Howatson’s experience scaling companies and building high-performing global finance organizations will guide Vena through its next phase of growth
We're pleased to announce that Melissa Howatson has joined Vena's executive team as chief financial officer, reporting to CEO Hunter Madeley. 
Howatson joins Vena at a pivotal moment in its growth trajectory. The company recently grew its global team to more than 700 employees and, despite economic headwinds, has achieved record performance over the course of 2022, propelled by industry-leading customer satisfaction ratings and new milestones in its ecosystem of strategic partners and engagements with global customers.
In her new role, Howatson will help lead Vena through its next phase of growth, driving operational scale and agility in service of Vena’s ecosystem of customers, partners, employees and community.
“Vena has grown tremendously in the past year, and we were looking for a finance leader who has successfully guided companies toward their next milestone,” said Madeley. “Melissa brings a great combination of scale-up and start-up experience, a strong financial and consulting background spanning industries such as edtech, ‘Big Four’ accounting and automotive and a proven history of building and leading high-performing global finance organizations. We are thrilled to have her join us on our journey.”
Howatson joins Vena after almost a decade at D2L, a global learning technology company, where she served as CFO, was a member of the board of directors and led the completion of D2L’s initial public offering in 2021. Prior to D2L, she held finance leadership positions at Bend All Automotive, Qwalify and Primal. She obtained her CPA-CA designation while working in the assurance practice at KPMG.
“Vena enables finance to evolve from being simply an aggregator of data to a strategic business partner that delivers insight and analysis to drive agility, resilience and stronger decision making. The time is right for finance teams to harness the power of Vena ..."
—Melissa Howatson
CFO at Vena
"Throughout my career, I have seen firsthand the value that finance teams can bring to the larger organization and the important role they can play in moving the business forward,” said Howatson. “Vena enables finance to evolve from being simply an aggregator of data to a strategic business partner that delivers insight and analysis to drive agility, resilience and stronger decision making. The time is right for finance teams to harness the power of Vena, and I’m excited to work with Hunter and the team to deliver the utmost value for our customers and guide Vena through its next phase of growth.”
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