Andrea Poptsis joins Highline Beta as VP Operations and Finance
We’re excited to announce that Andrea Poptsis has joined Highline Beta as VP Operations & Finance. Andrea has been working with us for some time, and we are now lucky to be able to bring her on-board full-time. Andrea has decades of experience working in large companies, with venture capital, and in other organizations that required immense operational management and efficiencies.
Highline Beta has grown significantly over the past few years. We’ve increased our scope of delivery for large corporates, we’ve launched successful pilot program accelerators to partner corporates with startups, we’ve grown our venture studio, and made investments. All of these moving pieces have to work in sync, in order for us to deliver the maximum value to clients and realize the potential of the company.
Andrea is an expert at bringing order to chaos, having worked with fast-growing startups all the way to large complex multinationals. She was part of the corporate development team reporting to Richard Branson responsible for launching new Virgin-branded enterprises. She understands the challenges and opportunities from working inside Bell’s Innovation Centre to advising corporate executives on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and management buyouts. Andrea built a world-class organization to support the delivery of the Invictus Games with Ontario’s $1.5 billion investment and successfully navigated through complex stakeholder groups with a team of 70 people, 100 external organizations and 1,800 volunteers. She is very active in her INSEAD MBA and Ivey alumni communities while also volunteering significant time on not-for-profit boards. Over the last few years, she’s worked as a fractional COO / CFO for numerous startups, helping guide them through the up and down path to growth.
At Highline Beta, Andrea will be involved in every aspect of our business, bringing the pieces together to streamline operations and allow the team to focus on what we do best: working with corporates and startups to create immense value. She will support our Fund operations, with her experience in finance and venture capital. She will work with clients to make sure that everything runs smooth operationally. She will ensure that we can scale the team successfully (we’re hiring!)
Growth is exciting for every company. But it can be a double-edged sword if not managed properly. We council the startups we work with to make sure they have the right people and systems in place to support that growth. Thankfully, we’ve taken our own advice and brought on a fantastic addition to the team that will help Highline Beta continue to grow for years to come.