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    • Search Process
    • Hiring De-Risked
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    • Transition
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  • Executive Search
    • Search Process
    • Hiring De-Risked
    • Our Mandrake story
    • Search Practices
  • HR Solutions
    • Acquisition
    • Acceleration
    • Retention
    • Transition
  • Our People
  • Culture & Community
  • Knowledge Centre
    • Case Studies
  • Contact
  • Our People
    Work with an
    exceptional team.
10,000
searches completed
12,000
coaching hours
50
years supporting
30
offices
1,500
assessments

Exceptional people find us

“To grow a business today, the quality of the people you employ, engage, and invest in significantly impacts the future success of your organization.”
Stefan Danis, CEO, Chief Talent Officer, Mandrake

Hand-picked across industries and functions, our passionate recruitment consultants and HR solutions experts stay deeply rooted and connected to their respective business networks, industries, and communities they serve.

Every day, they meet exceptional people that possess the credentials, the capabilities, the experience, and the aptitude to make a real difference in their fields.

OurValuesinAction

Our values in action

At Mandrake, we believe in giving back. On an individual level, our employees support dozens of initiatives yearly. As a collective, Mandrake’s 50-year legacy of philanthropy includes several diverse programs, such as Skate for Kids. By the time this annual fundraising event reaches its 30th birthday in 2021, it will have raised well over $1,000,000 for local children’s charities.

From the ground up – the Mandrake success story

Our story starts in 1970 with the vision and ambition of a prolific talent recruiter in Toronto named Harold Perry. The founder and chairman of Mandrake and active member of the board, Mr. Perry opened the first Mandrake office at Bloor and Bay in Toronto.

The Mandrake success story

Mandrake Consultants

Get to know us!

Harold Perry

Harold Perry

Chairman
Toronto

Harold Perry’s background includes over 50 years in the executive search field, servicing more than 150 Canadian and International organizations. He has successfully completed over 800 senior executive searches.

As Founder and Chairman of Mandrake, Harold is the inspiration for his company’s innovative and entrepreneurial spirit. Harold founded his executive search practice in 1970. Since then, he has seen significant growth in the Mandrake team whose dedication and experience contribute to the continuing success of the organization.

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Harold has many associations that extend beyond Mandrake:

  • He is the Founder of Crestwood School, Crestwood Preparatory College and Crestwood Day Camp. The private schools have a current enrolment of more than 750 students and the summer camp has grown to be one of the largest and most sought-after day camps in the Toronto area with enrolment of over 1000 campers over the course of the summer.
  • The Federal Cabinet appointed Harold as a Commissioner of the Toronto Harbour Commission in August 1995 and re-appointed him in 1998. He was elected Chair from January 1998 to June 1999. In June 1999, the Toronto Harbour Commission became the Toronto Port Authority and he acted as Chair until the new board was appointed.
  • Past Member of the Ontario Racing Commission. As a thoroughbred owner and breeder since 1980, Harold was appointed to the Ontario Racing Commission for a three-year term in 2003.

Harold has been an active contributor to numerous other charities and community support organizations. A few examples:

  • Established a University Scholarship Fund over 30 years ago.
  • He served on the Board of ProAction, a joint venture between the Toronto police department and businesses, to develop safer communities for children; www.proactionhockey.ca.
  • Harold is Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of the Skate for Kids, an annual fundraiser Hockey Tournament, in association with National Advertisers Benevolent Society (NABS) and St. Michael’s School. Since 1991 Skate for Kids has raised close to $1M since its inception.
  • United Israel Appeal
  • St. Michael’s Hospital

Stefan Danis

Stéfan Danis

CEO & Chief Talent Officer
Toronto

Stéfan joined Mandrake from Procter & Gamble as a Consultant in 1987, became Partner in 1991, and was appointed CEO and Chief Talent Officer in 1999. He is also Americas Director of IMD, our 30-country strong executive search global partnership.

He has led hundreds of executive engagements in Finance, Sales, HR, Marketing, Communications, and Strategy for various service, not-for-profit, and manufacturing companies. Stéfan is an expert on the issues surrounding the changing face of human capital in today’s market, and a leader in creating and structuring competitive advantages for clients. Outside of his direct involvement in the recruiting of dozens of CEO’s, he has brokered several mergers and acquisitions.

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Stéfan published best-selling Gobi Runner in 2011 and is a regular keynote on change management having presented more than 100 customized versions of his TEDx talk on all continents. He was inducted to the Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends and awarded the Paul Mulvihill Humanitarian award for his charitable work.

Stéfan received a B. Comm. from McGill University and has attended leadership development courses at MIT, Harvard, and Babson.

Stéfan has been very active driving social responsibility, including:

  • Raised $200,000 running across the Gobi, Atacama, Sahara and Antarctica deserts for unemployed and distressed executives
  • Co-founded Skate for Kids www.skateforkids.com, benefiting kids at risk, netting almost $1M
  • Co-Founded Marketing Hall of Legends of Canada www.marketinghalloflegends.ca which inducts Canadians for marketing lifetime achievement

Stéfan is on the Board of the global Young President Organization www.ypo.org as Learning Chair for Canada. Prior he was on the board of World Education Services www.wes.org, Social Enterprise Development Innovations www.sedi.org, The Power Plant www.thepowerplant.org Canada’s leading contemporary art gallery, and ProAction www.copsandkids.ca.

Lori-Hansford

Lori Hansford

Co-President, Partner
Toronto

Lori is a trusted advisor to business leaders in sectors including consumer packaged goods, healthcare, telecommunications, academic institutions and retail. Lori holds an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University. She joined Mandrake in 2006, was invited to become a Partner in 2011, and was appointed Co-President in April 2015.

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Lori’s background includes 20 years in marketing and sales leadership roles in multiple industry sectors. She began in consumer-packaged goods and rose to the VP level at Campbell Soup and subsequently joined Molson as VP of Specialty Sales. Lori gained further executive experience in the telecommunications sector with Sprint, and then as Vice-President of Sales at Virgin Mobile, where she was instrumental in launching that business into Canada.

Lori’s success is predicated on her business acumen, impressive expertise across multiple functions in a broad range of industry sectors, as well as her forthright yet diplomatic style. She is highly respected by the client and candidate markets. Lori has made significant contributions to numerous companies’ organization success through filling roles ranging from senior management through to C-suite, in Canada and the United States.

Louise-Daigneault

Louise Daigneault

Co-President, Partner
Toronto

After graduating from L’Université du Québec à Montréal with a Bachelor of Commerce, Louise joined Procter & Gamble as a Sales Representative where she had an impressive and progressive career. During her 14 years at P&G, Louise’s positions included Key Account Manager, Regional Manager, National Account Manager, Customer Marketing Manager, Director of Customer Marketing and Sales Director.

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Louise’s expertise stems from a solid progressive background with P&G, as well as knowledge of regional markets across Canada. Her positions in National Accounts and Customer Marketing have given her the expertise to recruit in all sales channels and with retailers throughout the country.

A native of Québec and fluent in both English and French, Louise spent the first 8 years of her career working in Quebec.

Louise joined Mandrake in 1998 as a Consultant with the Sales practice and she became a Partner in 2003. She has been the Co-President of the firm since 2015. Although she began her search career in Sales, Louise has expanded her scope to other functional areas including Marketing, Shopper Insights, Human Resources, Manufacturing and Finance. Her industry experience is wide with searches completed in CPG, B2B /Pharma, Government, Not for Profit, and Healthcare.

Normand Lebeau

Normand Lebeau

President Mandrake Montreal
Montreal

After graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of West Florida, Normand Lebeau initially worked for Trans-Canada Glass Inc., focusing on business development and brand image. Since leaving his own point-of-sale manufacturing company in 1996 to become the Managing Partner of Mandrake’s Montreal office, Normand has developed a multi-specialist executive search practice servicing intermediate and senior levels within the Quebec market.

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In September 2014, he was elected President of the International Executive Search Federation (IESF) at the Annual General Meeting in Delhi, India. Normand is the second president of this network of executive search professionals. IESF is the largest retained executive search group in the world, identifying talent and leadership in 88 offices and 28 countries globally.

In 2011, 2013 and 2014, Normand was awarded the prestigious “Cross-border Assignment” trophy at the IESF annual congress in Bangkok, Milan, and Montreal, respectively.

Specialty

Biotechnology
Consumer packaged goods
Manufacturing and retail distribution
Financial services
Arts and entertainment
Telecommunications
Construction

Bill Holland

Bill Holland

Partner
Toronto

Described by his clients as “relentless in the search for great talent” and by his partners as a “brilliant strategist who can construct unique ways to search for executive talent”, Bill is widely regarded as one of the preeminent search consultants in the country.

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Bill’s professional career spans more than 30 years in consulting preceded by leadership roles in the consumer products and retail sectors. From management assessment to the development of leadership succession plans, Bill advises CEOs and their Boards across a wide range of industries, functions and geographies. Joining Mandrake in 1990 puts him as the leader in search working both in the US and Canada.

Bill’s corporate search experience includes hiring executive talent for private and public sector organizations. He also consults with private equity and family owned businesses to connect them with the best entrepreneurial talent in the marketplace. In addition, Bill serves the public and social sector working with Boards to hire leadership teams for their executive office.

Bill’s work in human capital goes well beyond executive search. His experience includes launching Mandrake’s first human capital management organization which provides a broad range of organizational strategy, leadership and staffing solutions. He also led the development and launch of Mandrake’s career transition and management selection businesses.

Bill became Partner in 1999, following which he served as Chief Customer Officer, Chief Operating Officer and President.

Daphne-Bykerk

Daphne Bykerk

Partner
Toronto

Following the completion of a Bachelor of Commerce (University of Toronto) and an MBA (Schulich School of Business), Daphne embarked on a marketing career in the consumer packaged goods industry. Over the next 15 years she progressed to the executive level through Nabisco and RJR MacDonald.

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Since joining Mandrake as a Consultant in 1998 and then becoming a Partner in 2003, Daphne’s organizational, strategic, marketing, and finance skills have been invaluable as she works with a broad variety of clients in the areas of consumer packaged goods, financial services, health care, academic institutions, telco, QSR, consumer products, not for profit and pharma companies. Daphne has impressively leveraged her business background in the executive search business with Mandrake. She has demonstrated a clear track record of adding value to solving her clients’ human capital needs. Her knowledge and experience have enabled her to successfully complete hundreds of searches with a focus against senior management through C-suite level. Her functional expertise includes all facets of marketing, finance, operations, contracting and network development, compliance, and manufacturing. Geographically, Daphne’s work spans both Canada and the United States.

Daphne is collaborative, performance driven, tenacious and develops strong relationships with the candidate community. Her strategic yet pragmatic approach, ability to question, listen to and understand her clients’ needs ensures the attraction and placement of best-in-class talent.

Gregg-Perry

Gregg Perry

Partner
Toronto

Gregg graduated from Carleton University with a BA (LAW) degree focused in Corporate Law. Gregg worked for Mandrake on a contract basis during the summer while attending law school and joined full time in 2006 after graduating. Since joining Mandrake, Gregg’s exceptional advisory talent has resulted in his career fast tracking. In 2010 Gregg became a Vice President and in 2011 was invited to be a Partner at Mandrake.

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Gregg’s instinct for finding talent has him working in the following industry practices: education, healthcare, government, retail, and hospitality.

Gregg’s hospitality experience includes leading an internal team at Mandrake. Gregg has been instrumental in building both the Healthcare and Education practices at Mandrake both in Canada and the United States.

Michael Gates

Michael Gates

Partner
Toronto

Following completion of his HBA from Ivy Business School at Western, Michael embarked on a marketing career that included roles with Rubbermaid Canada and American Sensors.

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Michael joined Mandrake in 1997 and became a partner in 2003. He works in the communications area including advertising, digital/online, direct and database marketing, public relations, promotions and events. His leads engagements for both client side and agency customers – they bring passion, great care and partnership to everyone they work with.

Michael’s consultative style and unrivalled knowledge in his industries has helped his customers successfully hire hundreds of talented people. The majority of his work is in the advertising/marketing communications area, the digital/interactive field and in the direct marketing and database areas. These searches have been split almost equally between agency customers and client-side organizations. He has likely led more senior client service and strategic planning roles than anyone in Canada during his time here. As well, he has successfully led Senior Manager, Director and VP level engagements for customers in many industries including telecommunications, financial services, not for profit, media companies, quick service restaurants and retailers. He has helped attract great talent to companies in Canada and the United States.

Michael takes deep pride in understanding his customers’ organization and culture to help them create a compelling talent proposition for the company and for each search. He combines this with the commitment to helping the candidates strategically build their career to find the best matches. Consequently, his client and candidate referrals have helped him build a great team and practice. Michael also advises his clients on organization structuring, competitive intelligence and has served on Marketing Magazine’s annual salary survey.

Paul Lintner

Paul Lintner

Partner
Toronto

Following a successful career in finance with SCM and a major engineering firm, Paul co-founded a CPG Brokerage firm covering Atlantic Canada representing international brands of cosmetics, perfumes and Personal Care products partnering with National and Regional Chains. In 1973 Paul sold his business and moved back to Toronto to join Mandrake.

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Paul is one of the original partners of Mandrake and has over 40 years of search experience covering the areas of Consumer-Packaged goods, Pharmaceutical, Industrial Manufacturing, Food Service, Retail, Alcoholic Beverages and Telecommunications. Paul’s search expertise includes Sales, Marketing, Human Resources and Operations at mid and executive level, as well as recruiting for the retail industry. Paul has experience in Canada and the US.

Paul’s consultative style and unrivalled knowledge in his industries has helped his customers successfully hire hundreds of talented people and has allowed Paul to build a personal network of over 24000 on Linked-in. The talent our clients desire rarely answer adds but are open to hearing about opportunities through a connection they trust. Our clients expect the best and our direct approach of recruitment and referrals aligned with our extensive industry knowledge helps us deliver on that promise. Our Mandrake team has 50 years of search success more than any of our competitors combined. We have built our reputation by performance making sure our clients hire better, hire less, and retain more talent. Partner with Mandrake and together we can make the difference in building your teams.

Alexandre Raymond

Alexandre Raymond

Vice President & Practice Leader
Montreal

His practical experience in executive recruiting and his interpersonal skills combined with his understanding of organizations allow him to act as an influential leader and to advise and support clients working in complex environments. His knowledge of the business environment, both locally and internationally, greatly contributes to the development of promising research strategies in order to identify the best talents.

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Over the years, start-ups, SMEs, NPOs and large organizations have entrusted him with multiple recruitment mandates in several sectors of economic activity where he has been able to develop complete expertise in all of the major functions of companies namely, human resources, information technology, marketing, operations, sales, etc.

Since the start of his career, he has been exposed to the challenges of an entrepreneur allowing him to develop a keen sense of business development and planning. With great ease in optimizing business processes and technological systems, he began his career by implementing human resources management strategies and SAP-HR on behalf of an international firm.

Mr. Raymond has a keen interest in organizations that contribute to the well-being of their community and charitable associations and is actively involved in these various organizations.

AndrewGartha

Andrew Gartha

Vice President
Toronto

Graduating from Ryerson with a Bachelor of Arts in Radio & Television Arts, Andrew began his career working at CityTV and then made his way to the advertising world starting off in production. He went back to university at Western and took business courses; then, returned to the Agency world this time in account service. Over the next number of years Andrew worked at several large Advertising Agencies rising to the level of Account Director. He completed the Institute of Communication Agencies’ Certified Advertising Agency Practitioner Designation. Additionally, over the past few years, he has completed 5 marketing courses with the Canadian Marketing Association and is one course away from receiving his Certified Marketing Specialist Designation.

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Over 15 years, Andrew carved out a recruitment practice in direct marketing and then, CRM, loyalty and data analytics working with large loyalty coalition programs. As well, he was instrumental in placing senior executives at new and existing loyalty programs in the telecom and retail sectors.

In 2015, Andrew joined Mandrake as Vice President. He continued in his areas of expertise in: digital, social media, CRM, loyalty and data working with a large and wide group of Clients from digital Agencies.

Over the past 3 years, Andrew has worked with a wide variety of Clients from: digital start-ups, marketing driven companies, banks to loyalty and CRM companies to a range of Agencies from pure digital, fully integrated Agencies and media buying Agencies.

Brigitte de Champlain

Brigitte de Champlain

Director, Executive Research
Toronto

Brigitte de Champlain has more than 20 years of tangible achievements with North American and European organizations as an executive-level manager, member of management committees or as an expert consultant. Throughout her career, Brigitte has worked on strategic planning, development, restructuring, market analysis and conquest, company positioning, product launches and divisions while ensuring the impact on internal resources as well as organizational development and operational optimization needs. She has supervised and leading hundreds of employees and numerous managers in significant change management and organizational transformation contexts.

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She has held leadership and vice presidency roles in operations, marketing, sales, and distribution, as well as customer experience and customer contact center leadership. She has always considered human capital to be one of the main success factors of any business. Select the right resources according to business challenges, mobilize them by defining clear objectives while valuing their talents, accelerates the implementation of action plans and the delivery of strategic orientations.

Brigitte has been using this applied know-how in an executive search practice for more than 12 years. She combines her passion for helping, business acumen, her analytical skills, her in-depth knowledge of organizational realities, the challenges, and expectations of leaders, with her ability to consider influence variables surrounding the need for recruitment and thus better lead: research strategies and communications in the market. Results: relevant, aligned and added-value recruitment interventions and solutions. She has contributed to several hundred executive search and recruitment mandates in multiple sectors for organizations of various sizes: private, public or NPOs.

Renowned for her professionalism, a great respect for people, the delivery of high standards of service, Brigitte values relational efficiency both in her contacts and follow-ups with customers and with the identification and preparation of executive candidates for their next professional challenge.

Charles-Lennox

Charles M. Lennox

Vice President
Toronto

Charles is a Senior Executive Search Consultant with a strong reputation for relationship building and acting as a trusted advisor to clients, while helping them build impactful teams. Charles received an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree from Huron University College at the University of Western Ontario in 1983 and is also a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and a Certified Age in Place Professional (CAPS).

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Charles’ experience includes working with a range of clients, including large global organizations in both the private and public sectors. He has clients in both Canada and the United States and has conducted national and international search engagements. He possesses great expertise in large complex Fortune 500 companies, including professional services, e-health, healthcare, government, education and non – profit sectors. He is a recognized leader in IT, Finance and Corporate Administration search. Most of his search relates to business transformation and recruitment of newly created roles.

By providing clients with a high degree of personalized service, Charles is able to recruit executive and mid-management level talent for a variety of corporate, specialist and other high impact roles.

Prior to joining Mandrake in 2013, Charles led his own executive search practice, Lennox Millar Executive Search. Charles was also a Vice-President at PwC Executive Search, where he led the technology search practice. He is past chair of the Stop Community Food Centre, Business Advisor to Humber College, Ted Rogers School of Management.

Danny Savard

Danny Savard

Vice President & Practice Leader
Montreal

After graduating with a Bachelor of Engineering degree, Mr. Savard held a variety of positions, primarily in the areas of strategic sales organization and management, business turnaround, and the organization and management of operations management. He has worked for several leading organizations such as Hewitt Equipment, Mecfor, Cegertec WorleyParsons, Wajax Equipment, Goodfellow and Symbiose & Strategies. He has held positions in sales management, general management, sales/marketing vice presidency, executive presidency and presidency.

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Throughout his career, Mr. Savard has been exposed in the front line to the real and practical challenges of a business manager focused on concrete results: strategic development of organizations, implementation of operational processes and performance indicators, and selection/development of employees.

With the combination of all his past experiences, he is able to fully understand the operational requirements of his clients. His practical expertise allows him to advise and support his clients in the definition and realization of their executive search mandates. In addition, his extensive network of contacts in the fields of engineering, equipment, industrial production, logistics, mining & metals and information technology allows him to constantly keep abreast of technological developments and market trends.

Mr. Savard has developed a strong passion for interpersonal relationships and talent management. In addition to intimately understanding the needs of his clients, he is able to draw an accurate portrait of the profiles sought and recommend the appropriate candidates who will integrate perfectly in the organization.

David-Thomas

David Thomas

Vice President
Toronto

In a search career built over the last 15 years, David has a proven track record of helping clients in the Retail, Consumer, and Manufacturing sectors. David conducts executive assignments as well as functional roles in sales, operations, marketing, supply chain, human resources and finance.

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Prior to joining Mandrake in 2015, David spent 5 years running his own boutique recruiting firm in Toronto where he was Managing Partner and leader of the Retail and Consumer Practices. He led engagements focused on finding top talent at the Senior Manager to Executive level across Canada. David has also consulted clients to drive performance improvements and develop customer-centric sales and marketing strategies.

In addition to his BA from the University of Western Ontario, David is also a certified Performance Consultant and skilled assessor utilizing psychometric tools from Assess Systems, McQuaig, and Sales Talent Assessment.

deborah_nixon

Deborah Nixon

Advisor, Human Capital Solutions
Toronto

As the Vice President of Human Capital Solutions, Deborah leads Running Start, Career Transition and Leadership and Talent Programs. She has coached individuals and groups through all elements of the talent lifecycle. After re-joining Mandrake in 2015 she has been responsible for ensuring that Mandrake’s program content and delivery reflects the company’s best practices and excellence. She trains all Mandrake coaches in the Career Transition and Onboarding process and ensures high client satisfaction. Deborah also has a number of executive search clients in the financial services, healthcare and e-commerce business. Most recently, she has conducted a number of searches for large pension fund clients including building their entire valuations team.

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Deborah started her executive search career with Mandrake in 1986 focusing on senior marketing and communications positions in the packaged goods industry. After leaving Mandrake, Deborah received her PhD from the University of Toronto and focused her research on The Role and Meaning of Trust in Organizations. She has researched trust and its impact on individuals and society since 1994. She integrates trust and its meaning and expression in all of her career transition and coaching; building and sustaining trust is a key element for people in transition as they rebuild their careers. She is an ICF Certified Coach and has coached and advised individuals at all levels from front line employees to senior leaders. She understands the challenges and opportunities that those in transition face from managing change, learning how to develop a network, resume preparation, job search strategies and interviewing techniques.

Deborah is certified in both Hogan and the McQuaig assessments. She coaches in both the public and private sectors and has served as a Mentor Coach to Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners.

Deborah was honoured to receive The International Alliance of Women World of Difference 100 Award. She is a member of the Canadian Psychological Association, the International Coaches Federation, the Human Resource Professional Association and is an Alumni Mentor at the University of Toronto.

Isabelle Girard

Vice-President & Practice leader
Montreal

Isabelle Girard has provided executive search services to companies in all sectors of the economy. She has also collaborated with many Canadians and International companies in identifying top talent that has brought significant value to the organizations.

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Isabelle Girard worked for two of the major international executive search firms, Korn/Ferry International and Russell Reynolds Associates where she was responsible for recruiting senior executives. She also worked for local search firms. Mrs Girard began her career with an international conference planning firm. She carried out research and consultations with leaders in all areas of the economy for the purpose of producing conferences tailored to selected audiences. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Relations from the Université de Montréal, a certificate in occupational health and safety and a certificate in marketing, both from the Université du Québec à Montréal.

Isabelle Girard has hands-on experience in executive recruitment. With her training in Industrial Relations, she has acquired a very good understanding of companies’ organisational structures and of the relationship between key roles and executives. Her broad skills, knowledge and experience in all facets of strategic research and recruitment of executives make her a versatile, adaptable and efficient consultant much appreciated by her clientele. She is recognized for her relational skills and her capacity to establish business connections based on trust and honesty.

Isabelle Girard has successfully recruited executives for Canadian and international clients in the private (for which some are quoted on Stock Exchanges), public and para governmental sectors. She has developed customized search strategies based on the needs of local and international clienteles and recommended top talent with impressive records of achievement. She also recruited several candidates outside big city centers.

James-Coburn

James Coburn

Vice President
Toronto

James has 25 years experience in executive search. He first joined Mandrake from the broadcast industry. He worked with his twin brother as an Anchor and Entertainment reporter for Citytv. The visionary, founder of Citytv, Moses Znaimer was a master storyteller. That early experience was key in his development to learn and understand story telling and in fact strategy.

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What attracted James to the headhunting business, was the opportunity to meet and learn from smart, strategic, creative thinkers.

Given the window with digital media and the shift in advertising it quickly became (and continues to be) a challenge to identify and recruit the best talent. But that is what drives James, his biggest strength is to find and nail the fit. Story telling helps. To share an honest view of the role, people and company. And to understand the WHY? Just like the news. It’s the thing that attracts you and makes you listen.

Advertising and Media: ?CEO, Executive/team: Account Management, Strategy, Creative. As of January 2021, James has completed 509 searches.

What keeps him fresh? Each candidate and client has a different story.

JohnRey

John Rey

Vice President
Toronto

John is a senior search consultant who has expertise in executive placement and recruitment with a reputation of finding the ‘right fit’ for each client’s unique needs. With more than 15 years of experience in talent search and acquisition, John partners with clients ranging from growth to global large enterprise. As a senior executive having worked and lived in Canada, UK/Europe and the United States, John brings his global experience and local expertise to his searches.

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Prior to joining Mandrake in 2008, John has enjoyed a successful career marked with achievement as a senior executive leading corporate operations and sales with global brand leaders in Aviation, Secure Logistics, Transportation, and financial services. His practical and direct experience allows him to quickly understand the unique requirements of each client.

A graduate of the University of Calgary, with post graduate Executive education and training in strategy, management, solution sales and financial leadership.

As a trusted advisor to his clients and candidates, John ensures the development of strong and lasting relationships by understanding his client’s needs and requirements while sourcing superior candidates.

John leads recruitment searches in B2B, executive and leadership assignments, as well as functional roles in sales, operations, marketing, supply chain, human resources and finance.

Lynn Doyle

Lynn Doyle

Vice President
Toronto

Lynn is a respected recruiter with over twenty years’ experience in executive search. She ran her own successful search firm prior to joining Mandrake in the summer of 2007. Lynn continually delivers an ability to identify and deliver candidates that add value to Mandrake’s clients’ organizations. She has managed a significant number of searches (lost count after 600) and during this time has honed her craft in various business categories.

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Her strong suit is mid to senior level search in marketing, sales & communications. Lynn has in recent years identified several significant executives as digital leaders across diverse industry sectors, including media & communications. In addition, she has identified a wide range of candidates for financial services, high tech, healthcare, and manufacturing, to name a few, always with a focus on identifying and delivering best in class. Lynn also has a knack at expertly managing confidential searches not only in the GTA but other regions in Ontario as well as other locations in Canada. She is known and appreciated for her professional candour and an ethical approach.

Lynn applies her search philosophy to every project/hire, which is “know your client and their needs well, understand their culture” as she knows that candidate/client fit is truly paramount to impacting on and achieving company and individual goals. She is resolute in obtaining as much information as she can from her clients to build a precise brief which enables her to apply a focused, strategic methodology to the search.

Community service has played a large role in Lynn’s life. Involvement as a Rotarian, and other local community endeavours as a volunteer member of committees with the belief that it is always important to give back. A strong believer in “you only get out what you put in”, Lynn gives of her time and energy to help make a difference on the job and for her community. Lynn is one busy lady.

Maxime Lebeau

Maxime Lebeau

Vice President & Practice Leader
Montreal

Fascinated by Executive Recruitment and Interpersonal Relations, Maxime has supported or led more than 100 assignments since his beginning in 2015.

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Before joining the team, Maxime completed a bachelor’s degree in Demography at the Université de Montréal, a university recognized for having laid down the first demography department in North America. As part of the completion of his baccalaureate, Maxime had the chance to spend two years abroad: at first in Nice, France, at the University Sophie Antipolis in economics, and second, in Minneapolis at the University of Minnesota in urban geography.

Since 2017, Maxime has been involved in various organizations and groups of a political nature and economic development such as the “Groupe la Relève en famille, en affairs! “.

Since 2015, Maxime has been an active member of the “Jeune Chambre de Commerce de Montréal” (JCCM). In addition to serving on the JCCM’s Executive Committee in 2016, Maxime will hold several management positions within the JCCM. Since 2019, Maxime has been involved in his community by sitting on the board of directors of a NPO in the Villeray-Parc-Extension neighbourhood, which helps disadvantaged youth to give them the tools and resources to reach university.

Maxime wants to actively participate in the international reputation of local businesses by matching the needs of these companies with the profile of the ideal candidate.

Maxime is an ambassador of Mandrake’s values as a Consultant in Strategy for Research and Talent Acquisition.

Rob Lawrence

Robert Lawrence

Vice President
Toronto

Rob Lawrence has a unique perspective from his experience in the advertising and marketing world. He has earned the long-term trust of many of the top creative leaders in town, because they know he gets it.

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With over 20 years of experience in the advertising world, Rob specializes in recruiting creative talent within all areas of the business, from ECDs through to junior teams, traditional media as well as digital, social, and all types of design. Rob has served as a skilled recruiter for over 12 years since joining Mandrake in 2006, successfully completing over 300 searches.

With his in-depth experience in the advertising, clients and/or candidates quickly realize that he knows their world, their challenges, their ups and downs. They know that he’s ‘one of them’, with a complete awareness of the creative arena that gives them a sense of confidence. Rob is able to see through to the challenges and gauge what is needed very effectively. An extensive database allows him to zero in on qualified candidates with a high rate of efficiency.

Even with all of this accumulated information, he continues to meet new and talented people, enjoying ‘giving back’ to the younger generations, while staying in touch with more senior levels.

Because of his ongoing involvement, he regularly gets referrals from candidates who reach out to him to help their friends or offer candidates who might fit a certain search. They also know that he’ll give solid counsel, without charge, even if he can’t help them directly with a role. Not only does this garner appreciation, it garners trust. Rob is often contacted by clients who have had challenges with other recruiters and works hard to solve their staffing issues and earn their trust for future assignments.

Prior to his success in the recruitment business, Rob had a successful career in the advertising and marketing industry. His professional and creative life began when he graduated from George Brown College as a Graphic Designer. Following school, he worked for over 20 years as an Art/Creative Director for a few of Toronto’s top ad agencies.

Toronto

Mandrake Place
135 Yorkville Avenue
Suite 1000

Toronto, ON M5R 0C7
416-922-5400
Fax 416-922-1356
info@mandrake.ca

Montreal

1010 Sherbrooke Street W
Suite 2212
Montreal, QC H3A 2R7
514-878-4224
Fax 514-878-4222
info.mtl@mandrake.ca
mandrakemontreal.com

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