Our Team

Meet the faces behind Spring who collectively bring a world of knowledge and experience to the entrepreneurship and impact communities.

Keith Ippel

Keith Ippel

CEO & Co-founder

With over 25 years experience as a leader in technology & impact businesses, Keith has accelerated companies and ecosystems and raised over $30m in angel investment and venture capital. A global keynote speaker, teacher, and advisor, Keith leads Spring and focuses on our strategic growth and global ecosystem advisory work. Keith has been riding his bike to work for over 10 years now- rain or shine!

Caroline von Hirschberg

Chief Operating Officer

Caroline brings fresh experience starting and scaling social ventures in the UK and Kenya. Along the journey of iterative product development to international product launches of renewable energy solutions, Caroline has learned the value of human centred design, the rollercoaster of managing international operations, the value of partnerships and how to raise funds from multiple sources! She’s now excited to share these insights with social entrepreneurs looking to grow their impact.

Sophie Bujold

Sophie Bujold

Community Manager

Sophie is an entrepreneur and consultant with more than 18 years of experience in community building, customer experience and digital strategy. At Spring, Sophie acts as a key contact for entrepreneurs, alumni, mentors, investors, and partners to ensure we provide an exceptional and value-added experience.

Kamila Suchomel

Marketing Manager

Kamila is a communications aficionado and an international relations researcher passionate about fusing knowledge from social scientific disciplines with design thinking to drive positive impact. By day she helps build enthusiasm for Spring and its programs, and her evenings consist of working to co-found a research lab for agile governance and modern policy design.

Mari Matthews

Mari Mathews

Program Director, Impact Investing

Mari began her career working internationally for 10+ years in the ski & tourism industry. In Oslo, Norway she co-founded Outtt raising over 4 million NOK and driving the company to over seventy thousand monthly active users and 40+ paying customers. Now back in her hometown of Vancouver, Mari devotes her time to helping entrepreneurs navigate raising capital for early stage growth.

Luan Tolosa

Program Manager

Luan Tolosa is an entrepreneur, advisor, and passionate believer that anything is possible. She started her career in commercial real estate and after completing her MBA and Certificate in Social Impact, she started her own entrepreneurial journey with her first company SEWT, and as a consultant helping other entrepreneurs realize their vision. At Spring, Luan helps impact-driven entrepreneurs succeed through the leadership of Spring projects and programs from design to delivery to evaluation.

Allison Gibson - Program Manager at Spring Activator

Allison Gibson

Program Manager

Allison is a social enterprise strategist and entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in the hospitality industry. As Director of Impact & Operations at Paintbox Catering & Bistro and Program Manager at Spring, she prioritizes creating opportunities for marginalized residents of under-serviced communities with a focus on those on an entrepreneurial journey or facing barriers to meaningful employment.

Josephine Kwan, Program Manager

Josephine Kwan

Program Manager

Josephine believes we all have the power to write our own story which is why she is passionate about helping others discover their potential. As the founder of Flow 2 Freedom Apparel and with over a decade of commercial real estate and consulting experience, she will assist entrepreneurs at Spring to navigate through the process and growth of their own business journeys.

Tra My Pham

Program Manager

Tra My co-founded and scaled two startups in the retail sector. The first, Bisu Bisu, is a customizable accessories brand. The second, The Craft House, is an offline and online co-selling marketplace for e-commerce startups. At Spring, she finds a team with whom she can continue doing what she loves: supporting entrepreneurs along their journeys of product launches, pivots and growth.

Marlubi Gomez

Program Associate

Marlubi is a passionate traveler, artist, marketer, and journalist. Originally from Venezuela, Mar has developed a passion for human-centered design and how it can be used to transform the world. In Chile, she started her own modeling academy, helping young girls develop their confidence and self-esteem. At Spring, Mar is ready to dive into our Resilience Program and online entrepreneurs education platform, bringing her energy and insights to help businesses grow.

Heena Narula | Spring Activator

Heena Narula

Program Coordinator

Heena is passionate about designing transformational learning experiences. At 25, she started and led her own community school directly impacting 400 families. Recently, she set up the International Operations vertical at a leading EdTech startup focusing on program design and delivery along with learner success. At Spring, Heena helps design impactful learning opportunities to deliver a smoother learning experience and build strong entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Tina Ippel

Operations Manager

After a 10-year hiatus to homeschool her daughter, Tina is now the Spring team's Operations Manager. Her prior experience includes working as a Financial Analyst for a consumer food company and a pottery shop entrepreneur serving West Coast potters. Tina loves order and actually thinks that math is elegant and fun. We promised not to hold that last part against her!

Mike Winterfield - Spring EiR

Mike Winterfield

Advisor & EiR

Top 40 under 40. 20 years in the tech industry specializing in services companies and SaaS products. 14 years in various executive roles, most recently President of Traction Rec and COO at Traction on Demand. Mike has spent the last decade scaling companies from start-up to $300M by building high performing teams committed to core values. Avid lover of nature and any form of outdoor activity or experience.

Sana Kapadia

Sana Kapadia

Advisor

Sana Kapadia is a world changer, champion of diversity and systems change. A Top 40 under 40 winner, she drives strategy and impact at Spring with her rich global background in impact Investing, equity research, and social entrepreneurship. Currently living in Germany, Sana is a mum of two adventurous trailblazers (under 4!), reads voraciously, loves traveling and wants to scuba dive with her beach-loving husband.

Is this you?
We are hiring!

Are you an amazing human who wants to change the world through innovation and impact? If so, maybe you should join us!

We acknowledge that we live, work and play on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō, and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.