Our Dedicated Leadership Team
To find incredible, talented professionals for each mandate, we adhere to a rigorous work ethic that serves as a gold standard in the industry. Not surprisingly, we’ve applied the same high standards of excellence to assemble the team of professionals that makes up the Groom team.
Karen Groom, Founder & CEO
Karen is recognized as a leader and a mentor in recruiting, with a deep commitment to community involvement and enhancement.
Determined. Experienced. Connected.
Backed by solid educational backgrounds and pertinent work experience, our recruitment experts have established lasting relationships with universities and professional associations. More importantly, their large network of experts, in their specialized field of recruitment, has driven them to have an insider’s knowledge of the employment market and industry trends in their area of expertise.
That’s the Groom promise.
Sarah Groom, Director, Science & Pharmaceutical
Sarah Groom has been significantly developing Groom & Associates’ Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Division since 2013.
Sarah holds Bachelor’s and Masters degrees in medical chemistry from the University of Ottawa. She is passionate about science, but discovered that her talents would better serve the business community instead of a laboratory environment. Her science background is indispensable, as it enables her to relate to scientist candidates on a deeper level compared to other hiring managers who might only possess general knowledge.
Sarah takes pride in knowing that she has helped start-ups recruit and build their core teams of specialists from the ground up. She also uses her technical background to consult with her clients’ HR departments so that they might better understand how to hire scientists, and the nature of their work.
Growing the Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Division by building the team and expanding the client base is Sarah’s main professional endeavour – one which combines her interest in science and her desire to help people achieve fulfilling careers.
Carole Viger-Berman, Director, Engineering, Operations and Manufacturing
Carole began her career working in sales in the textiles industry until she discovered the world of recruitment – and never turned back. A rare skill set which combines equal talent for working with candidates as for working with hiring managers, Carole demonstrates a deep ability to connect with people.
At Groom & Associates, Carole maintains a particular focus on strategic executive-level recruitment across various industries, including but not limited to pharmaceutical and life sciences industries, manufacturing and consumer goods. She has worked with some of the best-known business leaders across Canada.
Characterized by her thoughtful, caring nature and genuine passion for people, Carole is a seasoned recruitment professional who makes an impact on everyone she meets.
Adam Hassoulas, Director, Technology
Adam is an experienced and dedicated Account manager with a history of helping a variety of different companies with their staffing needs. Since 2014, he has been specialized in the IT field where he has worked on contractual business as well permanent placement. Adam works tirelessly to fully understand his client’s business in order to ultimately satisfy their staffing needs. Having started out as a recruiter, he knows the challenges, struggles and successes that the ever-growing IT job market can bring. That strong recruitment background has led him to gain perspective from both the candidate side as well as the business side and offer insight to both parties. As an Account Manager, he now devotes his efforts to understanding and qualifying his client’s businesses and using that information to attract the top Talent in the highly competitive IT market. Having been rated in the top 2 of permanent placements for 2017 in his previous company, Adam realized he was most successful in finding long-term solutions for his clients. This led him to Groom & Associates where he is committed to bringing the same level of success and delivery for clients who have long-term staffing needs. His personable and friendly approach is welcomed by our team as well as the clients he works with. Feel free to reach out to him to find out yourself!
Pamela Kumaravelu, Director, Finance, Accounting and Insurance
After 10 years of working in Corporate Human Resources recruitment and management. Pam decided it was time to change direction, which for her meant joining a recruitment firm. Pam’s goal was to enhance her knowledge and skills into something more challenging. She knew without a doubt that Groom & Associates was the one and only firm that would fit what she was looking for because of their glowing reputation, amazing client reviews and quality over quantity motto. Pam is an Account Manager at G&A; experienced in full cycle recruitment in various fields including Human Resources, Administration, Sales & Operations and Finance. She is also a certified HR Professional and a member of the CRHA association as well a licensed Professional Financial Advisor and a member of the Chambre de la sécurité financière.
After graduating with a Bachelors degree in Law and Society & Sociology Pam started training new employees that she had recruited in Corporate HR and that’s when she knew that she would love to work in recruitment full time. There is no other satisfaction than knowing that you have just changed the lives of a person by finding them the career of their dreams or had just made a company more successful by finding them the ideal candidate they’ve been looking for. Her passion for this field of work is what drives her success in placing the right candidate with the right company.
Emily Woods, Recruitment Director
Emily Woods is a talent acquisition and recruitment professional with a particular focus on highly technical IT roles for multiple industries for small, medium and large enterprises spanning across North America.
Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec Emily has over 15 years of experience in the IT recruitment field. With a diverse background of a combined mix of experience based in recruitment firms, corporations as well as the booming start up world, including as a participating member of the Spring 2015 cohort of FounderFuel, an accelerator program hosted by renowned VC firm Real Ventures, Emily prides herself on her knowledge as well her deep passion for the IT industry.
Acting as the Subject Matter Expert for all things IT, Emily has been able to capitalize on her vast network of technical professionals and work alongside premier companies across North America to succeed in fulfilling a widespread variety of positions including building in-house software development teams, Lead Engineers, Directors and CTO’s. Most recently, Emily has collaborated with clients within the growing Artificial Intelligence space and has succeeded in connecting candidates to top firms such as the notable Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms Université de Montreal (MILA) and PriceWaterhouse Coopers in the fields of AI and machine learning.
Tina Silvaggio, Director of Administration
Tina Silvaggio has been with Groom & Associates 20+ years.
Started as a Receptionist, under Karen’s Groom guidance is now the office coordinator and takes care of the Accounts Receivables.
Tina is very professional, dedicated, hard-working and extremely loyal.
Her commitment is second to none.
You will notice her professional demeanor on the phone and at work is particularly impressive.
When I started at Groom & Associates we were only a handful of employees.
Today Groom & Associates has over 100+ employees and offices worldwide.
It is because of Karen Groom’s and Miriam Groom’s expertise and devotion that the company is so successful.