Toronto, Ontario, Canada, July 2026 — Rocscience has appointed Penny Farinha as its Chief People Officer, strengthening its executive leadership team as the company continues its global growth. With more than 20 years of experience in People and Culture, Penny has built a distinguished career helping organizations navigate rapid expansion, organizational scaling, and major acquisitions. In her new role, she will lead Rocscience’s global people strategy, focusing on strengthening culture, developing talent, enhancing leadership capability, and supporting the company’s continued international growth.
Prior to joining Rocscience, Penny served as Senior Vice President, People at Cordelio Power, where she led the organization’s people strategy across Canada and the United States. She played a pivotal role during Cordelio Power’s acquisition by Pattern Energy, partnering with the executive leadership team and Board on due diligence, executive compensation, retention strategy, organizational design, change management, and post-acquisition integration. Alongside the transaction, she oversaw talent management, total rewards, leadership development, HR operations, culture, and organizational effectiveness, helping guide the company through a period of significant transformation.
Earlier, Penny spent more than eight years as Vice President, Human Resources at ecobee, joining the company as its very first HR professional. During her tenure, she helped scale the organization from 60 to more than 650 employees across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. She established the company’s People Operations, Talent Acquisition, and Learning & Development functions while partnering closely with the executive team to support rapid business growth. Penny also played a key leadership role during ecobee’s landmark CAD $1 billion acquisition by Generac in 2021. Under her leadership, the company earned numerous workplace recognitions, including Great Place to Work, Most Engaged Workplace, and Most Admired Corporate Culture.
Her earlier career includes leadership roles as Head of HR at VarageSale, where she built the HR function from the ground up during the company’s high-growth startup phase, and nearly five years at FreshBooks, progressing from Senior Recruiter to Human Resources Business Partner while supporting the company’s rapid expansion into a billion-dollar technology business. Penny began her career with The Laudi Group, helping fast-growing software companies build high-performing teams following early-stage funding rounds. She also continues to contribute to the HR profession as HR Global Ambassador – Toronto Chapter for Transform, promoting thought leadership among senior HR executives.
With more than two decades of leadership experience across technology, renewable energy, and high-growth organizations, Penny has earned a strong reputation for building people-first cultures, scaling organizations, leading transformational change, and developing exceptional leadership teams. Her appointment reflects Rocscience’s continued investment in its people as it expands its global footprint and advances innovation in engineering software.
About Rocscience
Rocscience is a global provider of engineering modelling, analysis, and design software serving the geotechnical, mining, structural, hydrogeology, and energy industries. Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Toronto, Canada, the company develops category-leading software trusted by engineers and geoscientists to analyze complex scenarios, improve collaboration, and support safety-critical engineering decisions.
With operations across the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia, Rocscience combines advanced engineering expertise with built-in AI capabilities that automate routine workflows, enabling customers to focus on technically rigorous, efficient, and economically sound project outcomes.
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