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Multiculture Marketing

Multiculture WEBCO

Multiculture BEVCO

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  Our Team

John Vellinga, President and CEO

Leadership has been a way of life for John Vellinga, dating all the way back to the days when he was President of his High School students’ council.  He was educated as a Systems Design Engineer at the University of Waterloo, where his continued leadership saw him take on the roles of President of the Engineering Student Society and President of the University Federation of Students.  While at university, Mr. Vellinga co-founded the Waterloo Engineering Endowment Foundation, an innovative and widely imitated student-run endowment which, at over 4.5 million dollars, is now one of the largest sources of funding for undergraduate Engineering education. 

Mr. Vellinga has 15 years of experience in a variety of industry sectors, including manufacturing, logistics, distribution and retailing.  In Canada, he has worked with leading companies such as Procter & Gamble, Canadian Tire and  General Motors, both  in  a  technical  and  management  capacity.

This early part of his career built experience and understanding of each stage of the supply chain: manufacturing, distribution and retailing.

In 1997, he moved to Ukraine and co-founded Emergex Business Solutions (EBS).  EBS has since grown into Ukraine’s premier management consulting firm with many multinational and top-tier clients including Pepsi, Lucent, McCain Foods, Northland Power, Baltic Beverages Holdings (Slavutich brewery), Sandora juices and UMC (Ukraine’s largest cellular operator).

Throughout his academic and business career, Mr. Vellinga has proven to be a strong and visionary leader that can be counted on to implement change and produce results.  This, combined with extensive experience in technology project management, organization design and business process re-engineering, provide him with an excellent skill-set for building and leading Multiculture Marketing and its subsidiaries.

Philip Wilson, Chairman of the Advisory Board

Philip Wilson is an accomplished executive, with a 35 year career reaching the most senior level of corporate management at the Bank of Montreal.

Mr. Wilson’s career with Bank of Montreal began in 1966.  He has worked in Montreal, Calgary, New York, Toronto and Tokyo, receiving his first executive appointment as Vice-President, Foreign Exchange in 1982.   Five years later, he was promoted to Senior Vice-President, Treasury Group.   From 1989 to 1994 he was Head of Global Trading for the bank.  Phil was appointed Head of Treasury Risk and Asset/Liability Management in 1995, and two years later, to Senior Vice-President, Corporate Treasury.

Until his retirement in 2002, Phil served as Senior Vice-President and Deputy Treasurer of the Bank of Montreal.  He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Montreal Mortgage Corporation, served on the Board of Directors of Bank BMR Realty and was a member of the Managing Board Council of the Bank of Montreal.

A life-long student, Mr. Wilson has completed business programs at McGill University, the University of Western Ontario, the Niagara Institute and J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago.  

Throughout his distinguished career, Phil has earned many international honours.  He is an Honorary Member of both the Financial Markets Association of Canada and Association Cambiste Internationale, serving as the Assistant Secretary General.

Mr. Wilson is a personable and inspiring leader and has played the role of mentor to many lucky individuals.  He is generous with his time and serves on the Board of Erinoak - Serving Young People with Disabilities.  He is a sought-after speaker, mentor and director.  MCM is lucky to have Philip Wilson as a key investor in the company.  All shareholders will benefit from his sage advice which comes from a 35 year distinguished career as an executive of a large and internationally respected corporation combined with a wealth of business acumen and knowledge.

Lenna Nemickas, CFO

Ms. Nemickas, CA is a Partner and Co-Founder of Emergex Business Solutions (EBS), a full-service management-consulting firm to investors in Ukraine.  She is an adjunct professor of Financial Accounting at Kyiv Mohyla Business School (KMBS) and Vice-Chair, KMBS Board.  Mrs. Nemickas obtained her Honours Business Administration degree at the Richard Ivey School of Business, followed by her Chartered Accounting designation with Coopers & Lybrand in Toronto in 1992.  Mrs. Nemickas has been working in Ukraine since 1993, for the first 4 years as VP, Finance, then CFO for a technology company and since 1998, as co-founder of EBS.  Mrs. Nemickas manages the Financial Services and Accounting Outsourcing Practice of EBS, providing finance, strategic project management, CFO and accounting outsourcing services to companies operating primarily in the service, food processing, FMCG, energy and telecommunications sectors in Ukraine.

Mrs. Nemickas has led numerous high profile projects, including the first Accelerated SAP system implementation for Ukraine’s largest cellular company.  She is fluent in Ukrainian, deeply involved in the Ukrainian business community and is a frequent guest speaker and panellist at business and governmental conferences on economic and regulatory matters.  Her senior management experience, financial accounting skills, proven track record in Ukraine, and strong leadership abilities make her an important asset as CFO.

Victor Koszarny, Sales Director

Victor Koszarny is a Ukrainian-Canadian and has been deeply involved in his culture since youth.  He speaks fluent Ukrainian.

Mr. Koszarny has a long track record of success in direct sales running offices for Griffin Advertising in Toronto, Hamilton, Oakville and Halifax.

Mr. Koszarny’s natural talent for sales, his commitment to the Ukrainian culture and his intimate familiarity with the Ukrainian-Canadian community make him a natural fit for the role of Sales Director.

Oliver Dawson, Marketing Director

Oliver Dawson is a true epicurean – an aficionado of music, culture, food, wine, art and especially, beer.  He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Music and Art, and has studied abroad in Germany and Italy.

He worked for Upper Canada Brewing Company for 13 years, initially as a Sales Representative and working his way up to Market Development Director.  During his tenure, Mr. Dawson led Upper Canada’s successful efforts to custom-market their products into specific ethnic communities and developed the “Loyalist” concept, which encouraged consumers to participate in the beer culture that was being championed by the company.  He also partnered with the arts community, which was the embryonic stages of moving beer up-market in Canada, a fact that persists to this day.

Following the purchase of the brewery by Sleeman, Mr. Dawson formed the Beer Lover’s Tour Company, which organizes beer appreciation tours all over the world.  He has become a noted beer expert, training the salespeople at several breweries and speaking about beer or leading tastings on television and radio.  Oliver is also a frequent speaker at corporate events, trade shows and beer festivals.  He is also an accomplished corporate trainer, leading leadership development seminars for a variety of companies.

Mr. Dawson’s deep experience in marketing to ethnic communities and selling up-market beer, his encyclopaedic knowledge of beer and passion for culture make him an ideal Marketing Director for Multiculture BEVCO.  Finally, his German language skills and passion for German culture will assist MCM as we expand our business to other ethnic communities.