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.