Management
Dave Dinesen | President & CEO
Dave Dinesen founded BackCheck in 1997. Dave is a leader and innovator within the pre-employment screening industry. He also founded Checkwell’s Continuous Employee Feedback programme for Employee Engagement and Retention, and established BackCheck in the United Kingdom. Under Dave’s leadership, BackCheck has grown from a small business to a multi-site organization that serves thousands of employers. Previously, Dave co-founded and led a large investigation and due diligence firm.
Dave is a sought after speaker on the topic of employment screening. Featured in a number of trade and general media articles, Dave has sat on a panel at a recent Canadian HR Council, he has addressed the HRPAO conference, ASIS, the Atlantic HR Conference and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. He is a member of the Human Resources Management Association (HRMA) of B.C., and the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS).
Andy Kroen | Senior Vice President - Sales
Andy Kroen is responsible for managing BackCheck's Canadian sales force. He is an experienced Human Resource Professional designate with 25 years of Corporate HR experience, including extensive expertise in recruitment, compensation and benefits, training and development, change management and strategic planning. His background includes experience working for two major international high-tech organizations. Andy is a graduate of the University of Toronto and has chaired many HR Forums and Committees such as the International Technology Association of Canada. Andy speaks regularly at conferences across Canada on numerous HR-related topics.
Stephen Dinesen | Senior Vice President - Marketing & Business Development
Stephen is an original member of the BackCheck team, having developed the client service delivery protocols, workflow systems, and the technology that facilitates online reporting. Stephen is an active member of the business development team, and aims to support, through technology, our goal of ever increasing quality, speed, and efficiency of service. Stephen has previously held the role of BackCheck General Manager and holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
Jeremy Hardern | Vice President of Operations
Jeremy currently oversees BackCheck’s operations in Canada, the UK and the Philippines. Since joining BackCheck, Jeremy has concentrated on re-engineering core applications and building solutions for increased workflow efficiencies. Prior to joining BackCheck Jeremy operated as a consultant in a number of business analysis, project management and system implementation roles on large change projects in banking, insurance and government. Jeremy has a B.Sc. in Land Economics from the University of Paisley (now West of Scotland) and a Post Graduate Diploma in Software Engineering from Napier University.
Rod Piukkala | Vice President - Police Service Technologies
Rod liaises with police services across the country while focusing on marketing, business development and product development associated to the Virtual Front Counter and myBackCheck.com solutions for online criminal record checks. Prior to BackCheck, Rod was a Marketing Director for TELUS in the Public Sector with a focus on public safety and security, emergency management and higher education. These private sector positions followed a thirty four year career in policing within Ontario. Rod’s last posting was as Deputy Chief of Police with the Durham Regional Police. Previous to that, he was the Chief of Oxford Community Police Service and before that held progressive leadership roles within Peel Regional Police where he attained the rank of Superintendent. He was a member of Peel Regional Police for a period in excess of 26 years, with extensive investigative experience, specifically within the Service's Homicide Unit where he was assigned for slightly less than half of his career with Peel. He has continuing involvement within the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP), the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy Associates (FBINAA). In 2006 Rod was awarded the designation of Member, Police Order of Merit.
Dawson Hovey | Regional Vice President of Sales - Ottawa Region
Dawson Hovey joined Checkwell in 2010 as the Account Executive Vice President for the Ottawa Region. He is responsible for creating and furthering existing client relations with Human Resources and Security Professionals in the three levels of government and the private sector. Dawson’s past experience includes serving with the RCMP for 34 years in senior executive, management, and operations capacity. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Ottawa
Randy Warkentin | Assistant Vice President – Sales Operations and Support
Randy Warkentin joined Checkwell in June 2005. He was quickly recognized for his excellence in client care and was promoted to our Implementation Department, where he helped develop processes and procedures for many of BackCheck’s clients. From there, Randy played a significant role in developing our Sales Support team and as this team continued to grow and evolve, Randy was promoted to BackCheck’s first Department Head of Pre-Sales. Here, he was able to build the department into a functional and integral department within BackCheck. Currently Randy oversees BackCheck’s Pre-Sales and Inside Sales Team. Randy holds a degree in Business from the University of the Fraser Valley.
Brianna Swan | Assistant Vice President – Client Support
Brianna Swan joined BackCheck in July 2006 as an HR Interviewer. Her natural leadership skills, and high-calibre approach to business made her a clear choice to help set up BackCheck’s new office in the United Kingdom. In the UK, Brianna was responsible for managing the Strategic Workflow Assistance team; where she utilized her skills to create new procedures for workload balancing within the office. Her success with this role led her to a new responsibility as Department Head of Data Management in the Philippines office. In 2009 she moved to the Montreal office as Assistant Vice President of Operations, where she managed various Operational teams. Brianna now works from our Vancouver office managing client support.
Conor McKee | Assistant Vice President of Operations - Montreal
Conor McKee joined BackCheck in March 2007 as a Human Resources Interviewer. Conor’s ability to problem-solve and his excellent customer service skills set him apart. Having shown creativity and initiative as the department head of one of the largest departments in the company, Conor was selected in November 2011 to be the Assistant Vice President of Operations for the Montreal location. Conor holds a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Political Science and Communication from Simon Fraser University.
Amy Ell | Assistant Vice President – Operations Central Services
Amy Ell currently manages the Operations Central Services department for BackCheck, where she oversees new service implementation, product, system and workflow improvements and employee quality assurance reviews. Amy has been a part of the BackCheck team since 2004, and has held various roles including Department Head of Verifications & Quality Assurance and Assistant Vice President of Operations for the Montreal location. Over the past three years, Amy has led the Operations Central Services team in streamlining workflow processes between the various BackCheck locations leading to increased consistency and efficiency. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing and a second major in French from Simon Fraser University.
Geneva Orton | Assistant Vice President – Operations Data Services
After joining BackCheck in May 2006 as a human resources interviewer, Geneva Orton went on to hold supervisory positions at the company’s Surrey, Swansea, Manila and Montreal offices. Prior to becoming assistant vice-president of data operations, her background included management experience in human resource interviewing, data management and secure data analysis. Geneva’s leadership and communications skills have been some of her defining characteristics during her time at BackCheck, and she’s also well known for her knack for workflow management. She earned a bachelor of arts in philosophy from The King’s University College in Edmonton.
Shaun Hammond | Vice President - United Kingdom
Shaun Hammond is tasked with the expansion of BackCheck's UK operations, with the goal of repeating the immense success that has seen BackCheck lead the Canadian market. He brings with him skills and experience from a career that has seen him hold positions such as Director of Sales and Marketing at ADP, Vice President and General Manager at Fujitsu Software and Director of Operations/Sales Director at Amdahl. Throughout his career, Shaun has worked upon the establishment, management and growth of world-wide and pan-European companies and has always enjoyed particular success in regards to sales. In his short time with BackCheck, Shaun has already established relationships with several major UK companies, and is set to add yet more to BackCheck's ever increasing UK presence.
Kevin M Price QPM | Vice President - United Kingdom
Kevin Price joined Backcheck in October 2011 having recently retired from the police service following a 32 year career. He served with the Gwent Constabulary in senior operational and executive positions and was a senior advisor on Hostage Negotiations and critical incident management in Wales and the UK. Awarded the Queens Police Medal for exemplary police service in 2009 he brings with him a wealth of experience and skills which will be directed towards assisting employers in developing robust pre-employment screening programmes that ensure compliance and address real security and reputational concerns faced by companies today. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the University Of Wales-Newport in 2010 for his contribution to the communities of Newport and Wales.
Chris Hawkins | Assistant Vice President of Operations - United Kingdom
Chris Hawkins oversees the UK Operations Centre and is responsible for the ongoing development of the BackCheck product portfolio and the establishment of industry leading service fulfillment models. He has facilitated BackCheck’s extraordinary growth in the United Kingdom through the development of innovative and scalable workflow solutions and effective supply chain management. His strengths lie in ensuring the delivery of exceptionally high quality and accurate information within agreed upon service levels while maintaining a customer first attitude within the operations team. His responsibilities also include compliance and risk mitigation. Chris is a Certified Human Resources Professional and is an active Member of the Human Resource Management Association. Chris holds a BA in Economics from Simon Fraser University and an MBA from the OU Business School with a focus on Strategic Management.
Rebecca Robinson | Assistant Vice President - Client Care & Relationships Management - United Kingdom
Rebecca oversees BackCheck’s UK Implementation, Sales Support, and Client Care departments. Rebecca leads the team responsible for all aspects of presales and client care including tender responses, requirements analysis and the implementation of new client accounts. Rebecca has project managed many large scale implementation projects and has vast experience in rolling out successful screening solutions to clients of different sizes across many different industries. She and her team coordinate with clients to identify objectives, requirements, account preferences and key performance indicators, managing risks and ensuring milestones are achieved to facilitate a seamless commencement of service delivery. Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree. She has since furthered her education within the human resources field and is currently studying a Masters of Business Administration programme.
