Samantha White

Samantha White is a multi-faceted individual – while she is a Managing Partner and Vice President in charge of Sales & Marketing of SWGi, she secretly dreams of being the CEO of Estee Lauder. Sam has over a decade of experience in the staffing industry with a specialty in Sales and Account Management, yet spends considerable time and energy in search of the perfect pair of pink running shoes. She is a highly ambitious individual with a true passion for the recruitment industry, equaled only by her true passion for a double dip Caramel covered Dairy Queen ice cream, with sprinkles.

Samantha directs SWGi’s Sales and Marketing efforts while actively leading business development strategies. She is committed to ensuring clients receive the highest level of service possible when working with a staffing agency.   Her motto: “Easy to do business with”. Her goal: “To build the best agency in Toronto!”  Previous to SWGi, Sam co-founded the Sundiata White Group in January of 2007.  

While Sam is not working towards building the business, she can be found playing with her two little girls, Taylor and Ashley, shopping at the Pottery Barn,  and hanging out with her husband Matt (yes, in that exact order).

Samantha is committed to excellence in everything she does.  Whether her energy is directed toward growing the business or in time with her family, everyone agrees that spending time with Sam is “time well spent”. 

Peter Sundiata

A terrible golfer, an awful cook, and a dreadful singer, Peter Sundiata finally found his niche about 10 years ago as an IT recruiter, something he’s actually pretty good at! During his 8+ years at a previous agency, Peter achieved one of the highest sales targets and became the resident specialist in provincial government I.T. staffing procurement and fulfillment. Peter has worked with numerous organizations, spanning many different industries, including the Government of Ontario, Canadian Tire, SNC-Lavalin, and the Government of British Columbia, to name a few. Peter joined Samantha in 2007 as co-founders of the Sundiata White Group. He is a Managing Partner and is Vice-President of Sales & Strategy.

Peter has garnered great respect as a husband and father of three children (and great sympathy since two of them are teenaged girls). His wife, Kay-Ann, is a teacher. Together, they enjoy playing volleyball, travelling, tending to their garden, and attending wine tastings. Peter hasn’t given up on all his youthful dreams, however, and has been taking piano lessons for 4 years. Peter hopes that one day you’ll find him in a basement bar someplace playing Jazz standards to a near empty house.

Julie White

Julie White was a co-founder of Intellistaff and was the force behind the merger of Intellistaff and the Sundiata White Group, creating SWGi in January of 2008. Julie is a Managing Partner and is Vice-President of Sales & Services.   She oversees and manages a portfolio of key clients and consultants coupled with organizational operations. It’s widely held that her most challenging management issues are those of her 3 boys at home - her son Maxwell, her husband Richard, and her four-legged son
Beemer.  

After graduating from Ryerson University with a Bachelor of Arts in Justice Studies, Julie started the first four years of her career at Bank of Montreal (BMO) working as an Account Manager for several high profile Corporate Clients within BMO’s MasterCard division.  During this time, she reported to the most serious and demanding supervisor she’s ever worked with ~ her brother in law ~ which we suspect weighed heavily in her decision to move into the staffing industry over five years ago. Since then, her specialties have been Account Management, Recruitment within the Information Technology industry, gardening, golf, and tea consumption.  Since making this transition she has worked with a vast array of clients ranging in size and scale of technology. 

Julie is a perfectionist by nature and is always a sure bet to achieve the highest level of results in satisfaction from her clients, and so it’s not uncommon to find Julie at her client’s weddings, birthday parties, and/or baby showers. 

Rob Knowles

Rob Knowles comes to SWGi with nearly ten years experience in Toronto’s I.T. staffing industry.  He has arrived to head up all recruitment-based activities.  While wearing multiple hats at his previous agency, Rob is focused exclusively on finding the best available candidates for our clients.  He has garnered a reputation in the industry as a fair, honest and ethical career consultant and he comes to us looking to infect the entire organization with these values!  Rob has committed to be the firm’s unofficial social convener, and he is already planning the first Karaoke evening and golf tournament!!

As a Managing Partner and Vice President of Recruitment Services, Rob coordinates recruitment efforts with the professionals in the JobZen Network.  Together they work to provide outstanding talent to fulfill the client needs that Samantha, Julie and Peter bring into the firm.  In time, Rob will use his considerable work experience overseas to assist the firm to grow internationally. 

Outside the office, Rob spends the winter months on weekends managing several programs at the Osler Bluff Ski Club as a Snow School Supervisor.  When the snow melts to reveal the green grass underneath, you will find him on the golf course, the softball diamond or perhaps a patio somewhere enjoying a friendly (or even unfriendly) beverage.  As well, he is a budding amateur musician on the guitar (although it can be argued he has more desire than talent!!).  In fact, Peter and Rob are trying to convince Samantha, Julie and Jessica to pick up an instrument so that we can form the SWGi band!!

Jessica Almaria

Did you know that Jessica Almaria (Jess to all of us who know her) is a closet poet and playwright?  Did you also know that Jessica had one of her plays staged at the North York Centre?  Bet you didn’t know that Jess does a mean imitation of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean!

In addition to her artistic flair, Jessica has a B.A. in Psychology from York University and a certificate in Vocational Rehabilitation from Seneca. She brings with her 7 years of administrative support and sales coordination experience to the SWGi team as our Customer Relationship Manager. She is highly motivated, diligent and always aims to exceed your expectations. As the newest member of SWGi, Jessica manages the office administrative duties, from day-to-day operations to rendering exceptional sales support, but also offers great assistance to Rob in his recruitment efforts.

Jess is also SWGi’s resident Toronto Raptors fan but most importantly is also the unofficial company cook.  She has offered to help Peter with his culinary shortcomings, and is well qualified to do so since she and her husband Armando have twice won the prestigious “Iron Chef” title amongst a seriously competitive group of friends.  Jess, when are we invited over for dinner?

Natalie Harrison

While becoming the next Lorena Ochoa seems to be a pipe dream for Natalie’s amateur golf career (and we do mean amateur!!!), her success in both the legal community and the world of recruitment has catapulted her career far beyond her years!

As a sociology graduate from York University, Natalie dreamed of one day being a Bay street lawyer- when the laughter ended and reality sunk in, she began to focus on her future. Upon successfully completing her post-diploma Certificate in Regulatory Law Administration and Alternative Dispute Resolution from Seneca college, she began her legal career as a clerk at the Ministry of the Attorney General- Family division. With her skills developed Natalie left the Ministry and opened up her own paralegal firm, where she held a consultant role for several law firms in the GTA.

While the legal profession offered a great deal, Natalie felt it was time for a change and turned her sights on the world of recruitment. She would land a position at Kent Legal, allowing her to ease her parents’ worry that the thousands of dollars they spent on her legal education- weren’t going to waste! With her legal background and “social-butterfly” personality, Natalie quickly developed her skills in every aspect of recruitment, growing from a recruiter to an Account Manager and later becoming the agency’s Sales Manager.

Natalie has now joined forces with the SWGi team, as their Sr. Resource Manager using her legal and administrative experience to grow the SWGi name into non-IT areas. When she is not dedicating herself to her clients and applicants, Natalie enjoys spending a quiet evening at home with a home cooked meal from her wonderful husband Mike and a game of tug-of-war with her four legged son Aussie! Natalie’s attitude is positive, her goals and values are strong and she feels tremendously excited to be part of the dynamic SWGi team!