Our Story

Innovative Mentoring Software began in 2001 when our CEO Jamie Anderson’s wife, Suzanne, was working as a volunteer coordinator at Kinship, a mentoring organization in Minneapolis, MN, that needed a better data management system. Having gone to college with Mark Bajema, a software engineer, and Stacy Bajema, a social worker, she recommended their newly formed software company for the project. Innovative Mentoring Software was born! Mark and Stacy not only took on the project but also became mentors themselves.

Innovative Mentoring team
The Innovative Mentoring Software partners are committed to providing you an excellent software solution for your important work. Pictured left to right, Mark Bajema, Suzanne Anderson, Jamie Anderson, Stacy Bajema, Chris Lefstad, and Hannah Lefstad.

Passionate about mentoring, seeing the need for a user-friendly yet robust software solution, and encouraged by the Kinship network to share the software more broadly, they made it available to mentoring programs across the country. Coming full circle, in 2015 the two couples partnered further and Innovative Mentoring Software became a division of Emergent Software, a top-rated software development firm in Minneapolis. Long-time friends now sharing a common vision: to bring the benefits of Innovative Mentoring Software to as many organizations as possible!

Since then, we’ve added a team of professionals who are passionate about technology and the ways it can help you serve kids better.

At Innovative Mentoring Software, we are committed to providing you with:

We know that for some kids, having compassionate adults who care about them and advocate for them can change their lives… or even save their lives. We love the work we do, and we know that you do, too. We want to team up with you to make a difference.

Our Team

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Chief Technology Officer
Mark Bajema
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Chief Executive Officer
Jamie Anderson
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Vice President, Innovative Mentoring
Stacy Bajema
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Vice President of Operations
Chris Lefstad
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Director of Software Engineering
Mike Allen
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Director of Project Delivery
Sylvester D'Agostino
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Sales & Business Development
Tim Larson
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Lead Software Engineer
Mike Neal
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Account Manager, Innovative Mentoring
Hannah Lefstad
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Recruiting Manager
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Principal Software Architect
Cory Maass
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Lead Software Engineer
Chris Knopf
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Implementation Specialist, Innovative Mentoring
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Lead Software Engineer
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Azure Architect
Jeremy Brewer
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Senior Business & Quality Analyst
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Account Executive
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Senior Project Manager
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Senior Project Manager
Kate Montella
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Account Executive
Jon Matteson
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Sitecore Architect
Nona Drake
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Senior Software Engineer
Josh Dinndorf
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Senior UI/UX Designer
Biz Cook
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Software Engineer
Chase Kaufenberg
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Senior Software Solutions Engineer
Tom Hart
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SQL Server DBA
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Senior Project Manager
Liz Nichols
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Senior Project Manager
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Software Engineer
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Senior Software Engineer
Aaron Rolloff
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Software Engineer
Tyson Beebout
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Senior SQL Server DBA & Developer
Ric Oliva
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Senior Data Architect
Kevin Martin
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Senior Software Architect
Zach Green
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Senior Software Architect
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Senior Software Engineer
Zack Wilkins
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Software Engineer
Jason Andrae
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Senior Software Engineer
Ryan Sommers
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Senior Software Engineer
Evan Hutchinson
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Senior Software Engineer
Ryan Drost
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Senior Software Engineer
Ben Rude
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Senior UX Designer
Kyle Larson
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Senior Sitecore Developer
Adam Streit
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Join the Team!
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