About Us
GoJava.ca was founded in 2015 with the mission of finding a recycling solution for the millions of coffee pods across North America that were going to landfill. Our goal was to create a service that would allow users at home or at the office to recycle their coffee pods on a wide scale that was free, simple for users, and easily adapted into their existing routines.
Goal Status: Accomplished (yay us!)
Meet Team GoJava
Eugene Ace
Founder & CEO
Eugene began his career as a suit on Bay Street. Through that avenue he found himself as an executive at a large national company selling coffee products where he quickly noticed two things: 1) Single-serve coffee pods such as Keurig and Tassimo had become very popular and 2) These pods were creating an enormous amount of waste with no solution in sight. At the time, he and his best friend, Evan, were working side by side. One night over a couple of beers (maybe more) the idea of GoJava was born as a solution to this dilemma and his entrepreneurial spirit took flight (the beer probably helped). Eugene is our team’s leader and also the resident Buddha. The words you’ll hear him say most often are: “I’m not worried about it.”
Evan Birmann
Founder & COO
Evan started his career in Marketing and Project Management. While working as the project manager alongside Eugene Ace (who also happened to be his longtime BFF-score!) at the aforementioned national company, the same issue that was bugging Eugene (the issue of millions of coffee pods going to landfill and producing methane gasses contributing to global warming) was keeping Evan up at night. They decided there was no time to waste (pun intended!), especially because Evan needed his beauty rest. So the two friends left the corporate world to join forces against the coffee pod dilemma. Sort of like The Avengers. But in eco-friendly, brown kraft-coloured costumes.
Allison McDonald Ace
Head of Communications
Allison is our resident wordsmith and handles everything related to communications, including customer service, our newsletter, blog, social media and website content. Allison brings with her 10 years of experience as a developmental editor and freelance writer. She is also co-founder of non-profit called The 16 Percent. Allison loves working in the GoJava family, especially because part of it is her family. To learn more about Allison you can visit her website: www.allisonmcdonaldace.com
Josh Petrychanko
Head of Finance & Expansion
Josh gets s#%t done. He came on board when GoJava was but a twinkle in Eugene and Evan’s eyes. Corporate social responsibility is important to Josh and so he jumped at the chance to help reduce coffee pod waste. Since then, whether it’s been deliveries and then staying late to prepare the next day’s orders (for fun!), managing the books, moving to Ottawa to open up our second location single-handedly or just making sure that we all stay for that last round of drinks after our Team GoJava meetings, Josh has been instrumental to GoJava’s growth.
Kyryl Kaschenko
Head of Business Development & Connections
Kyryl switched from a career in social work to join Team GoJava when it was just getting started. He was drawn to work for a company that was creating a unique solution for a serious environmental problem and was intrigued by the idea of building a company from the ground up. Obviously, he’s a believer and a risk taker, and that’s part of what makes him the incredible leader of our sales force our customers love. It probably helps that he also has the hustle, dedication, and charisma of George Clooney and his hairdo is on par with Ryan Gosling.
Kylie Flynn
Business Development Executive (Ottawa)
Kylie brings a strong dose of world experience, earth love and female power to the GoJava team. From her travels to South East Asia, Australia, Kenya, Turkey and Colombia, she developed a keen knowledge of coffee. Having also minored in Oceanic Science at school, Kylie learned straight up the impact we humans have had on the world and became committed to doing her part to reverse that. When not working to save the planet, as any good millennial does, Kylie spends time at concerts and music festivals to feel at one with the crowd and get her positive vibes on. We're pumped to see where Kylie's energy and tenacity are going to take her ... and us.
Jesse Cantwell
Business Development & Customer Relations
Ian Brigham
Head of Operations
Ian Brigham held a career with Iron Mountain Canada as a Transportation Coordinator before joining GoJava. The truth is, we wanted him from the beginning, but we had to work hard to woo him over to our side (like with any relationship worth having!). It probably helped that Ian’s been friends with Eugene and Evan since they were kids, but Ian was also intrigued by the opportunity to help grow the company and reduce its carbon footprint by putting his superior experience in transportation and customer service to work. We are thrilled that Ian agreed to go steady with us.
Alex Sayers
Delivery & Recycling Specialist
What's not to love about Alex? He's always in a good mood with a smile on his face, and brings that energy to his job and everyone he interacts with, from his fellow GoJava members to the customers he meets along the way. What's more, Alex is all about saving the planet, and considering he snowboards, skateboards and produces his own music on the side, he's got that whole young, cool-guy thing locked down too (we're not jealous). Basically, Alex is the epitome of what GoJava is all about and we're super lucky to have him on board.
Omar Mendez
Delivery & Recycling Specialist
Omar is 100% a planet saving crusader: He loves the outdoors, and keeps pushing out of his comfort zone to try new things -- like canoeing! -- and is passionate about saving the environment for future generations, in particular his wonderful 3 year old son. He also ups our cool factor since we can brag about the fact that he was once a star basketball player in high school and guarded against NBA star Andrew Wiggins (nbd). We knew as soon as we met Omar that he was going to be an essential part of our growing team and can't wait to see what the future holds.
John McDonald
Field Technician & Installation Specialist
John is a jack of all trades and our go-to guy for everything technical, handling all of our brewer and water filtration system installations for offices. He is a natural fit at GoJava, bringing with him over 40 years of experience in water technologies where he's worked in sales and global consulting, launching new ventures in the area of ultraviolet disinfection and waste water processes. In short, John is constantly on the go! Lucky for him he also happens to be Eugene's father-in-law, which means he gets free coffee anytime he wants.