Leadership | Descartes

Leadership

Management Team

Descartes' management team is comprised of experienced logistics operators that specialize in operations, technology, marketing and sales. The team has deep domain expertise in logistics and distribution and can use first hand experiences to address the challenges our customers face. The team is committed to building and managing a world-class organization focused on serving and delivering results for our shareholders and customers.

Edward J. Ryan
Chief Executive Officer
Ed Ryan serves Descartes as Chief Executive Officer and is a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Ryan guides the company’s long-tenured executive management team and drives its growth and M&A strategies. Prior to taking on his current role in 2013, Mr. Ryan led Descartes’ global sales and marketing operations as Chief Commercial Officer after having served as Executive Vice President of Global Field Operations. Mr. Ryan brings more than 30 years of experience in supply chain and logistics technology to the company and its customers. Prior to joining Descartes in 2000, Mr. Ryan led commercial operations at E-Transport where he helped grow the business from its early start-up days to the successful ocean network acquired by Descartes.

J. Scott Pagan
President and Chief Operating Officer
As President and Chief Operating Officer, Scott oversees Descartes’ operations. This includes Descartes’ research and development activities, Global Logistics Network service delivery, implementation and activation services, corporate development initiatives, corporate communication strategies, and legal and administrative functions.

Scott previously served as the company’s Chief Corporate Officer and Corporate Secretary. Prior to joining Descartes in May 2000, Scott worked in a private law practice in Southern Ontario, where he specialized in corporate and intellectual property law. He was a finalist in the Lexpert 2006 Top Lawyers and General Counsel under 40 and in the 2011 Canadian General Counsel Awards Business Achievement category.

Allan Brett
Chief Financial Officer
As Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Allan Brett is responsible for Descartes' worldwide financial and administrative functions.

Allan is an experienced public company executive, who served as CFO of Aastra Technologies Limited from June 1996 through to its January 2014 sale to Mitel Networks Corporation. In his 18 years at Aastra the company grew to over $600 million in revenues and 2,000 employees, with more than 60 consecutive quarters of profitability.

Raimond Diederik
Executive Vice President, Information Services
As Executive Vice President, Information Services, Raimond Diederik is responsible for Research and Development, Customer Support, IT Operations and Data Managementsolutions for Descartes.

Raimond has over 20 years of experience managing logistic information systems, and has played a key role at Descartes since joining the organization in 1993. Prior to Descartes, Raimond worked as an Infrastructure Consultant with the Research & Development group of P&O Nedlloyd’s Information Technology Division.

Ed Gardner
Executive Vice President, Corporate Development
As Executive Vice President, Corporate Development, Ed Gardner is responsible for the development and execution of Descartes’ M&A strategy.

Ed joined Descartes in 2003 where he first held a number of senior roles within our corporate finance organization.  His previous experience includes both practical logistics experience where he worked in a senior leadership position at a third party logistics provider, as well as deal execution and integration experience as part of Ernst & Young’s Transaction Advisory Services practice in London, England.

William (Bill) Green
Executive Vice President, Global Sales
William (Bill) Green leads Descartes’ global sales organization, focusing on driving customer success and accelerating revenue growth through the development of high-performing teams. Since joining Descartes in 2020, he has guided the North American sales team with a strong emphasis on understanding customers’ business challenges and delivering real value through Descartes’ solutions. Bill’s leadership centers on coaching and empowering teams, building trusted client relationships, and aligning sales strategies to boost demand and customer success. With over 30 years of experience, Bill has held senior sales roles at companies such as Salesforce, CDC Software (now Aptean), and i2 Technologies. He earned his Honors Business Administration degree from the Ivey Business School at Western University.

Maija Michell
Senior Vice President Human Resources
As SVP, Human Resources, Maija Michell is responsible for Human Resources operations for Descartes globally.

Prior to joining Descartes in 2017, she has led international HR departments in her career spanning 20+ years for technology organizations such as Psion PLC, Motorola Solutions and Unitron Hearing. Maija holds a BA in Psychology and Communications from Brock University, a Diploma in HR Management from Humber College, as well as the CHRL designation.

Chad Murphy
Executive Vice President of Professional Services
Chad oversees technology implementation and activation services by professional services teams across the organization to Descartes’ global customer base. Prior to taking on his current role in 2023, Chad held senior management positions with the company for over 20 years, including in product management, solutions consulting and professional services. Prior to joining Descartes, Chad served at Centricity, a provider of transportation management and optimization software, acquired by Descartes in 2001. Chad draws upon over 30 years of supply chain technology experience to engage with customers from diverse industries, understand their challenges, and help them implement solutions and operational improvements across their organizations that deliver significant value.

Peter Nguyen
SVP Legal, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary & Compliance Officer
As SVP Legal, General Counsel,Corporate Secretary and Compliance Officer Peter Nguyen is the principal officer in charge of all Descartes legal matters. His role includes oversight of Descartes’ Legal Team in contracts with customers and suppliers, protection of our intellectual property, management of disputes and advice on our merger & acquisition activities. As Corporate Secretary, Peter works closely with our Board of Directors on corporate governance and public company compliance. As Compliance Officer, Peter has oversight of the Descartes’ corporate ethics and compliance program.

Before joining Descartes in 2020, Peter was General Counsel to two high growth software companies and served as in-house counsel to several other technology companies. He has been recognized by the Legal 500 (GC Powerlist: Canada - 2020, 2019, 2016), Precedent magazine (Innovation Award - 2020), Canadian Lawyer (Top 25 Most Influential – 2019), the International Law Office/ Association of Corporate Counsel (Global Counsel Awards – 2019, 2016), LEXPERT® (Zenith Award – Change Agent in Law – 2019), National Post/ZSA (Canadian General Counsel Awards (Finalist) – 2019, 2018) and the Financial Times (Innovative Lawyers North America Awards – 2018). He is a frequent speaker and contributor on legal technology, legal operations, and law practice in the in-house environment. Peter graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and was admitted to practice law in Ontario and New York.

Bob Parker
Executive Vice President, Customer Support & Client Services
Bob Parker is Executive Vice President, Customer Support & Client Services at Descartes. Bob has led the growth of the company’s customer-facing organization from a small group to 400+ skilled specialists and customer care representatives throughout North America, Europe and Asia. He empowers the team to be innovative and continuously look for ways to improve service to customers. Prior to joining Descartes in 2009, Bob served in various sales, professional services and executive leadership roles in both private and public sectors where he gained invaluable experience in operations across diverse business sectors. Bob is committed to helping customers and can be reached at bparker@descartes.com.

Ken Wood
Executive Vice President, Product Management
As Executive Vice President, Product Management, Ken Wood provides leadership in defining our product strategy, developing roadmaps, and working with all aspects of product delivery.

Ken joined Descartes in 2001 in connection with our acquisition of Centricity, a cloud-based Transportation Management Systems provider.  His previous experience includes leadership roles in development, consulting and product management with leading supply chain software providers such as CAPS Logistics, i2 Technologies, and Centricity.

Board of Directors

MANDATE:

The members of the Board of Directors (the “Board”) have the duty to supervise the management of the business and affairs of The Descartes Systems Group Inc. (the “Company”). The Board, directly and through its committees, the Chair of the Board and the Lead Director, as applicable, shall provide direction to senior management, generally through the Chief Executive Officer, to pursue the best interests of the Company. In fulfilling its mandate, the Board of Directors, among other matters, is responsible for:

Read the full Mandate of the Board of Directors here

If you wish to contact our Board of Directors directly, you can do so via email at BoardOfDirectors@descartes.com

Eric Demirian
Chair of the Board of Directors, BBM CGA, CA
Mr. Demirian has served as non-executive Chair of the Board of the Corporation since May 2014 and was previously Chair of the Corporation’s audit committee. Mr. Demirian first joined the Board of Directors of Descartes in 2011. Mr. Demirian is also a member of Descartes’ Audit Committee and Corporate Governance Committee.
Mr. Demirian is a Chartered Professional Accountant, Certified General Accountant and a Chartered Accountant Since 2003, Mr. Demirian has served as president of Parklea Capital, Inc. (“Parklea”), a boutique financial and strategy advisory firm providing services to small- and mid-market public and private companies, and President of Demicap Inc., a private investment firm. Prior to Mr. Demirian’s position at Parklea, he held the position of Executive Vice President of Group Telecom, Inc. from 2000 to 2003. From 1983 to 2000, Mr. Demirian was with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PwC”) where he was a partner and head of the Information and Communications Practice. Mr. Demirian serves on the board and Imax Corporation (NYSE:IMAX). Mr. Demirian is a former director and chair of the audit committees of a number of public companies. Mr. Demirian holds a Bachelor of Business Management degree from Toronto Metropolitan University.

Mr. Demirian can be contacted directly on matters related to the governance of the Company at BoardOfDirectors@descartes.com

Deepak Chopra
B. Comm (Hons), FCPA, FCGA
Mr. Chopra joined Descartes’ Board of Directors in May 2020. Mr. Chopra is a member of Descartes’ Audit Committee and the Nominating Committee.

Mr. Chopra most recently served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Canada Post Corporation from February 2011 to March 2018. Mr. Chopra has more than 30 years of global experience in the financial services, technology, transportation, logistics & supply-chain industries. Prior to that, for more than 20 years, he worked for Pitney Bowes Inc., a NYSE-traded technology company known for postage meters, mail automation and location intelligence services. He served as President of Pitney Bowes Canada and Latin America from 2006 to 2010 and held a number of increasingly senior executive roles internationally.

Dennis Maple
B.Sc.
Mr. Maple joined Descartes’ Board of Directors in 2017. Mr. Maple is Chair of the Nominating Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee

Mr. Maple is currently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goddard Systems, LLC, which oversees the operation of 631 premium early childhood education schools operating in 38 states across the United States. Between January 2014 and August 2019, Mr. Maple was the President of First Student, Inc., a subsidiary of United Kingdom based publicly-traded First Group plc., a transport operator in the United Kingdom and North America. Mr. Maple holds a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in accounting from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Jane Mowat
Ms. Mowat is a corporate director and a former information technology executive who, from 2003 to 2020, worked as an independent consultant. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto and earned her CPA, CA designation while working with Price Waterhouse Coopers.

Chris Muntwyler
Mr. Muntwyler joined Descartes’ Board of Directors in May 2020. Mr. Muntwyler has significant international experience in the transportation, logistics and technology sectors.

Jane O’Hagan
Ms. O’Hagan joined Descartes’ Board of Directors in 2014. Ms. O’Hagan is Chair of the Corporate Governance Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee.

Edward J. Ryan
Mr. Ryan joined Descartes in February 2000 in connection with our acquisition of E-Transport Incorporated. Mr. Ryan has 30 years of experience in supply chain and logistics technology.

Laura Wilkin
Laura Wilkin is the founder and CEO of Excelerate Supply Chain Advisory Services, and has 30 years of executive and management consulting experience in omnichannel retail and e-Commerce.

John. J. Walker
Mr. Walker joined Descartes’ Board of Directors in 2011. Mr. Walker is Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Corporate Governance Committee.