People at DCCC

Check out our team, board of directors, investment committee members, and women in business.

leaders at DCCC

Martha Durdin

PRESIDENT & CEO AT CANADIAN CREDIT UNION ASSOCIATION (CCUA),
DCCC Board Director

Michele J Buchignani

CEO, MCLEAN DRIVE CONSULTING LTD
DCCC Board Director

Sarah Philips

Investor,
EMIL Capital Partners
DCCC Board Director

MacKenzie Keillor

VP, M&A, Strategy & Shareholder Relations; President, Dockside Investco.

Natalie Hill

Head of Sales & Distribution,
Eastern Canada

Women in business

Our team and portfolio is defined by our equal opportunity approach and the talented and motivated women who contribute to our success. In support of our beliefs, we aspire to:
A capital allocation strategy with a goal of investing better than 50% of monies in businesses where the founder(s) and/or principal(s) are female. To date, we have exceeded that target and continue to look for opportunities to sustain our investment goal.
A hiring strategy with a goal of having qualified women represent better than 50% of executive leadership at both the Dane Creek and operating company levels of our business.
Building out our investment team so as to give women a deciding voice in our M&A activities, a field where women have traditionally been underrepresented. (If you are a women interested in working on our M&A team please contact mk@danecreekcap.com.)
Fostering a supportive environment through our “Women of DCCC” initiative, including quarterly meet-ups, professional development opportunities, and mentorship.
Hosting an annual 1-day conference, leveraging our network of successful women in business, to connect inspirational and accomplished professional women with our own female talent and other women within the pet industry, with our inaugural event taking place in Q3-2019.

Martha Durdin

PRESIDENT & CEO AT CANADIAN CREDIT UNION ASSOCIATION (CCUA)

Ms. Durdin is a seasoned executive with extensive experience in management, public affairs and advocacy. Previously, she was the Managing Principal of a leading national strategic public affairs firm and spent thirteen years as an executive at a large Canadian bank. Early in her career, Martha worked in The Prime Minister’s office under The Right Hon. Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

Martha volunteers her time for a number of community organizations. Among them, she served three terms as the Chair of the Ontario Arts Council and is immediate past Chair of the Royal Ontario Museum Board of Trustees. She is currently a Director of The Canadian Club of Toronto, The Canada Post Foundation and Roots of Empathy. Martha represents CCUA on the boards of The World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) and Co-operatives & Mutuals Canada (CMC) and is a former member on the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s National Steering Committee for Financial Literacy. Martha is a recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Ms. Durdin is bilingual; holds a BA (Hon) from Western University, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and an ICD.D from the Institute of Corporate Directors at the Rotman School of Management.

Education

Western University, BA (Hon)

London School of Economics, MSs

Rotman School of Management, ICD.D


Michele J Buchignani

CEO, MCLEAN DRIVE CONSULTING LTD.

Michele is a strategic business leader with extensive senior level experience in private equity, law, finance, compensation, corporate social responsibility and consulting including development and implementation of strategic vision. She has proven success in Canadian and US public and private business organizations including building new business from scratch, repositioning troubled business and driving growth.

Michele was previously a partner at Stikeman Elliott, practicing corporate law in Toronto and London. She subsequently worked for seven years with CIBC World Markets and CIBC Capital Partners in Toronto and New York and for four years with the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board in Toronto. Michele is currently the CEO of McLean Drive Consulting Ltd. as well as the Managing Partner of a US-based property holding company.

Michele has been a board member of several for-profit companies as well as serving on executive, audit, compensation, corporate social responsibility and human resource committees. Currently, she serves on the boards of White House Design Company Inc., Westport Fuel Systems Inc. (WPRT:Nasdaq/TSX), Copper Mountain Mining Corporation (CMMC:TSX/ASX), TMX Trust Company and Dane Creek Capital Corp.  

Throughout her career, Michele has made a commitment to giving back and has served on a number of not-for-profit boards in a variety of roles, including Chair, and has participated in formal mentoring programmes for women in capital markets and developing young women for governance roles on boards. She was also a founding member of two networks for women working in private equity in New York and Vancouver.

Michele successfully completed the director education program at the Institute for Corporate Directors and holds the designation ICD.D. Michele graduated from the University of British Columbia with a BA Honours, English and also the University of Toronto Faculty of Law with a JD and completed the Stanford Executive Program at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.

Education

University of British Columbia, BA (Hon)

University of Toronto, JD

Stanford University, SEP

Sarah Philips

investor,
emil capital partners

Sarah is an investor at Emil Capital Partners (ECP) and an experienced finance professional specializing in consumer-facing businesses. She works closely with ECP portfolio companies in the consumer packaged goods, digital media and healthcare spaces. Prior to joining ECP, Sarah was at Morgan Stanley in Consumer & Retail Equity Capital Markets and then Investment Banking, working with corporates and financial sponsors to execute mergers & acquisitions, initial public offerings, secondary offerings and debt financings. Sarah received her MBA from Harvard Business School and her BA with honors in Public Policy & Political Science from Duke University. Outside of work, she enjoys cycling, skiing, Duke basketball and spending time with her family dog, Max.

Education

Harvard University, M.B.A. 

Duke University, B.A. with honours

MacKenzie Keillor

VP, M&A, Strategy &
Shareholder Relations; President, Dockside Investco.

MacKenzie leads M&A activities and strategic initiatives at Dane Creek Capital Corp. Her focus is on sourcing, evaluating, and completing investment/acquisition opportunities, and supporting portfolio companies.

Prior to joining DCCC, MacKenzie worked as an investment analyst and program lead for Nova Scotia’s early stage venture capital fund Innovacorp, covering life sciences, ocean technology, clean technology and information technology sectors. MacKenzie holds a Bachelor of Management degree with a major in sustainable resources and environmental management from Dalhousie University. More recently, she studied venture capital finance at Saint Mary’s University and is currently pursuing her CFA.

Education

Dalhousie University

Saint Mary’s University

Natalie Hill

Head of Sales, Eastern Canada

Natalie is a Pet Industry obsessed, retail brand maven and raw feeding coach. She started in the Pet Industry over 20 years ago, working in Veterinary Medicine in various capacities for several different clinics, both small and large animal. After a foray into human healthcare, Natalie took the position of Operations Manager in Raw-focused Pet Specialty Retail, and was specifically and successfully responsible for building sales in the Raw, Raw Complementary and Supplements Categories, as well as Customer Relations and Consumer Education.
A personal interest in human fitness and nutrition has naturally carried over into Natalie’s work life and love of animals. Questioning the validity of using highly processed diets to maintain vitality and longevity in companion animals is an obvious and ongoing query for Natalie and remains a lifetime commitment. “My work isn’t what I do – It’s who I am.”
Natalie shares her life with cats, dogs and horses, as well as a truly delightful teenage daughter. 

Nicole Neufeld

Corporate Controller, Retail

Nicole is the Corporate Controller of the retail division at United Raw Pet Foods Inc. Her responsibilities include overseeing the financial functions of the retail locations.

Prior to joining the United Raw team, she held a position as a Controller at a Food Manufacturer. She was responsible for the finance team and focused on building and improving overall workflow processes to keep up while business grew. Nicole also spent several years working in Public Practice where she enjoyed building and maintaining client relationships and gained exposure to various industries.

Nicole holds a Chartered Professional Accountant, CPA, CGA designation and obtained a Bachelor of Accounting degree from the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

In her personal time, she enjoys spending time with her husband whether it’s watching their daughter dance, or their son play ice hockey. Together they enjoy their family dog, Daisy, who is a Goldendoodle.

Education

 

British Columbia Institute

of Technology,

Bachelor of Accounting 

Khushbu Patel

Intermediate Accountant

Khushbu Patel is an Intermediate Accountant at Dane Creek Capital Corp. She has more than seven years of experience in accounting, finance and taxation related activities. Prior to joining Dane Creek, she worked with various leading industries including mining, banking, retail and manufacturing. Khushbu has her degree in commerce with a major in Accounting from Gujarat University.

In her spare time, Khushbu enjoys spending time with her family, listening to old Bollywood music and painting. 

Education

Gujarat University

Bachelor of Commerce

Candice Zerb

SALES REPRESENTATIVE

It was over 20 years ago that I began my career in the hair and beauty industry. My early career was in London England, where I trained and worked in one of the top hair salons in the world. Returning to Canada I owned my own award-winning salon in downtown Vancouver that included a clientele of television personalities and led to me working backstage at New York Fashion Week. My industry experience positioned me to fulfill the role of director of education and sales for three major global hair manufactures. With these manufactures I learned how to work with businesses to increase their customer retail experience through education and effective retail displays and marketing.

It was when I stayed at a friend’s house and used dog shampoo instead of a bodywash by mistake I was inspired to create a luxury dog grooming line. When my beloved Maltese Georgie was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure, I began to delve deeper into nutrition. Determined to be better educated so that I did not make the same uninformed choices with my new Maltese Jasper I become extremely interested in nutrition. Because of the loss of my dog and armed with what I now know about food and the exposed myths I am deeply passionate about pet nutrition. I am excited to be part of Henry & Harvey representing the best brands in the pet industry!

The Pethealth Story

DCCC Chairman & CEO Mark Warren is the founder and former President & CEO of Pethealth Inc. which he formed in 1998. Under his leadership, Pethealth became the leading aggregator of new pet and pet owner data, the largest provider of cloud-based software to the companion animal industry, one of the largest providers of pet insurance in the US, UK & Canada and the world’s largest provider of companion animal microchip technology.

Pethealth was acquired by Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (‘Fairfax’) in November, 2014 for all cash consideration of C$100M representing 2.1x twelve months trailing revenue, 19.6x twelve months trailing EBITDA and a 69% premium to the common share price.

So Why us?

We are entrepreneurs ourselves. We understand the challenges you face and have hands on experience turning good ideas into profitable ventures.

We know the pet industry and we’ll lend our strategic insights to the advancement of your business, whether you’re looking to sell or seeking investment.
Our review process is fast. We personally select each investment and work with our small board of directors and investment committee groups to make quick decisions.
Once approved, you’ll have sale proceeds or investment funds in hand in 60-90 days. 
We provide back office management support so you can focus on what matters most, whether that’s moving onto your next venture or growing your business in partnership with us.

Get in Touch

Phone: +1 (905) 291-0103
Fax: +1 (905) 296-1165

Mark Warren

COFOUNDER,
CHAIRMAN & CEO

Glen Tennison

COFOUNDER,
PRESIDENT & CFO