Our Team
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President
Larry founded the executive search practice of Kathbern Management in 2004, intending to utilize his extensive senior management, technology and investment banking experience to assist organizations in a wide range of industries to find and recruit the best available talent in a variety of middle and senior management functions.
Prior to his recruiting firm career, Larry spent six years working with owners of companies to assist them with financing and ownership issues such as facilitating mergers or the sale of their business. He was also founding President of the company, owned by BCE and Hughes Aircraft, which launched the world’s first open access toll system for Toronto’s Highway 407ETR. In this role, he assembled the initial team of 150 technical, marketing, customer service and finance staff to launch and then operate the 407.
Larry’s management experience also includes a ten-year span with Xerox Canada, and senior executive positions with several cable television companies including President of a publicly traded company which operated over 900 cable television systems across Canada and in 17 states. In this role, he managed five operating companies in Canada and the U.S. and reported to a public board with no single controlling interest.
Larry holds a B.A. degree from the University of Toronto and an M.B.A. degree from York University.
Vice President
David’s career has spanned nearly three decades as a telecommunications sales and marketing professional. He is able to leverage that depth of experience to assist Kathbern’s clients across a range of functions including, but not limited to, sales and marketing and in industries beyond telecom.
Throughout David’s telecommunications career, he has worked both with large multinationals including Nortel and Rogers, as well as smaller companies. Most recently David was Director Business Development at Capella Telecommunications where he was responsible for Unified Communications, Emergency Alerting, and Cable Telephony.
David holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario and a Masters of Applied Science and Bachelor of Applied Science from Queen’s University. He is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario. David is past president Cricket Club Toastmasters and has achieved the Toastmasters Competent Communicator and Advanced Leader Bronze awards.
Vice President
Lisa has worked in recruitment research for over 20 years. She strives to learn about the client and their business so that she can represent them effectively in the marketplace as she works to find the professional with the right fit for the position in question. She is dedicated and professional and has a personal touch that puts both clients and candidates at ease as they move through the search process together.
Lisa started her career in executive search working in the Toronto office of a large executive search firm for 6 years where she recruited senior level executives and board directors for Canada’s largest corporations.
Before her career in search began, Lisa served with the Canadian Government for five years. In Ottawa she worked on Parliament Hill for 2 years working with both Members of Parliament and Senators. Lisa also worked at the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C. and the Canadian Consulate in New York City serving the Canadian, American and international diplomatic communities.
Lisa holds an Honours Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Bishop’s University, a Master’s Degree in Information Science from the University of Western Ontario and a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management from the University of Toronto.
Vice President
Darryl is a 15 year veteran of the recruiting industry in Canada, the USA and Europe across all job categories and industries. His approach often involves creative “out of the box” thinking in order to address clients’ requirements.
Prior to his recruiting career, Darryl acted as a project manager for consulting assignments utilizing Lean and Six Sigma to address issues in production, process improvement, quality, maintenance, continuous flow and supply chain management.
Darryl has a B.Sc. in Industrial & Organizational Psychology.
Vice President
Charmaine Geddes is a Toronto recruiting agency veteran with over 20 years of successful IT Project Management experience in the Financial Services sector as a former Project Manager. She has proven successes in delivering/implementing projects of various size and scope and has been responsible for sourcing, recruiting, and hiring project teams. To that end, it was an easy decision for Charmaine to transition to the recruiting world.
Charmaine has built solid client relationships, allowing her to further her passion in “making a difference” by helping candidates achieve their career goals, while focusing on the needs of her clients. She views every search assignment as a personal challenge requiring a personal commitment.
Her recruitment, executive search and staffing expertise covers a broad range including, IT, Telecom, Life Sciences, Finance, Engineering and Manufacturing industry sectors.
Vice President
Mackie Vadacchino has cultivated a distinguished career in senior management roles in various industries, including banking, retail, and advertising, within large “blue-chip” corporations and entrepreneurial environments. Her journey ultimately led her to discover her true passion for Natural Health Products.
After serving as CEO of Bioforce Canada/A. Vogel for over 15 years, Mackie transitioned to Chair of the Board at the end of 2022. Mackie now serves on the boards of several companies.
Her extensive corporate governance knowledge stems from her membership on numerous boards and organizations, including Groupe Robert, Cell Foods Inc., and the Canadian Health Food Association (CHFA). She has also served on the Board of Governors of Concordia University, the Board of Directors of La Chambre de Commerce de Montreal, and the Board of the Italian Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, she has been President of the Montreal Chapter of the International Women’s Forum.
Mackie has always been passionate about helping others achieve their goals and dreams, coaching and promoting many to become better managers and business leaders. She continues to formally and informally coach female business owners in the industry, particularly those introducing innovative and healthy products.
Mackie holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business. Mackie is fluently trilingual and bicultural.
In addition to her professional pursuits, Mackie enjoys traveling and learning about new cultures.
Senior Legal Advisor
Andrew Bowyer is the founder of ADB Insights – a Toronto based media and consulting company. ADB Insights convenes forums, workshops and digitally based platforms focused on innovation in the professional services sector across North America: The Legal Innovation Forum, The Capital Markets Forum and The Canadian Estates Forum.
Andrew also provides consulting services for organizations’ business development, content and innovation strategies. He has also worked as an editorial consultant/writer for Bloomberg Law for projects focused on the US
legal market.
Andrew spent the first 13 years of his career in London and New York in various, globally focused roles at the Financial Times, Bloomberg and a strategy consulting firm focused on the global legal sector. He returned to Canada to set up ADB Insights in 2018.
Sales Consultant & Sales Training Expert
Humza Adam is the Founder and Principal of HFactor Solutions. He holds over 10 years of experience in high-value sales and marketing as well as training. With a keen understanding of human factors and buyer psychology, he has mastered the art and science of high-value selling. With this expertise, his work has led to over 4 billion dollars in sales revenues. Humza holds a Master of Science degree based on the principles of human factors with published research in the area of human performance. He also holds a Master of Science degree in engineering management. In addition, he has a number of years of experience in coaching and training people for peak performance and is a Registered Corporate Coach (certified designation by the international body WABC).
Senior Recruiter
Alyssa Deonarine is a Senior Recruiter with over 9 years of experience. Along with her commitment to excellence, she understands the needs of her clients and candidates. She is passionate about her goal of surpassing her clients’ expectations. Alyssa is always striving to improve in the work that she does. She graduated from Humber College with a Paralegal background and is now on her way to completing her CHRP. She is part of the Kathbern team, really eager to complete projects successfully.
Social Media Manager
Annemarie Brisssenden is an accomplished writer and seasoned corporate communicator who has written for clients in the cultural, legal, political, and corporate worlds. With a background in journalism, investor relations, and plain language, Ms. Brissenden is particularly skilled at collaborating with executive management teams to develop digital and written content that satisfies a wide array of communications needs.
Executive Assistant
Talia is a seasoned professional administrative assistant, with many years of experience in working diligently to provide the most productive and positive working environment. She has a strong passion for people as well as creating and maintaining strong relationships.
Talia is responsible for coordinating many administrative and marketing duties, as well as providing support to all other members of the Kathbern Management team.
Larry Smith
President
Larry founded the executive search practice of Kathbern Management in 2004, intending to utilize his extensive senior management, technology and investment banking experience to assist organizations in a wide range of industries to find and recruit the best available talent in a variety of middle and senior management functions.
Prior to his recruiting firm career, Larry spent six years working with owners of companies to assist them with financing and ownership issues such as facilitating mergers or the sale of their business. He was also founding President of the company, owned by BCE and Hughes Aircraft, which launched the world’s first open access toll system for Toronto’s Highway 407ETR. In this role, he assembled the initial team of 150 technical, marketing, customer service and finance staff to launch and then operate the 407.
Larry’s management experience also includes a ten-year span with Xerox Canada, and senior executive positions with several cable television companies including President of a publicly traded company which operated over 900 cable television systems across Canada and in 17 states. In this role, he managed five operating companies in Canada and the U.S. and reported to a public board with no single controlling interest.
Larry holds a B.A. degree from the University of Toronto and an M.B.A. degree from York University.
Lisa Diner
Vice President
Lisa has worked in recruitment research for over 20 years. She strives to learn about the client and their business so that she can represent them effectively in the marketplace as she works to find the professional with the right fit for the position in question. She is dedicated and professional and has a personal touch that puts both clients and candidates at ease as they move through the search process together.
Lisa started her career in executive search working in the Toronto office of a large executive search firm for 6 years where she recruited senior level executives and board directors for Canada’s largest corporations.
Before her career in search began, Lisa served with the Canadian Government for five years. In Ottawa she worked on Parliament Hill for 2 years working with both Members of Parliament and Senators. Lisa also worked at the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C. and the Canadian Consulate in New York City serving the Canadian, American and international diplomatic communities.
Lisa holds an Honours Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Bishop’s University, a Master’s Degree in Information Science from the University of Western Ontario and a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management from the University of Toronto.
Darryl Dioso
Vice President
Darryl is a 15 year veteran of the recruiting industry in Canada, the USA and Europe across all job categories and industries. His approach often involves creative “out of the box” thinking in order to address clients’ requirements.
Prior to his recruiting career, Darryl acted as a project manager for consulting assignments utilizing Lean and Six Sigma to address issues in production, process improvement, quality, maintenance, continuous flow and supply chain management.
Darryl has a B.Sc. in Industrial & Organizational Psychology.
Charmaine Geddes
Vice President
Charmaine Geddes is a Toronto recruiting agency veteran with over 20 years of successful IT Project Management experience in the Financial Services sector as a former Project Manager. She has proven successes in delivering/implementing projects of various size and scope and has been responsible for sourcing, recruiting, and hiring project teams. To that end, it was an easy decision for Charmaine to transition to the recruiting world.
Charmaine has built solid client relationships, allowing her to further her passion in “making a difference” by helping candidates achieve their career goals, while focusing on the needs of her clients. She views every search assignment as a personal challenge requiring a personal commitment.
Her recruitment, executive search and staffing expertise covers a broad range including, IT, Telecom, Life Sciences, Finance, Engineering and Manufacturing industry sectors.
Bill Cowan
Senior Consultant
Prior to joining the Toronto hiring firm of Kathbern Management, Bill served with the Ontario Government for five years in Toronto before becoming an Administrator in hospitals and nursing homes throughout Ontario where he fully demonstrated his experience initiating cost containment strategies resulting in significant savings.
After leaving the field of health care, he became a financial consultant for Merrill Lynch, Canada, and RBC Dominion Securities in their wealth-management divisions.
As a seasoned professional with years of comprehensive experience including organizational and strategic planning, change/performance management, recruitment, and conflict resolution, he has well-honed administrative skills and an excellent ability to communicate with both candidates and employers.
At Kathbern Management he specializes in full recruitment solutions, from role definition to on-boarding.
Bill is a graduate of McMaster University, The University of Toronto and is a Certified Health Care Executive as well as a Certified Financial Planner.
Talia Bernknopf
Executive Assistant
Talia is a seasoned professional administrative assistant, with many years of experience in
working diligently to provide the most productive and positive working environment. She
has a strong passion for people as well as creating and maintaining strong relationships.
Talia is responsible for coordinating many administrative and marketing duties, as well as
providing support to all other members of the Kathbern Management team.