Team

His responsibility was for profitable operations, in many cases requiring turnaround efforts to return to profits, for almost 100 individual manufacturing plants. Annual sales at individual plants ranged from over $5 million to over $100 million.

He continues to demonstrate his innovative approach, as he was the founder of a marketing services company that was taken public and achieved annual sales of over $125 million.

During this time, he was also a part-time faculty member of Ryerson University. He has published many columns on effective cost management and management information systems for the graphic arts industry. 

Over the past 14 years, he was employed by RBC Royal Bank to lead national and international efforts for the effective category management. This included product and supplier rationalization and transformation activity for supply chain management for all types of print and security products and advertising channels and services. This required significant transformation for many operations in Canada and in over 17 countries where retail and other financial services are offered.

Heather is an accomplished talent acquisition professional with 30+ years of print industry experience. Skilled at cultivating new business and delivering customer solutions, Heather brings her background in marketing, public relations, and business development to her sought-after expertise in recruiting. In her role at Connecting for Results, Heather provides full-cycle recruitment services to printers with a specialty in executive searches and “hard to fill” roles.

As a support to hiring managers, Heather helps seek out top-tier and diverse talent for current and future hiring needs across her established network of contacts. As a trusted talent advisor, she has filled roles from senior management to shop floors across the industry, from print and packaging companies to direct mail providers, marketing agencies to equipment providers, and print suppliers.

As an industry expert, Heather shares her insights as a guest speaker and panelist with a special focus on attracting and retaining employees. She is passionate about sharing best practices, helping employers to finding a winning employee brand strategy to attract the right talent, creating a positive candidate experience from interview to onboarding.

Heather serves the community as a member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Printing & Imaging Association (OPIA) and is a Career Mentor for Toronto Metropolitan University’s Graphic Communications Management students with deep ties to the student community and up-and-coming talent.

Throughout his career, Joe has held leadership positions with large multinational organizations including small to midsized family-owned businesses. His work experience provides a unique strategic perspective to deliver results for a vast array of business objectives, helping clients to improve operations, streamline manufacturing, and grow sales.

John has over 40 years of communications management experience, including 14 years as a senior leader at Fortune 5 company, CVS Health. John’s crowning accomplishment at CVS was centralizing print and overseeing a team that executed over 300 million direct mail pieces annually with flawless precision. During his tenure with the company, John was the subject matter expert for print and he led a team of print production experts that managed all aspects of one of the largest print budgets in the world.

John also worked on the acquisition teams for Aetna, Omnicare, Target, and Corum. In the early days, he was a general manager of a large print facility and held senior sales positions at Mail-Well, Cenveo, and Quebecor World.

John’s most recent focus has been on dynamic member compliant communications where he was responsible for building composition engines, handling compliance business reviews, and approvals of print and related services vendors.

John led the finance transformation activity for his CVS team and oversaw supply chain management for all types of print, paper, and advertising channels. His unique experience and skill set positions John well for his new role with CFR.

Howard has held a number of senior management positions in a wide range of print communication organizations, where he has led teams to implemented improvement to EBITDA and shareholder value. 

His leadership methods have enabled smooth cultural change in organizations, as well as enthusiastic approaches to customer service, creating a “Can Do” culture.

Over the course of his career, Robert has led a number of major projects, providing innovative solutions to production challenges and optimizing printing processes for customers in various sectors. His keen business sense and commitment to quality have contributed to the growth and success of the companies he has led.

Robert is recognized for his inspiring leadership and strategic vision, which have led him to develop strong partnerships and implement effective business strategies. Passionate about innovation, he strives to stay at the forefront of the latest trends and technological advances in the printing industry.

Having worked for one of the first consolidators in commercial print, to building an international online print company, his career won’t be complete without sharing his knowledge and assisting companies going forward. As of 2018, Dale has helped companies with mergers and acquisitions, supporting buyers and sellers through every stage of the process.

Besides his diagnostic capabilities, Gary is adept at mentoring employees so they are more effective and capable of achieving their personal, team, and business goals.

He has demonstrated the ability to quickly learn and use new skills and technologies.

A strategic thinker, he also has a strong analytical sense with a focus on finance. He understands how to get the most out of operational capacity and its role in identifying new marketing and sales growth opportunities.

Over the years, Drew has assisted other business owners through his involvement in industry peer groups and family business associations. He understands that business owners face their own unique challenges, particularly when shareholder and management transition issues come into play. Corporate governance and structured succession planning have been the key foundations of his leadership role.

Julie Anne comes with 20 years of sales, management, and ownership experience. She has built a versatile skill set led with integrity. Excelling in driving business growth and fostering team success, her business acumen cultivates meaningful connections, understanding diverse needs and delivering tailored solutions.

As a sales manager, focusing on strategic vision and a collaborative leadership style, Julie Anne has guided teams to exceed targets and achieve individual and collective results. Through ownership, contributing to short and long-term strategic goals, and devising execution plans, she helps to level-up the business as a whole. With high organizational prowess, she has championed seamless operations and efficiency workflows, optimizing resources for maximum productivity. Together, these skills form the cornerstone of her professional abilities, enabling her to thrive in dynamic environments and deliver exceptional outcomes.

Nicky has had a successful leadership career with North American print and publishing organizations (Quebecor World, Transcontinental), in roles spanning production technology, operations management, digital media, and more.

Nicole is an award-winning communications professional with extensive experience directing public relations campaigns. In her 15 years of experience, she has worked across industries including arts and culture, entertainment, education, fashion, and travel.

Nicole has a proven track record of developing and executing communications strategies across multiple channels, successfully raising her clients’ profiles across a local, national, and international stage.

Morris is a results-oriented financial executive with extensive experience in both corporate and operating financial roles in public and private companies. While with a large Canadian public company, Morris developed expertise in Financing, taxation and mergers and acquisitions. 

He has held senior roles with a number of printers where the primary objectives were to reduce costs, improve productivity, acquire, or divest and re-finance the businesses. As SVP, Operations, and COO of an advertising business, he managed the integration of multiple agencies, both physically and culturally.

Mike has developed a vast amount of experience helping dozens of companies with Business Succession Planning. From assisting with the transition between family generations, to recruiting senior executives positioned to take over the day-to-day activities of the business or sourcing a suitable partner to acquire the company. Mike has a keen needs assessment aptitude that will help discover the most appropriate solution to your personal business goals.

Chris is a print sales and marketing leader with 40+ years of experience. Based in the US, he has personally sold and led selling teams across the entire spectrum of printed products and services. As a sales leader, he has led national and regional teams. Individually, he has sold and implemented large complex client programs with great success.

In addition to sales and marketing, Chris has experience in M&A projects both as a seller and buyer. His insights into sales effectiveness and client relationships have proven invaluable to those he has served.

His greatest strengths lie in people development and strategy. Chris takes great pride in helping sales executives get the best out of themselves for their personal benefit and the benefit of their company. His deep experience in the industry, combined with his breadth of products and services, gives him a keen perspective to identify and close new opportunities.

With over 25 years of professional talent management experience, Alan provides his clients with a unique and innovative approach to human capital recruitment and assessment. As part of his business model, Alan has helped numerous Global organizations recruit cross-functional senior leaders as well as full technology and operations teams. Prior to launching his firm over 10 years ago, he spent several years as a Senior Partner with a leading global boutique firm. Over the course of his career, Alan has successfully completed a multitude of senior-level assignments for a cross-section of organizations, large and small, often with diverse and complex requirements.

Earlier in his career, Alan was Head of Business Development for a leading provider of information services. In this business, he played a key role in developing successful relationships with channel partners and clients in the financial services and technology sectors. Alan began his career in corporate communications with a prominent public affairs firm based in Washington, D.C., where he focused on corporate and governmental advocacy campaigns.

Alan received his Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from McGill University, a MA in Public Communications & Policy from American University in Washington D.C., and studied Advanced Graduate Management at Athabasca University. Alan is a past member of the Autism Speaks Canada funding committee and has been actively involved in a number of community based initiatives. He is also a Volunteer Responder with the Toronto Crisis Center.

ZEL Human Capital provides an array of human capital services across all industries and functional areas, replacing the need for multiple vendors. In addition to full Executive Search, our firm offers Talent Assessment, Coaching, Independent Market Research and Recruiting Training and Development. We also provide Contract Recruitment Services when Interim roles are required and/or our clients are looking for short to medium term solutions.

Along with our clients, we share in both the risk and rewards inherent in successful talent acquisition and/or talent assessment campaigns.

ZEL Human Capital is led by Managing Partner, Alan Zel.