#25 Mark Freed & Mitch Freed

Genumark (asi/204588)

2021 Rank: #27 and N/A

Mark Freed – Executive Chairman

Industry Experience: 28 years

Previous Appearances on Power 50: 5

Mitch Freed – CEO

Industry Experience: 6 years

Previous Appearances on Power 50: 0

Mitch Freed knows exactly where he was when he and his dad discussed the transition of power at Genumark.

Mitch, the current CEO, and Mark Freed, now the chairman of the Top 40 distributorship – the largest in Canada – were at the 2019 ASI Power Summit in California, after having just finalized the acquisition of distributorship RIGHTSLEEVE earlier that month. “We thought 2022 would be good timing,” Mitch says. “Then COVID hit a few months later, but we stayed on track. My dad and I were on the same page the whole time.”

It was the natural next step for Mitch, who had worked at Genumark part-time as a high school student (his dad bought the company in 2004). After earning his business degree and an MBA, he went into management consulting and even founded an experiential entertainment company with the then-head of marketing at Cirque du Soleil. When it came time for Mitch to make a decision to buy that company outright, his peers asked if he had yet considered joining his dad in business.

Executive Editor Sara Lavenduski spoke with Power 50 newcomers Mitch Freed, Britney Godsey and Megan Spire during a recent Promo Insiders podcast.

“Genumark was profitable, but I didn’t know if there was room for me there,” he says. “A friend questioned my thinking about that. So I talked to my dad.”

Mitch says his father never pressured him to join the company. But when he asked his father about a succession plan, Mark said he had two options: Sell the company, or find someone young and energetic whom he could trust to take it over. “We laughed and I said, the second option sounds good, and I think I could be that person,” says Mitch.

Mitch joined the company in early 2017 in a consultant role, taking a few months to listen, observe, consider strategy and determine if he wanted a place there. The answer was yes, and he officially came on board in March of that year as vice president of strategic initiatives. After almost two years, he became vice president of sales and strategy, a position he held for about three years until early 2022 when he took over the CEO role and his father became executive chairman. Of course, in the middle of his ascent at the company, COVID turned the industry and the world upside down – that changed the company’s concentrations, at least for the short-term.

“We just focused on keeping the business healthy,” he says. “We sold PPE of course, and looked at how to support clients. Sending something beautiful to employees became important, to get them excited about representing the company they work for. It was more HR work than events. But then we saw massive growth between 2021 and 2022 because the lockdowns went away. Now, we’re getting back to normal numbers and things are positive, even though there’s talk of a recession. We’re not necessarily seeing that. Our core revenue is small business, like banking and grocery; their corporate uniform needs are cyclical.”

As CEO, Mitch re-wrote the company’s business plan and set “aggressive” sales objectives, which he says they’re on track to achieve. And personnel have been critical too. Two key executives – Stephen Musgrave, executive vice president of sales & marketing, and Elizabeth Wimbush, vice president of supply chain & sustainability – both came from RIGHTSLEEVE.

“That’s been a big part of our future, how we merged them with us and brought people from there onto our senior leadership team,” says Mitch. “We want to have the right structure plan, and make sure our people have the tools and resources to execute on their mandates.”

“I’d say 90% of the time, my dad and I are on the same page when it comes to decisions and thought process. He always says, ‘The status quo is the enemy.’” Mitch Freed

Meanwhile, his growing family keeps him on his toes at home – as a husband and father of a 5-year-old daughter, 3-year-old daughter and 8-month-old son, he says life outside of Genumark is “crazy busy.” But he finds the time to regularly jump on his Peloton, stick to a goal of taking 10,000 steps a day, and listening to music and podcasts. Among his favorites: SmartLess, with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett; Huberman Lab; and interviews with Howard Stern. He’s also looking forward to taking a long-overdue trip with his wife soon.

His work life too requires spending time with family. Fortunately, Mitch says his relationship with his dad has been sympatico from the beginning. “I’d say 90% of the time, we’re on the same page when it comes to decisions and thought process,” says Mitch. “He always says, ‘The status quo is the enemy.’ He’s a progressive leader, he’s always innovating, and he’s open to hearing about anything. It’s great to be able to work with my dad. We have a really good story.”

His father agrees. “Mitch has been very effective leading our team on a day-to-day basis,” says Mark. “He’s an excellent communicator and team-builder with high standards and aspirations for our company. It’s been very gratifying to collaborate and bounce ideas off each other as we chart the future of Genumark. This is an incredibly exciting time for our company and our industry, and I’m enjoying the ride more than ever.”