Leadership Team

TONY VEILLEUX

GLOBAL CFO

As the Global CFO at Syntax, Tony leads worldwide strategic and operational finances, including Risk management, Treasury and Tax. He partners with the CEO and key contributors from all regions to create value and sustain a thriving, rewarding business.

“I genuinely enjoy working with such smart people, they inspire me to go the extra mile every day and to always reach for the highest performance. I like being pushed out my comfort zone, that’s where the magic happens!” says Tony. “I’m very passionate about developing people. I give them the space they need to learn and grow, and I guide them through it, keeping my focus on the long-term vision.”

With more than 25 years of experience in financial accounting, risk management, treasury, acquisitions and integration, he has managed growth throughout his career, strengthening his expertise in navigating the different phases of expansion and change in large organizations.

Before joining Syntax in 2017, Tony spent many years at WSP. He started as regional Corporate Controller and took on increasingly strategic roles including Global VP of Finance & Treasury and CFO for Canada, acting as a key business partner to the CEO and the leadership team. He was deeply involved in the planning and execution of the corporate strategy and in close to 50 important acquisition processes, making his mark by driving thorough transaction analysis, due diligence, and integration projects.

Tony holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a licence in Accounting from the Laval University in Quebec City as well as a CPA and CMA designation.

ALEXIS BURNETT

GLOBAL SENIOR DIRECTOR MARKETING

As the Global Senior Director of Marketing, Alexis leads the planning and execution of Syntax’s global marketing strategy including branding, go-to-market, demand generation, customer acquisition, and communications. She joined Syntax as Americas Marketing Director through the EmeraldCube acquisition in January 2019.

“Each day, I strive to nurture a productive and collaborative environment for our team,” says Alexis. “It’s important to empower co-workers so everyone can make a difference while growing a sustainable business.” Her relentless commitment to innovation and strong work ethic built on a foundation of integrity continue to be pillars in her professional success.

With experience in both B2B and B2C spaces, Alexis has put her brand positioning and strategic communications planning to work for the past 20+ years in the retail athletic, HVAC and payroll industries, as well as through the creation of her own consulting firm. She joined EmeraldCube as Marketing Manager in November of 2013, soon after the founding of the company. Through her focus on brand development, marketing strategies, communications and customer acquisition, she contributed to EmeraldCube pioneering the deployment of JD Edwards in the number-one Public Cloud space (AWS) and to making it the leading provider of JD Edwards Managed Services in the Public Cloud.

Alexis holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from Lehigh University and was honored with the Business Partner Distinguished Service Award from the Quest Oracle Community in 2019.

KEN LASTOWSKI

GLOBAL SENIOR DIRECTOR HUMAN RESOURCES

As the Global Senior Director of Human Resources, Ken leads Syntax’s global people strategy including talent management, learning and development, talent acquisition and workforce planning, compensation and benefits, as well as HR systems and tools. He has played a key role in integrating Syntax’s Americas HR functions and programs, bringing employees together under one mission – to be the number one ERP Cloud Provider enabling businesses worldwide to succeed. Ken joined Syntax in March 2019 as the Americas HR Director through the Freudenberg IT acquisition.

“We are an extension of our customer’s teams, so when we succeed, our customers also succeed. In this global organization, my focus is to develop and enable our people to be the best they can be and to tap into their diversity of talent and unique perspectives,” says Ken.  Built on a foundation of integrity and trust, his strong relationship approach and his commitment to bringing creative solutions to complex questions continue to be pillars to his professional success.

For the past 20 years, Ken has put his HR leadership and program execution to work in global Technology, Manufacturing, Retail, and Healthcare industries. He joined Freudenberg IT as Regional HR Director for the Americas in December 2015 and took on global HR leadership responsibilities in 2016.  Through his focus on the development of the HR organization, he was able to build a new HR team for the region and implement a comprehensive talent and performance management strategy.

Ken holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management with a concentration in HR from North Carolina State University and a Master’s of Business Administration from Elon University.

RYAN ETINSON

CEO AMERICAS

As the CEO Americas at Syntax, Ryan drives a truly collaborative team that focuses on staying close to customers while innovating to remain an absolute pioneer of the industry. Always putting people first, he has played a key role in many transformational projects at Syntax.

“I am extremely motivated by the genuine and unrelenting team spirit I see daily; we have an incredible group of individuals who have a passion for what they do and a fierce dedication to the impact our products and services have on our customers,” says Ryan. “We have the privilege of working in a rewarding organization with superior offerings that fill critical customer needs.” An advocate of the open-door policy, he is always available to help anyone at Syntax and encourages his teams to seek out all the growth and career opportunities that come from being part of a dynamic, global company.

Since joining in 1996, Ryan has held several executive positions, including Executive Vice President and President. He has been instrumental in growing and expanding the company’s offerings into a global success story across different industries, platforms and geographies, through Mergers & Acquisitions as well as organic growth. In 2010, he led the expansion of the organization that primarily served customers in Canada into the U.S., building the business and team that is now the largest and most influential region for Syntax.

Ryan became a high-value Oracle JD Edwards partner over 15 years ago. He holds an MBA with honours from the John Molson School of Business and completed his undergraduate studies at McGill University.

Pierre-Luc Toupin

CFO AMERICAS

As CFO for the Americas, Pierre-Luc leads a team that focuses on being a pillar for growth and for customer satisfaction, creating financial solutions that fit our customers’ needs. With over 15 years of experience in financial leadership including two years at Syntax, he drives a strong financial performance for the region and oversees internal financial systems and procurement as well as Governance, risk and compliance.

“The best thing at Syntax is the ingenuity of our people; I am especially inspired by the desire of our Finance team to put in the extra effort every day to support our Sales and Operations colleagues,” says Pierre-Luc. “I like to challenge the status quo and our team is always ready and motivated to continuously improve our processes and efficiency.”

In the earlier part of his career, Pierre-Luc was Director at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton (RCGT), a worldwide accounting firm specializing in financial and tax audit. He then acquired extensive expertise in Information and Communication Technologies in a public company as the CFO for iWeb Technologies Inc. and then expanded his knowledge of financial leadership in context of international corporations and of listed public companies in the US stock exchange as the Vice President of Finance at Internap Corporation, a division of web hosting services and Cloud Computing. Before joining Syntax, Pierre-Luc was Vice President of Finances at T Investment Corporation, a Family Office Fund invested in several industries, where he made his mark by accelerating the growth and the financial performance of various assets.

Pierre-Luc holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and a DESS in Accounting from HEC Montréal, as well as the CPA, CA title.

MIKE EVANS

COO AMERICAS

As the Chief Operating Officer of the Americas, Mike oversees Syntax’s operations in the Americas regions, which includes the development and execution of the company’s vision, strategic plans, budget, business development, customer engagement and succession planning. He joined Syntax June 2020 with over 25 years of experience in IT, service, and support delivery.

“My commitment is delivering customer value, all my interactions with my clients and my team reflects a culture around our customers and their needs. I play a great role in overseeing engagements and improving customers overall experience, enabling them to realize business value.” Hand-in hand with his team he continuously fosters improvement to ensure Syntax is delivering what our customers expect.

Before Syntax, Mike worked at Virtustream as Senior Vice President Global Operations where he oversaw the execution of delivery and support for all cloud offerings and in key customer engagements and relationships. Prior to that, Mike served in a variety of roles at Dell EMC, including Senior Vice President Global Specialty Presales, Vice President Backup and Recovery Systems and Global Director Services, and many positions at IBM.

Mike honorably served in the United States Marine Corps.