SideDrawer, the API-first client-facing document collaboration platform, is pleased to announce a significant investment from The David Slabodkin Family Trust (“The Trust”). David Slabodkin was the Founder & CEO of Canada Protection Plan, and recently exited the business through a sale to Foresters Financial, a leading North American insurance underwriter.
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“We are thrilled to have an insurance pioneer like David support our vision. Canada Protection Plan was built on the premise of helping Canadians, establishing itself as a leading provider of life insurance and related products distributed through 28,000 independent life insurance advisors. Life insurance sales, similar to financial planning, mortgages, loans, property and casualty insurance, and many other routine engagements, rely heavily on email for receiving and delivering sensitive client data. With increasing awareness of cybersecurity risks and data security, businesses and consumers want a better experience around these processes. We believe David’s deep insurance expertise will be a significant benefit as we expand our insurance and related financial distribution channels,” said J. Gaston Siri, Co-Founder & CEO of SideDrawer.
“As the family moves forward from Canada Protection Plan, we are focused on advancing businesses and technologies that benefit society. We view the protection and privacy of data as a fundamental right for people and a primary concern for consumers. The SideDrawer team has created a unique platform which will not only help individuals be prepared for life changes but allows businesses and enterprises to integrate the flexible technology to help their clients. We think SideDrawer is a unique offering, and something we believe every individual will benefit from,” said Max Fine, on behalf of The David Slabodkin Family Trust.
“We are very excited to contribute to the digital transformation for client experience around secure document collaboration. Currently this experience remains quite challenging, and has not evolved with enhancements found in other business functions. Our objective is to offer businesses the ability to collaborate with customers in a secure and engaging manner. With this additional investment, we will grow our team and infrastructure to support our SMB and enterprise clients. We know business priorities and product roadmaps can shift; as such, our solution can allow resources to be focused on enhancing core products, while easily integrating SideDrawer’s APIs for better document workflows, access controls, engagement features, and analytics,” said Ali Qureshi, Chief Revenue Officer & Co-Founder of SideDrawer.
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Along with The Trust’s investment, SideDrawer is making the following appointments to its Board of Directors and Advisory Board:
Board of Directors appointments
- Peter Andreana – Peter is a Partner at Continuum II Inc., a leading wealth management firm in Canada. He is an established financial literacy expert with experience across financial planning, insurance, business succession, group benefits and pensions. A majority of Peter’s current role is working with business owners to help them grow, prosper, and maintain continuous success. Peter coincidentally was an early adopter of SideDrawer for his practice, and recognized the value add the platform brought to his business and clients. We are fortunate to have Peter’s insight to continuously enhance our product and navigate the needs of the financial sector professionals.
- Max Fine – Max is a product and UX designer with a background in industrial design. Max’s previous experience includes founding Bender Inc. a startup that is currently developing a digital retail platform. He has spent the past 2 years at thinktum Inc. focusing on the customer facing side of product design mainly in the fintech, insurtech and healthcare industries. He has also served on the Board of The Nourish and Develop Foundation for the past 12 years. Max will represent the interests of The David Slabodkin Family Trust and their new business endeavours. The family is focused on advancing businesses and technologies that benefit society.
Advisory Board appointments
- Paul Reaburn – Paul is an Actuary by training and an exceptionally seasoned life insurance executive. Paul was formerly the President & CEO, and Chairman of Aegon Canada; Executive VP and CFO of Foresters Financial; and, currently the CFO of insurtech platform, thinktum Inc. Paul is leading efforts to expand thinktum’s technology and grow its North American customer base. He is also assisting The David Slabodkin Family Trust with its overall investment opportunities. Paul’s deep roots in every aspect of the insurance, wealth management, and pension industry should contribute to new revenue opportunities and distribution channels for SideDrawer.
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