Phelps: A Family Story of Courage, Tenacity and Growth

Part 1: It all began with an entrepreneurial spark

Like many great stories, the story of Phelps began with an entrepreneur driven by courage, tenacity, and a clear vision. But to really understand it, we need to go back to Thunder Bay, Ontario, in 1986, a time when the city was experiencing a period of robust economic growth. Major industries such as milling, shipping, mining, and government services were all operating at full capacity. It was a time filled with opportunity and
optimism.

Founder Valerie Phelps came from a long line of entrepreneurs- a fourthgeneration
legacy that instilled a steadfast, entrepreneurial spirit early on. While she spent time
working across multiple sectors and roles, she quickly recognized an opportunity to do things differently: to build a company grounded in flexibility, professionalism, and an unwavering commitment to quality service.

That vision became the cornerstone of Phelps and still holds true today.

What is also important to note is that 1986 marked one of the most significant
milestones in gender equity in Canada: the introduction of the Employment Equity Act, which embedded gender equity into law as an employer responsibility- particularly
relevant to leadership, governance, and public sector institutions. Valerie was building a business at precisely the same moment Canada was reshaping its expectations around equity, an alignment that has quietly shaped Phelps’ story ever since.

“As a female founder, the barriers I faced 40 years ago were not subtle, they were
structural. They were embedded in banking policies, lending rules, professional networks, and everyday assumptions about who was credible and who was not. It wasn’t just a feeling; women entrepreneurs routinely encountered tighter credit, more rejections, and harsher terms than men. To move forward, I often had to work twice as hard, “says Valerie.

Looking back, Valerie reflects on how surreal it feels that those barriers once existed so openly. Yet she firmly believes that many of the opportunities available to women
leaders today exist only because women of her generation kept pushing, again and again, until those walls began to give way.

Part 2: From northern roots to national impact

The company grew and so did the Phelps family. Heather and Jayson, Valerie’s
children, later came to express an interest in following in their mother’s footsteps and both became integral to its continued growth and success. Each of them has now been with the firm for over 25 years, serving as key leaders in operations and carrying
forward the values and principles. As the firm grew, family ownership translated into consistent values driven decisions and a focus on longterm relationships over one-off transactions.

“They taught me to listen differently. When they joined, I had decades of experience and a clear way of doing things, but they pushed me to hear new ideas, question “how we’ve always done it,” and make space for other voices in the company,” says Valerie. And that’s the thing about a family business; they are built on values. “The truth is that family dynamics are real, relatable, and not always easy. Because we’re a family
business, our clients often feel comfortable sharing stories about their own sibling dynamics. Those moments usually come with a good laugh, and they genuinely deepen the relationships we build with both clients and candidates.”, says Heather Phelps, Managing Partner.

Founded in 1986 as a staffing agency under the name The Placement Centre, the firm reached its first major growth milestone just one year later by expanding into management level recruitment. To differentiate itself from another local business operating under the name, Phelps & Associates Personnel Services Inc. completed a significant rebrand and, in 1992, expanded into career transition (outplacement) services as the Northern Ontario provider for Drake, Beam and Morin (DBM).

By the mid to late1990s, Phelps had become the largest provider of staffing services in Northwestern Ontario, consistently outperforming much larger competitors in a highly competitive talent market.

Then Jayson had an idea: what if we brought the lessons learned in Northern Ontario to Toronto? In 2001, with little more than a phone book, a landline, and questionable WiFi, Phelps opened the Toronto office at 330 Bay Street, fittingly housed in the Northern Ontario Building.

“This was one of those milestones I didn’t think much of at the time, but it ultimately became a pivotal moment that helped define the firm. We never forgot where we came from, those roots taught us how to be creative in recruitment and diligent in our followup, because we had to build resilience. Recruiting and retaining talent in the North isn’t easy”, says Jayson Phelps, Senior Partner.

In 2008, Canada entered a recession triggered by the global financial crisis and by 2009 Canada was in its deepest economic downturn in years. Supporting these shifts, Phelps launched the leadership development practice positioning development as a strategic tool to support effective leadership. A few years later, leadership coaching emerged, initially introduced as a performance‑based intervention, and later evolving into a best‑practice offering for senior leaders. Organizations across sectors began embracing this shift in mindset, and in 2016, Phelps expanded its executive leadership advisory practice, strengthening its work at the senior leadership and governance levels.

This became a core offering of the firm and remains so today. To further support global searches, Phelps later became a global partner of Panorama in 2020, extending its international reach and collaborative capabilities.

With this growth came a renewed and explicit commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion across the firm. “We recognize that our strength lies in the diverse lived
experiences, backgrounds, talents, and perspectives of our employees, clients, and candidates,” says Heather. Phelps was invited to join the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC) North American Council for Equity and Inclusion, which exists to continue advancing thoughtful progress in this space. The Council continues to evolve alongside the work, including a growing focus on
neurodivergence, while strengthening the experience of both clients and candidates.

That focus on equity became a meaningful differentiator at a time when many organizations were just starting to recognize the importance of equity, diversity, and inclusion in leadership recruitment.

In 2025, Phelps reached a major growth milestone with the acquisition of Gallagher’s executive search practice in Canada, expanding its presence in Alberta and Quebec firmly establishing Phelps as a bilingual Canadian firm with deeper on-the-ground teams in those regions.

Part 3: Still just the beginning

The impact of firms like Phelps is felt across every sector in Canada. Today, leaders are choosing to walk away from organizations that no longer align with their values and committing themselves to those that do.

For four decades, Phelps has helped shape leadership that strengthens Canada’s communities and organizations across the public, nonprofit, and private sectors. Rooted in our Canadian origins and guided by the IGNITE values of Integrity, Grit, Nimbleness, Inclusion, Trust, and Excellence, we partner with clients to identify and develop leaders equipped to navigate complexity, lead with integrity, and create lasting impact. In some of the most challenging markets, including Northern Ontario and the territories, this approach has helped extend average retention in certain roles from approximately 18 months to more than seven years.

By shaping the next generation of leaders, we are helping build a stronger, more resilient Canada, today and for the future. “At Phelps, everyone is part of our family, and that’s something our competitors simply can’t say”, says Jayson.

The firm is stronger now than ever. Forty years on-after four major recessions and a global pandemic- the greatest lesson, shared by Valerie, Heather, and Jayson, is simple: Relationships outlast transactions. “We get stronger by going through these tough times,” says Jayson. “Each decade has brought change, and with it, the opportunity to reinvent ourselves.”

When Jayson reflects on “40 years of impact,” his first thought is how much more there is still to accomplish; this milestone feels less like a finish line and more like a meaningful midpoint. “Let’s just say not all our secrets made it into this story, but this is only the beginning.”