Our Team

Greg Skotnicki, President

Greg knows from experience there’s no other sector quite like agriculture — which is why it takes a uniquely expert team to support owner-operators who are transitioning their businesses. He’s proud to have led Market Maker Agriculture in that mission since it was founded in 2016, helping strengthen and develop the management capacity of its portfolio companies while creating opportunities for staff at all levels of the Market Maker team to hone their skills and contribute to decisions in a meaningful way.

Greg is a champion of building trusted relationships and making the best decisions for the long term. He came to Market Maker from an executive role at Manderley Turf Products Inc., Canada’s largest sod producer. Under his leadership, Manderley was named one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies in 2011. Greg holds an MBA from Queen’s University and a B.Eng degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada.

Jean-Jean “JJ” Vanasse, Vice-President Acquisitions

“JJ” Vanasse has spent most of his career working for privately owned, family-run agriculture businesses. In a past role as President of Property Management at Bonnefield, he visited farm families across Canada to learn about their challenges and needs and understands how hard they work to put food on tables. Since 2019, he has led the acquisition activities at Market Maker Agriculture, from early stages through to closing transactions for handoff to onboarding.

Over his career, JJ has been directly involved in raising more than $750 million in private equity capital for various businesses. He has also guided many businesses through ownership transition: as the company being acquired and as the acquirer -- always with a view to setting them up for success in their next phase. He is a Chartered Professional Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree.

Chris Verrilli, Vice-President Finance

Chris acts as mentor, coach and advisor to finance teams in Market Maker Agriculture’s portfolio of companies, supporting them as they explore new ways of doing business and attracting talent to succeed and build on the legacies of the owners who started them.

A Chartered Professional Accountant, Chris has been Vice-President Finance at Market Maker since 2020. He brings more than a decade of experience in agriculture, real estate, private equity and retail. He has developed finance teams, modernized and streamlined finance systems and infrastructure, worked on merger and acquisition transactions, and helped raise private equity funding.

Lisa Courtney Lloyd, Vice-President Business Development

Combining creativity with clear thinking, Lisa sets the strategies that strengthen Market Marker’s reputation as a trusted partner in the agricultural sector. Lisa makes sure the Market Maker team understands what a successful transition means for each owner/operator and creates space for discussions that will lead to mutually beneficial outcomes. She relies on her business and marketing acumen to develop deep understanding of industries, companies and markets to help ensure that every acquired agribusiness is a solid, long-term fit for Market Maker.

Lisa has held a variety of marketing and business roles throughout her career, including more than a decade of working in the agricultural sector as Vice-President of Marketing for Bonnefield. She is a recipient of a Gold Quill Award for excellence in business communications from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). Lisa is an active volunteer in her community, donating her time to Ottawa’s Parkdale Food Centre.

Cédric St-Amand, Controller

Cédric typically works with clients from the due diligence stage of a transaction through to closing. He takes pride in clear, open communication and creating a comfortable space for clients to ask questions as they make important decisions about the future of their business. A Market Maker Agriculture team member since 2019, his duties include financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting, providing support to the board, supervising the controllers of portfolio companies and supporting the Chief Financial Officer.

Cédric is a Chartered Professional Accountant and a graduate of Université du Québec en Outaouais, where he specialized in accounting.

Médéric Duplessis-Savard, Financial Analyst

When investment opportunities arise at Market Maker Agriculture, Médéric’s thorough financial analysis is a key part of the investment recommendation process. Appreciating the responsibility of this step, he works diligently to explore all aspects of prospective businesses and provide a clear picture of fit with the rest of the Market Maker portfolio. He also provides the financial analysis to determine a company’s purchase price.

Médéric has been with Market Maker since 2020, starting as a senior accountant. He is currently pursuing the CFA designation and has completed level 1 and 2. He is a graduate of HEC Montréal’s Bachelor of Business Administration program, where he specialized in finance.

Denisa Johnova, Senior Accountant

Denisa Johnova believes in teamwork, fairness, treating others with respect and being open and transparent. Those convictions guide every aspect of her work as Market Maker Agriculture’s Senior Accountant, a role she began in January 2022. She contributes to consolidated and non-consolidated budgets and reforecasts, prepares monthly and quarterly financial reporting packages, and drafts closing activity reports. She also provides financial analysis support during the acquisition process and helps onboard new companies.

Denisa earned her Honours Bachelor of Commerce from Nipissing University with a specialization in accounting, and is also a graduate of Algonquin College’s Business Administration Advanced Diploma program.

Steve Kaminski, Advisor

Steve is a CPA, CA and has been building successful companies for more than two decades. He brings vision and a strong financial understanding to the businesses he works with, drawing on more than 24 years in the real estate industry. Steve is a member of the Market Maker board and the investment committee. Steve is also a partner at Colonnade Investments and holds several executive positions within its portfolio of companies.