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Award from Waterstone Human Capital recognizes culture’s contribution to an organization’s business success    Here at Vena, we're fortunate to know that our great team and culture all come down to our people. Every day, we're proud of the culture we're building together, but today, we're especially proud and honored to announce that we have been recognized for all our collective efforts in creating a winning culture at Vena. Vena was named one of Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures for 2022 by Waterstone Human Capital. The award recognizes not only strong corporate culture but also looks at how culture has aided the organization to drive success.  "The 2022 award recipients demonstrate that putting culture at the center of strategy drives growth and accelerates performance. They actively craft high-performance cultures that drive extraordinary results and serve as an inspiration for others who want to do the same” says Marty Parker, president and CEO of Waterstone Human Capital and chair of the Canada’s Most Admired™ program. “At Waterstone, we believe corporate culture drives performance and that it’s an organization’s single greatest asset.” Vena’s CORE Values—Customer Trust, One Team, Respect and Authenticity and Execution Excellence—guide every decision and action taken across the organization. “We are truly appreciative of the feedback our employees provide in both internal surveys and employer rating sites, and are grateful to be rated highly by our amazing team. Our collective commitment to building a culture focused on personal and professional growth in the service of our customers stands out most for me,” said Tracey Mikita, Chief People Person at Vena. “From our formal learning and development programs,  Vena employee resource group initiatives and our support of giving back to our communities, Vena is focused on cultivating, embracing and celebrating all aspects of our team.”  In addition to being named one of Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Culture winners, Vena also has been recognized as one of Canada’s Top Small and Medium Employers in 2022 and has earned eight Comparably awards based on employee feedback—Best Company Outlook, Best Company Perks & Benefits, Best Company Work-Life Balance, Best Company Compensation, Best Company Happiness, Best CEOs for Diversity, Best CEOs for Women and Best Marketing Teams. The company also has received awards for its financial planning and analysis platform from organizations including Gartner, TrustRadius and others. “We are truly appreciative of the feedback our employees provide in both internal surveys and employer rating sites, and are grateful to be rated highly by our amazing team. Our collective commitment to building a culture focused on personal and professional growth in the service of our customers stands out most for me.”                                                                          —Tracey Mikita                                                                              Chief People Person at Vena “From day one, we have continuously and consciously worked to build a positive workplace culture— and it’s humbling to be recognized among a short list of Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures,” said Vena CEO Hunter Madeley. “We understand that a company built on collaboration, transparency and trust empowers everyone involved in the organization. We work to earn that trust every day—at every level of our organization—and it’s an honor to see that work recognized with awards like this one.” About Waterstone Human Capital: At Waterstone Human Capital, we inspire organizations to build high performance cultures. We’re a human capital management consulting firm specializing in retained executive search, cultural measurement and assessment, and leadership training and development. We have successfully helped hundreds of entrepreneurial-minded, high-growth organizations across North America recruit, measure, and train for fit. Waterstone is also the founder of the Canada’s Most Admired™Corporate Cultures and Canada’s Most Admired™CEO programs. These national programs annually recognize best-in-class Canadian organizations and CEOs, for fostering cultures that enhance performance and help sustain a competitive advantage. For more information, please visit waterstonehc.com or canadasmostadmired.com. Come Grow With Us We’re hiring! Vena has offices in Toronto, Canada and in London, England. Visit our Careers page for current job openings or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook to learn more about life at Vena.  

Vena’s cloud-based corporate performance management platform also earned a spot on the For Enterprise List and For Mid-Sized List Our customers have spoken and based on their top reviews, Vena has earned a badge for landing on the Overall TrustRadius Best Software List as well as the For Enterprise List and For Mid-Sized List. This recognition comes on the heels of Vena winning a TrustRadius Tech Cares Award for the third consecutive year.  The TrustRadius Best Software List celebrates products that support the evolution of self-serve buyers by sourcing and using customer reviews. To make the list, products must have more than 40 reviews from the past year and have maintained a trScore of 7.5 or higher. These characteristics demonstrate a commitment to transparency, improvement and user insights. “Vena Solutions was selected for the 2022 Best Software List as best suited for mid-sized and enterprise businesses,” said Megan Headley, Vice President of Research at TrustRadius. “These awards are based directly on feedback from their customers. Vena’s customers at mid-sized and enterprise businesses praised the product's overall flexibility, easy-to-use drill-down capabilities and ability to automate workflows.” “Powerful agile planning and reporting in familiar Excel environment.” —Vena Verified User Top-Rated Reviews by Vena Users Vena helps finance teams analyze, gain insights and report on business performance to help organizations forecast, plan, budget and report on their key performance indicators. Vena Complete Planning automates planning processes across departments and systems in human resources, marketing and sales, each of which can benefit from enterprise performance management (EPM) for forecasting, budgeting and reporting, revenue planning, workforce planning, scenario analysis and beyond. Vena’s top-rated reviews and ratings on TrustRadius are a result of the insights shared by verified users. One user shared, “Vena is easy to use and maintain. All the stakeholders in the business love it. Vena is used in our day-to-day management of the business. It has allowed us to have full transparency of our business with one source of truth. We also use it for consolidating and reporting our financials internally and externally. Vena has made it much easier for forecasting, budgeting and modeling the business.”  Other Vena users shared: “Used across the entire company for planning and reporting. Gives managers access to transaction detail and timely data. Quarterly forecasts have made planning agile and up to date based on operational changes.” “Vena has been a great platform for us to input all of our forecastings into one hub so that we can perform our consolidations. We also import our actual data into the Vena database, so we are now able to compare our financial results against our forecast and budgets to provide better analysis for our stakeholders.” “The integrations and data feeds have been managed with minimal training upfront. We have not needed to involve our IT department and that allows Accounting to manage the process on our terms and priority.” “Very happy with Vena and have not looked back.”                                                                       —Vena Verified User                                       Looking to share your own feedback? Please leave a review here. Empowering Your Plan To Grow™ “We’re always so grateful to our customers for sharing their feedback on TrustRadius. Their high rankings for Vena tell us that we are providing both the technology and operational methodology needed to set their businesses up for success,” said Hunter Madeley, CEO of Vena. “But we will always strive to be better in serving our mission of empowering our customers’ Plan To Grow™, creating market-leading products and solutions to inspire their work—across industries and markets—and guide their growth.”  Earlier this year, Vena also received three TrustRadius Top Rated Awards in the Corporate Performance Management (CPM), Budgeting and Forecasting and Financial Close categories.  Since 2016, the TrustRadius Awards have been the standard for unbiased recognition of B2B technology products based entirely on customer feedback. How are the world’s biggest brands powering their growth with Vena? Find out here.  

Vena Complete Planning, now with Power BI Embedded, empowers strategic planning, connected decision making and business agility with AI-powered insights at scale and guided business intelligence for all TORONTO, November 3, 2022 - Vena, the Complete Planning platform loved by finance and trusted by business, today announced the integration of Vena with Microsoft Power BI Embedded as part of its Insights and Analysis solution.  Vena with Power BI Embedded enriches Vena’s Insights and Analysis solution with advanced data analytics and AI-powered business insights embedded directly in Vena Complete Planning, powering FP&A, extended planning and beyond. This makes it the only Complete Planning platform with out-of-the-box, user-guided business intelligence for all. Companies can easily leverage up-to-the-minute analytics, share actionable, AI-driven insights at scale, improve communication and collaboration with interactive data visualizations and dashboards, power confident, connected decision making, and empower strategic planning and business agility at every level of their organization—all within the Vena they know and love.  “Vena with Power BI Embedded ensures our customers have all the tools and capabilities they need to drive strategic business planning and better business outcomes,” said Hugh Cumming, Chief Technology Officer at Vena. “Not only can organizations leverage advanced data and analytics capabilities such as natural language querying, predictive modeling and decomposition trees to drive agile decision making, they can also benefit from the latest advances in Microsoft’s Power BI cloud and AI capabilities in an embedded, no-code solution with out-of-the-box functionality.”     For over a decade, Vena Solutions has collaborated with Microsoft to create the only native Microsoft Excel, cloud-based CPM platform to empower the strategic office of finance—including Microsoft 365 and Power BI. Vena automates key planning processes and connects financial and operational data from across the business. This enables organizations to source meaningful insights through timely analysis and to drive agile planning decisions that deliver business value in the pursuit of sustained growth. Vena with Power BI Embedded enhances Vena’s Insights and Analysis solution as the next evolution of Vena’s ongoing strategic collaboration with Microsoft, which continues to transform how businesses Plan To Grow™. “Vena Complete Planning’s integration with Power BI combines modeling capabilities with embedded AI delivered by a business intelligence cloud in a Complete Planning platform anyone can use,” said Arun Ulagaratchagan, Corporate Vice President, Intelligence Platform at Microsoft Corp. “Uncovering deep insights at scale to maximize business performance is more efficient and easier.” Vena with Power BI Embedded leverages machine learning applied across end-to-end analytical workflows and an intuitive user experience to bring finance and operational teams together with at-a-glance visuals of key company KPIs. Businesses can future-proof their investment in advanced data analytics with free and instant access to the latest analytics and AI advancements in Microsoft Power BI. Plus, with the power of Vena’s analytical database—which connects existing source systems for optimized data readiness—they can maximize Microsoft Power BI’s AI-powered insights and analysis with Vena’s best-in-class, multi-dimensional modeling and scenario analysis capabilities to power business-wide planning.  “Reporting, dashboards, integrated data and embedded BI with guided analytics are among the most sought-after capabilities today,” said Howard Dresner, Founder and Chief Research Officer at Dresner Advisory Services. “For finance, operations and business leaders, the ability to align teams around key goals and objectives, monitor performance against those goals and, ultimately, drive better decision making with democratized access to data is increasingly critical as they look to make sense of and navigate through quickly changing market conditions.”    “Vena with Power BI Embedded is a game changer” added Dan Crumb, CFO of the Kansas City Chiefs. “With its easy-to-use, best-in-class AI capabilities, we will be able to create a collaborative data-driven culture that leverages instant, scalable insights to drive strategic planning and decision making at every level of our organization. We will be well-positioned as industry leaders in strategic finance and analytics with automated, AI-enabled insights and business intelligence capabilities at our fingertips.”  To learn more about Vena with Power BI Embedded, visit venasolutions.com or watch The Reporting and Analytics Livestream on demand at plantogrow.com. About Vena Vena is the only native Excel Complete Planning Platform built for Microsoft 365 with Power BI Embedded. Vena transforms how business, finance and operations leaders Plan To Grow™ with the Vena Growth Engine, the SaaS platform and methodology that empowers and inspires your plans and guides your growth journey. Over 1,300 of the world's leading companies power their growth with Vena. For more information, visit venasolutions.com.

Recognized for exceptional health and wellness initiatives, DEI programs and green workplace  We're excited to share that Vena has been recognized for the third consecutive year with a TrustRadius Tech Cares award. The award acknowledges B2B technology companies that have gone above and beyond to support employees and communities during 2022. The TrustRadius Tech Cares award focuses on exceptional corporate social responsibility programs, including:  Volunteerism Diversity, equity and inclusion Charitable donations and fundraising Workplace culture, including model support for in-office and remote employees Support for environmental sustainability “TrustRadius’ continued recognition of Vena’s inclusive and caring culture speaks volumes about the team at Vena, of whom I couldn’t be more proud,” said Hunter Madeley, CEO of Vena. “Our people drive our success, embodying Vena's core values in everything we do. We are fortunate to have a culture of incredibly diverse, inclusive and supportive team members who earn the trust of our customers, partners, communities—and each other—every day.” Vena has mindfully cultivated a culture of trust within the company and has established several programs to ensure an inclusive and equitable workplace. Some of the resources and policies established to support Venanites include:  A hybrid work model that prioritizes location-flexible work arrangements to accommodate individual working preferences, whether an employee prefers to work in the office, fully remote or a combination of the two.  An inclusive parental leave program that offers all new parents, regardless of gender, 20 weeks of parental leave top-up, with options to take advantage of a flexible return to work onboarding. An expanded benefits package that allows for immediate access to healthcare benefits, additional paid leave, child and senior care benefits, expanded mental health support as well as health and wellness initiatives in the workplace. These initiatives include Summer Fridays, where all Venanites are encouraged to wrap the workday early to get a head start on the weekend. The company also offers all employees a subscription to the meditation app Headspace and provides health and wellness spending accounts.  An organizational focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) that encompasses a review of the language and tone of communications (both corporate and individual), bias-free hiring practices and inclusivity reviews to ensure every Venanite enjoys equal accommodation.  Employee resource groups that support Vena’s diverse employee base, including Va11y (accessibility and inclusion), N4W (a network for women+), Melanite (for Black employees and allies), Spectrum (for 2SLGBTQIA+ employees and allies) and Mental Health (raising mental health awareness). These groups participate in a wide array of networking events, community outreach work, educational opportunities, support channels and more. Vena Cares is an additional ERG that works to help with the outreach of underserved communities, partnering with organizations, charities and companies on social impact initiatives. In 2021, these organizations included Second Harvest, Breakfast Club of Canada, Feeding America, The Trussell Trust, Black Health Alliance, Habitat for Humanity, St. Felix Centre and others. As a result, Vena has been recognized with a number of awards, including 12 Comparably Awards in 2021 (Best Company Culture, Best Company for Diversity, Best Company for Women, Best CEO, Best Company Perks & Benefits, Best Company Compensation, Best Company Happiness, Best Company Career Growth, Best Company Leadership, Best CEOs for Diversity, Best Team HR and Best Company Outlook). Vena also has received four Comparably Awards in 2022 (Best Company Outlook, Best Marketing Teams, Best CEOs for Women and Best CEOs for Diversity). Vena was also named one of Greater Toronto’s 2022 Top Employers by Mediacorp and one of Canada’s 2022 Top Small & Medium Employers.  Additionally, Vena has expanded its green initiatives, to include a widespread recycling drive for depleted batteries, foil packaging and waste paper. Vena also donates office furniture, supplies and other items to employees or nonprofit organizations, and has worked with the landlord of its headquarters to initiate an electronics recycling program for used monitors, computers and peripherals that are no longer needed or out of date.  “While the past two-plus years have placed a heightened awareness on community and inclusive workplaces, Vena was founded on the principles of trust, respect and authenticity,” said Shada McShannon, Director of People, Partners & DEI at Vena. “Being recognized by TrustRadius for the third consecutive year is a testament to every Venanite who supports our programs and community.”  "While the past two-plus years have placed a heightened awareness on community and inclusive workplaces, Vena was founded on the principles of trust, respect and authenticity.”                                                            —Shada McShannon                                                                Director of People, Partners & DEI at Vena Vena Is a Fun Place To Work. Come Grow With Us. We’re hiring! Vena has offices in Toronto, Canada and London, England. Visit our Careers page for current job openings or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook to learn more about life at Vena.  

This October, Vena’s Mental Health employee-run resource group is dedicating the entire month to raising mental health awareness and cultivating support in our workplace. The theme for the month is, “Together for Mental Health at Vena.” This is the second consecutive year the employee-run resource group—what we call a Vena resource group (VRG) in our organization—is committed to amping up its ongoing efforts to promote mental health awareness and to raise our voices against stigma in a month-long campaign. “It is all of our responsibility to reduce the stigma of mental health conversations in the workplace every day. But we wanted to do more. Setting aside a month each year to highlight the importance of this work and to make it a top priority can make a huge impact on the overall health and happiness of employees—at work and at home,” says Jean Goldsmith, Mental Health Co-chair and Director, Learning & Development at Vena. "Setting aside a month each year to highlight the importance of this work and to make it a top priority can make a huge impact on the overall health and happiness of employees—at work and at home.”                                                                        —Jean Goldsmith                                                                           Mental Health Co-chair and Director,                                                                                        Learning & Development at Vena   Mental Illness Awareness Week  The month-long celebrations are in recognition of World Mental Health Day and Mental Illness Awareness Week. Each week will kick off with a Well-Being Monday, an opportunity for Venanites to start their week off with balance, calm and a healthy state of mind. Some planned activities include practicing gratitude, getting in the flow state (art explorations and bullet journalling) and stress relief tips for parents and kids.  Mindfulness and Meditation Tuesdays will be devoted to the sharing of Headspace tips. This year, Vena was excited to offer our employees a subscription to Headspace, the digital mindfulness program that offers more personalized support, guidance, tools and access to mental health and wellness resources. The app also provides support for parents/caregivers and their children. (Learn more about our wellness-first workplace here.) Mid week, meditation sessions will be offered by Greg Jones, the Mental Health VRG’s other Co-chair and Director, Facilities at Vena. “We wanted to promote the idea that the workplace doesn’t have to be a place filled with anxiety and stress. With the right tools and support, it can be an ideal place for mindfulness and meditation. Finding time in your day to meditate at work helps reduce stress while boosting focus, energy and productivity,” says Greg. “We wanted to promote the idea that the workplace doesn’t have to be a place filled with anxiety and stress. With the right tools and support, it can be an ideal place for mindfulness and meditation."                                                                      —Greg Jones                                                                          Mental Health Co-chair and Director,                                                                                         Facilities at Vena                                                                                           Mental Health Professionals Each week will also feature various talks along with lunch and learn sessions given by health and wellness professionals working in different fields: Marie-Claire Conlin, Education Specialist, Gambling, Gaming and Technology Use (GGTU) at CAMH, will be hosting a talk on digital well-being and burnout. Dr. Merry Lin, Clinical Psychologist, Author and Podcaster will host a session on the seven forms of rest. Chris Coulter, Co-Executive Director, HowAreYouFeeling.org, will give a talk on helping kids understand their feelings as the key to a satisfying life. Meghan Lloyd, Registered Social Worker and experienced Psychotherapist, MA, MSW, RSW, will be hosting a talk on navigating transitions and anxiety.                                 Image: Courtesy of Marie-Claire Conlin Mental Health and Laughter The Mental Health VRG is also excited to bring all Venanites together for an evening of fun and laughs as they present their second annual Virtual Comedy Night. Hosted by Marlena Kaesler and featuring guests, including Amy Yu, Gordon Hecht, Rush Kazi, Ada Nicolle, Andy Wong, Elizabeth Rasiuk, Matthew Ardill and headliner Marc Hallworth—all mental health advocates—the evening promises to delight the audience as the comedians share their own personal tales and struggles with mental health. “We want to remind everyone that it’s okay to laugh about mental health,” says Marlena Keasler. “Using humor to engage our audiences in discussions about mental health helps reduce the stigma.” Image: Courtesy of Rush Kazi Image: Courtesy of Amy Yu Image: Courtesy of Marc Hallworth Vena Is a Fun Place To Work. Come Grow With Us. We’re hiring! Vena has offices in Toronto, Canada and in London, England. Visit our Careers page for current job openings or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook to learn more about life at Vena.

We strive to ensure ALL belong at Vena. We know how important it is. We live it and we feel it every day in our workplace, but when our employees tell us so, we know we’re right on track to making diversity, equity and inclusion a top priority across every level of our organization. We’re extremely thankful to our employees for their feedback and so pleased to announce that because of their ratings at Comparably, a leading workplace culture and corporate brand reputation platform, our CEO Hunter Madeley has been named to Comparably’s 2022 annual lists for Best CEOs for Women and Best CEOs for Diversity. Hunter took the helm at Vena at the tail end of 2019 to continue his track record of leading transformational growth at some of the cloud’s most important companies. He was instrumental in guiding Vena forward with responsiveness, empathy and support for its employees, customers and community throughout the pandemic and continues to lead the company with a growth mindset. This includes helping Vena raise $300 million in Series C funding and strategically building Vena’s executive leadership team to power scale and industry-leading growth with the recent appointments of Le Huong Truong, Allison Munro and Hugh Cumming. Comparably’s 5th Annual list of Best CEOs for Women represents the top-ranked CEOs based on anonymous sentiment ratings from female employees on Comparably.com over a 12-month period (June 24, 2021 through June 24, 2022). Said Comparably CEO Jason Nazar, “The chief executives on this year’s list have fostered company cultures that embrace diversity and inclusion, as shown by the feedback from their female employees. The consensus is that these top-rated CEOs lead with empathy and emotional intelligence.” Comparably’s annual list of Best CEOs for Diversity represents the top-ranked CEOs based on anonymous sentiment ratings from BIPOC employees (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) on Comparably.com over the same 12-month period. According to Nazar, all CEOs on this year’s list understand that listening to and promoting the voices of all diverse employees is critical and implement equity and inclusion at the forefront of how they lead. “Every day, we strive to find ways to be better and to do better within our workplace, for our customers and in the community." —Hunter Madeley CEO, Vena “I’m proud to work with great people who support each other and hold one another accountable  to living our Core Values—Customer Trust, One Team, Respect & Authenticity and Execution Excellence —here at Vena, and any recognition we receive is a direct result of our collective efforts,” says Vena CEO Hunter Madely. “Every day, we strive to find ways to be better and to do better within our workplace, for our customers and in the community. It is an honor to be recognized for these awards, but more than anything, they are a reflection of the culture and the company we are all building together.” In 2022, Vena also won Comparably Awards for Best Company Outlook and Best Marketing Teams. Read about it here. DEI at Vena Our One Team spirit and CORE values drive us to make a difference inside and outside of Vena and that starts with our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at Vena. Our DEI efforts are focused around four pillars: Talent Attraction and Acquisition, Employee Experience, Leadership and Learning, and VRG and Community Impact. Our employees are engaged in our DEI efforts and value the strides that we’ve made in building a diverse, inclusive culture.  We are just as committed to Making a Difference in our communities. To ensure equal rights and opportunities for everyone, and offer assistance to those suffering during challenging times, we partner with organizations, charities and companies with powerful social impact initiatives. We have come together to raise funds for organizations such as Second Harvest, Breakfast Club of Canada, Feeding America, The Trussell Trust, Black Health Alliance, Habitat for Humanity, St. Felix Centre and more through company-led initiatives and our Vena Cares employee resource group. This group inspires Venanties to positively impact causes that are meaningful to them. Vena Cares is just one of our seven employee-led and company-supported Vena Resource Groups (VRGs), each of which have a platform to join the conversations happening internally and externally—with company-provided best practice support guidelines and annual budgets to support them. Each group has an executive sponsor from our leadership team and receives ongoing support from Shada McShannon, our Director, People Partners & DEI. Our other VRGs include: Network for Women (N4W): Empowering women+ in the tech sector. Green Team: Promoting sustainable and environmentally responsible habits at Vena and beyond. Their efforts have led to Vena making more eco-friendly choices and have encouraged employees to make their own sustainable lifestyle choices. Va11y (our accessibility group): Acting as the voice of an accessible Vena by representing the needs of our customers, staff and collaborators. Mental Health VRG: Raising broader mental health awareness in an effort to normalize and destigmatize mental health conversations, reduce barriers to accessing health and empower Venanites to create a supportive work environment. This year, we were also delighted to celebrate the formation of two new VRGs: Melanite (for Black employees and allies): Open to all employees looking to learn, grow and contribute to a diverse, inclusive and supportive work environment. Spectrum: Dedicated to creating and nurturing a safe community for 2SLGBTQIA+ members and allies at Vena. All of our employees company-wide are also given time to volunteer each year and are encouraged to support an organization, charity or cause of their choice. We also recently introduced company-sponsored volunteer days to further support collaboration and team building. Vena wrapped up 2021 with Comparably Awards for Best Company Culture, Best Company for Diversity, Best Company for Women and Best CEO? Learn more here. Our Open Door Policy On Comparably, one of our Vena employees shared, “They value employees and always want to hear from us about our culture. They embrace an open door policy and they are approachable. They are always trying to ensure Vena is a supportive, inclusive and great place to work!” At Vena, we always encourage transparency and open communication in our workplace, even when it’s uncomfortable. When we act with our better, better, never best mentality, we are constantly striving for improvement across all areas of our organization.  "They value employees and always want to hear from us about our culture. They embrace an open door policy and they are approachable. They are always trying to ensure Vena is a supportive, inclusive and great place to work!" —Anonymous Reviewer Comparably So how do we do this? We ask for feedback and we ask for it often, through surveys, at our Ask Me Anything open discussions at our weekly town halls and through our internal communication channels. And it doesn’t end there. Feedback isn’t just boxes to check. We take employee feedback seriously and act on it. For instance, based on employee feedback, we recently made changes to our Parental Leave Policy to make it more inclusive and equitable. Read all about it here. Come Grow With Us Vena is hiring! We are a hybrid remote-office workplace with offices in Toronto, Canada and  London, England. Visit our newly launched Careers site for current job openings and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook to learn more about life at Vena. Vena was named one of Greater Toronto’s 2022 Top Employers. Click here. About Comparably Comparably is a leading workplace culture and corporate brand reputation platform with over 15 million anonymous employee ratings on 70,000 companies. With the most comprehensive data on large and SMB organizations in nearly 20 different workplace categories—based on gender, ethnicity, age, experience, industry, location, education —it is one of the most used SaaS platforms for employer branding and a trusted third party site for workplace culture and compensation. Click here for more information on Comparably’s studies and annual Best Places to Work & Best Brands Awards. For the full list of Comparably awards Vena won in 2021, click here.

Truong to guide Vena’s legal affairs as SVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary Today, we're delighted to announce that Le Huong Truong has been promoted to Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary and will join Vena’s executive leadership team led by CEO Hunter Madeley. “It’s important for all leaders to find the right balance of speed and certainty, especially in our high-growth environment,” said Madeley. “Le’s strong, stable advice and counsel have provided a solid foundation for Vena’s continued success. We are fortunate to be able to lean on and learn from Le as we continue to build our company and culture.” Truong joined Vena as Vice President and General Counsel in 2020, leading the legal function to deliver on its core mandate of managing risk and driving growth at scale. She was also instrumental in completing Vena’s Series C funding round, which raised approximately $300 million in one of the largest funding rounds for a Canadian tech company. Previously, Truong served as Senior Corporate Counsel at technology solutions provider CDW, overseeing the company’s Canadian legal function as a member of its Canadian leadership team. Prior to that, she served as Legal Counsel for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation and as an associate at the law firm Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP. Truong holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Waterloo. She also earned a master’s degree in Business Administration and a Juris Doctor from the University of Toronto. “It’s an honor and a privilege to serve on the executive leadership team alongside Hunter and so many other talented Venanites,” Truong said. “Coming off a record-setting first half, I am excited at the opportunity to help guide our company in its mission and in the continued service of our customers.”

Supported by over 120 partners, Vena’s cloud-based corporate performance management (CPM) platform helps 1,300+ customers achieve business agility in an uncertain economy Today, we are thrilled to announce that Vena has achieved banner year-to-date growth, reaching new milestones in its ecosystem of strategic partners and engagements with global customers. These milestones were driven by our dedicated employee base—which has grown to more than 650 Venanites—all committed to the company’s mission to transform the way organizations Plan to Grow™. Since the start of the year, Vena has added nearly 200 new customers globally. Companies choose Vena for its ability to drive agility and resilience in their financial and operational planning processes as they deal with the uncertainty of the current economic climate. New customers include growth-focused organizations in professional sports, financial services, healthcare, logistics and more.    “We are grateful to have the trust of global organizations as they seek to get ahead of constant shifts in their operating environment. It’s clear that these teams are creating real customer value and developing organizational resilience, and we are thrilled to be contributing to their success.” —Hunter Madeley                                                                                      CEO, Vena   Additionally, Vena has made some significant moves to expand its ecosystem footprint and market presence. The company recently appointed Allison Munro as Chief Marketing & Ecosystem Officer and expanded its ecosystem and presence in markets, including the UK and EMEA, with 20 new partner organizations, including Verostone, Moore Insight, GRF CPAs & Advisors and Stoneridge Software. They join a thriving partner ecosystem that includes leading organizations such as Microsoft, Citrin Cooperman, Finext, Fluence, Prolytics, Syvance, the Kansas City Chiefs and more. Vena’s partner network is supported through the Vena Partner Program, which provides the company’s alliances with services, training and enablement to accelerate their growth.   Other highlights of the fiscal year to date include: 40%+ growth in revenue and employee headcount (and we're still growing) “Top Rated” Awards for Corporate Performance Management, Budgeting and Forecasting and Financial Close from TrustRadius Designation as one of Canada’s Top Small and Medium Employers (2022) by Mediacorp Canada Inc., organizers of the annual Canada’s Top 100 Employers ranking Four Comparably Award wins: Best Company Outlook and Best Marketing Teams in Q1; Best CEOs for Diversity and Best CEOs for Women in Q2 Continually ranked as the top financial planning software on G2’s Top 50 Accounting & Finance Products list In addition, in May Vena held its annual conference for finance and operations professionals, Excelerate =SUM(it), with more than 50 speakers and over 25 hours of CPE/CPD learning sessions, covering topics such as agile budgeting, revenue planning, scenario modeling, workforce planning, best practices in Microsoft Excel and Power BI, finance-led business partnering and more.  “We are grateful to have the trust of global organizations as they seek to get ahead of constant shifts in their operating environment. It’s clear that these teams are creating real customer value and developing organizational resilience, and we are thrilled to be contributing to their success,” said Vena CEO Hunter Madeley. “With the support of our dedicated employees and our amazing partners, Vena is on a trajectory to achieve another record-setting year in 2022.”

Together, Vena and Microsoft will put finance at the heart of strategy with leading cloud-based data analytics capabilities Today, we are delighted to announce a technology collaboration with Microsoft, which includes mutual investment in product, solution and platform innovation to empower the strategic office of finance. The modern finance function is quickly becoming the linchpin for business-wide collaboration, decision making and agile planning in an uncertain and volatile business environment. The collaboration will unlock the full power of the Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 clouds within the Vena platform to place finance firmly at the heart of business strategy—enabling teams to connect financial data to strategic and operational plans, model multiple scenarios, create robust workflows and deliver actionable insights at scale to help stakeholders proactively adapt business models to dynamic market conditions. "This collaboration represents a next-level investment in our ecosystem and product offering to revolutionize the role of finance as a strategic business partner," said Hugh Cumming, Chief Technology Officer, Vena. "Through Vena's native integrations with Excel and Microsoft Power BI, we will continue to expand our investment in Microsoft's leading cloud-based data analytics capabilities and help finance teams find new ways to harness vast amounts of data, create meaningful insights and drive optimal business outcomes." "This collaboration represents a next-level investment in our ecosystem and product offering to revolutionize the role of finance as a strategic business partner."                                                                                                              —Hugh Cumming                                                                                      Chief Technology Officer, Vena A Collaboration That's Transformed the Future of Business Planning for Over a Decade The announcement builds on more than a decade of collaboration between Vena and Microsoft to transform how businesses Plan To Grow™, creating the only Native Microsoft Excel, cloud-based corporate performance management platform built for Microsoft 365 with Power BI Embedded. Vena Complete Planning automates key finance-led planning processes and connects data from core financial, ERP, CRM and all other critical source systems to power FP&A, extended planning and other spreadsheet-powered business processes in a single platform. "Together with Vena, we are committed to empowering the strategic office of finance to lead through uncertainty—driving agility, managing risk and advancing the business with the power of predictive analytics and real-time data visualization," said Arun Ulagaratchagan, Corporate Vice President, Intelligence Platform at Microsoft Corp. To learn more about how Vena customers are benefiting from the latest Microsoft product advancements, watch The Power of Vena and Microsoft featuring Vena Chief Technology Officer Hugh Cumming and Microsoft Chief Financial Planning & Orchestration Officer Wendy Braithwaite, a Vena Excelerate =SUM(it) 2022 on-demand replay available at Plantogrow.com. A Shared Mission To Drive Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace Vena was recently recognized as a winner in the 2022 Gavriella Schuster IAMCP D&I Partner of the Year Awards. The annual awards are the product of the IAMCP (International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners) D&I (Diversity & Inclusion) Committee in its recognition of the work that Gavriella Schuster, former Corporate VP, One Commercial Partner, Microsoft, has done in the promotion of workplace equity for all.  As a Microsoft Partner, Vena not only remains committed to investing in product and solution innovation, but also aligning around a shared mission to cultivate a strong culture of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in the workplace. Vena's DEI policies and efforts, along with the work of its employee resource groups, aim to create the space and freedom for employees to be themselves and to celebrate and value our differences. "We are extremely proud to have been given this award and to have been recognized within the Microsoft Partner Channel by IAMCP and Gavriella Schuster, whose work in this area has been transformational," said Allison Munro, Chief Marketing & Ecosystem Officer, Vena. "We deeply believe that diversity in hiring talent brings perspectives that collectively help us better serve our customers and make our purpose-led organization stronger."   Click here to learn more about Vena partnering with Microsoft.  

Both the level of uncertainty and the pace of change over the last few years have cemented how important trust is in managing our organizations and cultures.  Here at Vena, trust is an important part of our company culture. In fact, Customer Trust is one of Vena’s four core values. It’s one of the things we value above all else. We are One Team (another core value) with many voices and one purpose. We trust each other and are united in the service of our customers and our purpose. “We understand that a company culture built on trust empowers everyone. It sets the foundation for collaboration, creativity, innovation and growth. But we also understand that trust must be earned. That’s why we work hard every day to build and maintain that trust at Vena—at every level of our organization,” says Vena CEO Hunter Madeley. “We all do our best to walk our talk, to align our behavior with our core values and to keep our promises to our people, customers and communities.” Building a Winning Culture On Comparably, a leading workplace culture and corporate brand reputation platform where employees can leave anonymous ratings and reviews about their employers, one of our Vena employees shared, “I appreciate the transparency with which they lead this company. It is refreshing! There are no egos, no politics or hidden agendas. They do a great job of communicating a vision and helping everyone understand what their role is in achieving it.” It’s true, leading with transparency and building trust in our workplace starts with our leaders, but these are shared responsibilities across the culture. We all strive to be transparent, collaborative and to lean on each other to do great work together—at the best of times and especially when facing adversity. We celebrate our collective wins, but are always looking for new ways to grow and to better serve our customers and our culture. Our customer and employee NPS processes have been invaluable in shaping the value we provide and we’re always grateful for the feedback. We feel that Trust is strengthened with each cycle of feedback and action, and we’re excited for the future we’re creating together. Last year, our employee ratings and reviews earned Comparably Awards for Best Company Culture, Best Company for Diversity, Best Company for Women and more. For the full list of Comparably awards Vena won in 2021, click here. Did you know Vena was named one of Greater Toronto’s Top Employers in 2021 and one of Canada’s 2022 Top Small & Medium Employers? “I appreciate the transparency with which they lead this company. It is refreshing! There are no egos, no politics or hidden agendas.”                                                                                                          —Anonymous Reviewer                                                                                                              Comparably Employee Feedback Building trust within our organization is also heavily reliant on our employee feedback. It influences the happiness of our team, the quality of our execution and the satisfaction of our customers. We invest in our team’s growth, nurture their interests and skills and provide support for their mental, emotional and physical well-being. In our culture of open communication, not only do we frequently ask for employee feedback, we take action on that feedback. Some of the ways we took action on employee feedback are reflected in the recent changes we made to our Parental Leave Program which put inclusivity, equity and flexibility at the forefront of our policy. We also expanded our health and wellness initiatives to offer additional support to our employees. “Ensuring our employees feel valued, heard and appreciated is part of our every day,” says Vena Chief People Person Tracey Mikita. “At every stage of our employees’ journeys, we work to ensure that they have the tools and support they need in their personal and professional lives to excel in their roles.” We call it Respect & Authenticity (another core value). Employees want to feel valued and empowered to do their best work. To do that, we strive to provide them with a safe space and the freedom to be themselves so they can feel a deep sense of belonging and togetherness. Our employee-run resource groups, what we call Vena Resource Groups (VRGs), are one of the ways we aim to create the space and freedom for our employees to be themselves and to celebrate and value our differences. Through our various VRGs, including our new Spectrum (2SLGBTQIA+) and Melanite (Black employees) groups, employees are encouraged to bring together their diverse perspectives and experiences and are given a platform to join the important conversations happening internally and externally. When our employees can bring their authentic selves to work, we can all work closely together to do great work in the service of customers—and take pride in Execution Excellence (another core value). After all, it’s the many dimensions of diversity that give us strength and push us to think differently and to be better. "Ensuring our employees feel valued, heard and appreciated is part of our every day.”                                                                                                                 —Tracey Mikita                                                                                              Chief People Person, Vena Customer Trust and Service In order to best serve our customers and to ensure the security and integrity of their data, all of our employees are part of our culture of security. Our organization-wide commitment to trust and security means we all care deeply about helping our customers grow and succeed and act with their best interests in mind. We employ best-of-breed technologies and stringent operational processes to ensure customer data is safe at all times. You can read more about our commitment to Customer Trust here. Commitment to Innovation In serving our mission of helping our customers Plan To Grow™, we’re aware that our customers look to Vena, the only native Excel Complete Planning platform built for Microsoft 365 with Power Embedded, to help them build agility and resilience in their financial and operational planning processes. To learn how industry leaders are growing a healthier business through a smarter approach to planning with Vena, read our Customer Stories. Recently, the feedback of our customers and community helped us earn 2022 Top Rated Awards from TrustRadius for Budgeting and Forecasting, Corporate Performance Management and Financial Close. Actually, the trust they have in Vena strengthens our ongoing commitment to product innovation that puts the needs of our customers front and center. Our tailored solutions that serve all industries are an example of building with Customer Trust top of mind. Interested to know how much verified users value Vena? Click here to read their reviews. These accolades that are a direct result of our customer feedback drive us to do even more for our community of customers and partners, especially when it comes to excelerating their personal, professional and business growth at plantogrow.com. From events, forums, free financial Excel templates and the Vena Academy, there are so many opportunities for members to learn, connect and grow in a diverse community of finance and operations professionals. Come Grow With Us Interested in learning more about Vena’s winning culture and growth? Vena is hiring! We are a hybrid remote-office workplace with offices in Toronto, Canada and London, England. Visit our newly launched Careers site for current job openings and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook to learn more about life at Vena.