Our Leadership Team
Learn about our team’s passions and responsibilities within the organization.
Don Kallil
CHIEF VISIONARY OFFICER
Don Kallil, CVO
As the founding shareholder of Convivial Brands, Don Kallil serves as the Founder/CVO. Don is the ultimate visionary of the organization, responsible for leading the team through creative solutions of existing opportunities and finding new business avenues and opportunities to expand Convivial Brand’s global reach. Don is instrumental in fostering key business relationships and being the spearhead of the entirety of the organization’s culture. Aside from his love of people and leadership, he is truly a product junkie—loving the process of creating something from nothing and bringing a key need to the marketplace.
Although he knew he would become an entrepreneur at age 10, that was not his first vocation. Before it accepting his entrepreneurship calling, Don’s career began in Chicago working as a salesman, and then a stockbroker. Throughout his time in Chicago, this is where Don was able to put his salesmanship to practice, and learn the art of persuasion, persistence, and adding value. While honing his skills, the ever-nagging voice of entrepreneurship did not let up, but the question of “what” was the hardest to answer.
While achieving his Bachelor of Marketing at Michigan State University, Don worked at a bakery and his now-wife, Jennifer (Managing Director of The High Five Grand Rapids), would write him handmade greeting cards.
Eureka! It was either a bakery or a greeting card company. The latter won, and Design Design, the first brand within the Convivial Brands umbrella, was born in a small apartment in Chicago.
Through a series of events, Don, and Jennifer, ended up living in Grand Rapids, MI. Between Don, Jennifer, and 2 artists, they created a 72 greeting card assortment to begin the journey, and the rest is history.
Being the visionary that he is, that vision is ever-expanding. His present vision is creating a conglomerate of brands that all turn occasions into celebrations, which has led to the launching of Verdant Graphics in 2011 – a printing manufacturer, Style Life in 2017 – a direct sales company, The High Five Grand Rapids in 2018 – an events venue, and TABLEAU in 2020 – a dinnerware and home décor brand.
Don is proud of the organization’s accomplishments, and he is even more proud of the organization’s future, and all the team member’s personal and professional accomplishments along the way.
Don is passionate about the community of Grand Rapids. He is an active member of the JEM Organization, offering mentorship and training to entrepreneurs, and participates in the board of his church – St. George in Downtown Grand Rapids.
For fun, you will find him spending as much time as possible with his family, his children, and his 2 grandchildren. He is passionate about cooking, baking, gardening, and going on walks throughout his hometown.
Most of all, he loves people and helping them to realize their potential, by challenging them to be the absolute best they can be.
Liz Mokhiber
Executive Vice PResident
Liz Kallil, Executive VP
Elizabeth Mokhiber (Liz) is the Executive Vice President for Convivial Brands Family of Companies, better known as the COO in most enterprises, a position she has held since October 2019. Convivial Brands based in Grand Rapids, Michigan is a global company with 5 business units to include Design Design Inc. Style Life, The High Five HR, Verdant Graphics, and Tableau. In addition to her Executive responsibilities, Liz also serves as an operating shareholder of Convivial Brands.
Liz has a long history with Convivial Brands. She spent her high school summers working as either a picker in their distribution center or in the office part-time filing and entering invoices. She later started her full-time career in January of 2016, working in both the marketing and operations departments, first as an Assortment Planner followed by a role as a Planogram Analyst for Convivial’s Design Design brand. In those roles, Liz served many of Design Design’s National/Regional Customers and her success in those roles lead her to later take on a leadership role in the Merchandising department. Liz’s proven success in each role, coupled with her drive for innovation, excellence, and building strong teams, is why she was unanimously chosen for her role as Innovator by the leadership team.
Liz graduated with honors from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree from the College of Literature, Science, and Arts.
Jeff Kallil
Vice President of Marketing
Jeff Kallil, VP of Marketing
As a shareholder of Convivial Brands, Jeff Kallil serves as the Vice President of Marketing. In this seat, he is responsible for leading the team of visionaries, creatives, and storytellers to create engaging, enticing, and entrancing products, and product messaging for each brand under the Convivial Brands umbrella. Each brand has its own unique product, story, and purpose, and it is Jeff’s job to bring them to life for the consumer.
Being a major advocate for modern-day Marketing approach. Jeff is on a mission to bring the Convivial Brands name, along with all subsequent brands, to the digital world and creating a community through digital marketing. Within the next year, all brands will be built on eCommerce, with support via social media channels and eMarketing.
Jeff was not always focused on the Marketing side of Convivial Brands, he began his journey within the organization at the age of 13 years old in the production line within our distribution center in Wyoming, MI when the family of brands was just one brand—Design Design, Inc. Throughout the years, he would go on to work within order fulfillment, accounts receivable, IT, and eventually social media before moving to Chicago to pursue his own dreams.
In Chicago, IL is where Jeff began his career as a door-to-door salesman for the Tom James Company. Starting in November of 2013 as a Haberdasher (purveyor of cloth), Jeff became fluent in the skill of cold-calling, perseverance, salesmanship, and sales leadership (not to mention… measuring men and women for custom clothing!). Rising quickly in the ranks of the organization, and ultimately achieving the prestigious accomplishment of President’s Club within his first 17 months, Jeff helped transform the Chicago office of Tom James through leadership, motivation, and inspiration, and creating new ways of client retention methods.
Throughout his tenure at the Tom James Company, Jeff spoke and taught sessions during quarterly and yearly conferences, as well as lead a team of additional sales professionals.
Jeff then made his way back to Grand Rapids, MI, and began the journey (again) with Design Design, this time within Sales. From the years of 2016-2019, Jeff focused on expanding the Design Design reach, spearheaded the launch of the Style Life brand, and a key member in launching the EOS business model until being nominated to serve in his current position.
Jeff holds a Bachelor of Art’s degree from Michigan State University in Marketing with a minor in Sales Leadership. He also operates his own social media platforms to bring awareness to the keys in cultivating successful relationships—personal and business, as well as overall motivation and inspiration in community + self-development, amassing a community of over 350K people between all platforms.
For fun, Jeff loves spending time with his family and family, going for walks, and enjoying time outside. He is passionate about cooking/baking, practicing his faith, and health/wellness.
Mary Dale
Chief Human Resources Officer
Mary Dale, Chief Human Resource Officer
As Convivial Brands Chief Human Resources Officer, Mary Dale is responsible for human capital management, total rewards program development and execution, employee engagement, diversity and inclusion, and leadership development for multiple companies under the Convivial Brands umbrella to include Design Design, Verdant Graphics, Tableau, Style Life, and the High Five Grand Rapids. In this role, she leads human resources initiatives for team members across 41 states.
Before joining Convivial Brands in November 2019, Mary was the Chief Human Resources Officer for Metron Integrated Health System where she was responsible for accelerating Metron’s Human Resource transformation through leadership, differentiated talent models, creating strategies for attracting and retaining top talent, and building a culture of engagement. Under Mary’s leadership, Metron implemented a new talent acquisition strategy, compensation philosophy and structure, total rewards package, employee recognition program, and new HR model. Prior to her work at Metron, Dale was the Chief Operating Officer and Director of Clinical and Human Resources/HIPAA and OSHA Compliance Officer for Orthopedic Associates of Michigan (OAM) in Grand Rapids for over six years. Under Mary’s leadership, OAM was named one of the 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work for in West Michigan for over five years and the 101 Best and Brightest in Wellness in Michigan for two years. She also led Metron to win their first ever 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work for in West Michigan in 2018 and again in 2019. While working at OAM, Mary was also involved in the implementation of the BPCI-Bundled Payments program and the opening of OAM NOW, a walk-in urgent care clinic for the practice. Prior to her work at OAM, Mary was a Senior Account Manager for Kforce Professional Staffing, where she was recognized as one of the top 10% of Account Managers/Recruiters Nation Wide in Monte Carlo.
Ms. Dale is a frequent speaker at industry events and has spoken at the LEAP Healthcare HR conference, Disrupt HR Grand Rapids conference, MISHRM Annual Conference, How Women Rise Leadership Event, HR Unite, and HCAM (Health Care Association of Michigan) Annual Conference. She serves on various boards to include: The University of Michigan Health West Foundation Board of Directors, MISHRM State Board as the Membership Director, Grand Rapids Council for Ferris State University as their Co-Membership Chair, as an Advisory Board Member for the Communications program at Ferris Big Rapids, and as a founding member of the Grand Rapids International Network (GRIN). Mary previously served as a Board Member on the Ferris State Alumni Relations Board for three terms. Aside from her Board Memberships, Ms. Dale was named to the 2018 40 under 40 Class, was awarded the HR Unite Purpose and Inspire awards in 2021, and was highlighted in Profile Magazine for top HR professionals.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Ferris State University in Communication with a minor in Psychology, DEI Workplace Certification from University of South Florida College of Muma, and is certified by HRCI and SHRM as a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and Certified Professional in Human Resources (SHRM-CP).
Jason Pefley
Vice President of Operations
Jason Pefley, VP of Operations
As Convivial Brands Vice President of Operations, Jason Pefley is responsible for sales operations, merchandising, supply chain, and distribution center functions for multiple companies under the Convivial Brands umbrella including Design Design, Tableau, and Style Life.
Before joining Convivial Brands in November 2013, Jason was the Distribution Center Operations Manager at MarketLab for 12 years where he was responsible for all distribution center functions including FDA-compliant inventory control, facility maintenance, acquisition integration, and inbound and outbound logistics. Under Jason’s leadership, MarketLab successfully acquired and fully integrated several companies from different regions of the country into the MarketLab portfolio and distribution model. Due to the significant growth during that time, Jason was able to successfully design and implemented high-density storage and distribution systems while overseeing the construction of the new distribution center. While at MarketLab Jason was also able to implement and successfully maintain a same-day shipping policy for all customers across the United States.
Beginning in 2013, Jason began volunteering as a football coach in the Comstock Park Rocket Football program as a chance to help and mentor young men and women in his community. He now serves as Head Football Coach at Mill Creek Middle School in Comstock Park, Michigan where he is able to continue those efforts. Jason is also a member of the Comstock Park Athletic Boosters with the primary focus of raising funds in an effort to minimize or remove participation barriers for all students. He has previously served on the Board of Directors for Northwestern Little League.
Jason is a 2000 graduate of Grand Valley State University with a bachelor’s degree in History.
Ted Wozniak
Vice President of Finance
Ted Wozniak, VP of Finance
As Convivial Brands Vice President of Finance, Ted Wozniak is responsible for the Finance function of all group companies under the Convivial Brands umbrella including Design Design, Verdant Graphics, Tableau, Style Life, and the High Five Grand Rapids.
Before joining Convivial Brands in January 2021, Ted was the Director of Finance at HDT Automotive Solutions, a global automotive manufacturing entity created in 2017 setting up/standardizing global Treasury activities, Transfer Pricing and Operational Finance support of the global operations. Prior to that Ted led the finance function as Site Controller for ThermoFisher Scientific in Kalamazoo, MI implementing lean techniques to improve the Finance function AP/AR functions. Prior to his work at ThermoFisher, Ted was CFO of Ventura Manufacturing leading a first-time global ERP implementation supporting a significant growth period for this furniture & automotive supplier while standardizing financial operations. Previous to that leadership position, he led multiple Operations leadership positions including Assistant General Manager for the Engineered Glass Division of Magna International in Holland, MI. Under Ted’s leadership, the Division achieved a first ever high level of Employee Satisfaction while undergoing consolidation. Prior to Magna, Ted was CFO for TrimQuest LLC (a joint venture between Johnson Controls, Inc and Plastech Engineered Products). Under Ted’s leadership for this start-up automotive supply operation, he led the development of all Finance & IT processes as well as implementing new ERP system while supporting a 6-month operational launch growing of $0 in revenue to over $100 million in 2 years. Ted served in various regional Finance and Supply Chain roles for Johnson Controls, Inc. and the acquired Prince Corp. where he began his career in 1990.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Aquinas College in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting as well as a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame.
Doug Mikaelian
VICE PRESIDENT of Information Technology
Doug Mikaelian, Vice President of Information Technology
As Convivial Brands Vice President of Information Technology, Doug Mikaelian is responsible for the Information Technology function of all group companies under the Convivial Brands umbrella including Design Design, Verdant Graphics, Tableau, Style Life, and the High Five Grand Rapids.
Before joining Convivial Brands in October 2022, Doug was an Information Technology Director at BKD – a national CPA firm headquartered in Springfield, MO. Prior to that Doug held IT leadership roles at Dairy Farmers of America, Style Crest Enterprises, Playtex Products and the New Zealand Dairy Board. He has also consulted at companies including Monsanto, Panera Bread and Sam’s Club. He has experience implementing process-enabling business technologies, including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Human Capital Management (HCM), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and Business Intelligence / Data Analytics. He also has experience implementing and managing the underlying Information Technology infrastructure to keep the business technologies available and appropriately performing.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University in Mathematics and Computer Science, as well as a Master’s degree from Nova Southeastern University in Information Systems.
Fun Facts: Doug and his wife (Diane) have a son and daughter, as well as a rescued Labsky (Labrador/Husky mixed dog). He has milked cows in New Zealand, had a bit-role in a movie, and was the first of his friends to use “El Scorcho” sauce from the local taco chain.