Leadership

Jim Scott

Chairman of the Board of Directors

James Scott (Jim) is Chairman of the Board of Ground Effects Ltd. Ground Effects has grown from a small family-operated shop in 1986 to a 6 facility operation that services customers throughout North America. Ground Effects Ltd. Celebrated their 40th anniversary on March 17th, 2026. Jim is a "Wish Grantor" for Make A Wish of Southwestern Ontario and established the first ever Satellite Office of a Make a Wish Chapter Office in Canada. He currently holds the position of Chair for the Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation and also runs numerous orphanages in Haiti, providing for over 900 children there.

Jim, along with Ground Effects Ltd. and his Scott Family Foundation are a huge supporter of countless charities in GFX's hometown of Windsor, Ontario. Some of those charities include The Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation, the Downtown Mission, Hospice of Windsor Essex County, The Alzheimer's Society of Windsor-Essex, The Windsor Regional Hospital Foundation, The Ground Effects Windsor Waterfront Marathon and Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Windsor Essex.

Omer Gursoy

Board Director

Omer Gursoy joined Ground Effects in September of 1993. He has acted in a variety of different capacities throughout his tenure at Ground Effects providing leadership and directly contributing to the company’s growth from a small single site operation to a large multi-site multinational organization. He was appointed as the organization’s first Corporate Quality Manager in 1996 and led the effort to the company’s registration to QS9000 in 1998 providing structure and customer confidence in the company’s business operating system. In 2001 he was appointed as the company’s Operations Manager responsible for multi-site operations within Windsor including the launch of its first Upfit plant in 2003.

Starting In 2009 he was instrumental in the expansion of the upfit and spray on bedliner business to the United States and Mexico being directly involved in successful launch efforts at multiple sites. Omer has held the role of Executive Vice President of Global Operations since 2012 providing Operational leadership and oversight as the company continues to grow and expand within Canada, the United States and Mexico.

Joe Olivastri

Board Director

With over 40 years of experience in the automotive sector, Joseph (Joe) Olivastri has established himself as a seasoned leader and industry expert. For the past 23 years, Joe has been a key driver of success at Ground Effects LLC., where his leadership and deep industry knowledge have resulted in progressively larger roles with increasing responsibility.

Joe’s strong academic foundation, including an Honours Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Windsor and a Master of Science in Administration from Central Michigan University, has been instrumental in shaping his career and achievements. Currently, Joe leads the Sales and Marketing team at Ground Effects, overseeing both OEM and aftermarket upfit operations. Under his leadership, the company has seen consistent year-over-year growth, with a robust pipeline of new programs in development out to 2030.

Edward Petryschuk

Board Director

Edward L. Petryschuk was the Vice President/CFO and a Minority Owner of Ground Effects Ltd. from 1994 to 2012, during which time the company navigated substantial growth, productivity and transformation. His areas of direct responsibility included Accounting, Finance, HR and IT, with some involvement in Operations, Quality and Program Management. Including prior positions, Ed has over 25 years of Management experience and he has relied on fairness, common sense, honesty and integrity in achieving a successful working career.

Ed is excited to again be involved in Ground Effect Ltd. as a board member and strongly believes that his past experiences will be an asset to the company going forward.

Ian Murray

Board Director

Ian is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario and a CFA charter holder. He spent the formative years of his career with Montreal Trustco in Toronto. In 1994, he took a position as First Vice President with TAL Private Management in London, Ontario and was there until 2001 when TAL was acquired by the CIBC. Ian holds the position of Market Leader, Senior Investment Counsellor with CIBC Private Investment Counsel. Ian and his team offer a holistic approach to wealth management for high-net-worth individuals, charitable organizations, and municipalities.

Ian is honoured and excited to be involved with Ground Effects Limited. He is confident his knowledge of the economy, financial markets, and geopolitical risks can be an asset to Jim and the board.

Michael Boyko

Executive Vice President of Product Development

Mike is a graduate of the University of Windsor from the Mechanical Engineering field and has almost 30 years of experience in the automotive industry with 27 years at Ground Effects. Mike has been with Ground Effects since 1999 and has seen the company experience tremendous growth.

Mike is also involved with the sales, estimating and continuous improvement departments within Ground Effects and stresses the importance of following a structured approach to product and program development.

“The key to our success at Ground Effects is our associates. As part of management, we try to do the best we can to prepare and provide our associates with the best tools and training possible to perform their tasks, but we are constantly seeking their valuable input on areas that can be improved. We then document this information into our best practice and lessons learned databases for reference on future programs.”

Brent Kwapisz

Executive Vice President of Operations

Brent Kwapisz joined Ground Effects in November of 1995. During his time with Ground Effects, he has held many titles from Supervisor, Plant Manager, Production Manager, Materials Manager and Operations Manager before being promoted to his current role of VP Operations for Canada and Asia.

Throughout his career he has been focused on streamlining and transforming business practices in each department to sustain business growth. He and his team are now laser focused on the next challenge of finding a new profitable path forward for the Canadian operations and growing a strong team to maintain the business into the future.

Greg Turner

Vice President of Finance

Greg Turner joined Ground Effect as Vice-President of Finance in January 2023. With over 25 years of experience, Greg has a robust background in Corporate Finance and Public Accounting across diverse industries, including automotive and energy. Throughout his tenure, he has prioritized enhancing the timeliness and visibility of financial information and refining accounting practices to transform the finance team into a strategic partner for the organization. Greg excels in optimizing revenue growth, improving working capital performance, and driving operating profit. His strategic leadership has been crucial in maintaining effective internal controls and providing transparent updates to stakeholders.

In his previous roles, Greg oversaw global accounting policies and internal controls for a Tier 1 automotive supplier's worldwide locations. His expertise in financial analysis, forecasting, and technical accounting implementations has been instrumental in supporting mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activities and ERP system integrations. Additionally, he has made significant contributions by managing internal audit services and leading SOx compliance programs. Greg holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Windsor and possesses both CA and CPA designations.