Davide V.

President & CEO | Fortune 500 trained expert strategist and executive enabling start-ups to billion-dollar brands to differentiate, compete, grow and scale predictably in any market condition.

I believe the future will be shaped by leaders who understand people, build durable systems & use AI to amplify positive impact.

I am a Fortune 500–trained CEO with 25+ years leading complex organizations across CPG, retail, and healthcare in Canada and the U.S.

I have led national organizations, nine-figure P&Ls & enterprise transformations through turnaround, scale & modernization, delivering sustained margin expansion, growth & organizational resilience.

I have also lived the personal cost of leadership done without systems. The tension between performance and health, ambition and family, scale and sanity is not a personal failing. It is a systems failure.

As a CEO, I align strategy, operations & talent into a coherent operating rhythm. I remove hidden friction that drives burnout & inefficiency, install decision clarity & accountability, and build governance cadence that boards can trust.

My work is grounded in execution, not theory. I connect dots others miss and translate complexity into systems teams can actually run. The result is calm, predictable execution at scale.

Despite my experience & training, I operate with a beginner’s discipline. Business is my NHL. I never stop training, studying the game, refining fundamentals, and adapting to faster play. I keep investing in learning across leadership, systems design, AI, governance & human performance. 

Sustained advantage comes from continuous improvement. Compounding is a moat.

ManagementOS® is the outcome of my Executive MBA thesis & years of real-world application as a CEO. It is my trademarked executive operating system for North America, documented to formalize how I think, lead & differentiate as an operator. It replaces heroics & ad-hoc decision-making with repeatable operating rhythms across strategy, operations & talent. ManagementOS® is not a commercial pitch. It is the protected expression of my leadership craft, and I apply the same discipline to my own brand.

Strong leadership today requires fiduciary responsibility not just for the P&L, but for durability, operating rhythm & human sustainability. That is the lens I bring to every organization I lead and every board I serve.

CONNECT
I share frameworks, systems thinking, & executive insights through my newsletter. If you’re a CEO, founder, board member, or executive operator navigating complexity at scale and value disciplined thinking over noise, I’m glad to connect and exchange perspectives.

Davide Viola, MBA
Dad | Hubby | Son | Loyal Friend
CEO | Fortune 500–Trained Exec
ManagementOS® - Intellectual Property

Chief Executive Officer

► President and Chief Executive Officer reporting to a board represented by each province across Canada
► Canada's largest network of retail health and wellness operators representing over 9 figure sales in the growing category of natural health and wellness.
► Founded in 1999, Health First Network, is a national network of 140+ independent health and wellness stores offering supplements, organics, gluten-free foods, natural health & beauty aids, as well as sales, marketing, retail flyer, category management, and distribution services.
►  The focus will include growing retail member sales across all vendors, increase retail traffic and revenue through collaborative vendor partnerships and best-in-class marketing to drive demand generation.
►  Responsibilities include sales, marketing, business development, category management, finance, operations, warehouse, procurement, new product development, and vendor/partner relations.
►  Hybrid retail/CPG model
►  Coast to coast representation across English and French Canada

HFN Board Position Open!

Most people don’t realize how much health retailers shape the natural health industry and impact the broader healthcare landscape.

Behind thousands of products, brands, and wellness trends are passionate managers and store owners serving their communities every day.

Across Canada, we serve 164 retailers, and growing, who work together through Health First Network to compete, innovate, and grow in an increasingly complex market.

And like any organization navigating change, strong governance matters.

For the first time in years, we are opening nominations for our Board of Directors.

Health First Network is a 27-year-old organization that today ranks in the top 1% of companies in North America by revenue.

Our Board operates with a full governance structure and fiduciary oversight, quarterly meetings, and two committees (Audit & Risk, Governance & HR).
 
This is a volunteer role, but it is not passive.  
Expect to engage 10-14 hours per quarter.

Board members bring experience, perspective, and leadership to help guide the direction of a national organization serving hundreds of entrepreneurs/intrapreneurs and tens of millions of customers.

We are particularly interested in candidates with strengths in areas such as:

• retail leadership
• natural health and wellness
• governance and strategy
• change management
• marketing, technology, and digital transformation
• supply chain and operations

If you care about the future of independent natural health retail, this is a rare opportunity to help shape it.

Applications are open now.

DM me "HFN Board" and I will send you the link to apply.

Nominations close soon.

If you know someone who would be a strong contributor, please feel free to share this post or tag them below.

The next chapter of independent health retail will be shaped by the leaders willing to step forward.

Davide Viola, MBA

CEO | Fortune 500–Trained Operator | Operating Systems for Scale, AI Leverage & Leadership Health | ManagementOS® | TEDx Texas

Do we all need vitamin supplements?

It’s one of the most common questions in health today.

The honest answer is: it depends.

A healthy diet should always be the foundation. 
Healthy, whole, unprocessed, and real.

Whole foods provide vitamins along with fibre, phytonutrients, antioxidants, and thousands of beneficial compounds that supplements simply can’t replicate.

But modern reality is more complicated.

Busy lifestyles, soil depletion, food processing, aging, and dietary restrictions mean many people don’t consistently reach optimal nutrient intake through diet alone.

That’s where supplementation can play a powerful role.

Not as a replacement for good food.

But as an overlay for optimization.

Think of it this way:

Food builds the foundation.
Supplements help strengthen the structure.

When used intelligently, high-quality supplements can help support immunity, energy, cognitive function, sleep, and overall resilience, especially when addressing specific deficiencies or life-stage needs.

But one thing is equally important:

Quality and guidance matter. A lot.

Not all supplements are created equal, and more isn’t always better.

Mega-dosing nutrients without understanding your needs can sometimes do more harm than good.

And the human expertise and intelligence are critical.  
That’s why working with your local knowledgeable practitioners and trusted natural health retailers can make such a difference.  

Our retailers help people navigate the overwhelming number of choices and focus on what actually supports their health goals.

At the end of the day, the goal isn’t pills or powders.

It’s better health outcomes.

Start with real food.
Support your body intelligently.
And make informed choices.

If you’re curious about how supplementation might support your health journey, you can find a Health First store near you here:

https://lnkd.in/gzdsQnvm

Do you believe diet alone is enough today, or can supplements play an important role in optimizing health?

#Nutrition #PreventiveHealth #Supplements #NaturalHealth #HealthFirst

Open article: Find Your Store | Health First Network | Member Stores by healthfirstnetwork.ca

Find Your Store | Health First Network | Member Stores

I've realized over time that most companies do not fail because of bad strategy.

They fail because of friction.

Not the obvious kind.

The quiet kind that builds up over time.

The meeting after the meeting.
The approvals that require five signatures.
The report nobody reads, but everyone still produces.

Individually these things feel small.

But stack enough of them together and you create something dangerous.

Organizational drag.

And like investments, it compounds over time.

Drag slows decisions.
It frustrates your best people.
And it quietly drains energy from teams who would rather be solving real problems.

The tricky part is that friction almost always starts with good intentions.

Processes are added for control.
Systems are introduced for visibility.
Meetings are scheduled for alignment.

Then the layers keep stacking.

And suddenly the company is moving more slowly than the market around it.

One quote that always sticks with me comes from Jack Welch.

When the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.

That line has stayed with me for years because it forces a simple but uncomfortable question.

Are we actually moving as fast internally as the world around us?

Great leaders do not just think about strategy.

They constantly ask a different question.

Where is the friction inside the system?

Where do decisions stall?
Where does accountability blur?
Where are we creating work instead of enabling it?

Remove friction, and something interesting happens.

You usually do not need more motivation.

People simply move faster.
Personally, I love speed but can't be reckless either.

Ideas travel further.
Execution improves.
Momentum returns.

Through books, mentors, and observing great operators over the years, I have learned that strong organizations are rarely built by adding more layers.

They are built by removing the ones that slow people down.

In a world now moving at AI speed, the companies that win will not always be the biggest.

They will be the ones with the least internal resistance.

This is something I am constantly trying to balance at HFN.

Empowering individuals while also building systems that accelerate good decisions instead of replacing them.

Where have you seen unnecessary friction slow organizations down?

#Leadership #Strategy #Execution #OrganizationalDesign

Corporate turnarounds rarely fail because of a lack of ideas.

They fail because the system around those ideas doesn’t change.

A recent story in Entrepreneur highlighted a turnaround led by Saina Babaee at Siemens Energy.

What stood out wasn’t a bold strategy announcement.

It was a leadership shift.

Instead of pushing solutions from the top, she asked the people closest to the work to identify the real roadblocks.

At first, there was skepticism.

That’s normal in organizations where change is often announced but rarely owned.

But something powerful happened once the team was invited into the problem-solving process.

Ownership began to replace resistance.

And when ownership increases, performance usually follows.

Targets were hit.
Momentum returned.
And the team rediscovered something many organizations slowly lose over time: belief in the work they’re doing.

What this story reinforces is an important leadership truth.

Sustainable transformation rarely comes from a single strategy decision.

It comes from aligning three things that too often operate in silos:

People.
Processes.
And the systems that connect them.

When those elements are aligned, organizations move faster, not because leaders push harder, but because friction disappears.

That’s when innovation actually becomes possible.

Entrepreneurship isn’t just about starting companies.

Sometimes it’s about rebuilding the operating environment inside them.

Where have you seen leadership successfully turn skepticism into ownership?

#Leadership #Entrepreneurship #OrganizationalDesign #Teamwork

Open article: How a Corporate Turnaround Taught Me True Entrepreneurship | Entrepreneur by entrepreneur.com

How a Corporate Turnaround Taught Me True Entrepreneurship | Entrepreneur

Technology, Automotive, Food & Beverage, OEM Manufacturing

Seeking new leadership role at the level VP or Director level (relative to company size) in Sales, Business Development, Key Accounts leveraging expertise in consultative and solution selling, developing client-centric solutions, technology, customer experience, strategic planning and meticulous execution to secure multi-million-dollar global contracts. 

Accomplished leader in Sales, Business Development and Key Account Management with 20 years of experience in multiple industries including food and beverage, automotive, OEM manufacturing, and industrial manufacturing. Consistent track record of results and leading high-performance global teams across four continents to drive customer success.

VP, Sales Director, Global Key Accounts, Business Development, Customer Success

Donaldson

Responsible for building and developing high-performance, motivated teams that consistently exceeded goals. Provided continuous development  on industry and product knowledge,  value selling and solutions expertise.  
•	Coached and mentored team on strengthening internal and external influence, customer business expertise, relationship building and leveraging cross-functional team members in effective GTM strategies with some of the top globally known Food and Beverage companies (processors of consumer-packaged goods) in the $2B+ food and beverage filtration industry. 
•	Created annual global strategic account goals, key initiatives, and account targets for team members in collaboration with Global Sales Director.
•	Created global strategic key account vision, mission, and purpose in collaboration with Global Sales Director and aligned teams with the action plan to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
•	Team achieved 33% revenue growth in year one and 11% growth in year two by staying focused on the customer experience and overall vision. 
•	Chosen to be Voice of Customer Leader for the Food and Beverage market in collaboration with CTO’s key innovation team and circularity sustainability team.
•	Chosen to serve on 15 round table hiring panels for the BU due to leveraging both emotional intelligence and pragmatic approach to building teams of excellence.
•	Co-led onboarding process for 15 staff members.

Sales Manager, Key Accounts (Food and Beverage)

Partnered with my internal cross-functional team members across six diversified global accounts to open doors at sites and build relationships with client directors and VPs across North America.
•	Executed successful discovery conversations to understand customer operations and business needs with the support of global industry process experts, technical engineering, systems engineering, and territory teams to win business with 13 new sites nationally.
•	Identified key decision makers and new business opportunities in air, gas, steam, and liquid filtration across customer end-to-end processing to identify needs and deliver win-win solutions.
•	Leveraged client business knowledge and team selling techniques that achieved customer success goals and exceeded quarterly and annual revenue targets.
•	Successfully executed key client technical leadership visits and technical tour at company HQ.
•	Led site assessment program execution that accelerated quality leader buy-in as approved supplier.
•	Achieved 115% of goal and President’s Club for the year.
•	Mentored four peers to share sales and relationship expertise.

Strategic Key Accounts Manager (Food and Beverage)

Responsible for hiring, onboarding, mentoring and leading sales representatives. Trained team on customer strategy and sales process to optimize profitability and revenue in a $3.5B+ Heavy Duty and Medium Duty Truck filtration industry.
•	Negotiated 10-year client program by leveraging key aspects of mutual long-term agreement, warranty, capital equipment, cost breakdowns, tier 2 and 3 supplier selection, technical performance, raw material technical processing understanding, and market data, leading to a historic program win.
•	Managed global relationship with top strategic national account and key global account spanning four continents; directed all aspects of account management, sales strategy and plan execution. 
•	Led cross-functional teams and improved customer scorecard results in logistics, packaging, labeling, program execution, warranty claims, and quality ppm rates. 
•	Led cross-functional teams to successfully improve product quality and customer satisfaction (DEF tanks, air cleaners and accessories, technical exhaust filtration products).
•	Negotiated and commercialized 10-year DEF tank program by leveraging key aspects of mutual long-term agreement, warranty, capital equipment, value processing, roto molding processing expertise, understanding of competitive landscape, and strength of cross-functional client relationships.
•	Executed numerous plant visits in US and Mexico in support of customer experience and Advanced Product Quality Planning Process (APQP) audit requirements.
•	Facilitated internal monthly meetings with global sales team (8 team members) to discuss alignment of company vision and goals, customer pains and needs, and growth goal execution progress.
•	Co-led CX initiative involving teams from manufacturing, planning, customer service, quality, and business analytics to successfully improve NPS by 10% in two years.

Global Account Manager (Automotive)

Identified and developed new business account leading to discovery of eight viable new business opportunities.
•	Successfully landed a significant new business program by focusing on their unique business requirements and developing a custom solution to meet their specific school bus applications. 
•	Led cross-functional project team collaboration from ideation to commercialization, ensuring customer requirements and experience were prioritized in the solution development process.
•	Led cross-functional project team collaboration to successfully develop fuel filtration assembly system to reduce supplier count for customers by 50%.
•	Developed and delivered external sales presentations on company specialties and value delivery.  
•	Mentored four inside sales team members to achieve organization systems allowing them to improve their efficiency and reduce administrative tasks for outside sales team.
•	Chosen to serve on six round table hiring panels for peers due to my leadership traits of emotional intelligence and pragmatic, fair judgement.

Account Manager (Automotive)

Senior Sales Representative (Automotive)

International Lead Customer Service Representative (Semiconductor, Medical Device)

Order Management Specialist (Industrial Manufacturing)

UnitedHealth Group

Call Center, Agency Hotline (Health Insurance)

Clore Automotive

Customer Service Representative

3Com

Office Administrator

EMPOWERING WIN-WIN RESULTS THROUGH PEOPLE, STRATEGY & EXECUTION
Accomplished leader in Sales, Business Development and Key Account Management with 20 years of experience in multiple industries including food and beverage, automotive, semiconductor, medical device, and industrial manufacturing. Consistent track record of results leading high-performance teams across four continents to drive customer success. Leverages consultative selling, client-centric solutions, strategic planning, and meticulous execution to secure multi-million-dollar global contracts.

Known for:

HIGH-INTEGRITY, MOTIVATING LEADERSHIP that INSPIRES GROWTH IN PEOPLE & BUSINESS
♦ Leads with integrity and respect with a strong executive presence. Delegates effectively to keep team engaged in achieving vision and goals. Recognizes results and achievements.
♦ Builds and strengthens high-performance sales and cross-functional teams that deliver exceptional customer experiences. Makes it easy for individuals and teams to achieve revenue and growth goals through continuous development and empowering leadership.
♦ Motivates people to action through clear and consistent communications and active listening. People feel heard and are committed to the long-term results.

WIN-WIN, CLIENT-CENTRIC SOLUTIONS that CREATE A DISTINCT COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
♦ Risk-intelligent advisor who leverages data, deep industry and product knowledge, and intuition to guide corporate decisions. Instills confidence with decision makers and effectively influences without authority.
♦ Unifies people with divergent perspectives across global markets and leadership levels to create truly innovative and sustainable solutions. Cultivates strong cross-functional relationships built on trust. Aligns goals that drive commitment to delivering outstanding results.
♦ Experience in complex negotiations and solutions development with a focus on win-win outcomes. Known for closing each project with stronger relationships that open the door to future opportunities.

VISION-FOCUSED STRATEGY, PLANNING & EXECUTION that EMPOWERS SUSTAINABLE, PROFITABLE REVENUE GROWTH
♦ Balances disruptive thinking with practical execution, bridging technical innovation with customer needs, to respond to and maximize industry and market opportunities.
♦ Leverages an innovative strategic mindset with a change catalyst approach to turn challenges and disruption in the marketplace into business opportunities.
♦ Comfortable with ambiguity and complex problems and proactively identifies opportunities for transformation and systemic improvements in solutions.

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Davide V.

Nicole Attaway, MBA

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Nicole Attaway, MBA

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