# Stephen Pope

> Stephen Pope (1962-2025) co-founded Red Oak with Cathy Vasilev and Rick Grashel in 2010 and led the compliance software business as CEO until 2024. His career combined software engineering, operations and client relationships. He remained a director after the CEO transition and was later identified by Red Oak as founder and chief solutions architect. He was also a pilot and sailor.

- **Role:** Software entrepreneur; former compliance software executive
- **Organizations:** Red Oak Compliance Solutions, Dimensions, Inc., Core Objective, NFP Securities, Perficient, Inc.
- **From:** Belleville, Canada
- **Education:** Master of Business Administration; Ivey Scholar, Ivey Business School, Western University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Red Oak in 2010., Led Red Oak through its 2023 $51 million growth investment., Red Oak received a fourth consecutive Inc. 5000 recognition in 2022 during his CEO tenure.

## Career timeline

- **1998** — Completed his MBA at Ivey Business School at Western University; recognized as an Ivey Scholar.
- **—** — Served as managing director of operations at Perficient.
- **—** — Served as director of application engineering at NFP Securities.
- **2010** — Co-founded Red Oak with Cathy Vasilev and Rick Grashel.
- **2021** — Listed as a speaker for the advertising review exhibitor session at FINRA’s annual conference.
- **2023-06** — As CEO, announced Red Oak’s $51 million investment from Mainsail Partners.
- **2024-03** — Led Red Oak as CEO when it announced the acquisition of SiteQuest Compliance.
- **2024-05** — Dave Dutch succeeded him as CEO; Pope remained a director and focused on strategic initiatives.
- **2025-01** — Red Oak’s webinar recap identified him as founder and chief solutions architect.
- **2025-12** — Died on December 11; a celebration of life took place in Fredericksburg on December 16.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Red Oak in 2010.
- Led Red Oak through its 2023 $51 million growth investment.
- Red Oak received a fourth consecutive Inc. 5000 recognition in 2022 during his CEO tenure.
- Red Oak announced a fifth consecutive RegTech100 inclusion in January 2024 during his CEO tenure.
- Recognized as an Ivey Scholar when completing his MBA.

## Latest updates

- **2025-12** — Red Oak announced Pope’s death and remembered his contribution to the company; the obituary records December 11, 2025 as his date of death.
- **2025-02** — Red Oak published an article attributed to Pope about preparing compliance operations for regulatory uncertainty.
- **2025-01** — Red Oak published a recap of an AI in Compliance webinar featuring Pope as founder and chief solutions architect.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-pope-306ab26

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/stephen-pope
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-21