Greater Toronto's Top Employers (2026) Magazine - Magazine - Page 80
80
( 2026)
SPONSOR CONTENT
Lactalis Canada helps employees rise to the top
I
f Grace Assani wants to explore different career paths,
or climb the corporate
ladder, she can stay exactly
where she is at Lactalis
Canada Inc.
There’s no need to jump ship
when the company you are working at offers as many avenues to
explore — and as much support to
grow — as Lactalis Canada does.
We are part of a multinational organization
that is led in France,
but we are uniquely
Canadian.
— Matt Price
Chief Human Resources Officer
She only started with the organization four years ago but Assani
says she has already worked in
sales, supply chain and now in enterprise strategy, or as the function
is known within the organization,
the “strategic compass” of the
dairy products company.
“I lead strategic initiatives within
the organization and work closely
with senior management to make
sure that the plans we come up
with are put into action,” she
explains.
And that growth spurt is not
over by a long shot, she says, with
opportunities to grow at the global
company’s 30 sites in Canada and
its operational facilities in more
than 50 other countries.
Lactalis Canada has programs in
place to help its employees rise —
and succeed, Assani says. A hybrid
Lactalis Canada invests one per cent of its labour costs each year into training and development programs for
its employees.
and flexible work schedule, for
example, really helps the mother
of two young children take on new
initiatives.
The company’s values, too, are
infused in how everyone works
together, she says. “People genuinely live and breathe our values,
like ambition, commitment and
simplicity, every day,” she says.
Lactalis Canada is big, “but it feels
like family.”
One of the best values
exemplified by the company is a
respect for ideas from everyone,
from the bottom to the top of the
corporate ladder. Indeed, Lactalis
Canada created its NEXT Ventures
entrepreneurship program to
encourage employees to submit
their best ideas to management
and have the chance to present
them and see them implemented.
In 2023, Assani was asked to
present her idea, which was to
have employees leverage what
she calls their “ninja” skills across
all the various company teams.
Pitching to senior management was kind of like being on
“Dragons’ Den,” she laughs.
“It was really a defining career
moment for me.”
And you don’t have to be in the
early stages of your career to enjoy
the benefits and challenges of
working at the company.
Matt Price, chief human resources officer for Lactalis Canada, was
brought in earlier this year after
long experience helping large,
global organizations work through
change and growth.
At the time he was approached,
he says, he was ready for “a
leadership role with a growthoriented organization in a
transformative period.” And
