Our Team

Providing an experience that leaves an impact

Meet The GRIT
Leadership Team

Our GRIT team crafts compelling narratives that capture your brand’s essence, strengthening its presence and credibility in the market. Coupled with our unrivalled logistics services, we ensure a smooth, end-to-end journey from product delivery to customer the customer’s door.

With GRIT Distribution, you’re not just unlocking the Canadian market; you’re creating a powerful brand experience that drives growth and leaves a lasting impact.

Morgan Arbez

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Meet Morgan Arbez, accomplished entrepreneur, and a passionate fitness advocate. With an impressive track record of scaling and successfully exiting multiple businesses, Morgan’s business acumen is as rich as it is varied. As the CEO of GRIT Distribution, Morgan applies her exceptional ability to identify market opportunities and guide businesses to their full potential. Her strategic vision, combined with her commitment to operational excellence, has resulted in significant milestones for numerous ventures and successful business exits. Morgan’s distinct talent for driving business performance while maintaining a sharp focus on customer satisfaction has set new industry standards. But Morgan’s passions extend beyond the boardroom. As an ardent runner and crossfitter, she personifies the values of endurance, discipline, and goal-setting — attributes she effortlessly infuses into her professional ethos. Morgan’s belief in holistic well-being underscores her leadership style, encouraging her teams to strike a balance between work, health, and personal development. Morgan Arbez is more than a CEO; she’s a strategic visionary, a fitness enthusiast, and a beacon of resilience and determination. Her unwavering commitment to personal growth and professional excellence is perfectly aligned with the core values of GRIT Distribution: drive, dedication, and an indomitable spirit of GRIT.

Derek Arbez

Chief Operating Officer

Derek Arbez is a Trailblazer in Operations and Leadership. Derek’s journey from competitive hockey to thriving in business exemplifies his unwavering determination.

As COO at GRIT Distribution, he seamlessly translated his athletic prowess into professional success. With 25+ years experience as a lineman, he led teams, defying heights to mend power lines, embodying safety and teamwork. This unwavering commitment to safety, teamwork, and operational excellence became the cornerstone of his professional identity.

Derek’s character is a testament to his values, as he exudes compassion, integrity, and an unwavering moral compass. His commitment to doing what is right resonates deeply in his actions and interactions. A true leader, he finds himself effortlessly assuming the role of a guiding force in any situation, inspiring those around him with his innate ability to lead with compassion.

In every sense, Derek is a force to be reckoned with, a visionary leader who seamlessly marries his passion for fitness, entrepreneurship, and leadership to orchestrate a symphony of success at GRIT Distribution. His journey is a living testament to the fact that true greatness is not just defined by one’s accomplishments, but by the unwavering commitment to inspire, lead, and make a lasting difference.

Tommy Marquez

Chief Relationship Officer

Tommy Marquez is a dynamic professional with a passion for community engagement, and belief in the amplifying power of teamwork through secure relationships. A lifelong athlete and competitor in a multitude of sports, Tommy has channeled his love for fitness, human movement, and self-improvement into professional success in a multitude of industries, while maintaining a core principle of service towards others. His willingness to accept new challenges and thirst for learning have played catalyst to his development of a wide professional network and diverse skill set.

Tommy’s roots in Central California are tied to his family’s military service, which instilled into him a sense of discipline and purpose around teamwork aimed at a shared goal. This set the foundation for his love of team sports, and his competitive spirit fostered that love into high level pursuits of football, basketball, track, lacrosse, martial arts, ultra-marathoning, and CrossFit. These pursuits ingrained in him values of leadership, accountability, and effective communication that he carried with him into his various career paths, first as a mental health professional helping school age foster children in his hometown, then as a 15+ year professional in the health and fitness industry.

His belief in the transformative power of creating health autonomy led him to starting his first business and opening a CrossFit gym, before spreading that message through a larger digital media platform as journalist, network television host, producer, and content creator. Through his journeys in the fitness industry, Tommy has partnered with a multitude of brands with a shared vision of community building through hard work and delivering the best product possible.

At GRIT, Tommy’s prowess for relationship building and communication fits seamlessly into GRIT’s mission to be the connective tissue between brands and the communities that believe in them. In an increasingly automated and detached society, Tommy’s path stands as proof that integrity, empathy, and an open mind can pave multiple avenues of success.

Justin Sturmer

Operations Manager

In the world of resilient individuals, Justin Sturmer shines as an example. With a military background, a passion for fitness, and a role in GRIT Distribution’s management, Justin’s story is one of determination. Growing up in Brantford, Justin learned responsibility and discipline early on. His inclination for taking on challenges became a foundation for his future. As an adult, he pursued a military career, showcasing dedication, teamwork, and resilience lessons. Fitness became a focus during his military days, evolving into a dedication to marathon running and CrossFit. These activities aligned with his philosophy of continuous improvement and tackling challenges head-on. His involvement with GRIT Distribution went beyond a job; it matched his values. Justin embodied GRIT’s essence, embracing hard work, unwavering commitment, and the belief that effort leads to success. At GRIT Distribution, Justin’s actions matched his words. He motivated colleagues to approach challenges with determination, maintain integrity, and nurture growth and positivity. In a time of shortcuts, Justin Sturmer’s life reminds us that true success comes from pursuing goals relentlessly, aligning with principles, and believing in hard work, positivity, and personal growth.

Jess Felske

Assistant Manager

Jess is living proof of the transformative power of hard work and an unstoppable commitment to personal growth. Jess is ray of infinite energy and infection positivity. She skips through life with a commitment to spreading joy, motivation and positively impacting the lives of those around her.

At a young age, raised in a household with a philosophy built on hard work, discipline and perseverance, Jess learnt values that would shape her into the vibrant, self- motivated and driven individual she is today. Jess believes anything is possible with a little elbow grease.

As Jess’s dedication to personal development grew so did her ambitions. She set her sights on conquering new challenges and pushing her self-limiting boundaries. From competitive body building to creative masterpieces, Jess embraces every opportunity with an open mind. She views every task and challenge as a way to strengthen her resiliency.

At GRIT Distribution, Jess applies her passion for hard work and her sparkle of creativity to all aspects of her career. Her dedication to cultivating relationships, maintaining integrity and desire to make a positive impact, inspires others to embrace their full potential and stive for excellence.

Jess stands as a living testament of the GRIT essence by serving as a reminder that greatness is not handed to us – it is earned day in and day out.

Lauren Plazonic

Customer Service Manager

With over two decades dedicated to enhancing customer experiences, Lauren is a seasoned administrative expert known for her passion in optimizing operations and fostering a customer-centric culture. Her track record showcases a commitment to streamlining processes while ensuring seamless efficiency, all while prioritizing exceptional customer service. Bringing a robust skill set in office optimization, team management, and strategic initiatives, Lauren leads by empowering teams and implementing solutions that drive productivity. At GRIT Distribution, her focus on continuous improvement aligns seamlessly with the company ethos, aiming to surpass customer expectations while upholding operational excellence. Driven by challenges, Lauren seeks innovative solutions that enhance efficiency without compromising service quality. Her meticulous attention to detail and dedication to nurturing strong customer relationships underpin her goal to contribute to GRIT Distribution’s ongoing success and growth.

Chris Bates (Bates)

Client Relations

Bates has an undying love for all things holistic health and over 14 years of dedicated exploration in diet, lifestyle, and mindset optimization. In addition, Bates has conducted extensive experiments on various dietary regimes, workout routines, and lifestyles. He identifies the optimal balance for sustained motivation and equilibrium through rigorous analysis.

Having previously served as Lead Health Coach for Heart & Soil alongside Dr. Paul Saladino, he currently specializes in one-on-one coaching guiding men toward achieving peak physiological, psychological, and interpersonal health. Bates is advancing into writing and podcasting. He is set to release a book on modern dating and actively engages with audiences through various podcast platforms.

At GRIT, Bates focuses on cultivating meaningful, authentic connections with brands, allowing GRIT to provide the best possible service to each and every client.

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