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Born in Montréal on March 28, 1962, Steven Elefant was educated
at Boston University and at Babson College. He holds a Bachelor
of Arts degree and his Masters of Business Administration. Like
his father, Steven grew up in the wood industry and was groomed
for the position of president from an early age. Even while completing
his university studies, he was deeply immersed by both his father
and grandfather in the running of the family company. Fortunately
Isidore Elefant would live to see his grandson assume the reins
of the international corporation he had built from a small sales
office some forty years before.
Like his father and grandfather before him, the
-year-old Steven
Elefant is a man of intellect and dynamic personality. His natural
intuition and life-long experience within the wood industry has
been even further enhanced by his training under probably the two
most qualified industry leaders in the world.
For ten years before assuming the role of President, Steven undertook
rigorous training at the request of both Isidore and Marcel Elefant.
Working at various stages of the operation, Steven became fully
acquainted with operations, log procurement, production management
and domestic and international marketing.
During the first years of his administration Steven Elefant worked
closely with his father in the continued development of new market
opportunities and in the establishment of state-of-the-art manufacturing
facilities in Hungary.
With formal training in advanced management, Elefant has developed
an administration style with strong emphasis on self-initiative
and team work. Employees at all levels are empowered to contribute
to the advancement of the corporate goals of increased efficiency
in both the manufacturing and customer service areas, as well as
enhanced quality and an improved working environment. This open-door
policy has contributed to a greater delegation of responsibilities
throughout the network, establishing a strong communication link
between staff and management at all levels.
Fundamental to Elefant's administration has been a sensitivity
to the needs and concerns of GWV's varied customer base. Increased
focus has been placed on added-benefit and customer service through
sophisticated communications technologies, a rapid customer-response
program, efficient, timely delivery systems, improved manufacturing
techniques, and sensitivity to the diverse professional and cultural
requirements of the company's broad, international customer base.
Travelling extensively, Steven Elefant dedicates substantial amounts
of his time to both develop new international clients and maintain
an ever-vigilant stewardship over the world-wide operations of the
company.
Today the General Woods & Veneers Group is an international
enterprise which employs over 1000 people world-wide. The company
is currently doing business in over 70 countries, operates manufacturing
facilities: in Canada, in the United States and Hungary. In addition
the company maintains marketing offices across the globe.
Operations of the GWV Group are managed by five senior executives,
each with a definitive area of expertise. Marcel Elefant, BA, Chairman
and C.E.O in tandem with Steven Elefant BA, MBA, President and C.O.O.,
represent the guiding force in the development of new business opportunities,
corporate planning, long-term strategies and the possible acquisition
of additional properties. In addition to these strategic tasks,
Steven Elefant assumes the daily operations of the entire enterprise,
and is actively involved with export veneer and log sales and production
for the Group.
Ms. Stacey Elefant, BA, daughter of Marcel, joined General
Woods & Veneers in 1985. Like her brother, Ms. Elefant grew
up within the business, and spent her first years after university
in a rigorous programme of training within the many divisions of
the GWV group. A graduate of the University of Western Ontario,
where she holds her honour's Bachelor of Arts degree, Ms. Elefant
was promoted to Vice-President of GWV in 1993 and manages the strategically
located Ontario Region Office. The area represents Canada's most
populated region, incorporating the country's largest city, Toronto
- the provincial capital of Ontario and the industrial and financial
hub of the country - as well as other major cities, such as London,
Hamilton, Windsor, Kingston and the nation's capital, Ottawa.
The area's richly diverse and cosmopolitan population stimulates
a extraordinarily broad demand for wood design and architectural
specifications. Home to many of Canada's financial, industrial,
governmental and cultural institutions, Ms. Elefant works with every
major sector of the industry, providing expert knowledge and advice
to the multi-faceted demands of the residential, industrial and
cultural design and construction industries. Her responsibilities
include the executive management of the Ontario Regional Office,
as well as the marketing of veneers to many of the country's most
prestigious architectural firms, interior design houses and the
large domestic markets of this, the most populated region of Canada.
Mr. Satish Chawla BA, CMA, Vice-President, Finance, is charged
with the financial planning, finance services and accounting for
the company's vast network of marketing and manufacturing facilities.
Controllers of the U.S. subsidiaries directly advise Chawla on day-to-
day operations outside of Canada.
Ekkart Holle, working from the Montréal headquarters, is
in charge of international marketing for the corporation. Mr. Holle
has over 30 years of international marketing experience within the
veneer industry. Trained in the manufacturing process in both Germany
and Switzerland, Mr. Holle immigrated to the United States in the
late sixties, where he worked for a well-known U.S. veneer-manufacturing
company. His skills were rapidly apparent and he was invited to
join General Woods & Veneers in 1973. Within 2 years Mr. Holle
was appointed to the position of Vice-President. Now retired, Ekkart Holle
continues to consult for the
GWV Group.
Together, this highly trained and experienced team of wood professionals
form the Executive Committee of the General Woods & Veneers
Group of Companies.
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