TEAM

You may not hear Abby or see her around but you’ll find her working busily and quietly in our lab. Abby has been working in the lab for many years now. She started when she was in high school and is now currently in her 3rd year of Graphic Design at UFV.  When she’s not working she is hanging out with friends and cousins or busy creating something. She’s an amazing artist.

It’s not easy having the last name of Vanderkooi when you work at Nutriva Group since sharing a last name with the owner means Annabelle has to work twice as hard to prove she belongs here.  Thankfully she is not short of qualifications having acquired a Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design with a minor in marketing. She appreciates working in this upbeat and uplifting environment, the variety of work she is tasked with and the people she works with.  Annabelle is easy going, fun, adventurous, caring, and creative and we are excited for what she brings to the table – no pressure 😊

Amanda is our ‘number cruncher’ has over 12 years of accounting experience in the agriculture and restaurant industries.  She was born and raised on a dairy farm in Abbotsford and now lives in Vancouver.  She is willing to drive the crazy commute for the opportunity to work in a flexible and supportive workplace with a great group of people that provides opportunities for personal and professional growth.  When she is not crunching numbers and balancing budgets, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, being outdoors, and traveling.

Bill grew up on a dairy farm in Abbotsford. After finishing high school, he earned a master’s degree in animal science from Michigan State University. Once his schooling was completed, Bill returned to the Fraser Valley and worked in the agricultural industry. In 2009 he established Nutriva Group, which is a group of grassroots businesses with a focus on innovation in the dairy, egg and beef sectors. A short time later, he added Eco-Dairy, a not-for-profit agritourism destination. A father of five active kids, Bill makes time for family, travel, and fitness.

Breanna is the queen of first impressions here at Nutriva Group. Her warm and friendly personality is often the first thing that people encounter when they call us over the phone, connect with us online or stop by in person.

Breanna lives with her husband and their dog and when she is not busy at work keeping things organized and running smoothly, Breanna spends time mountain biking with her husband and hiking with her dog. For Breanna, “The best views come after the hardest climb”.

Builder Bryce has been in agricultural construction for almost 10 years now.  Bryce is a bright young fellow who is a hard worker with a friendly out-going personality, a great attitude, and a big heart.   When he is not wearing a tool belt, spending time in his newly refurbished trailer, or building a barn, he likes to play rugby.  Be careful out on the rugby field, Bryce…we wouldn’t want you to mess up that pretty little face of yours. We are glad to have Bryce as part of our team.

Dayna is our hard-working Lab- Technician who is in the process of earning her Bachelor of Science at UFV which makes her a perfect addition to our lab.  She’s a busy girl but when she is not working or studying, she finds the time to watch Netflix or get outside for some outdoor adventure. Dayna enjoys Nutriva because the friendly staff and interesting work projects.  She has a great work ethic and is easygoing, carefree and witty which makes her a great addition to the team. We are glad you’re here Dayna.

Dimitriy Filyushin – try say that fast 3 times.  His name may be difficult to say and spell but he’s not a difficult guy to like. Originally from Belarus, Dimitriy moved here with his young family.  He is the best-dressed truck driver you ever did see and he loves the peace and quiet he gets to enjoy while driving the truck.  Dimitriy is kind, honest and reliable and we’re glad to have him as part of our team.

Gavin is like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day and he brightens our world at Nutriva Group.  He appreciates the innovation and people at Nutriva and they appreciate his dedication to the team and his outgoing and happy personality. When he is not at work building stuff, fixing things and framing barns he likes to play rugby, camp, hike and relax around a campfire and, truth be told, he sure can get things moving on the dance floor. Thanks Gavin, for making us all smile.

Hands up if you recognize this guy.  Geoff is one of the friendliest guys you ever will meet and seems to know everybody.  And even if you don’t know him, he’ll make you feel like you do.  Geoff is great at a lot of things and has a variety of roles and responsibilities.  Geoff will give you the shirt off his back and will get the job done. We appreciate Geoff with his friendly smile and his willingness to help.

If you see a friendly guy on site wearing a bright orange reflective vest, with a green thumb and abig smile – that’s Greg. Greg’s so busy making our site look trim and tidy that he has no time to fill out a bio questionnaire.  Hopefully when he finds the time we can take his photo and tell you a little bit more about him.

She’s the CFO, the F is for FUN.  Helinda and Bill started the company some time ago; while he was busy running the business, she was busy holding down the home front and their 5 active kids.  As the kids are all now of school age she has more time to dedicate to the business and heads up the Culture Club, acts as a marketing assistant and spends time at EcoDairy with various programs and events as well as ‘Cow School’.  At Nutriva Group we like to call her Big Mama…but we mean it in the nicest way.

Oh Jesse he’s so fine, he’s so fine he blows our mind – Yeah Jesse!

We love having Jesse as part of the group because look at his job-titles, he clearly does most of the work around here. Jesse is a good-humoured, hard-working team leader. When he’s not building barns and overseeing the farm and all the herds, flocks, fields and farmhands you can be sure to find him watching and cheering his daughters on or spending time ticking items off on his ‘Honey Dew’ ‘Honey Do’ list.

Got milk? Jonathan does. Jonathon, also known as Jono is one of our most honest, loyal, patient, and organized milk haulers. He was born and raised in Brazil before moving to Canada to be closer to his family. When he is not driving the truck, he is happy to spend time with his beautiful family, working on his house or in his yard.  One of his favorite sayings is from Philippians in the Bible, which reads: ‘For I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.’ And Jono, we have no doubt you can do it all!

Kevin is not only a great guy, but he’s also a great driver.  With over 25 years of experience hauling all sorts of stuff using all sorts of truck & trailer configurations, he’s been tasked with being our on-site Driver Trainer and his experience and attitude make him the man for the job.  Everyone appreciates Kevin’s great attitude, he’s a team player and a hard worker.  Kevin is driven by the value that you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you…and it shows.

Kent is one of our BMT-certified Bulk Milk Tank Graders. He’s been proudly driving truck for over 30 years including long haul, short haul and bulk materials.

Outside of work, you can often find Kent composing music, playing one of a number of musical instruments or spending time in the great outdoors. Kent’s approach to most things is based on one of his favourite quotes: “Never take life too seriously, nobody gets out alive anyways.”

Without Kylie, nobody would get paid, and we’d never have parties, so we like having her around.  Kylie has two very different roles at Nutriva; she takes care of payroll and helps coordinate events for Bakerview Farm Venue Rental.  She loves Nutriva’s positive team atmosphere and the flexibility with her schedule, and we love her big smile, her great attitude, and that she is reliable, loyal & kind.  When she’s not at the office, she can be found exploring nature with her two young adventurous daughters, her husband, and her dog or listening to and writing music.

Armed with her Bachelor of Science degree, Lara spends her days running the Nutriva lab. Her many important tasks include analyzing feed, ensuring optimal animal nutrition, coordinating research studies, ensuring quality control on food products and conducting water testing.

On Friday afternoons, you can usually find Lara doing her ‘Friday Happy Dance’ in preparation for a weekend that will be spent with her grumpy cat, baking cakes, hiking, brunching and hanging out with family and friends.

Everybody likes Misty here at Nutriva Group. And we’re not just saying that because she’s the one that makes sure we all get paid. All kidding aside though, Misty is a great addition to the team: helpful, organized, hardworking and positive.

She grew up in Abbotsford and still calls it home, where she lives with her husband and two very active children. You can often find Misty running, hiking or cheering on her kids in one of the many sports they’re involved in.

Ray is like our very own ray of sunshine on the farm with his easy-going, jovial nature. He grew up on a dairy farm in Ontario and has spent his whole life either working on farms or driving trucks. This experience and his desire to raise healthy animals make him a perfect addition to our Bakerview Farm team. When Ray is not taking care of the farm and all the animals, he might be bowling, watching sports, or spending time with his family.

‘Good ol’ Ronald works on a farm E-I-E-I-O’

Ronald, Ronnie, Ron (he’ll answer to any of those – even ‘hey you’) is our happy go lucky and hard-working Farm Operations Coordinator.  He enjoys working here on the farm with the animals and machinery and says the people aren’t bad either. Ron grew up on a pig farm, has worked on various pork and dairy farms and studied agriculture in Iowa. Ron is humorous, adventurous, trustworthy, hard- working, efficient, deep-thinking and has the friendliest bright smile all of which make him a welcome addition to Nutriva.

Born and raised in England, Ruth lives by the motto: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”  Warm, caring, reliable, organized and fun-loving are just a few of the words that best describe Ruth.

She finds Nutriva a friendly and positive workplace. We think she’s one of the reasons why it is that way. “Toodle Pips Me Lovely” is a favourite phrase of hers. We don’t know what it means but it sure makes us feel good.

When it comes to being MOOtivated and MOOvolous – Nikki is our girl. Nikki manages the EcoDairy and her winning personality, her drive and organizational prowess, along with her experience in science as well as customer relations make her the perfect fit as the fearless leader of the EcoDairy team.  Nikki loves working alongside the people at EcoDairy and showcasing the farm and what we are all about to our visitors.  She appreciates the opportunity to explore agriculture, spend time on the farm and she really gets a kick out of ticking off items on her ‘To Do’ list. When shes’s not busy keeping the EcoDairy organized she’s busy organizing adventures for her and her friends or spending time with her two cats Gendry and Benelli.

You could say Ryan is the strong silent type. When asked about his personality he said quiet and when asked about what he likes to do when he’s not working he said working out/body building. Hence, Ryan really is the strong silent type. Ryan is a quick learner and drives truck for Nutriva. He has 8 years of driving experience and enjoys the opportunity to haul all sorts of loads and do different things working in the agricultural industry.  Ryan is probably one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and is willing to help anyone out which makes us very grateful to have him on our team.

Steve is a man of few words. But if you catch him at the right time, the conversation comes easily as he likes to express his opinions. He also happens to be fiercely loyal when it comes to the people he loves. We are grateful to Steve for being part of the Nutriva Group.

Creative and passionate are a few words to describe Vanessa. She coordinates programs, runs camps, gives tours, sets up workshops, writes newsletters, plans events, oversees social media and is often the friendly face that greets people when they walk in the front doors. We honestly don’t know what we’d do without her.

If EcoDairy was a kingdom, Vanessa would be our queen. In other words, we consider Vanessa our “dairy queen”.  (Yeah, we just went there.)

When he’s not off holidaying in Bahamas, Wenzel is fixing things on the farm and around the site. He’s our very own Mr. Fix-It. He’s so busy fixing all the things and making sure this placeruns smoothly that he has no time to fill out a bio questionnaire.  Hopefully when he finds the time, we can take his photo and tell you a little bit more about him. In the mean time Wenzel, keep up the good work.