SECURASEAL - Key Persons


Benoit Alain - CFO, Chief Legal Officer

Job Titles:
  • Chief Financial Officer
  • General Counsel
  • Investor Relations Contact

Dan Velan

Job Titles:
  • Vice - President, Marketing / Human Resources

Edward Kernaghan

Job Titles:
  • Director
Mr. Kernaghan has over 15 years of experience in the financial services business. He held the position of Executive Vice President at Kernaghan Securities, a firm he started along with his father, Ted Kernaghan, in 2001. He is currently a partner at Kernaghan & Partners and is President of Kernwood Limited. He also currently serves on the board of five other TSX listed companies. Mr. Kernaghan is a graduate of the University of Toronto with a Master of Science in Theoretical Physics, and he has a Bachelor of Science, Honors degree from Queens University.

James A. Mannebach

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of the Corporation
Mr. Mannebach, BSBA, MBA, CPA, is Managing Partner of Blackbird Group LLC, a private equity investment and management firm. Prior to March 2009, he was Group President and CEO of IMI PLC's Precision Engineering business, a global engineering firm focused on motion and fluid control technologies. Prior to September 2004, Mr. Mannebach was Group Vice President of the Industrial Technology group of Roper Technologies, a leading global provider of process control, fluid metering and pump systems. Prior to 2003, Mr. Mannebach was employed by Emerson where he served as a Corporate Officer and held multiple senior leadership positions in the Company's Process Control business group which focuses on process management, control valves, fluid metering and control solutions. Prior to 1988, Mr. Mannebach started his professional career at the global accounting, tax and advisory firm of Deloitte. As Managing Partner of Blackbird, Mr. Mannebach serves on the Board of Directors of Power-Sonic Corporation and AMS Automotive LP.

Montréal, Québec

Job Titles:
  • Director

Mr. Ivan Velan

Mr. Ivan Velan joined the Corporation in early January 1970 soon after receiving an MBA from University of Michigan. He has had a 50-year business career in the valve business, all at the Corporation, serving in various management positions including Marketing Manager, VP Sales - North American Market, and Executive Vice President reporting to the then-CEO, Tom Velan. Until December 2019, he was Special Advisor to President and CEO, Yves Leduc. During his employment, Mr. Velan implemented the establishment and rework of the USA and Canadian distributor and agent networks as well as the introduction of three Distribution Centers in the United States. He served on the Corporation's Board of Directors from mid 1970 until mid 2010, including about 5 years as Chairman. He was the representative to the US/CAN Valve Manufacturers Association from 1980, joining the Board there a few years later and was Chairman in 2013-14. He has also served for many years in the past on Boards at Concordia University, Montreal General Hospital Foundation, and Lower Canada College, all in Montreal.

Mr. R. Velan

Job Titles:
  • Vice - Chairman, Executive Vice - President, General Manager, MRO & Aftermarket
Mr. R. Velan was employed by the Corporation from February 2004 to August 2012 successively as Director, Strategic, Planning and Business Development, President of the Corporation's subsidiaries in UK and Germany and Vice-President, Marketing. From August 2012 to October 2013 he was President & Owner of Emergia Aerospace. In February 2014 he was rehired as Vice-President, Distribution for the Corporation and in February 2016 he was promoted to Vice-President, Customer Service. He holds an MBA from Cornell University and a professional director certification from Canada's Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D).

Mr. Tom Velan

Mr. Tom Velan joined the Corporation in 1973 and held various positions with increasing levels of responsibility mainly in international sales and developing and managing foreign subsidiaries. Prior to being appointed President in 2003, he was Executive Vice-President, Export Sales and Overseas Operations. In 2011 he was appointed President & CEO. In 2015, he was appointed Chairman and CEO. He has been a director of the Corporation since 1976. Mr. Velan graduated with a B. Comm. from McGill in 1972.

Robert Raich

Job Titles:
  • Director
Mr. Raich. LLB., graduated from McGill University and was called to the Barreau du Québec in 1976. Prior to establishing RaichLegal Inc, Robert Raich was a senior partner at Spiegel Sohmer Inc., a Montreal firm specializing in taxation law, where he served as managing partner for over 25 years. His areas of expertise include taxation advice for real estate transactions, advice to both purchasers and vendors in acquisitions and sales of businesses, corporate reorganizations, venture capital financing and charitable planning. Mr. Raich has been recognized on several occasions as one of the "Best Lawyers in Canada" in the fields of Taxation law and Law of Estates and Trusts in Canada and has been a frequent guest lecturer at McGill University Faculty of Law and tax conferences. Mr. Raich is currently sitting on the boards of several private companies.

Sabine Bruckert

Job Titles:
  • Executive Vice - President, Human Resources and General Counsel, Corporate Secretary

Suzanne Blanchet

Job Titles:
  • Director & President of the Audit Committee
Ms. Blanchet, D.h.c., IAS. A, is a Corporate Director and is Chair of the Board of the RFAQ, an NFPO that works for the development of women-owned companies. She currently serves as a directors of Resolute Forest Products (TSX), where she chairs the Environment and Health and Safety Committee, and of GDI Integrated Facility Services Inc. (TSX). She also serves as a director of Solmax and EBI, where she chairs the Audit Committee. Suzanne Blanchet pursued a career with the Cascades group for over 30 years, rising through the ranks to become President and Chief Executive Officer of Cascades Tissue Group from 1997 to 2014. Under her leadership, she grew the Tissue Division both organically and by acquisition to become the 4th largest player in North America in the retail, commercial and industrial sectors. She then held the position of Senior Vice President, Corporate Development for Cascades where she developed and implemented the ESG plan, as well as the entire innovation component for the group. Since 2017, Ms. Blanchet is a Corporate Director. Ms. Blanchet studied Accounting Sciences at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and is an accredited Corporate Director (ICD.A.). She has received prestigious awards including the Golden Stevie Award for the Executive Officer of Canada in 2013. In 2015, the Université du Québec en Outaouais [UQO] awarded her an honorary doctorate for her significant contribution as a pioneer in sustainable development and her innovative approaches in the pulp and paper sector were recognized.

William Sheffield

Job Titles:
  • Director
Mr. Sheffield, BSc., MBA, is a corporate director, who is also a member of the boards of Canada Post, a Federal Crown Corporation, and Houston Wire and Cable Company, an electrical products distribution company listed on NASDAQ where he holds the position of Chairman. Mr. Sheffield past board services also include OPG, Corby Distilleries, Royal Group Technologies, Sappi Ltd and Pan Asia Paper. He holds a professional director certification by Canada's Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D) and a similar designation by the National Association of Corporate Directors in the USA (FEA). In 2013, he completed the Family Enterprise Advisors Program (FEA) at UBC. Mr. Sheffield started his career with Canadian steel industry. From May 2001 to May 2003, he was the Chief Executive of Sappi Fine Paper Division of Sappi Ltd., a coated paper manufacturer, and, prior to August 2000, was the Executive Vice-President of Abitibi-Consolidated Inc., a newsprint manufacturer.

Yves Leduc

Job Titles:
  • Special Advisor to the President
Mr. Leduc joined Velan in January 2015, having been Vice-President General Manager of North American business at Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. since 2006. In his sixteen years as member of BRP's senior management team, he built a broad experience taking on the responsibility for most business units, as well as for the key business functions of the company, including manufacturing, new product development, logistics, sales, and marketing. Mr. Leduc also brings an international experience, having spent six years in Europe, leading the Austrian engine division and spearheading several strategic manufacturing projects in Asia and Latin America. The divisions under his leadership have sustained a track record of delivering lasting process and operational improvements, while achieving market share and sales growth that consistently outperformed competitors. In his previous careers, he worked at McKinsey and Company as a management consultant working on projects in North America and Europe, and as an attorney at Stikeman Elliott in Montreal. He is fluently trilingual (French, English, and German). While Yves' initial focus at Velan is to draw on his extensive supply chain experience to reorganize Velan's North American operations, longer term he will also be focusing on company's overseas operations.