Our Team

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

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

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

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

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.

Senior Consultant

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

Talia Bernknopf

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.

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