The Team

We are a passionate team of entrepreneurs, engineers, and designers, with backgrounds in media, technology and publishing. Our founders have a 75-year family history in the publishing business as co-founders of the modern-day Toronto Star, the largest daily print newspaper in Canada.

Nelson B. Thall

Co-Founder and CEO

Nelson is a media and technology entrepreneur with lifelong roots in newspaper and online publishing businesses. He is responsible for setting the company’s overall direction and product strategy. Nelson is passionately evolving the way people experience the web for society to reap greater rewards from the internet, making it easier to discover and discuss the web, and increasing engagement at the places people own, their websites.

Henry Thall

Co-Founder and COO

Henry runs our development team, design, and testing resources within an agile environment. He manages the end-to-end requirements, quality, and delivery of mobile and web applications on various platforms (iOS, Android, Web). Henry is a constant reader and student of media, culture and communication and how it affects the times in which we live.

Kit Gerasimov

Head of Technology

Kit’s task is to bring people closer together with Hvr by making it intuitive and natural. He is a linguist in a very broad sense of the word and studies human communication through language, signs, emotions, and technology. Kit is deeply fascinated with all things mathematical, musical and historical.

Ronen Benin

Strategist and Fractional CFO

In the last 12 years, Ronen has built five companies (enterprise SaaS, consumer SaaS, biotech/prop-tech), sold 2, and has experienced a tremendous deal of both ups and downs typical to an entrepreneur’s journey. Ronen has experience with angel and institutional investor fundraising, government innovation grant applications, product development, and anything related to managing rapidly growing teams. He is an adaptive, results-focused strategist who enjoys working on disruptive projects. Built, scaled and sold multiple ventures, including the acquisition of Tradyo Inc. by Metroland Media (a division of Torstar) in 2014.

Jackie Lee

UI/UX Designer

Jackie ensures the flow of our products feels familiar, the design system is well maintained, and the visual language meets our expectations. He designs delightful experiences for digital products by crafting visually creative and consistent user interfaces. Outside of Hvr, he continues to sharpen his craft through branding design and illustration.

Casie Stewart

Sitepartner Program & Social

Casie manages Hvr's Sitepartner program and social media. She is an award-winning content creator and expert in digital media. Casie has been at the forefront of brand storytelling through influencer marketing and started her social media career at MuchMusic & MTV Canada. Casie is also co-host of Hvr's Cast of Creators podcast.

Salman Arshad

Lead QA Engineer

Salman considers himself a reverse engineer. He tests Hvr applications and products by method of reverse engineering to make Hvr products not only user-friendly but an excellent social experience for all of its users. From designing developing and executing test plans(back-end, front-end) to beta experience is his role at Hvr. Outside Hvr, Salman plays cricket at one of the most competitive leagues in Canada. He also hosts a weekly TV show (Mien Hoon Pakistan) on an ethnic Urdu channel.   

Brett Jeffrey

Senior Mobile Developer

Brett is a Flutter Developer at Hvr. His job is presenting the hard work of the entire Hvr team through our iOS and Android apps.  He is responsible for continually improving Hvr to create a more enjoyable and performant experience. Brett is always looking forward to building the next new feature.

Jesse Capon

Co-Founder

Jesse has been awarded patents in Communication Encryption, IT Security, Digital Platforms, and Networks. Jesse has created and protected IP in the spaces of technology, music, marketing, media, telecommunications, banking & financing, app development, entertainment, higher learning,  and not-for-profit. Co-founder and Director of HVR Technologies Inc, Founder of The Joule Group. Clients have included: Google, Rogers, Cisco and TD. Attended Berklee, York, VIU, and The Banff Center.