Trevor Hennigar, the former President of Hawthorne Capital, has joined Halifax-based Rimot.io as Chief Operating Officer, assisting not just in day-to-day operations but also strategy and fundraising.

Hennigar has previously overseen an investment portfolio at Halifax-based Hawthorne, which backs small and medium-sized businesses in Atlantic Canada. He is also familiar with the region’s startup community through his work as an Associate at the Creative Destruction Lab-Atlantic.

Prior to that, he held senior roles in the development, engineering and construction of large wind energy projects in Nova Scotia.

Co-founded four years ago by CEO Andrew Boswell and CTO James Craig, Rimot set out to monitor remote infrastructure, such as communications towers and has recently branched into other products.

“My role is really to help support Andrew and James, to really focus on operations and also tied into that to help the company go through a strategic mapping exercise,” said Hennigar in an interview Thursday night. He added part of the mission will be to help the company understand its core assets and use them to greater advantage.

Rimot’s core business is Rimot RF, a monitoring technology that helps organizations ensure their critical infrastructure in remote locations is working. When the pandemic broke out, the company saw an opportunity to make workplaces safer by screening people for COVID-19 using a touchless thermal camera and automated questionnaires. It calls this product Rimot Health.

It also has a marine product called Rimot Ship, which it plans to develop more fully in the coming year.

“After four years of hard work, Rimot is successfully attracting major customers such as Canadian Coast Guard, Acadian Seaplants, and a variety of sizeable organizations across Canada and the United States,” said Boswell in a statement. “As our new COO, Trevor will help Rimot build on a strong foundation and pursue new growth opportunities for the future. Trevor’s experience and understanding in operations, strategy and capital are tremendous assets for our company and our customers.”

Hennigar said the company, which employs 16 people, has a strong foundation in its infrastructure business, and said the company has found surprising traction in Rimot Health.

He is asked frequently whether there’s a post-pandemic future for Rimot Health and he said that in the future companies will still want to screen people entering their workplaces to make sure their employees are safe.

Given his finance background, Hennigar is also working with Boswell in approaching investors and expects Rimot will raise a funding round in the fall of 2021.

"I'm thrilled to be joining a growing company that’s part of a flourishing and innovative ecosystem in Atlantic Canada," said Hennigar. "I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do together as we build and bring new kinds of commercially viable solutions to both domestic and international markets.”