Les Rechan thinks it’s fitting that he returned to the Ottawa tech scene this year as CEO of fast-growing AI company MindBridge Analytics. In the Chinese Zodiac, the period from Feb. 17, 2026 to Feb. 5, 2027 marks the year of the fire horse — a pairing that occurs only once every 60 years and […]
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Les Rechan thinks it’s fitting that he returned to the Ottawa tech scene this year as CEO of fast-growing AI company MindBridge Analytics.
In the Chinese Zodiac, the period from Feb. 17, 2026 to Feb. 5, 2027 marks the year of the fire horse — a pairing that occurs only once every 60 years and which many experts in Chinese metaphysical theory say typically marks a time of high intensity and rapid change.
“It’s (a year) that says, ‘Hey, I’m going to be bold, I’m going to be blazing trails as a strong horse,’” explains Rechan, who joined MindBridge in May following the departure of previous chief executive Stephen DeWitt.
The way Rechan sees it, that’s a pretty accurate summation of what’s happening at MindBridge.
Founded in 2015 by serial entrepreneur Solon Angel, MindBridge has been a trailblazer in Ottawa’s tech ecosystem ever since. Angel saw the potential for artificial intelligence to help auditors detect fraud and other accounting anomalies, and MindBridge’s rapid growth has proven him right.
Today, the Ottawa company’s software is used by customers around the world, including professional services giant KPMG and petroleum producer Chevron. The platform automatically analyzes accounting documents, flagging irregularities and other questionable entries for auditors to examine.
MindBridge has raised more than $100 million in venture capital and government funding since 2019, and the 170-person firm now generates annual revenues in the tens of millions of dollars.
Originally known mainly for its “AI-for-auditors” function, MindBridge’s technology has evolved into a tool that can help finance executives glean deeper insights from financial data as well as assess risks and make better spending decisions.
MindBridge processes $2.5 trillion in transactions weekly and reviews more than 260 billion financial transactions every week, Rechan explains. A “good percentage” of the top global auditing firms are MindBridge customers, he notes, pointing to the firm’s recently announced partnership with BDO UK as an example.
“We can be the leader in autonomous financial oversight,” Rechan says. “We know where we’re going to play within that total addressable market. We think we’ve got a winning formula in terms of not just our platform capabilities, but our models as well as our delivery capabilities.”
The veteran tech leader, who held senior executive roles at various Ottawa companies and now lives in Naples, Fla., says MindBridge has a “huge opportunity” to capture much more of the enterprise market.
The firm already works with a number of blue-chip companies in fields such as manufacturing, retail and communications, as well as with state and local governments in the United States. But Rechan says there are plenty of billion-dollar organizations that could benefit from MindBridge’s services.
“We’re really trying to align with the ideal customer profile there,” he says.
Expanded C-suite roles
Rechan wasted no time putting his stamp on MindBridge’s C-suite. Earlier this month, the company announced that chief marketing officer Mike Maziarz would take on the expanded role of chief product and marketing officer, a move Rechan believes will put a “laser focus” on customers.
In addition, chief technology officer Rachel Kirkham is now also leading MindBridge’s integrated AI, engineering and cloud operations organization, in charge of “technology strategy, engineering execution, platform architecture and AI innovation while continuing to scale MindBridge's engineering organization.”
Rechan says putting more responsibilities on Maziarz and Kirkham’s plates is part of a push to help MindBridge accelerate its growth.
“This is making us better, faster and stronger,” he adds. “They’re very hands-on, and they lead from the front. It’s all about continuous innovation and really taking advantage of some of the differentiating capabilities we have.”
Despite its rapid growth, MindBridge has struggled to maintain continuity at the top of its executive ranks. Rechan is the firm’s fourth CEO in the past five years, following DeWitt, Bill Hewitt and Leyton Perris.
But Rechan sounds like he’s eager to embrace the role.
Although based in Florida, the Niagara Falls native says he plans to spend one or two weeks a month in Ottawa. It’s familiar territory for Rechan, who moved to the nation’s capital from Silicon Valley in 2006 to become chief operating officer at business intelligence software-maker Cognos.
Rechan and his wife Meredithe spent the next 15 years in the National Capital Region, raising a family and putting down deep roots in the community. Rechan went on to become chief executive at two other well-known Ottawa software firms, Halogen and Solace.
“I love Ottawa,” he says. “We lived there for many years, our children were raised there. It’s a great city. It punches way above its weight in terms of the people, the academic ecosystem, the whole Kanata environment in terms of tech, the leadership that’s been shown by some world-class companies like Shopify, Kinaxis, Cognos in the past, IBM.”
Now, six years after stepping down as president and CEO of Solace, Rechan is back at the helm of another local software company — one he believes has a chance to join the likes of Shopify and Kinaxis as a global tech success born and bred in Ottawa.
MindBridge is already a “leader in analytics and AI,” he says, but he’s confident the company is still far from hitting its ceiling.
“Ottawa is a city that just continues to progress forward and really wants to make a difference,” Rechan says. “That’s why I’m here — to help unleash the full potential of MindBridge for our customers.”
