The Partners
Julian Chapman
President
Julian Chapman has over three decades of experience engaging teams and organizations, from small groups to thousands of employees, building their leadership capability. His leadership knowledge is augmented by his 30+ year "second" career as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces from which he retired in 2014 at the rank of Brigadier-General. He joined Forrest & Company in 2002, taking over as President of the company in 2015.
Julian travels extensively to assist Forrest's clients in designing solutions to achieve extraordinary results using the Forrest methodologies. Known as a pioneer of thinking in the workplace, Julian is a master trainer in Effective IntelligenceTM, which he brings to organizations through keynote addresses or assisting individuals and teams in solving problems through effective thinking. His thoughts on leadership, organizational development, and accountability have been published in HR Reporter Magazine, CPA Bottom Line Newspaper, and HR Professional magazine.
Julian is the author of The Managerial Leadership Journey: An Unconventional Business Pursuit, which was published in May 2022.
Recent consulting projects include:
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Shepherding an international manufacturing firm to articulate its strategy, define its structure and then enable its leaders to effectively deliver the strategy;
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Auditing and making recommendations to the structure of a sizeable Canada-wide engineering firm to identify opportunities for efficiency and effectiveness while enabling the company to enhance its reputation with customers and stakeholders;
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Assessing the structure and systems of a large international gold mining company to enhance the accountability systems in place while ensuring the business was efficient and effective;
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Developing bespoke management systems for various business sectors to fulfill their strategic plans. Most notably was a complete roll-out through a sizeable Canadian utility to enhance their corporate reputation;
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Customizing and instilling core leadership practices for various businesses to enable the implementation of accountability management systems; and
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Ongoing consulting work with CEOs and C suites of various sectors to enhance their organizations' capabilities.
In his spare time, Julian is a member of the Board of Directors of the Wounded Warriors Project, a charitable foundation that provides support for veterans, focusing on those suffering from PTSD. He co-founded a charitable foundation for the Canadian Rangers of Northern Ontario that primarily supports at-risk aboriginal youth.
Julian holds a BA from the University of Toronto. He is a graduate of the Canadian Army Command and Staff College and the Canadian Forces College, and an alumnus of the U.S. Army War College. He lives in Toronto and is married to Wendy, with whom he has four children.
Tony Welsh
Executive Vice-President,
Design & Managing Partner
Tony Welsh, Executive Vice-President, Design and Forrest’s Managing Partner, brings over 30 years of training, design and organizational development experience to Forrest & Company Limited. As Forrest specializes in customized solutions, Tony’s strength is his genius in precisely matching the requirements of a client to the specifics of a program.
Tony draws his experience from a number of previous roles:
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Organizational Development and Employment Manager at Bombardier Aerospace Dehavilland.
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Program facilitator for the Toronto Advisory Committee on Employment Training (TACET).
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Course Director and Lead designer for the United Nations Integrated Mission Staff Officers Course (8 weeks residential) at the Pearson Peacekeeping Center.
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Instructor and Mentor for the Militia Command and Staff course and many other career programs with the Canadian Forces.
Tony was instrumental in the architecture of Forrest’s Leadership Suite™ and Effective Thinking Suite™ program offerings, now in public offering through two training partners. He is the designer of ViewFinder2™, a multi-rater tool that assesses strengths and opportunities for development. Tony is an expert process facilitator and has delivered – and designed – many Forrest programs, including the renowned Leadership Path™. He is certified in Effective Intelligence™ and in the Lominger Leadership Architect™ series of tools. He has recently been certified to run several simulations provided by Celemi Ltd including “Apples and Oranges”™, a one-day financial acumen simulation.
A favored speaker, Tony has conducted seminars and webinars on performance management, employee engagement, and talent management for HRPA members; been interviewed by The Globe and Mail – Report on Business, resulting in the article, “Seven Steps to Make Better Decisions”; and conducted a webinar on decision making for Canadian HR Reporter Magazine.
Recent projects include:
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The re-design and transition of many Forrest programs to an on-line experience and delivery mechanism.
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For a national organization that provides medical laboratory services: Designed and implemented a complete Requisite Organization structure, which included structural consulting, leadership development, project management, and coaching of individuals at the Director and Vice-President levels.
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For a major energy utility: Developed a bespoke managerial framework and helped apply it from the top levels down including structural and process consulting, competency development, implementation of talent assessment tools and processes and being the lead facilitator on all internal managerial leadership training and consulting.
A decorated and long-time member of the Canadian Armed Forces, Tony retired at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Among other accomplishments during his years of service, he commanded Canada’s oldest airborne infantry regiment, the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, and was the founding commander of the Civil Military Cooperation (CIMIC) unit for Central Ontario.
Whenever he can find the time, Tony enjoys camping and hiking and, having played football in high school, is an enthusiastic follower of the sport. He also dabbles in creative cookery and collects wine bottles (after carefully emptying them).
The Associate Team
Forrest's Associate team comprises a wide-ranging team of experts across disciplines of Executive Leadership, risk, coaching, Human Resources, strategy, sales and execution. These thought leaders come from multiple industries and have extensive backgrounds as executives and are recognized experts in their fields.
The Team
Jason Legere
Director, Design & Facilitation
Jason Legere, CPHR, joined Forrest & Company in 2017 as Director, Design & Facilitation with over two decades of training design and facilitation in the fields of HR, Leadership, Coaching, Change Management, Technology and Engagement.
Jason designs and facilitates content for both the physical and virtual classrooms. He also leads Forrest’s multi-day, immersive simulations in the areas of Change, Labor Negotiations, Business Acumen and Accountability Management Systems.
Additionally, he works with Leaders at all levels of organizations as a coach for skill development, unlocking potential and creating leaders of character.
Before Forrest, Jason was with Bell Aliant, the Atlantic Canadian subsidiary of Bell Canada, where he worked with all levels of Management and front line employees in the areas of HR Consulting, Coaching, Leadership Effectiveness, Employee Engagement, Change, and Customer Experience.
Frequently sought after by multiple departments for facilitation and coaching consulting, he was a founding faculty member of Bell Aliant’s Leadership Fundamentals Program and later Bell Canada’s Field Services People Leadership Practices Program focused on new Leaders of People.
He has been actively involved in the design and delivery of virtual online training, facilitation and coaching since 2001, pioneering “Live Online” learning for Innovatia, an Atlantic Canada based elearning firm.
In 2016, he served a term as Director of Employee Engagement for a Salesforce.com consulting firm where he led all internal HR and training initiatives while also designing and facilitating virtual training for an international client base on change, onboarding, coaching and organizational effectiveness.
Jason is a member of CPHR New Brunswick and holds both a Bachelor of Arts and Certificate in Adult Education from St. Francis Xavier University. He also holds an Instructional Design certification from Langevin Learning Services and numerous certificates in the Organizational and Technology fields.
A life-long Maritimer, Jason resides in Saint John, NB with his arch-nemesis Sharon.
Kimberly Thomas
Director, Consulting & Facilitation
Kimberly brings over 20 years of experience in finance, consulting, and entrepreneurship to the role of Director, Consulting and Facilitation.
She has provided consulting services to a variety of clients including top Canadian banks, academic institutions, government clients, and small businesses. She has also facilitated training and taught courses at universities and colleges in Canada and abroad.
She maintains a healthy skepticism about the utility and long-term effectiveness of the innumerable trends in corporate development. Accordingly, she is a cautious innovator with a focus on delivering effective, efficient, engaging, and evidence-based solutions for clients. Her work, no matter the industry, is done to encourage thriving rather than just surviving.
Kimberly has an MBA from the University of Toronto and a PhD in Performance Psychology. She has produced cutting-edge research in psychological performance preparation among high-performance executives. Her work has focused on optimizing motivation, focus, confidence, and stress among high-performers. Kimberly’s research has shown that, whether intentional or not, executives’ use of technical preparation is inextricably intertwined with psychological performance preparation. She is passionate about cultivating understanding and operationalizing this interplay.
Kimberly speaks English, French, and Spanish (occasionally all at the same time) and lives in Toronto with her husband, son, and their big, beloved dogs.
Marsali Federico
Chief of Staff
Marsali Federico joined Forrest in January 2008 and has slowly climbed the ranks of accountability. Beginning as the Client Coordinator, she then transitioned to act as Executive Assistant to two EVPs, became the Manager, Support Services, and now acts as Chief of Staff. In this role, she is accountable to ensure all Finance and Administration services and back stage capabilities are delivered in an efficient, effective, well-controlled manner, enabling the business to deliver on its strategies and to meet all statutory and regulatory requirements. She performs the HR functions of the business and supports the President as his Executive Assistant. She manages the three-person Administrative team, overseeing the provision of logistical and administrative support to the sales, client relationship, and delivery functions.
Marsali holds an Honors BA with a specialist certificate in Theater and Drama Studies from the University of Toronto and a diploma in Acting from Sheridan College. A voracious learner, she also holds a Diploma in Coaching and Mentoring, a Diploma in Counseling and CBT, and a Certificate in Stress Management from the Institute of Counseling in Glasgow, Scotland. She has a Certificate in Business Administration and in Risk Management from York University and a Certificate in Project Management Fundamentals from the University of Waterloo. Marsali is a Certified Associate Project Manager (CAPM) with the Project Management Institute (PMI).
In her “spare” time, Marsali is a Captain with the Canadian Forces Cadet Instructors Cadre (CIC) with whom she has worked in a number of administrative, teaching, training, and consulting capacities over her 20 year career and is currently the Commanding Officer of a local army cadet unit. Marsali performs in community theater productions and volunteers and mentors with the Toronto Military Family Resource Center, an organization that provides support to the spouses and families of deployed and serving soldiers, and veterans. She is also a Volunteer Director of the Board of the Toronto Scottish Regimental Association, and Volunteer Administrative Support to the Ranger Foundation, a charitable foundation for the Canadian Rangers of Northern Ontario that primarily supports At-Risk Aboriginal Youth. Marsali is a member of the IODE 48th Chapter, a national women's service group with a focus on youth, education, literacy and citizenship.
Marsali is married to Jason, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the military reserves; they have two sons, Declan and Lennox, and two fat cats.
Katherine Pearce
Operations Coordinator
Katherine joined the Forrest team as Operations Coordinator in October of 2015.
As the Operations Coordinator, Katherine is accountable to ensure all operational support is provided so that our clients, staff, and associates enjoy a well-coordinated, complete experience that conforms to Forrest design standards and meets the facilitator’s and client’s expectations. This includes, but isn’t limited to, providing support to and coordinating with clients to enable smoothly functioning, professional events ensuring that the workshop and consulting assignment experiences are well supported by conducting and coordinating all Before-Action and After-Action reviews, maintaining the appropriate inventory of workshop and consulting assignment supplies and facilitation support materials, producing materials and getting workshops out the door, administering all assessment tools and instruments, providing administrative support to and managing all Effective Intelligence licensees, and administrative support functions.
Katherine has a BA in English Literature from York University and a Computer Systems Technician Diploma from George Brown College, and has experience in a variety of work environments from retail to care-giving to freelance administrative assistance. She is excited and enthusiastic to join our team and bring her love of organization and multitasking to our operations group.
Salman Haider
Finance and Sales Administrator
Salman Haider joined Forrest & Company in August 2018, as our Finance and Sales Administrator.
Salman comes to us with a wealth of experience. He has a Bachelors of Commerce in Business Management from Ryerson University with a major in marketing management and a minor in finance. Recently, he worked with Sutton Special Risk processing claims, reimbursements, and administrative support work, as well as at CAM-H doing invoicing, vendor communication, and database work. He also has a Canadian Securities Certification through the Canadian Securities Institute. He is an excellent asset to us in this role and brings knowledge and insight to our sales and finance processes.
Sal supports the Manager of Support Services, enabling the efficient processing of all financial aspects of the business, including payroll, associate and vendor payments, and taxes. He is also our in-house CRM system administrator, and supports our marketing functions as well.