Thanks to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for the discussion on providing support to newcomers and the immigrant workforce in Canada. Our latest labour market info tells us that the Canadian food and beverage manufacturing industry needs over 65,000 new people to join the workforce by 2025. This industry offers an incredible variety of careers for Canadians, newcomers, and immigrants.
CHAIR
Mike Timani,
President
Fancy Pokket Corp.
New Brunswick
Mike Timani is a native of Lebanon and was born in Venezuela. He arrived in Toronto during the Lebanese civil war. He is president and CEO of Fancy Pokket Corporation in Moncton which was established in June 1989 in a 1,000 sq foot facility with three employees. Today, the bakery consists of 45,000 sq. ft. and employs 80 people. Fancy Pokket is the largest producer of pita bread, bagels, tortilla wraps and flatbread in Atlantic Canada.
Mike constructed a 58,000 sq. ft. dedicated Gluten Free facility in Lancaster County, South Carolina which produces a variety of gluten free products. The new facility began operations in August 2019.
TREASURER
Darlene Macdonald
Food Industry Expert
Ontario
Darlene brings more than 20 years experience in organizational development and change management, having worked in North America and Europe with food and research companies. She holds a Master’s Degree in Intercultural Communication and is a self-confessed “foodie”.
VICE CHAIR
Mark Pickard,
President
InfraReady Products Ltd
Saskatchewan
InfraReady Products was started in 1994 by the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool (SWP) in an attempt to add value to cereal grains before they left the province. With only the equipment, no products and no clients, Mark Pickard, the SWP’s project champion and 2 employees, started to carve out a unique niche in the food ingredients market, aiming to be the secret ingredient in many different food applications. In 1998, the company had grown to 13 employees, 100 products, and exported ingredients around the world. Accounting for a minute portion of the balance book, the SWP decided to divest itself of InfraReady, and offered Mark the opportunity to carry out a management buyout to ensure the company’s work would continue. With the help of 2 investors, Mark was able to continue his dream of offering wholesome food ingredients to the world’s food processors.
Jennefer Griffith
Executive Director
Food Processing Skills Canada
Ontario
Jennefer has been a leader in skills development and training for the Canadian food and beverage manufacturing sector for over 20 years. As Executive Director of Food Processing Skills Canada, she has led ground breaking initiatives including development of the Canadian Food Processors InstituteTM, FoodSkills LibraryTM and FoodCertTM – resources that support education and career pathways for businesses and people. Recently, Jennefer and her team finalized Canada’s first Learning Recognition Framework for the industry and are in the process of completing national labour market analysis and an accreditation process for colleges, universities and private trainers. Jennefer is passionate about supporting new Canadians, Indigenous People, women and youth in finding rewarding careers. Prior to joining Food Processing Skills Canada, she held roles in government and the non-profit sector.
Jacqueline-Pelletier
Directrice générale chez Comité sectoriel de main-d’oeuvre en
Transformation alimentaire-CSMOTA
Pending Update
Elliott J Gauthier
Senior Vice President
Hill + Knowlton Strategies
Ontario
Elliott Gauthier has a close connection to Food Processing Skills Canada and the broader sector. For many years he has worked with FPSC on many strategic initiatives, from representation at industry events, to authoring and strategically communicating FPSC’s cornerstone Labour Market Information Studies (LMI’s), moderating Board growth and strategic initiative sessions, refining the membership strategy and emceeing and presenting at the annual FPSC industry conference. Elliott a Senior Vice-President at Hill+Knowlton Strategies (H+K), one of world’s leading communications firms. He is a member of H+K’s Canadian Leadership Team, leads the reputation measurement practice in the Global Corporate Affairs + Advisory group, sits on H+K’s Global Technology Solutions Committee and is a senior leader in the Global Data + Analytics group. With more than 15 years’ experience in senior-level research positions in the communications industry Elliott leads the Canadian Data + Analytics team, a team of skilled researchers and measurement experts located in Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver.
Lynn Rayner
Operations Manager
Acadian Supreme Inc.
Prince Edward Island
After graduating from the Holland College Fisheries Technology Program Lynn has worked in the seafood industry for over 25 years in various positions. Lynn has spent most of her career with Acadian Fishermen’s Co-operative as Quality Manager and then moving into Production. In 2016 Acadian Fishermen’s Co-operative was bought by Acadian Supreme and at this time she moved to the position of Operation’s Manager for the company. She is directly involved with Quality, Production, HR and Financing within the company. Lynn works closely with members of the Federal and Provincial governments on issue to do with HR, TFW as well as product development and automation. She also works with Holland College, UPEI and other industry members to develop products and equipment to help with staffing issues in the seafood industry. Both to keep plants producing for a longer period of time by extending our season as well development of automation to help with staff shortages.
Yonathan Negussie
Director of HR
JBS Food Canada
Alberta
Yonathan Negussi has been Human Resource Director for JBS Food Canada for the last 8 years. Yonathan has successfully managed the JBS acquisitions of XL Foods in Brooks, Alberta. He has done extensive work in the area of international labour mobility, by successfully recruiting international skilled and semi-skilled workers from UK, USA, Philippines, Mexico, El Salvador, and Brazil. Inaddition, Yonathan has been an active supporter of industry Initiatives to attach and retain talent, including an advisor at Succeeding at Work, a project spearheaded by FPSC.
PARTNER
Amy Proulx, PhD.
Professor and Coordinator
Culinary Innovation & Food Technology, Niagara College
Ontario
Amy Proulx, is a professor at Niagara College, Canada, and coordinator of the Culinary Innovation and Food Technology Program at the Canadian Food and Wine Institute. She acts as research leader at the Niagara College Food Innovation Centre, where she and her colleagues provide technical, regulatory and product development support to the food and beverage manufacturing sector, and conduct research in culinary, food science, brewing and winemaking.
Steve Martin
Retail Sales Manager
Martin’s Family Fruit Farm
Ontario
Steve Martin is the retail manager at Martin’s Family Fruit Farm – a family run ‘labour of love’ for almost two centuries. While apples are their main product and are shipped Canada-wide, Martin’s also works with other local producers to provide additional fruits and vegetables in its retail store, and for customers. The Martin family has farmed these Ontario lands since 1820. The apple growing part of our history began with a suggestion from Branko Premlec, a Yugoslavian exchange student with a background in horticulture. Branko and Leighton Martin agreed that the region’s combination of warm summer sunshine, adequate rainfall, rich soil and cool autumn nights would be perfect for producing the sweet, juicy apples that the Martin’s Family has become famous for. With a future full of fine apple varieties in mind, they planted their first trees and waited patiently for them to mature.
Jeff Purcell
VP of Operations
Champlain Seafood
Pending Update
Brad McKay
President of McKay Consulting
Ontario
Brad McKay is President of McKay Consulting. Prior to this, he was President of Wholesome Kids Catering, a leading supplier of nutritious meals to day care centers, and before that was Chief Executive Officer of Healthcare Food Services, a leading marketer of meals for the healthcare sector. Prior to this Brad was Vice President Ingredients and Export for Parmalat Canada and before that held progressively senior marketing positions at Procter & Gamble, Kraft/Nabisco, and Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Brad is a Board member of Food Processing Skills Canada and has been a Board member of the Yves Landry Foundation, the International Union of Food Science and Technology, and the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology where he was also President. He is a graduate of the University of Waterloo in Systems Engineering.
David Lippert
Vice President of Human Resources
Ontario
With six manufacturing plants, over 1,300 employees and after 125 years in operation, Dare has become part of the fabric of Canada. Following is a chronological history of Dare starting with our humble origins as a grocery store, tracing all the way up to our current, exciting times. After over 125 years, Dare remains dedicated to producing innovative, high-quality food. Manufactured in Canada and the U.S., our range of cookies, crackers, fine breads and candy is available throughout North America and in more than 50 other countries around the world.
Noorudin Jiwani
President
Aliya’s Foods Limited
Alberta
Noorudin Jiwani is a co-founder, President & CEO at Aliya’s Foods Limited. He has been with the company since its inception in 1999 Noorudin has a degree in Mathematics and Statistics from McMaster University. From 1981 to 1995, He was the Assistant Vice President at Buck Consultants, Toronto, an actuarial consulting firm, where he provided consulting services and performed valuations of Corporate Pension Plans, and the design and implementation of Pension Administrative Systems. He was also very instrumental in business development and acquiring new corporate clients. Before co-founding Aliya’s Foods Limited in 1999, Noorudin Jiwani owned and operated Indian and Continental food restaurants in East Africa from 1995 to 1999. He also operated a successful import/ export of commodities business in international markets during the same time as well. Additionally, he was a consultant to a food manufacturing facility to automate the production of peanut butter as well as establishing effective systems for production Noorudin served two terms as a member on the Board of the Alberta Food Processors Association and he is one of the 10 founding members of the CEO Club in Edmonton. Noorudin is also a volunteer with the World Partnership Walk, raising funds from corporate and individual donors in support of international development programs.
