Red Rover

Founder

CYMATRAX	
Biotech SaaS transforming audio experiences through advanced technology, fostering enhanced memory, reduced stress, and heightened focus for optimal productivity. 

Product Designer
Enhanced user experience by addressing usability issues and executing strategic design processes, including stakeholder interviews and design system evolution.
- Prevented a potential $100,000 annual revenue loss and 175 customers, saving 240 developer hours, and avoiding a 2-month project delay by emphasizing user-friendly designs and workflow.
- Drove a UX redesign and design system implementation, ensuring brand consistency. Established a unified identity, potentially expanding market share in brand initiatives for the company.
- Mitigated dissatisfaction, resolving 22 usability issues, fostering ongoing feedback in stakeholder interviews, and enhancing clarity and information architecture for a intuitive product experience.

WAGS UNITE	
A social meetup app connecting dog owners through vibrant community and positive experiences. 
  	
Product Designer
Elevated UX, launched app at WebSummit 2023, attracting investors, driving expansion, and loyalty.
- Uplifted user experience, advancing accessibility with a 90% improvement. Revitalized screens, encouraged collaboration for streamlined interfaces and intuitive design enhancements.
- Debuted app at WebSummit '23, revealing growth potential with a favorable user experience. Enhanced information architecture and optimized designs, attracting investor attention.
- Optimized clarity, minimized errors and accelerated development, saving 320 work hours. Organized screens and fostered collaboration, improving workflows to enhance team's efficiency.

Product Designer

Mission Box Solutions

Catalyzed growth and visibility, revitalizing engagement by tripling brand recognition and amplifying web traffic through strategic marketing initiatives.

- Boosted platform engagement by initiating, designing, and launching three educational e-books, resulting in 500+ email sign-ups and 100+ leads within 24 hours, enhacing customer attraction..

- Amplified brand awareness 3X through strategic content placement on industry blogs, podcasts, and online magazines; yielding increased visibility and recognition among the target audience.

- Increased website traffic by  50% through analyzing organic content strategy, crafting targeted content for personas, and mapping buyer's journey—boosting online visibility and engagement.

Marketing Strategist & Senior IT Recruiter

Full Desk Technical Recruiter

Cadensi

Inspired client growth by developing compelling storytelling-focused content, fostering brand loyalty, and substantially increasing web traffic for enhanced online visibility and engagement.

- Transformed social media engagement, captivated the target audience, and achieved a 2,200% growth rate over two months by developing a storytelling-focused content strategy for clients.

- Pioneered and executed a B2B subscription-based social media platform, slashing planning time from 3 days to under 15 minutes monthly in four months, ensuring posting consistency for clients.

- Heightened brand recognition by 80% between 12 clients, strategizing and designing 1,700+ visuals over 12 months, enhancing online visibility and engagement.

Social Media Strategist

Air Essentials, LLC

- Streamlined the delivery of service presentations to a digital format, improving customer communication by 30%

- Increased sales ROI by over 40% through cross-functional team meetings, feedback, and collaboration

Executive Sales Manager

STARK Industries

• Project Build Out - Planned, organized, and executed the build-out of a new location including the coordination of contractors and vendors, monitoring to ensure costs and timelines stayed on track, and implementation of new systems and processes to improve efficiency and reduce operating costs.

• Contributed to strategy development by identifying 200+ product opportunities, and creating partnerships with 30+ third-party vendors, to accelerate time to market by 2 months. 

• Conducted a series of meetings with key stakeholders to solve complex project scheduling issues and establish 100% project track realignment.

• Counseled support teams to ensure issues and client feedback were addressed, resulting in a 25% increase in customer satisfaction.

• Streamlined the design revision process by 50%, reducing the time to complete design requests from 2 weeks to 1 week, by creating a design request form and a monthly design revision calendar.

• Spearheaded directing teams to address client issues, resulting in a 25% increase in client satisfaction.

Assistant Program Manager

🔥 Product Designer | 3 Years of Visual Design Excellence | Proficient in Figma & Protopie✨ | Open to Remote Opportunities

I'm a Product Designer with 5+ dynamic years crafting impactful designs in SaaS, social apps, tech recruitment, and startups. 

I've averted $100,000 in potential losses, launched an MVP app at WebSummit, and 3X brand recognition through strategic marketing. I also recently obtained certifications in HTML/CSS and am currently learning Javascript.

Most recently, I played a key role in improving the user experience of a bootstrapped Biotech SaaS startup by tackling usability issues and implementing strategic design processes, which included conducting stakeholder interviews and evolving the design system. Drove a UX redesign and the implementation of a design system to ensure consistent branding, thereby establishing a cohesive identity that could potentially enhance the company's market share in brand initiatives.

I specialize in designing intuitive and engaging digital products, with a primary focus on language learning apps, travel planning apps, and recruitment marketing software. 

As a Product Designer, I excel in both UX and UI design, particularly emphasizing information architecture, accessibility, and skeuomorphic elements. My sweet spot lies in creating consumer-facing experiences for adult users. I thrive in remote work environments and prioritize collaboration with developers, marketers, and leadership. 

My problem-solving expertise centers around AI integration, innovation, differentiation, and ensuring optimal usability and accessibility. Proficient in Figma, Protopie, and Marvel, I am committed to continuous learning, including expanding into web development with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

I'm open to fully remote, flex-schedule opportunities. Please send me a DM or email me at sanders.samc@gmail.com.

Samantha Sanders

Sun Peaks Resort

Director of Employee Experience & HR (Winter Contract)

Okanagan Elevator

Established business in Kelowna and expanded market reach, exceeding sales targets and tripling revenue through in-depth market analysis, business development and scaling processes and talent.

Developed and executed HR strategy in a challenging hiring market for the skills required, achieving zero turnover through retention initiatives.

Co-founder & Owner / VP People & Sales

BSharp Coaching & Consulting

- Executive and career coaching
- Business and board consultant
- Organization design and development
- Strategic development, process creation and continuous improvement

Consultant & Executive Coach

Numeris

Hired to transform from reactive research focus to a proactive data company; strategic workforce exercise to review company talent end-to-end, prioritize future needs and address skills/training gaps. 
•	Led and managed a multi-level team across Human Resource Business Partners, Generalists, Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development, DEIB, Wellness and Recognition. Elevated the function to get out of reactive supervisor level thinking, into proactive strategic management.

Director of People & Culture

FreeAgent CRM

Recruited by Co-Founders to lead HR operations, focusing on talent acquisition and retention for CRM platform during a market downturn. CRM niche focused in the medical field. 
•	Launched and executed an employer brand campaign, increasing job applications by 300%, attracting top talent from Apple, Slack, and EA Games to an unknown B2B SaaS CRM start-up. 
•	Revamped employee relations and talent strategy for a remote and on-site workforce across India, Mexico, the US, and Canada. Restructured the sales organization and solutions consultants.

Head Of Human Resources 

Interior Health Authority

In the Organization & Leadership Development function:
Succession planning framework for a health authority serving 800K people in a forest fire-prone region. 

•	Assigned to complete a case study for recruitment for a prior Director, reviewing the health authority mandate, available data, high-level root causes, issues and make key recommendations to resolve. 
•	Uncovered talent reporting and succession data and insights that were previously unknown to the management team responsible for recruitment and L&OD at the time.
•	Proposed several tactics and plans to approach executive succession planning, and succession planning across Interior Health; including hands on support with a request process available to the entire organization, a full executive team review, and partnering with the VP and board. 

Contract role converted to permanent; left for a headhunted contract opportunity and promotion.

Consultant - Executive Succession Planning & Leadership Development

WestJet

During my tenure at WestJet, I was entrusted with leading the comprehensive People & Culture strategy leading up to the airline’s acquisition by Onex. This included developing and executing a global strategy, ensuring alignment with corporate goals, and optimizing workforce strategies. I spearheaded the creation of a P&C "war room" to facilitate complex planning, which later evolved into a COVID command center. 

In addition supporting the governance and all People & Culture board documents, I was deeply involved in shaping WestJet’s long-term people strategy, from improving organizational culture to enhancing employee engagement and leadership development. My proactive approach and ability to pivot under pressure helped the company maintain strong leadership during uncertain times.

People & Culture - Executive Strategy

Continuously promoted through over a decade long career in Aviation; successful in working across multiple verticals from HR, Operations, Commercial and Finance. Known for my approach to leadership and talent management, and mentorship program experience – recruited to help teams shift performance and strategy.

•	Promoted to oversee and support a 150-person team, developing a five-year people strategy to drive the airline's expansion. This included building a talent strategy to identify the critical skills needed for the future of the airline, while investing in improved technology and advanced network capabilities.
•	Creation and management of a $$MM department budget, and close collaboration with all business unit leaders across the company to ensure HR needs were met through budget and operations. 
•	Developed P&C metrics and a five-year scorecard and strategy with Power BI to help optimize and measure successful delivery.

Executive Advisor to the People and Culture team

•	Promoted to direct three teams across Canada (logistics, customs, dangerous goods). Created technical talent strategy for areas of expertise outside of my wheelhouse by building trust and relationships with the team, active listening and root cause problem solving. Identified talent needs, created a candidate pipeline, and put in place a five-year succession plan that went on to sustain the airline to present-day (on their third planned move of five, years after I left).
•	Reshaped team structure for scalability, accelerated recruitment process and hired new customs specialist to support the recovery of $1M in duties.

Manager - Global Logistics

•	Leveraged ADKAR and Prosci methodology, combining change management and project management approaches to drive the adoption of new initiatives. My approach was commended and used as a template for the organization roll-out. 
•	Led change management initiatives, including WestJet’s shift to a global airline, Office 365 implementations, and the transition from on-premises drives to Microsoft Teams, improving operational efficiency and collaboration.

Change Management Lead

•	Developed a cross-functional talent pipeline, guiding seven team members to 2-3 level promotions over two years by equipping them with new skills and career interests.
•	Implemented an AI audit vendor procurement that reduced the audit cycle from three months to three days and upgraded a custom industry platform to align with a new commission model.

Manager - Travel Agency Payment Services

•	Recruited, mentored, and developed team members, driving professional growth and elevating team performance from last place to 4th through data-driven strategies.
•	Developed a custom mentorship program for new leaders and large volumes of peak period coverage.
•	As a new leader in the department, identified a pattern in reporting of time theft and fraud. Collaborated with HR to address, leading investigations that resulted in the termination of 50 employees and then trained existing leaders in their system on fraud detection.

Leader - Contact Centre

•	Talent strategy for mid-to-executive level in multiple teams and over 50 locations: design and launch of innovative company-wide talent programs, both formal and self-serve, including planning and facilitation of leadership learning and conferences with 200 network leaders. 
•	Creation and facilitation of coveted mentorship programs, and other tactical development plans to address talent gaps in multiple difficult to hire regions – leading to 85% promotion rate. 
•	Successful in gaining executive sponsorship and funding for enterprise-wide cloud implementations related to global talent and recognition.

HR Operations Manager (Various roles and promotions in the same team)

- Workforce planning 
- High volume recruiting
- Scheduling relief duties
- Crew Chief & shift leadership
- Project based assignments, process optimization and change management

Various roles

BSharp Big Arts

An idea made into a colourful reality and social experiment to remind adults in a variety of corporate settings of the power of play in creativity and innovation. Large scale interactive art company partnering with TD Bank, GoPro and Travel Alberta and more. We wrapped up operations with the onset of Covid-19.

Co-founder & Owner

Kim Standeven Coaching

Business and Support Service Manager

Hilton

I cut my teeth in hospitality as a server and room service attendant. This was a fun role that gave me insight to hospitality and tourism and led to a 13 year career at WestJet Airlines in Calgary.

Server & Room Service Attendant

Executive Leader | HR Strategist | Community Builder | Creator of #Hirethishuman

With over 15 years of senior leadership experience across aviation, healthcare, research, tech, and startup environments, I specialize in aligning strategy, culture, and operations to drive scalable growth. From founding and scaling businesses, to leading remote work transitions and building talent pipelines with award-worthy culture programs, I bring a unique blend of strategic foresight and hands-on execution that elevates both business performance and employee experience. I’ve led enterprise-wide change in complex environments — from airlines navigating global expansion to tech startups scaling in volatile markets.

As a trusted advisor to C-suite teams and Boards, who also connects authentically with my teams and frontline employees, I’ve built high-impact organizations and functions from the ground up (E.g. Operations, Sales, People & Culture and Logistics), designed leadership succession models, and turned undervalued employer brands into talent magnets. I’ve led teams across Canada, the U.S., Mexico, India and more, always focused on fostering belonging with inclusive, high-performing cultures whether on-site or remote. My approach is both analytical and human — using data and insights to inform action, and empathy to build trust and resilience through change.

I’m currently open to executive, strategic and business partnering opportunities where I can solve real world problems and contribute to long-term value creation. Whether it's scaling a growing business, supporting founders through transformation, or bringing calm clarity to complex organizational challenges, I thrive at the intersection of people and performance. Let’s connect!

Laurel Burns

Exec Leader & Strategist | 15+ Years of Driving Org Growth & Transformation | Entrepreneur & Founder | Ex-Airlines/Research/Health Care/B2B SaaS | Creator of #Hirethishuman

West Kelowna 👇📚

One of my favourite times of year is here. A Friends of the Library sale! 

Today from 10 to 4pm at the West Kelowna Library.  

Check out your local Library and see how you can support them and related non-profits. Fun fact: at some libraries you can rent audio books, specialty tools like Cricuts and more!

Cheers to Tourism Kelowna for sharing this gem. 👏

I missed the Kelowna one and am excited to still have a chance to support this important cause in 2025.

The best part about working at Sun Peaks Resort? It's not just the people, the snow, golf, terrain park and perks. It is being part of a team who is excited to innovate! 

We were the first to bring the Snow Secure product to Canada. What a cool view of this behind the scenes magic as we removed the tarps and uncovered a mountain of the good stuff. 

Want to join us? We have lots of open roles posted, from Culinary to Avalanche Forecasting - the opportunities are endless! Reach out if you want to connect. Links in the comments below. 👇

Over the past month, our operations and grooming teams have uncovered our stored snow from last spring and spread it across the lower portion of OSV in the Nancy Greene International Race Centre.
 
We’re so pleased to see a snow retention rate of ~80-85% over the warm summer months. @snowsecure has developed an incredible product and we are thrilled to be their first partner resort in Canada.
 
This video showcases the much-anticipated reveal day on October 9. We’ll be dropping Part 2 in the days to come, showcasing the grooming team working their magic as they spread over 10,000 cubic metres of snow towards the Elevation lift base.
 
This weekend we start to welcome alpine race teams from across Canada, and even internationally, as they conduct their early season training in Sun Peaks!
 
For more on this project, click below: 
https://lnkd.in/gh77Qmga

Interesting watching this Canadian company grow and strategize. 

The Canadian Tire Corporation stepped up their game in Kelowna with a brand new super centre, built in the old Costco Wholesale location.

Curious to see how the roll out of the Hudson Bay line goes. From a consumer perspective, their adaptation and acquisition of Party City and Mark's over the years has been well executed (significantly elevating and diversifying the Mark's brand). 

I have long finished my MBA but always have a learning mindset. This would have been a strong case study for strategic M&A on Canadian soil in the last decade!

Kudos to the team who designed the Kelowna project for putting a piece of local tourism pride right in the entrance to boot. Simply inspired!

How you speak to children changes their world. Take this one further, and ask them their favourite way to play. 

Ask them what they are doing when they are lost in time and help them find more of what they are drawn to, in curiosity. 

It is completely possible to love what you do every day, and to solve problems along the way.

Okanagan community. 👇

This one is worth checking out. One of my favourite spots for a cozy patio and Bavarian cuisine. 

Gasthaus on the lake in the District of Peachland. 

They are open year round and have amazing spatzel, and near the holidays they have prime rib special with all the fixins (including yorkshire pudding). 

The 🎄 market is opening November 19 and has an eclectic collection of glass painted ornaments. 

Link below. 🍗

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The Battle

Samantha Sanders

Laurel Burns

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taplio

The Battle

Samantha Sanders

Laurel Burns

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Laurel Burns's LinkedIn Performance

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