Varcoe: Benevity names new CEO, as city tech sector’s growth rate leads North America

Calgary’s technology sector continues to grow and gain traction, and two new developments highlight that reality.

One of the city’s first unicorns, Benevity, announced this week it’s hired a new chief executive. Soraya Alexander, who was recently chief operating officer of GoFundMe — the massive crowdfunding platform that has raised more than US$40 billion for individuals and organizations worldwide — takes over the Benevity top job in November.

Meanwhile, a report this month from commercial real estate firm CBRE shows the city continues to create tech sector jobs at a strong clip, increasing by 61 per cent between 2021 and last year.

It’s the highest growth rate, by percentage, of any major tech centre in North America, eclipsing other high-flying cities — the Waterloo region in Ontario (up 58 per cent), Nashville (29 per cent) and Dallas-Fort Worth (26 per cent.)

During the three-year period, the city’s tech sector has added 24,500 jobs, with almost 65,000 people working in the industry in 2024, CBRE found.

And looking at the total number of tech jobs created, Calgary only trailed four much larger centres – San Francisco, New York, Toronto and Dallas-Fort Worth.

“You are seeing people want to come here and build something,” said Brad Parry, chief executive of Calgary Economic Development.

“It’s huge. It also sends a signal to other parts of Canada and North America that something really interesting is happening here.”

The report looked at a number of measures, including labour market conditions, rents and leasing costs in 50 large North American cities and 25 emerging markets in Canada and the United States, using the criteria to rank them based on their advantages and appeal to workers and employers.

Under its ranking system, Calgary climbed three spots and is now 17th on the list, behind Toronto, the Waterloo region, Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal in Canada — but ahead of major U.S. centres including Los Angeles, San Diego and Phoenix. (Edmonton was ranked 38th.)

The report found technology occupations in the city expanded at an annual rate of 15.4 per cent during the period — with the highest growth seen for software developers and programmers — while the average industry wage was $105,000.

Almost eight per cent of total employment in the city was in the technology sector in 2024.

“It’s amazing how far we’ve come since 2014,” said Calgary Chamber of Commerce CEO Deborah Yedlin. “We’ve got that growth. We have to make sure that it continues.”

The report also noted that Calgary and Toronto created significantly more positions in the industry than local tech degree graduates were turned out during the period.

In Calgary’s case, there were 21,000 more jobs in the sector created than post-secondary tech graduates — second highest among all the cities — trailing only Dallas, and illustrating the flow of talented workers into the local industry.

Michael Hoffman, CBRE Calgary’s managing director, said the city’s quality of living, along with lower leasing cost, is attracting employers, leading to a rise in the rankings.

“Calgary is a newer tech hub . . . We’re just seeing phenomenal growth over the last three to five years,” he said recently.

“That vision is really paying off with people moving here and growing their careers.”

The city has also witnessed strong growth in startups attracting investment in recent years. Calgary companies raised $195 million through 24 deals during the first half of this year, according to the Canadian Venture Capital Association.

“Alberta’s tech sector continues to be in a very strong place,” said provincial Technology Minister Nate Glubish.

“These numbers are just demonstrating that Calgary, especially, is a shining star across the North American marketplace.”

Since 2019, five local businesses have grown into unicorns — with valuations topping $1 billion — including Solium Capital, Benevity and Neo Financial.

Bryan de Lottinville, who founded Benevity in 2008, said the ability to attract and bring tech talent to the city is “appreciably different and overwhelmingly better” than when the company began.

”It was harder to find workers than money,” recalled de Lottinville, who remains on Benevity’s board.

“Obviously, we are and continue to be an economy that’s dominated by a very powerful and economically lucrative (energy) industry. So there wasn’t the profile for tech in the city that there is now.”

More local organizations are focused on trying to expand the sector and attract workers here, giving workers a sense that they don’t have to leave to find other jobs in the technology industry, he added.

“We’re still in the early stages of that trajectory and if we can continue to attract talent to the city, in addition to growing our own and scaling our own, I think it can become an ever-increasing part of the landscape for diversifying our economy,” he said.

“The key is continuing to have a stable of companies at different stages of growth, so there are jobs that people ascend into.”

Benevity provides clients with employee-engagement software that enables workplace giving programs and volunteering. Its customers include Visa, Levi Strauss & Co. and Starbucks.

It became a tech unicorn in December 2020 in a $1.1-billion deal, when British-based private capital firm Hg Capital LLP acquired a majority stake in the company. Benevity has more than 800 employees, with its headquarters in Calgary, along with offices in Toronto, Geneva, and Barcelona.

On Tuesday, Benevity announced Alexander will become the company’s CEO, effective Nov. 1, taking over from Christopher Maloof, who will become chair of Benevity’s board.

Alexander, who has a master of business administration from Harvard Business School and lives in the San Diego area, said there are some key similarities between her past roles in the “tech-for-good space” and the job leading Benevity.

“A lot of what we spent our time on at GoFundMe (was) thinking about how people activate around the things that are important to them . . . How do you encourage people to show up and give their time and give their money to the things that matter most?” she said in an interview.

“It’s a lot of what Benevity focuses on. They think about how do people show up for the bigger purpose through their workplace? And so I think that will be highly relevant.”

Chris Varcoe is a Calgary Herald columnist.

cvarcoe@postmedia.com