Gord Smith, Practice Director

Gord has over 25 years of global experience leading sales and marketing teams and has held executive and senior sales positions at NCR, SAP, Siebel Systems, Deloitte, Ideaca and Hitachi. Gord was most recently a Partner at one of Canada's fastest growing companies, Ideaca. Ideaca grew from a start-up consulting company to over 60 million in revenue and was recognized as one of Canada's Top 50 Great Places to Work. In his tenure at Ideaca, Gord led sales and national marketing. Ideaca was acquired by Hitachi in 2013.

Gord is recognized for sales and marketing leadership in the professional services, high tech and financial services industries with clients and partners including Microsoft, SAP, Descartes Systems, Davis LLP, and Wakefield.

Gord is an accomplished public speaker and has spoken numerous times at the Toronto Board of Trade as well as the Global Telecom Conference and SAP Saphire. In 2015, he was interviewed on Business America radio.

Teaching has always been a passion of Gord’s and over the years he has taught a variety of Business and Marketing courses at York University and Centennial College. He is currently a professor with the Graduate Marketing Program at Seneca College.

Gord has a BBA from Wilfrid Laurier University and an MBA in Strategic Planning from the University of Windsor. In his “after hours” world, Gord’s life revolves around his two kids, two dogs, and two favourite sports—hockey and soccer.

Janet Smith, Director of Marketing

Janet brings 25+ years of marketing experience to the RAIN Group Canada practice. Janet has worked with the Royal Bank, GroupMark and most recently Winmark. She has actively led direct marketing campaigns, social media programs, customer retention programs and customer service initiatives to support revenue and customer satisfaction.

For 20 years Janet also ran a successful retail business where she drove sales through modern sales marketing approaches. She has driven results through email marketing, Facebook, Facebook campaigns and promotions, SEO, customer appreciation events and customer newsletters.   

For 5 years Janet was the chairperson of the Cause to Celebrate gala, a charitable organization supporting the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto. She is also an active member of the 100 Women Who Care movement in her community.

Janet has a BA in Social Sciences from Wilfrid Laurier University. Known for her passionate commitment to her family and friends, Janet loves to entertain at her cottage where sitting on the dock watching the stars is her perfect way to relax.