Grand & Toy Leadership
Sumit Luthra
President
Helen Ashton
Vice President,
People & Culture
Alnoor Jiwani
Vice President,
Information Technology
Linda McDonald
Senior Director,
Finance & Accounting
John Petsinis
Director,
Supply Chain Operations
Sumit Luthra
President
Sumit is a seasoned business leader with a distinguished career spanning over two decades in the Consumer-Packaged Goods and Food industries. His proven ability to build stakeholder relationships, drive strategic growth and deliver exceptional results is evident from his successful tenure as General Manager at Campbell Company of Canada. Sumit's leadership style is characterized by a strong focus on people, collaboration, and innovation.
With a deep understanding of the market and a passion for building high-performance teams, Sumit has consistently exceeded expectations throughout his career. His extensive experience includes pivotal roles at Weston Bakeries, Mars, Nestle, and Procter & Gamble, where he honed his skills in Sales, Marketing, and General Management.
Sumit holds an MBA and a Bachelor's degree in Engineering, providing him with a robust foundation for strategic decision-making. Beyond his professional accomplishments, he is committed to giving back to the community and enjoys mountain hiking with his family.
Helen Ashton
Vice President, People & Culture
Helen is responsible for developing and executing the people strategy that aligns with the values and strategic priorities of the organization. She is passionate about creating a culture of belonging, two-way communication, and she is focused on talent development and ESG initiatives.
Helen joined the Grand & Toy family in April 2022 and brings 20 years of progressive experience in the Human Resources function. Her experiences spans a number of industries including automotive, MRO and Consumer Packaged Goods industries. Helen’s career also comprises of military service, small business ownership and teaching at the college level.
Helen holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Information Technology and Economics from York University and Master’s degree in Industrial Relations and Human Resources from University of Toronto. She is a Governing Body member of the Toronto chapter of Evanta CHRO community and a proud mentor with Toronto chapter of the Network of Executive Women.
Helen’s personal passions outside of the office include humanitarian work, yoga, martial arts and travelling. She lives in Richmond Hill Ontario with her husband Michael and their son Zachary.
Alnoor Jiwani
Vice President, Information Technology
Alnoor is the head of IT and Innovation for Grand & Toy. His primary mandate is to develop and execute the IT strategy that aligns with the strategic priorities of our business. As a member of the senior leadership team and with his deep business and operational expertise, Alnoor is also actively engaged in developing our business through growth, customer focus, innovation and operational excellence initiatives.
Prior to joining Grand & Toy, Alnoor was the CIO for several private equity assets owned by Brookfield Asset Management. He has also worked with Deloitte, PA Consulting Group and DH Corp. In the past decade, Alnoor has played a key role in a number of M&A transactions pre-purchase and post-acquisition.
Alnoor holds an MBA from the Ivey School of Business and a BSc (Honours) in Computer Science from the University of Hertfordshire, UK.
Bal Sahjpaul
Vice President, Digital Marketing & Customer Care
Bal brings 20 years of digital transformational experience to his role as Vice President Digital Marketing and Customer Care. He joined Grand & Toy in 2019 and is responsible for the digital marketing and customer care roadmap that supports the organization’s strategic priorities to deliver profitable growth, and a superior customer experience.
As a seasoned marketing professional, Bal is a passionate advocate for the customer. He understands the importance of listening to the customer voice and aligning this awareness into all aspects of the business.
Prior to Grand & Toy, Bal held senior leadership positions across a broad range of organizations including Metrie, Air Canada, BMO Financial Group, and AMD. These roles gave him the opportunity to bring new and innovative insights into industries as diverse as technology, financial services, aviation and manufacturing.
Bal holds a Bachelor of Engineering, Aerospace from Ryerson University, Toronto.
Linda McDonald
Senior Director, Finance & Accounting
Linda is a strategic finance leader and a CPA who joined Grand & Toy in 2013. In her role on the Senior Leadership Team, she oversees the governance of Finance & Accounting functions, mitigates corporate risk, and establishes sustainable process controls and policies. Her best assets to achieve that is through the development of the finance professionals on the team and enhancing the overall financial acumen of everyone in the organization.
Linda brings over 30 years of experience in the Retail and Consumer Packaged Goods industry. With an in-depth background in financial operations, Linda has made significant contributions to the success of the company since joining in 2013.Linda’s curious approach assimilated to her strong business acumen and knowledge of Sales and Supply Chain operations, Merchandising, Marketing, and Product Management. Linda understands the importance of building effective relationships and collaborates with business partners to foster cross-functional synergies, and with our Customers and Vendors to solution issues and proactively identify opportunities for mutual success.
Linda’s leadership brand is finding solutions and root cause problem-solving to enhance both the customer and associate experience. She leverages her Financial and Systems acumen to continually drive process improvements, optimize Finance functions and contribute to overall strategic initiatives.
A former college basketball player, Linda is passionate about sports and applies that same drive for a winning culture and teamwork philosophy to her leadership role.
John Petsinis
Director, Supply Chain Operations
John is a highly accomplished supply chain and quality leader with over 30 years of experience. He brings a unique blend of technical expertise and strong business acumen to the table. Throughout his career, John has consistently impressed with his ability to identify areas for improvement and develop innovative, cost-effective solutions. These solutions have demonstrably enhanced competitiveness and elevated customer service for the organizations he's worked with. John is also a proven leader with a talent for building and managing diverse teams. He fosters collaboration to achieve exceptional results.
John's core competencies span a wide range, including operations management, national transportation logistics, troubleshooting, vendor and contract management, data and root cause analysis, inventory management, procedures development, and change management. He is also a Green Belt Certified professional, demonstrating his commitment to continuous improvement and a data-driven approach.