OUR FOUNDERS

John Foresi – CEO, Co-founder and Director

As Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Venterra, John is responsible for the overall management and growth of Venterra. In addition to his broader responsibilities, he invests considerable time developing Venterra’s conservative macro economic views; and ensuring that Venterra’s financial transactional activities are consistent with these views, to deliver the highest possible risk-adjusted returns for its investors.

John has held senior executive positions in several technology companies, focusing on supply chain and customer relationship management. He also held senior management positions in transportation, consumer product industries, and investment banking, where he was responsible for valuations, mergers, and acquisitions. John has been recognized as a national ‘Top 40 Under 40’ award winner and as a top 100-impact executive by B2B Magazine. He is a former board member of Salt + Light Television and former member of YPO Upper Canada. John is the past Chapter Chair of the YPO Ontario Gold Chapter and has held positions of Education Chair and Vice Chair. He is also a current member of the Chief Executive Organization.

John holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Andrew Stewart – Chairman, Co-founder and Director

Andrew’s oversight includes strategic direction for the company, corporate governance, investor relationships, and all executional components of acquisitions, divestitures, and refinancings. He also oversees the continued build-out of Venterra’s advanced management and operational information systems; developing and deploying sophisticated mathematical optimization models to drive superior operating results.

Andrew’s extensive experience includes executive management of several software and technology development companies, as well as automotive engineering and operations management. Andrew is Chairman of Spring Rains, an organization that provides entrepreneurs in developing nations access to capital and training.

Andrew holds a Master’s Degree in Artificial Intelligence from Queen’s University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Queen’s University and TH Karlsruhe (Germany).

Voted Best Places to Work with Most Trusted Executive Teams in 2025 –

Great Place to Work® Canada has named Venterra to its 2025 list of Best Workplaces™ with Most Trusted Executive Teams. To determine honorees for the recognition, the institute reviewed Canadian organizations with Great Place To Work Trust Index™ Survey results that met the Great Place to Work® Certified™ standard. Those with the most positive Canadian team member responses related to leadership effectiveness and confidence in their executive team were selected for the award.

Voted one of the Top CEOs in 2021 –

John Foresi has been honored as one of the 2021 Top CEOs by Glassdoor, a truly amazing achievement and a reflection of our employees’ trust in him as a leader! With approximately 750,000 small & medium businesses in the US, this segment represents a significant component of the approximately 1.5 million employers reviewed on Glassdoor internationally. As part of submitting an online review about Venterra, employees are asked to report whether they approve, disapprove, or have no opinion about their CEO’s performance. John Foresi ranked #18 for this prestigious award with a 98% approval rating during the year among a very large peer group where the average CEO approval rating is 73%. Glassdoor also recognized John as one of their 2018 Top CEO