About Steve

Making Early Dreams Come True

Steve’s career is a fascinating journey of opportunity, risk-taking, continuous learning and achievement. After graduating from the Queen’s School of Business, he was promoted to his first General Manager’s position (GM of BTR Canada) at age 27. Driven by his dream of running a large manufacturing business, he returned to Queen’s to complete his MBA and subsequently joined Lawson & Jones, a 23-plant, $200 million manufacturing conglomerate. While Director of Corporate Planning at Lawson, he helped CEO Larry Tapp engineer the $559 million leveraged buyout of Lawson and its parent Mardon Packaging, at the time the largest LBO in Canadian history.

Two years after his promotion to General Manager of Lawson Packaging, he sold his three-year old stake in Lawson and left his “employed” career to found Packaging Connections (PC), an industrial sales agency. Three weeks after starting PC in his basement, he landed a $420,000 order from Lever Brothers in Toronto. He then grew PC into a thriving $40 million sales business, selling the agency six years later to fund the start of another dream, ownership of a full-service high-performance marketing firm – and named it Marketing Breakthroughs (MB).

A Bestselling Author and Syndicated Broadcaster

Steve is known for his game changing ideas and out-of-the-box thinking. In 1996, looking to expand MB and market himself as a keynote speaker, with no training or connections in radio, he developed the pilot for a new daily feature called Careerwise.

Starting on CJOJ-FM in Belleville, he built a 23-station network across Canada, eventually syndicating the show on the CHUM Radio Network. Steve’s success with Careerwise led to the development and syndication of his second daily radio feature, A Motivational Minute, and a bestselling book Job Wise which featured the best scripts from his nearly 1,000 radio broadcasts.

Specializing in Growth Marketing since 2005

Steve formed MB’s Digital Marketing Division in 2005, and since then, has specialized in growth marketing, digital marketing and advertising, website and social media lead generation, e-store marketing and recruitment advertising. While CEO of MB, he designed dozens of successful multi-channel advertising campaigns for clients, especially Reliance Holmes Heating, Atlas Care, Preston Hardware and Greely Sand & Gravel. These ad campaigns attracted thousands of new customers and generated millions of dollars in new sales for these and many other clients.

Game-Changing Advertising that Gets Results

During his 20 years as MB’s Creative Director, Steve developed content for dozens of websites and e-stores. He has written and produced hundreds of TV, radio, direct mail and video commercials, as well as over 150 digital campaigns on Google, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

He sold MB in 2019. After a two-year sabbatical, he partnered with Ottawa’s Extension Marketing and built a state-of-the-art recruitment marketing division for Extension. He is well known for his multi-channel driver recruiting campaigns that have helped both OSTA and STSCO attract hundreds of quality applications for their open school bus driver positions.

In 2024, following his highly successful webinar series on recruitment advertising, he published “Secrets to Attracting Talent in 2024 and Beyond” in a post on LinkedIn and his website. He is currently writing a book on Talent Acquisition based on his successful campaigns.

Speaking Topics

Mastering the Art of Networking to Meet New Clients

How to Beat the Competition (without them knowing)

Not Marketing BUT Growth Marketing!

Secrets to Attracting the BEST Talent in 2025 and Beyond

Unlocking the Power of Visioning and Goal Setting

Secrets to Successful Advertising

What Business Are You REALLY In?

Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow

How to Keep Them Fired Up . . . and Engaged