Maria Pacella
Maria Pacella is Managing Partner and a founding partner of Pender Ventures. Before establishing the firm, she spent more than a decade at GrowthWorks, then one of Canada’s largest venture capital firms, investing in early-stage technology companies across enterprise software, health tech and other innovation-driven sectors. She has also held operating and strategic roles at […]
Meryeme Lahmami
Meryeme Lahmami is a Principal at Pender Ventures, bringing a founder’s perspective and more than a decade of experience in company building and venture investing. Before joining the firm, she invested in early-stage and growth companies at BDC Capital across enterprise software, biotech and digital health. She also co-founded a venture-backed health tech startup. Her […]
Lizzie Hnatiuk
Lizzie Hnatiuk is Analyst and AI Lead at Pender Ventures, where she leads the firm’s AI initiatives and supports early-stage deal sourcing, evaluation and portfolio company engagement. She brings a hands-on technical background, having designed and built custom LLM applications, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems and data pipelines across fintech, marketing and engineering.
Everett Juurlink
Everett Juurlink is an Analyst at Pender Ventures, having joined the firm in 2025 to help build its presence in Ontario. Previously, he spent several years in investment banking, advising on M&A and strategic transactions in the technology and healthcare sectors and working closely with client teams and investors. Before that, he interned at State […]
Jacob Grainger
Jacob Grainger is an Associate at Pender Ventures, having joined the firm in 2025 to help build its presence in Alberta. Previously, he was a Senior Ventures Associate at Plug and Play Alberta, where he led a team across four verticals, sourcing and evaluating a wide range of startups and guiding investments in health tech. […]
Cheri Corbett
Cheri Corbett is a Partner at Pender Ventures, having joined the firm in 2025. Since beginning her career in 2006, she has worked across venture capital, private equity, venture debt, M&A and valuations, with a track record of helping innovative companies grow. She is focused on building companies with lasting impact and on supporting diverse […]