Editor’s Note: Each year, Emburse honors one employee whose work fundamentally elevates the way we operate, and in 2025, that recognition goes to Torie Dennis. Torie led the creation of the ERP Gateway, a breakthrough that accelerated integrations across business units and delivered immediate impact for customers. Her colleagues describe her as collaborative, curious, and relentlessly committed to solving the hard problems that move Emburse forward.
In this Q&A, we get to know the person behind the innovation and what drives her to set a new bar for excellence.
1. Let’s start with the big moment: Where were you when you found out you’d been named Emburser of the Year, and what was going through your mind?
To be absolutely candid, I was at home battling through some sort of winter ailment that my son brought home from school and had very coincidentally checked in on an email before logging off to be horizontal for the day. It was the highest of highs on a classic Canadian winter day. I was so incredibly honoured, while simultaneously feeling so very sick!
2. For those who may not know you yet, how would you describe your role at Emburse, and what does a great day of work look like for you?
My role here at Emburse is as a Product Manager. My focus is on aligning organizational needs with innovative software solutions.
As for a great work day, I think the key is variety. Whether in our busy peak seasons during roadmap planning or on a typical Thursday, the calendar is a mix of research, prioritization, solution design, and collaboration.
My absolute favourite day is a successful launch day. There are many teams partnering throughout the many phases of a successful launch. From enablement, training, and marketing, and of course, during development, testing, and iterations. The people I work with in getting to the launch day make celebrating the release that much more of a highlight.
3. You led the creation of the ERP Gateway, which has already transformed workflows across the business. What sparked this idea?
No good idea starts in a vacuum! Starting my Emburse journey with Nexonia nearly 14 years ago, I’ve worked closely with ERP integrations and can attest to how vital it is for finance teams to connect their systems successfully. The “spark” itself was sharing lessons learned with others in the organization. Stories of what systems customers are posting to, what type of data they need or tools that they require. Through all of these exploratory conversations, we had collected enough horror stories and major wins amongst our shared experiences to develop our platform.
When our team designed our first configuration interface, shaping a customer’s onboarding flow, that was when the product demonstrated that we were listening and lessons had in fact been learned to create a scalable and intuitive solution that would be game-changing for our customers.
4. The 30-minute NetSuite integration story has become a bit of Emburse legend. What behind-the-scenes moment or challenge from that project stands out most to you?
Probably the biggest behind-the-scenes challenge is uncovering the nuances and many flavours of each ERP. And then juggling logins. Many, many sandbox logins.
There’s a lot of research, testing, and analysis that goes into making sure that what’s delivered is a well-designed and flavour agnostic workflow. The standout moments are in the analysis and care that go into getting the recipe just right.
5. Your colleagues describe you as collaborative, relentless, and customer-first. What motivates you to keep pushing for solutions?
Good design really motivates me. Not just in what font is used (although I could really go down that rabbit hole), but what the experience is like; how it feels when you interact with a product; whether it made our team’s workflows better or worse. I often like to start a project by identifying the types of problems we are trying to solve. What are the different customer perspectives? What’s important to them? From there, I commit to designing the best solution that delivers that outcome.
6. What did this experience teach you about working across business units, and about yourself as a leader?
I’ve definitely been schooled in the art of alignment. These last few years I’ve worked with new and familiar faces across the organization, and I’ve discovered that sometimes you need to explicitly ask what challenges and goals each team member needs to achieve in order to start rowing in the same direction. My favourite moments within any of the teams I’ve worked are recognizing the contributions that each team member brings to help accomplish a common goal.
7. When you think about the future of Emburse, what excites you most?
I’m excited to continue to expand on the platform! We’re continuing to release more integrations via the gateway and have plans to deliver even more ERP and HR connections for customers using our expense and accounts payable solutions.
Why Torie’s Leadership Matters for Where Emburse Is Headed Next
Torie’s story is a reminder that innovation doesn’t always start with a grand moment, but often begins with someone who sees a better way forward and refuses to settle for “good enough.” Her example reflects the spirit of what it means to be an Emburser: collaborative, bold, and committed to making a real impact for our customers and each other.
Congratulations again to Torie Dennis! Your leadership is shaping the Emburse platform today and helping define where we’re headed next.