President, North Atlantic / Candidate portfolio
I am Steve Salindeho. For thirty years, I have been trusted with complex businesses and the people who keep them running. I care about the results, and just as much about the people asked to deliver them, because they usually knew the answer long before anyone asked.
Calgary, Alberta Open to relocation to St. John’s
professionals led
at Paper Excellence
operating locations
in that global network
continents of
career experience
accountability in
operations & advisory
North Atlantic’s reputation rests on quality, service, and its place in the community. That gives the next President something valuable to build from, and a responsibility to keep earning it.
The mandate brings together North Atlantic Marketing, North Sun Energy, NARL Logistics, TVS, and CMAL. It asks for customer growth, financial performance, and strong leadership across businesses with different roles in the same enterprise.
I have led through that kind of complexity: acquired operations, dispersed teams, demanding customers, and energy environments where commercial decisions carry real operating consequences. I would bring that experience with respect for the people who know this business and the place it serves.
Your five competencies are a useful way to make the connection. Here is what I have done, and how I would bring it to North Atlantic.
Marketing is not where I began my career. My work has been on the other side of the brand promise: making sure customers receive what the business said it would deliver.
I have built executive client relationships, developed strategic partnerships, negotiated complex agreements, and connected commercial demand with operating capacity and financial return. At Kinaxis and through Envicor, that meant helping senior leaders bring commercial, financial, and operating decisions together.
In my relationship-growth essay below, I describe spending a week understanding a client’s operation before the contract discussion. That groundwork shaped the negotiation months later. The principle is practical: understand the customer well enough to make a promise the whole business can keep.
Read my perspective on customer loyaltyI would take executive responsibility for customer growth, retention, and strategic partnerships. I would hire and back strong marketing people, give them clear priorities and the resources to do their work, and make sure their insight shapes our commercial and operating decisions.
For commercial, marine, and aviation markets, we would build the plan around customer insight, brand positioning, and the channels customers actually use. We would review acquisition, retention, account profitability, and campaign results together, then adjust the work. My responsibility would be to bring the whole business behind the promise.
At Paper Excellence, I joined during rapid acquisition and international expansion. I helped bring acquired operations into a more cohesive enterprise while facilities continued serving customers. At Envicor, I work with CEOs when growth has begun to outpace the operating model.
That work has taught me to connect opportunity with the people, systems, cash, and execution capacity required to make it worthwhile.
I would evaluate growth through customer value, margin, working capital, risk, and readiness. Common enterprise discipline should make the businesses stronger while preserving the local knowledge and relationships that help them succeed.
See the integration experienceAt Paper Excellence, I held full P&L accountability across planning, procurement, logistics, inventory, and manufacturing integration. I now carry full P&L accountability for Envicor, my independent advisory business.
At Chemtrade, I strengthened procurement economics, supplier relationships, and supply continuity. At Kinaxis, I connected commercial demand, operating capacity, and financial priorities, translating better planning into lower freight costs.
At TC Energy, I advised leaders on major capital programs and delivered financial value through commercial negotiation, contract restructuring, and logistics improvements.
Across these roles, I have led complex negotiations and built reporting that brings financial exposure and decisions into view early enough to act.
See the financial outcomesI would connect revenue, margin, cost, cash, and capital in one management rhythm, with clear accountability across the businesses. Investment decisions need an honest view of return, execution risk, and the capability required to deliver.
At Paper Excellence, I developed a geographically dispersed leadership team across a global operating network. At Chemtrade, I rebuilt procurement and supplier management across regulated manufacturing and distribution facilities.
The work involved clear decision rights, practical performance routines, and giving local leaders the authority and support to lead.
I would align the entities and shared services around clear outcomes, develop the senior team, and make succession part of everyday leadership. People should understand what they own, where they can decide, and when they need help.
How I lead peopleAt TC Energy and TransCanada, I connected Engineering, Finance, Operations, Legal, Construction, and Supply Chain around common execution priorities. My energy experience also includes upstream, downstream, offshore, and refinery-related capital work at Husky Oil.
I have worked in environments where regulation, stakeholder confidence, safety, and commercial performance have to be considered together.
I would listen to the people closest to the work, make the reasoning behind decisions clear, and keep safety in the decision itself. Credibility with employees, customers, government, Indigenous communities, and other partners comes from consistent conduct over time.
See the energy experienceDifferent businesses. Similar responsibilities: build capable teams, make good commercial decisions, and deliver results that stand up.
Acquisitions had brought together a global network with different systems, supplier structures, cultures, and operating histories. I led the teams, with P&L accountability across planning, procurement, logistics, inventory, and manufacturing integration.
I aligned leaders, operating expectations, and supplier relationships while the facilities kept running. Local leaders needed room to make decisions, supported by common financial and performance disciplines. We also reduced the global supplier base by more than 40%.
Relevant to North Atlantic Leading across distinct businesses while protecting customer service and developing the people responsible for delivery.
I advised executive and program leaders across capital programs exceeding $8 billion. The decisions connected supplier capacity, cost, schedule, regulatory exposure, and operational readiness.
I led sourcing, contracting, and supplier strategies, connected major functions around common execution structures, and strengthened executive reporting. Commercial negotiation, supplier consolidation, contract restructuring, and logistics improvements delivered the reported value while protecting safety, quality, and regulatory requirements.
Relevant to North Atlantic Capital stewardship and commercial judgment in energy businesses where reliability and public confidence matter.
I was recruited to rebuild procurement and supplier management across 40+ regulated chemical manufacturing and distribution facilities, influencing more than $600 million in annual spend.
I brought fragmented relationships into a stronger enterprise model through category strategy, negotiation, supplier standards, and risk governance. The aim was better economics with more reliable supply and clearer accountability between Procurement, Operations, Finance, and site leaders.
Relevant to North Atlantic Stronger partnerships and common commercial standards across a distributed, regulated network.
I worked with executives in manufacturing, energy, and industrial organizations to connect commercial demand, financial priorities, capacity, and supply decisions.
Clearer ownership, escalation paths, and executive routines improved forecast accuracy by 28%. Linking operational improvements to financial decisions also delivered $4.5 million in annual expedited freight savings. The technology supported the change; the leadership work was helping functions make decisions together.
Relevant to North Atlantic Connecting customer growth with the capacity, inventory, and financial visibility required to deliver it.
As Principal, I carry full P&L accountability for Envicor. I work with CEOs and leadership teams when growth or complexity has begun to outpace the organization’s operating model.
Recent work includes rebuilding cross-functional operating models, setting decision rights, and connecting performance reviews to revenue, margin, working capital, capacity, and investment priorities. For the industrial client described above, the changes also improved operating margin by 12 percentage points.
Relevant to North Atlantic Turning strategy into practical accountability across commercial, financial, and operating teams.
Selected outcomes are drawn from my submitted resume. Advisory program values describe programs supported, rather than capital directly managed.
Full career & qualifications PDFI want people to know where we are going, what is theirs to decide, and that I will back them when the work gets difficult.
Spend time with the people serving customers and running operations. Understand what helps them, what slows them down, and what they already know.
Give people clear outcomes, the authority to act, and a practical way to raise a problem. Responsibility works when people have the means to carry it.
Coach, delegate, and make room for people to grow. I want the organization to become more capable and less dependent on one executive.
Invite difficult information early. Protect people, make trade-offs visible, and follow through on what we said we would do.
A starting approach to discuss with the CEO and leadership team. The priorities should come from understanding the business.
First / Understand
Meet leaders, employees, and customers across the businesses. Understand service commitments, safety, cash, current growth priorities, and what makes each team successful.
Then / Agree
Agree on a small set of commercial and financial outcomes. Clarify decision rights, shared-service responsibilities, and the measures that help leaders act.
Next / Deliver
Deliver the agreed priorities, review progress openly, and develop the leaders who will carry the next stage of growth.
I write about leadership, customer trust, and the everyday work of making businesses stronger. These essays speak to this mandate.
Customer growth & loyalty
Why customer loyalty depends on what the whole business delivers, from the first conversation to the invoice and the next order.
Relationships & integration
Both depend on translating a promise into the decisions, relationships, and operating habits that make it real.
Growth, character & leadership depth
How to build the systems and leadership that growth requires while protecting local judgment, customer relationships, and the character of the business.
Learning, succession & organizational capability
Why experience has to become part of how the organization works, so good decisions survive a handover, a departure, or the next stage of growth.
I bring experience leading across complex operations, a practical view of growth, and a deep commitment to helping people succeed. I would value the opportunity to put that to work at North Atlantic.
I would bring an open mind to St. John’s. And a good raincoat.
Based in Calgary, Alberta
Open to relocation to St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador