John Barford
John is President of Valleydene Corporation, a private investment holding company based in Toronto. He is the former Chairman of GSW Inc., a manufacturer of domestic and commercial water heaters, where sales grew from CDN$200 million in 2000 to CDN$625 million in 2005. The business was sold in 2006.
John is the Chairman of UV Pure Technologies and a Director of EnerWorks, both Investeco portfolio companies. He is also on the boards of the Toronto Community Foundation, St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation and Chief Executives Organization, and is a Trustee of Trinity College School. Past directorships include Alberta Clipper Energy, Thunder Energy, Impact Energy and Intercontinental Warehouses.
Jalynn Bennett
Jalynn is President of Jalynn H. Bennett and Associates Ltd., a Toronto-based consultancy specializing in strategic planning and organizational development. She is a director of numerous corporations, including CIBC. Jalynn is a member of the Order of Canada, a past Director of the Bank of Canada, a past Chair of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board Investment Committee, and a past Commissioner of the Ontario Securities Commission.
Roger Dickhout
Roger is currently CEO of Pineridge Foods Inc., a company he formed with RoyNat Capital and Swander Pace Capital to build a portfolio of specialty food brand manufacturers in Canada. Their first acquisition was Liberty Brand Products in August 2004. Previously, Roger was CEO of Canada Bread Company, a publicly traded company with approximately $1 billion in sales, and a partner at McKinsey & Company.
Greg Kiessling
Greg is President of Up Capital Ltd., a private investment company, and Chair of Bullfrog Power, Ontario's first green energy retailer. Greg was co-founder, Chair and CEO of Sitraka (originally KL Group), formed in 1989. Sitraka, Canada's largest self-financed software company, was sold to Quest Software (NASDAQ: QSFT) in November 2002.
Bill Lambert
Bill serves as a Special Partner at Birch Hill Equity Partners, a private equity partnership that has $1.7 billion in capital under management. Birch Hill is a leader in mid-market buyout private equity in Canada. Bill sits on the boards of several companies including Marsulex Inc., a Toronto-based environmental services company. Bill received his M.B.A. from York University and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Rick McGraw
Rick is co-founder of Vitran Corporation, a large Canadian-based trucking and logistics company. He was President and CEO for 19 years until 2002, when he became non-executive Chair. He is also founder of Parkway Automotive investments, which owns a majority interest in two of the largest Honda automotive dealerships in Canada. He is currently a Director of Vitran Corporation (TSX and ASE) and Exco Technologies (TSX).
