# Brian Hartlen

> Brian Hartlen is a Canadian enterprise-software marketing executive, advisor, speaker and co-author whose career runs from mainframe-era Comshare through Varicent, Verafin and a current affiliation with Avantegy. Across five decades he has argued for practical product knowledge, close sales-marketing alignment and a hard focus on quality conversations that become pipeline.

- **Role:** Affiliated with Avantegy; public title not specified
- **Organizations:** Avantegy, Varicent, Verafin, Comshare, Geac, Dash Hudson, Blueprint Software Systems, Coconut Software, IWK Foundation
- **Known for:** Co-authored the 2003 Wiley book The Strategy Gap., Held senior marketing responsibility at Comshare after serving across development, sales, product management and marketing., Led or supported marketing chapters at Canadian software companies including Varicent, Verafin and Dash Hudson.

## Career timeline

- **1976** — Began at Comshare in the UK, moving through development, sales, product management and marketing.
- **1997-2003** — Held senior Comshare marketing roles, culminating as Senior Vice President of Marketing.
- **2003-2005** — Continued after Geac acquired Comshare and was confirmed as Geac Vice President of Global Marketing in 2005.
- **2003** — Co-authored The Strategy Gap: Leveraging Technology to Execute Winning Strategies, published by Wiley.
- **2009-2013** — Served as Varicent Vice President of Marketing and spoke publicly on sales performance management and incentive compensation.
- **2017** — Published essays on B2B marketing while working with Canadian software company Dash Hudson.
- **2020** — Served as Verafin Vice President of Product Marketing and as a media contact when Nasdaq agreed to acquire Verafin.
- **2023** — Returned to Varicent as Chief Marketing Officer.
- **2024** — Was publicly listed as an advisor to Coconut Software.
- **2025** — Discussed five decades of B2B marketing, Verafin, AI and pipeline discipline on Executive Conversations.
- **2026** — Current public LinkedIn heading lists Avantegy in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

## Achievements

- Co-authored the 2003 Wiley book The Strategy Gap.
- Held senior marketing responsibility at Comshare after serving across development, sales, product management and marketing.
- Led or supported marketing chapters at Canadian software companies including Varicent, Verafin and Dash Hudson.
- Served as Verafin's media contact for the announced Nasdaq acquisition in 2020.
- Presented on sales performance management at CFO Rising and the Sales Management Association annual conference.

## Latest updates

- **2026-03** — A published conversation about AI content described Hartlen as having led marketing at Varicent and Verafin.
- **2025-09** — Appeared in Executive Conversations to discuss his career from mainframes to AI, the Verafin growth story and durable B2B marketing principles.
- **2024-05** — Publicly listed as an advisor to Coconut Software.

## Links

- Website: http://brianhartlen.blogspot.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhartlen
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/bhartlen
- YouTube: https://youtu.be/l0e1wN_i1LU

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/brian-hartlen
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-25