About Us

Checkout 51 is a mobile app that helps you save money on the brands you love.

Every Thursday morning our app updates with a new list of offers. All you have to do is pick the ones you like, purchase them at any store in Canada, and use the app to upload a photo of your receipt. When your account reaches $20, we send you a cheque.

Checkout 51 is based in Toronto, Canada. The company was founded by three entrepreneurs with extensive experience building successful technology, media, and advertising businesses.

Pema Hegan Founder

Pema loves to start and grow businesses. He launched an advertising agency in 1997, a national Canadian newspaper in 2004 (Dose), a successful web startup in 2007 (GigPark, acquired 2009) and founded the Toronto office of Rethink advertising in 2010.

For most of Pema's career he has worked with some of the largest packaged goods brands in the world including Unilever, Kraft, Molson, Revlon and many more. It was this experience, combined with ambition to create products that reach millions of people, that helped inspire the idea for Checkout 51.

Pema has lived in New Zealand, the UK and Canada. When he's not in the office you can usually find him riding a bike, sipping an espresso or in a hammock in Muskoka.

Noah Godfrey Founder

Noah does his best thinking in the shower, often pondering new ventures that he hopes will make a dent in the universe. Along with Pema (one of his Checkout 51 co-founders), Noah launched Dose in 2004, a national daily newspaper in Canada, and GigPark in 2007, a web startup to find local businesses through recommendations from friends (acquired 2009). Noah was also a partner in a LASIK surgery startup that leverages referrals from Walmart Vision Centers and started the SixPoints Jewish Venture Philanthropy Fund.

With an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University, Noah worked in corporate strategy at Time Warner and business development at MTV Networks. He started his career as a media investment banker at Salomon Smith Barney (now Citigroup) in New York and grew up as a child actor in Toronto.

Noah is a married father of three and a lover of food and baseball.

Andrew McGrath Founder

Andrew enjoys nothing more than building products that people love to use. Prior to Checkout 51 Andrew founded a successful web startup (Verelo, acquired 2012).

Computers have always been part of Andrew’s life. During College and University Andrew paid his bills by building and selling computers from his parents house. After starting his career in Australia, where he founded a company that wrote Online Learning software used by mining companies, Andrew moved to Canada where he has worked for a diverse range of technical industries including Web Hosting, Social Media, and Server monitoring.

Andrew enjoys scaling large technical systems, Ping-Pong, and listening to Triple J.

Vicky Tam Community Manager

Vicky didn't think there was a job that could encapsulate her diverse experiences until she became a community manager.

She’s written for and worked on the websites of enRoute, CBC, and Betakit. At Telus, she provided support to corporate and business customers. And teaching English to high school students in France helped her develop a special reserve of patience.

Between her Bachelor of Journalism from Ryerson University and a Graduate Certificate in Marketing Research and Analytics from Centennial College, she did stints in the Netherlands, France, and Taiwan.

Vicky spends her time searching for a good thrift, poking around her Android, and extolling the joys of Speculoos spread.

Peter Ludlow Developer

Peter is a technology enthusiast who prides himself in developing tools that are capable of improving peoples lives. He’s always looking for new challenges, and you’ll often find him blogging about software development practices or contributing to open source projects in his spare time. Peter’s experience spans both web and mobile development, across a wide spectrum of domains; including, Social Media Management, e-Recruitment, and mobile application development for the medical industry.

Peter is happy to call Toronto his home after relocating from Perth Western Australia in 2009 and is finally starting to adjust to the extreme weather, while keeping his complaining to a minimum. When he’s not coding, Peter enjoys travelling, attending film festivals and dining at the various Izakaya bars around the city.

Ian Hopkins Developer

Ian is a software developer with years of experience designing, implementing, and operating web-based business solutions. Ian has experience developing in a variety of technology stacks and has worked on applications for: financial reporting, marketing services, robot control, and inventory tracking. Outside the office, Ian writes classic video game re-makes.

Ian has a Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of Saskatchewan. His thesis work was on performance prototyping and documentation.

Ian enjoys barbecuing meats, snowboarding the rocky mountains, being outdoors, and doing Crossfit.

Bryan Cesar Designer

Bryan likes turning “need to do” tasks into “want to do” experiences. As a UX designer, he not only focuses on the visual eye-candy but the entire user interaction with a product to make it thoroughly enjoyable.

His experience encompasses everything from product branding to ecommerce websites and web applications for companies like Bell, Deluxe Corp., AT&T and Grand & Toy, with a focus on providing services to small business customers looking to build a successful web presence.

If you’re trying to find him outside of the office, look for him on the dodgeball courts of Ontario, where he and his teammates broke a world record for a 36 hour-straight game of dodgeball!

Rosalynn Hegan Product Manager

Rosalynn has a unique perspective on the advertising industry having worked in many different functions across 3 continents. Rosalynn began her career as a media planner in New Zealand before moving to the UK and becoming an account director. When Rosalynn moved to Canada she transitioned to film production. She has been a producer since 2006 and has lead the production of TV ads for Ford, Tim Hortons, Walmart, Kraft, Dove, McDonalds and many other leading brands.

Rosalynn loves cooking, eating out, traveling and sitting by the lake in Muskoka.

Alex Enchin Brand Partnerships

Alex is a people person and likes to help build online businesses. Alex grew up in Toronto and studied political science at the University of Western Ontario. While at Western, Alex started a business with a friend and launched one of his own, both with little success but lots of lessons learned.

Alex was on the founding team of Canada's leading group buying website, WagJag (acquired 2010). While at WagJag, Alex worked with large packaged goods brands such as Kraft, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, and Unilever. In his spare time, Alex can be found playing tennis, on the golf course, or at his cottage on Lake Simcoe.

Kate Trainor Brand Partnerships

Kate is a marketer and digital convert whose path has taken her from the Queen’s School of Business through the creative agency world of such award-winning agencies as TAXI2 and Rethink. There, she worked with a wide range of brands, from quirky underdogs like Koodo Mobile, to national signposts like Kraft and Molson Canadian.

Kate’s a big believer in consumer insights, good old fashioned brand building, and letting data set you free. And she's a big proponent of both posing and answering "what if..." and "how do we..." questions. At Checkout 51, Kate is working to optimize the user and brand experiences so they come together like a well-oiled venn diagram.

Kate likes playing hockey, watching baseball, and scouring used book stores for books she may or may not get to eventually.

Michael Chubb Operations Manager

Michael loves solving problems. An operations minded guy that enjoys building relationships and analyzing whats put in front of him, as well as working with teams to turn problems into opportunities.

His experience ranges from building out scalable teams to run large projects, to managing the integration of different SaaS platforms and companies such as Deluxe, MerchEngines, OrangeSoda and many more.

Hailing from Perth, Western Australia, Michael has lived in Toronto since 2009. Outside of the office, you're likely to find him snowboarding in the winter and golfing in the summer.

The Processing Team

The processing team is always there to lend a hand whenever members need one. Ever had a question answered or received help with getting a receipt processed? That's thanks to these guys!