Canada's Top 100 Employers (2026) Magazine - Flipbook - Page 84
88
( 2026 )
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At UAP, there’s a team culture of collaboration
S
abrina Fragapane wasn’t
looking for a new job
when a recruiter contacted her to suggest she
speak with the senior
vice president of people and
culture at UAP Inc. “When I did,
I was inspired by her belief in my
potential and excited by the opportunity at UAP,” says Fragapane,
now change practitioner.
Headquartered in Montréal,
UAP is Canada's leading
distributor and merchandiser of
automotive parts and replacement
accessories for cars and heavy
vehicles. It is also a subsidiary of
Genuine Parts Company (GPC),
the largest vehicle parts distribution network in North America.
When Fragapane started work at
UAP, she realized it wasn’t just the
senior VP of people and culture
who was supportive, but the whole
people and culture team — and all
teams. “We have aligned values,”
Fragapane says. “We want UAP
to succeed and we want people to
succeed.”
“We believe that people are
UAP’s greatest competitive
advantage,” says Paul Marc
Frenette, vice president, supply
chain and operations. “We have
a team culture of collaboration.
No one person’s needs are greater
than the needs of the team.”
Fragapane was hired as a
change management specialist
to oversee the people side of
a national project, updating
payroll and human resources
technology. “There is a huge
collaboration that happens,”
says Fragapane. For each large
change initiative, Fragapane
brings together ambassadors from
each department. She listens to
their concerns and gives them
information to take back to their
team.
Three years later, Fragapane
has completed several projects.
She feels she has been helped
by UAP’s open-door policy that
empowers employees to come
forward with questions and
ideas. She’s also found people
coming together with the new
UAP Connect, an internal
communication platform that she
collaborated with team change
agents to roll out.
We train and empower
our employees. Teams
are coached and
mentored, which results
in a collective passion
for performing work at
the highest level.
— Paul Marc Frenette
Vice President, Supply Chain
and Operations
Employees at UAP are empowered to guide the direction of their careers through in-house coaching and
mentorship initiatives.
Last year, Fragapane let her
leaders know that, with her
children getting older, she is ready
to take on a more strategic role.
She is working toward supporting
people across the organization
with training and coaching. Since
then, she was invited to speak at
UAP’s leadership program.
“It’s not every day someone
from inside a company has an
opportunity to speak for an hour
with leaders from across Canada. I
spoke on change leadership,” says
Fragapane.
Fragapane has also been
supported in developing her
skills. She sits on a global change
management committee, and UAP
has covered registration fees for
a conference and online change
management courses.
“We train and empower our
employees,” says Frenette. “Teams
are coached and mentored, which
results in a collective passion for
