with the financial media and data sectors. From 2014 to 2017 he was Chief Operating officer of the Social Stock Exchange, from 2011 to 2014 he was Operations Director, Business Publishing for Centaur Media Plc and from 2006 to 2011 he was Chief Operating Officer with Citywire. From 2000 to 2005 he was Head of European Data Operations and Head of Global Product Management with Lipper, a Reuters subsidiary. Mr. Cook served as an officer in the British Army from 1987 to 2000.
Mr. Cook served on the Business Publishing Board of the Association of Online Publishers and the Periodical Publishers Association from 2007 to 2013. Mr. Cook has degrees in Russian from the University of Nottingham and German from the University of Westminster as well as an MBA in Politico-Military Strategy from the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr in Hamburg.
Peter Meadows
Chief Technology Officer
Mr. Meadows has over 20 years’ experience working in and with digital technology and investor communications businesses. From 2004 to 2007 Mr. Meadows worked at Hemscott where he advised clients on regulatory concerns while helping to shape and grow their external corporate communications within the digital space. From 2008-2009 he worked at Investis where he was tasked with managing relationships between Investis and other agencies in order to build long term relationships. Whilst at Berghind Joseph (2011-2013), Mr. Meadows was responsible for shaping and leading the digital services offering and then at Obsidian IR (2014-2016) where he led the development of the data and tools which companies need to communicate effectively and developed the business after the acquisition of Digital Look. Mr. Meadows joined Proactive in 2016 when Brighter IR was acquired by Proactive. In 2020 Mr. Meadows took over as Chief Commercial Officer before moving across to take on the role of Chief Technology Officer in 2021.
Ian Lyall
Group Editor
Mr. Lyall is responsible for all editorial and broadcast operations and activities globally. He has over 25 years’ experience working in journalism and the media industry. From 2006 to 2010 he was City News Editor & Investment Editor with the Daily Mail. From 1999 to 2006 he was UK Editor at AFX and prior to that was Senior Journalist at Dow Jones News Wires from 1994 to 1999.
Mr. Lyall has a degree in Economics from Northumbria University. He is SMF3 (executive director), SMF16 and SM17 (compliance and money laundering) qualified with the FCA.
Chris Hogg
Chief Revenue Officer
Mr. Hogg has over 20 years experience in sales and marketing in capital markets and digital products. He is responsible for worldwide sales, customer success, strategic alliances, partnerships, marketing and field operations, for Proactives 1600 + customers.
From 2016 -2021, he served as Global Head of Sales, for Nest Wealth one of North Americans first Digital Wealth platforms. In that role, he helped transform the company from a consumer to an enterprise focused business. From 2013 -2016, he served as Head of National Accounts, for Blackrock Canada. From 2002 -2007 he served as Vice President, National Accounts and Managed Accounts and Dundee Wealth.
Mr. Hogg has Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto. He also previously completed the Canadian Securities Course, Fellowship of the Canadian Securities Institute, Certified Investment Manager (CIM) and Certified Financial Planner.