LinkedIn Top Startup Connected Makes Key Appointments to Double Down on Their Product-First Approach

Recently selected by LinkedIn as one of the Top 25 Startups in Canada, the leading product development firm Connected announces a series of key promotions in an effort to become even more "product first."

TORONTO, Nov. 14, 2018 /CNW/ - Leading Canadian product development firm Connected announced today a series of key appointments throughout the organization in an effort to bring their core disciplines—design, engineering, and strategy—even closer together and become truly "product first."

The Connected team celebrating the new promotions (CNW Group/Connected)

Lisa, James (headshot), Uzair, Jeffrey, Mike, Damian, and Jackson celebrating the promotions (CNW Group/Connected)

Connected front desk, downtown Toronto (CNW Group/Connected)

In particular, Connected Co-Founder and former VP of Engineering Damian McCabe will move into the newly created role of Executive Vice President, Product Development, providing senior leadership to the Design, Engineering, and Product guilds and leading the centralization and collaboration of all product practitioners. James Kendall, Connected's Director of Engineering since 2017, has been promoted to VP, Engineering.

The move is a key step in the Toronto-based company's journey toward creating and leading a new category of consulting, the "product development firm," bringing disparate disciplines together in order to focus holistically on developing next-generation software-powered products.

"These are well-deserved promotions for trusted builders," said Mike Stern, Connected Co-founder and CEO. "Each of them cares deeply about our people, our clients, and the end-users of our products. I feel so proud seeing the career progression of our teammates and it makes me look forward to seeing the growth opportunities they can enable for others."

Over the past four years, Damian has made an incredible impact in his role as VP, Engineering, most notably growing the Engineering team from 1 to over 100 Connectors and deepening Connected's partnership with one of its biggest clients in Silicon Valley, from where Damian returned after spending six months onsite. Damian's work has been featured on the CBC, TechCrunch, the New York Times, and other major tech media outlets.

Additional appointments include:

• James Kendall, promoted to VP, Engineering. Leveraging his mobile and cloud platform experience, James is using his unique skills to provide technical sponsorship with automotive and audio electronics clients.
• Lisa Min has been promoted from Senior Manager, Product to Director of Product. Min has been instrumental in bringing her expertise in user research and product strategy at leading startups as well as her consultative background to help automotive clients make progress in their pursuit to build software-powered products.
• Jackson McConnell has been promoted from Head of Design to Director of Design. Jackson was Connected's first employee and brings his experience in design research and prototyping to help our consumer electronics clients across a number of verticals.
• Uzair Khan has been promoted from Engineering Team Manager to Director of Engineering. As the engineering lead, Khan has driven partnerships with Apple and Google's Cloud Platform team and brings his experience in mobile development and agile engineering best practices to help our clients across a number of industries, including retail, automotive, and consumer electronics.
• Jeffrey Fisher has also been promoted to Director of Engineering after his contributions as an Engineering Team Manager. Fisher joined Connected earlier this year and has been instrumental in bringing his experience in 3D development to driving Connected's focus in the AR/VR/MR space in the media industry and beyond.

Part of Connected's journey toward creating a truly product-centric firm requires a continuous commitment to evolution and improvement, much like the software products they help develop.

"With all of these new appointments happening at once, we have taken a strong step in the direction of our 2020 goal of becoming the world's leading product development firm," Stern added. "It's been an incredible year for us and we are looking forward to even more growth and opportunities in 2019."

Since its inception four years ago, Connected has doubled in size year over year. To service its many clients, the company has grown from 83 to 160 employees in the last 12 months alone. 100% employee owned, Connected has also won a number of awards, including being named one of Canada's Top Small and Medium Employers (two years in a row) according to The Globe and Mail. Connected was also recently named one of LinkedIn's Top Startups in Canada.

About Connected
Connected is a software product development firm that partners with ambitious companies across the product lifecycle to build products that drive impact. For more information, visit Connected.io.

SOURCE Connected

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