Jessica Pautsch

Co-Founder and CEO

Jessica is a 4x entrepreneur, a certified B Corp consultant, and strategist for social enterprise development. For 12 years, Jessica has consulted for Fortune 500 corporations, start ups, non profits, and all levels of government, including the United Nations, in areas of community economic development and sustainability.  As a facilitator, Jessica has successfully brokered multi-stakeholder agreements between governments, First Nations, international organizations and businesses.  

Since 2007, Jessica has served as the Vice-Chair of KASOW, a Kenyan based charity focusing on entrepreneurial pursuits in areas of food security, health and education.   And locally, Jessica serves on the Vancouver Food Policy Council, while also supporting the development of a dozen social enterprises, including her own: EcoTrek Tours, Social Impact Technology Accelerator (SITA) and the Mesh Exchange.  She loves food, DIY projects, and exploring the great outdoors.  

James Rowe

Programmer

James has been working for 15 years in Vancouver’s tech industry, he is an experienced business leader and software engineer focused on helping companies ensure that their technology solutions serve their business strategy.

With his entrepreneurial experience as a startup co-founder and a broad range of knowledge and skills in product management, technical leadership, and software architecture and development, James is covering many of the area Mesh Exchange needs to build our software.

Maria Verdicchio

Community Engagement & Account Manager

Maria Verdicchio is interested in environmental protection and food justice which sparked her desire to tackle the problem of wasted food. 

An experienced Account Manager with a long history of working in the food & beverage industry, Maria is responsible for community outreach and for building the bridge between the food industry and consumers. Maria’s goal is to improve the usability, ease of use, and pleasure in the interaction between FoodMesh and our customers.

At home she strives for zero waste, cooks, and practices Shinrin yoku – otherwise known as forest bathing.

Jacob McCrae

Full Stack Developer

Jacob is our newest member of the team.

He has four years of experience building web applications and has been a part of three major projects in his budding career. He is excited to help build this app and looks forward to see FoodMesh become something amazing.

From his drive to live an outstanding life, his spare time is spent focusing on personal growth and hitting the gym to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Francisco M.

Co-Founder

Francisco is an entrepreneur, engineer/technologist, and social activist. This takes him from a cross spectrum of work including progressive social issues, and developing business strategies for entrepreneurs that are developing tech related services or products.

Over the last 15 years he has been involved with several start-up companies relating to health and wellness, technology, and agriculture, all the while managing his own business which focuses on developing web based applications for small to medium sized businesses, Canadian Government and international companies.

Johanne Pilon

Supply Chain Specialist, Advisor

Johanne is Certified as a Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) APICS. She thrives in high growth companies in the food industry and is passionate about food waste reduction and increasing food security for Canadians.

As a testament of passion and dedication to her values around food security, she put in place food donation programs in 3 companies and helps out other companies set up their own programs. She also contributed to the BCCDC food donation guidelines.

Currently Johanne is the logistics manager at Daiya foods and in charge of transportation, warehousing and customer service.

She is analytical, efficiency driven, and a problem solver who believes that food waste and food security needs to be bridged so that our communities are served in a cost effective way.

Keith Ippel

Impact Advisor

With over 15 years experience as a leader in technology-centric businesses, Keith has accelerated the growth of both small and large companies, launched new products, and directly raised and facilitated substantial angel investment and venture capital. Keith’s expertise in the technology and venture space is widely recognized and he has been an advisor to a number of prominent companies including Hootsuite, Brightkit, Control, and ZeroWasteMarket. 

As a thought leader and corporate mentor, Keith has a proven ability to collaborate with entrepreneurs, employees, and investors to deliver product innovation, corporate growth and business success. Keith is passionate about creating new opportunities that previously did not exist for a diversity of people and is the CEO and co-founder of Spring, a leading Vancouver-based social venture catalyst, global startup school, and business accelerator.

Jason Butcher

Business Advisor

A seasoned professional with over two decades of hands on experience starting businesses, Jason is a well versed businessman garnering an array of knowledge in business development and planning, brand development, consulting, entrepreneurship, marketing, mentoring, leadership, strategic partnerships, funding, investing, startups and developing international business.

Specializing in entrepreneurship, business development and creating connections Jason strives to bring individuals, markets and opportunities together on a global level. Priding himself on his keen abilities as a solution and problem solver, Jason enjoys mentoring fellow entrepreneurs and advises local and international startups. Jason started Kickstart Business Catalyst to provide a facility to help entrepreneurs materialize their visions.

In his spare time, Jason enjoys hiking, skiing, travel, boating and spending time with family. He volunteers for the Canadian Auxiliary Coast Guard Search and Rescue and maintains affiliations with Virgin United, Tedx, Your GX, Internet Masterminds, DreamTalks, Futurepreneur, Startup Canada, Seedfundr and the Vancouver Club.