Canadian HR Expert Series: Ashira Lapin Gobrin

We launched this series to highlight Canadian HR leaders who shape culture, leadership, and the way we work.

Meet Ashira Lapin Gobrin, CHRO at Miovision. Her career began in art and design, moved through early web development and software operations, and evolved into strategic HR leadership at fast-growing Canadian technology companies. 

As CHRO of Wave, Ashira helped the organization scale and have one of the largest Canadian technology exits ever, being acquired by H&R Block for over $500M. In 2021, she received the HRPA Woman of Distinction Award.

Today, Ashira is helping Miovision scale the teams behind an intelligent mobility platform that cities use to move people safely and efficiently. She is also pursuing a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and counsels at Christina Janiga Psychotherapy. 

I had the privilege of working with Ashira for five years at Wave. She is exceptional in her ability to build high performing teams and create a culture that elevates the whole business

From Art and Code to the People Function 

Ashira studied advertising design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and joined one of the first internet firms in 1996. She learned HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, then moved into studio and software operations after relocating to Canada. Operations gave her fluency in systems, resourcing, cost structures, delivery, and analyzing financials. Over time, she realized the real leverage was not the process but the person in front of it. When HR shifted from administration to business strategy, she stepped in with an operator’s mindset and a focus on outcomes.

What Miovision Does

Miovision equips intersections with cameras and software that apply computer vision and AI to improve traffic flow and safety. Systems can prioritize an off-schedule bus, create safer passage for emergency vehicles, and optimize signal timing over time. Toronto has engaged Miovision for 2,000 intersections. The goal is straightforward: reduce congestion, increase safety, and help cities move better.

Why HR, Why Now

Ashira moved fully into HR when the former CEO of Wave, Kirk Simpson, asked for a true partner at the table. The questions were practical and strategic. How do we hire the best people and keep them? How do we align culture and strategy so the business moves faster? How do we reward, grow, and motivate teams? That mandate shaped her approach and continues to guide her work.

Hiring for Potential and Building Talent Magnets

Ashira hires for trajectory. She reads between the lines of a resume to find discipline, mastery, and learning capacity. The aim is to see what a person can become and to invest so they reach that point. Culture then acts as a magnet. Strong cultures attract the right people and help others self-select out. Clarity speeds decisions and raises the bar. A-players working with A-players is an unstoppable force.

HR’s Best Part

The administrative layer matters and should run smoothly. Ashira compares it to brushing your teeth. Do it well and move forward. The value of HR grows in the creative and strategic work: aligning strategy and culture, simplifying how work gets done, and using productive conflict to find the best path. Conflict and friction are healthy and necessary to move in the best path for the whole organization. This requires engagement across finance, engineering, product, sales, and customer-facing teams. When this happens, teams execute faster and better to drive more impact.

The Hardest Part

The work is unpredictable. People face life events, markets change, and crises appear without warning. You never know when somebody may have a death in the family or when a financial crisis will hit. HR must learn quickly, decide quickly, and adjust quickly, all while considering every part of the business. Those moments are stressful. They also build trust, capability, and stronger teams.

Biggest Lesson

Ashira is a planner, yet her core lesson is to step into uncertainty with humility. Let go of rigid plans when conditions shift. Listen closely to what people say and to what they do not say. Many opportunities emerge from surprises and setbacks.

What Non-HR Teams Should Know About HR

Great HR is not only present on difficult days. It can be a coach, advisor, strategist, and partner. HR will not do your job for you. It will help you become better at it. Treat HR as a core part of business strategy and you reduce blind spots while moving faster. Great HR can accelerate you and make your organization much better.

Tools That Liberate People

Technology should remove repetitive work and free people for judgment, creativity, and relationships. Treat HR platforms with the same seriousness you bring to ERP and CRM systems. The objective is to let people focus on work that only people can do.

AI and the Inflection Point at Work

Ashira views AI as a shift larger than prior transitions from analog to digital or from installed to cloud. AI is already changing how teams learn and operate. The imperative is to keep the highest-value thinking in house and assign repetitive tasks to tools and agents. That requires better prompts, stronger context, and sharper critical thinking. It also asks leaders to rebuild muscles that atrophied in the internet and remote era, including curiosity, collaboration, and in-person nuance. At Miovision, engineers are simultaneously managing multiple AI agents. The pattern will spread across functions. Teams that adapt their mindsets, structures, and training will unlock significant value. AI has transformed the way many teams work and will continue transforming the workplace for most of us.

Advice to People Considering HR

If you want to work at the heart of a company and connect head and heart, HR offers meaningful impact. You do not need to be an extrovert. You do need to care about people, systems, and results. Do work you enjoy. If you do not, it is not too late to change course.

Ashira demonstrates what strategic HR can look like in Canadian tech. She builds talent magnets, treats people as the core lever in any system, and leads through uncertainty with clarity and care.