On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am thrilled to announce the appointment of Joel Lessem as Executive Director, Peerscale. Joel is a long time Peerscale member and advocate.
Joel joined Peerscale in 2010 as the Founder and CEO of Firmex (founded 2006), a SaaS software business. He was a Peerscale Board from 2013-2017 acting as both Chair of Membership and later Chair of Sponsorship. During his time on the board membership grew from 60 to over 100 CEO members and 80 Executive members. Sponsorship revenue also expanded from $30k to $200k+. In 2014, Joel continued his involvement by co-founding the B to B roundtable in 2014. After selling Firmex (for a third time) in 2021, Joel left his role as CEO and briefly resigned from Peerscale the following year. Joel remains active in the exited CEO group, composed largely of Peerscale alumni.
“As a founder CEO running a business with double digit profitable growth for 16 years, my fellow members at Peerscale became my most valuable “board of advisors” and friends in a journey fraught with anxiety, adrenaline and euphoria – not to mention plenty of sleepless nights. I have had a year to consider the new phase of life, and one of the things I have enjoyed tremendously is having the time to contribute to our local community of entrepreneurs and operators” said Lessem. “Through the disruption of COVID and sky high valuations, the technology industry has now “reset” and is back to a focus on operating fundamentals vs. growth at all costs. This is precisely what Peerscale focuses on; helping each other to build more effective and efficient organizations, delivering value over the longer term.”
On behalf of the Board, I would also like to thank Chris Rasmussen for steering Peerscale over the last three years, through COVID and out again. Peerscale owes Chris a debt of gratitude for his many years of tireless leadership and support as Executive Director. Thankfully Chris will remain on the board and continue his important work as a leader within the tech community.
Jeremy Greven
Peerscale Chairman