The Team
BRANDI LEIFSO / CEO + FOUNDER
Brandi Leifso is the CEO and founder of Evio Beauty Group. At the age of 21, Leifso was living in a women's shelter where she founded the concept for Evelyn Iona. From these humble beginnings Leifso successfully established relationships with over 50 coveted retailers including QVC, Credo, and Aillea before establishing a direct to consumer model. Brandi secured a spot as a 2018 alumni member of the esteemed Sephora Accelerate program. Leifso's story of triumph has been highlighted in Flare, Elle, Huffington Post, Yahoo Beauty, and CBC amongst others. 'Despite her rapid success, her core values remain the same since the start: being honest to customers and supporting women.' as noted by FLARE. Brandi is most passionate about social change through organizations that she supports, including the Canadian Women's foundation. Leifso has played a key part in breaking stigmas, and glass ceilings for young women. Leifso has raised more than $1.4m in pre-seed through strategic alliances with manufacturing giants and has won the support of a coveted board of directors and advisors while continuing to build on the success of Evio Beauty Groups portfolio.
DAVID PRICE / BOARD OF DIRECTOR
David is an accomplished executive with expertise in Sales, Strategy, Management, and Retail Development. His relationships span across the retail industry from prestige and mass retailers in both cosmetics and CPG. David joined Fusion Brands Inc. as Vice President of Sales for North America. He was responsible for developing and executing a complete distribution strategy that generated over $100 million in retail sales. He also developed and managed a key network of brokers and distributors that serviced the independent and professional retail sector. Today, David is spearheading the retail portfolio for Hunter Amenities International Ltd. Working with almost every National Mass retailer in North America developing private and national brands in personal and skincare products.
HUGH WINTERS / CHAIRMAN
Hugh has over 40 years of business experience as CEO of large private and public companies. The primary focus of Hugh’s experience in the beauty sector has been with prestige brand names such as Oscar de la Renta, Valentino, Giorgio Beverly Hills, Swiss Army, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Iman cosmetics, T3 Micro and Glam Glow. Currently, Hugh is President of Azure Beauty Inc. a distributor for L’Oreal, President of Beauty.ca Inc, a consultancy firm and President of Rosecrest Capital.
PAUL ROSEN / BOARD OF ADVISOR
Paul Rosen is a noted career entrepreneur and management consultant. He is the founder and Managing Partner of BreakWater Venture Capital, a private venture capital fund based in Toronto. Over the last 5 years he has become one of Canada’s most active and diversified investors. Paul Rosen was a co- founder of PharmaCan Capital Corporation (now d.b.a. The Cronos Group), a publicly traded merchant bank focused on Canada’s medical marijuana industry (MJN.V). Paul founded Skypad International in 1998, and currently serves as CEO and Chairman. Paul is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, and received a B.A. in Economics from Western University in 1985 and an LL.B. from the University of Toronto in 1988.
MAHDI SHAMS / BOARD OF DIRECTOR
Mahdi Shams is a director and advisor at Evio Beauty Group bringing his vast knowledge from acting as legal counsel for both public and private companies on a broad range of domestic and international transactions, including public offerings, public and private mergers and acquisitions, and commercial sale agreements.
