Trailblazing software firm MindBridge Analytics is turning to one of the National Capital Region’s most experienced tech leaders to pilot it through its next stage of growth. The Ottawa-based company, which specializes in software that uses artificial intelligence to help auditors detect irregularities and errors in accounting documents, said Thursday Les Rechan is taking over […]
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Trailblazing software firm MindBridge Analytics is turning to one of the National Capital Region’s most experienced tech leaders to pilot it through its next stage of growth.
The Ottawa-based company, which specializes in software that uses artificial intelligence to help auditors detect irregularities and errors in accounting documents, said Thursday Les Rechan is taking over as CEO effective immediately.
Rechan replaces Stephen DeWitt, who has left the firm after a two-year stint as chief executive.
In a news release, MindBridge said the move will help the company “accelerate its leadership” in the emerging field of autonomous financial oversight – meaning the use of AI to help automate various accounting and auditing functions.
“Finance is becoming autonomous, and that creates an entirely new mandate for oversight,” Rechan said in the release. “The category is real, the timing is right, and the opportunity to scale this company into the definitive AFO platform is exactly the work I want to do next.”
In Rechan, MindBridge has landed one of the region’s best-known tech executives. In a career spanning 40 years, the Brown University alumnus has worked at large firms such as IBM – where his tenure included senior postings in London and Singapore – and startups, including fast-growing Ottawa-based software firm Knak, where he now serves on the board of advisers.
In its release Friday, MindBridge said Rechan has “led multiple SaaS transformations, integrated strategic acquisitions, and navigated complex go-to-market transitions across both global and growth-stage organizations.”
After beginning his career at IBM, Rechan worked in senior management for a series of tech firms in California, including Oracle, before moving to Ottawa in 2006 to become chief operating officer at business intelligence software-maker Cognos.
When IBM acquired Cognos in 2008, Rechan was back on his former employer’s payroll, spending the next six years in senior roles with the firm’s business analytics division in Ottawa.
He followed that with his first go-around as a CEO, taking the top job at Halogen Software in 2015 when Paul Loucks stepped down. He held that position until Halogen was acquired by California-based Saba two years later.
Rechan then became chief executive at Solace, which develops technology to improve the speed of data transfers via hybrid cloud and on-premise infrastructure. He spent nearly three years at the Kanata-based firm before departing in 2020.
Rechan now resides in Naples, Fla., where he runs his own consulting firm and sits on several boards.
He joins MindBridge as the company tries to cement its status as a leader in the “AI for auditors” space.
Founded in 2015 by serial entrepreneur Solon Angel, MindBridge immediately staked its claim as a company to watch, raising more than $40 million in venture capital and establishing a foothold across the Atlantic with its 2020 acquisition of U.K.-based fintech startup Brevis.
In 2023, MindBridge signed a deal with KPMG to integrate its software into the global professional services giant’s accounting platform, ensuring the Ottawa firm’s AI would become entrenched in more than 140 countries. The company also secured an additional US$60 million in funding in a round led by PSG Equity LLC.
Now at about 150 employees, MindBridge has aggressively courted customers in verticals beyond its sweet spot in the financial services sector. Its growing roster of enterprise clients includes Chevron and other Fortune 1000-level organizations.
In addition to naming Rechan CEO, MindBridge has appointed Matthias Steinberg its new chief operating officer. It’s an expanded role for Steinberg, who has served as the firm’s chief financial officer since 2022.
The company said Steinberg will be tasked with “sharpening execution across product, customer, and go-to-market functions to meet accelerating demand” for MindBridge’s platform.
“MindBridge pioneered the use of AI for anomaly and error detection, and working hand in hand with our customers, we’ve expanded the platform dramatically,” chairman Eli Fathi said in the release.
“Today we are leading the market in Autonomous Financial Oversight, giving organizations deeper insight into their financial health and the ability to identify risk before it becomes a liability. Les and Matthias are the right leaders to take the company into its next phase, and we are confident in the team they will build on.”
