About Us

Tim Fatum, President of Envision Strategic Solutions LLC

Tim has an extensive background in sales, all aspects of human resources, business development, business/financial acumen, and more. Most of this experience has been in the foodservice distribution industry working for Gordon Food Service. This history has given Tim the expertise needed to help organizations achieve sustained high performance.

• 19 plus years of experience leading all aspects of Human Resources
• Key Systems and Programs Developed Include: Employment branding, direct relationship strategy, retention strategies, continuous improvement programs, workforce planning, HR business partner model, compensation policies, benefits programs and design, hiring structure and processes, development and succession planning, exit survey process, and more.
• Lead the HR Shared Service teams for US business units. Liaison between divisional HR Directors and the Shared Services teams.

On the personal side, Tim lives with his wife Jill in Rockford, Michigan and has three children. He loves spending time with his family, traveling, and staying active outdoors.

Barry Bates, Executive VP, Operations Strategy

Barry has over 35 years of business experience working in the hospitality and distribution industries.  He spent most of those years with Gordon Food Service, a multi-billion dollar North American company.  He has held various leadership positions including Vice President of Distribution where he had oversight over Sales, Marketing, Transportation, Warehouse, Human Resources, and Finance.  Barry’s strengths lie in him being able to quickly assess the issues and challenges facing a company and then developing actionable items to address them. Perhaps even more critical, is his ability to develop strong and trusting relationships within an organization from frontline employee to the Boardroom. Building these relationships served him and the company well when organizing efforts were underway.

On a personal note, Barry and his wife Cathy split their time between Michigan and Florida and enjoy building memories with their children and grandchildren.

Dana Wood, Executive VP, HR Strategy

You could say Dana started her food service career early on when her first job was working on an egg farm inspecting eggs.  Knowing that inspecting eggs was only the beginning of her development, Dana attended a local technical college where she took basic clerical skills and other office type management functions.  This led to a position at Gordon Food Service in the Secretarial Department which today is known as Office Services.  Dana spent 14 years leading the Office Services Department and also growing her skill set by attending Davenport University.  In 2005, Dana assumed the role of Director of Human Resources and was part of a senior leadership team that oversaw 800 employees and 1.2 billion dollars in sales. To expand her career goals, Dana accepted a Regional HR Director role in 2013 where she was responsible for supporting all business units and was the HR lead in many projects such as three new warehouse startups, developing and facilitating the Building Direct Relationships strategy, supporting the Due Diligence Team for the Texas Division Acquisition, and guided the company through union activity and campaigns.

With over 29 years of leadership and Human Resource experience, Dana retired from Gordon Food Service in October of 2020 and is now a self published author.  On a personal note, Dana and her husband, Richard, reside in Michigan.  She is a passionate football fan, even though her poor Detroit Lions usually end up with a losing record, and also has a unique cat named Star who loves to travel and has accompanied her on many of her business trips.  Dana did finish up her education at Davenport University and graduated with honors with a BA in Business Administration.  Dana also holds a PHR (Professional Human Resource) certificate from the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI)  along with a Certified Professional (CP) certification from the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM).

Dave Vickery, Executive VP, Benefit Solutions

Several years into Dave’s second retirement he is busier than ever. Virtually all of Dave Vickery’s professional career was with Gordon Food Service starting as a 22 years old territorial sales rep in Niles Michigan.

After gaining a reputation for asking “Why are we doing that way?”, he was “invited” by Paul and John Gordon Sr. to move to Grand Rapids to solve many of the issues he had been pointing out. Starting as Communications Manager, Dave’s role evolved into Senior Leader, Human Resources and Culture. In this role he sat on the Senior Leadership team, lead various departments including HR, Benefits, Risk Management, Communications, and led GFS’s Strategic Planning process. Dave also sat on the GFS Profit Sharing Committee for 15 years, helping thousands of GFS employees achieve robust retirement plans.

After 23 years, he “retired” to go into business with his brother. After 5 years of successful “house flipping” in Portage, Michigan, he was asked to rejoin GFS, this time as Senior Leader, HR, GFS Canada.

In his role for GFS Canada, he led the efforts to ensure that the GFS Culture was in place across the many acquired divisions. Over the next 10 years, Dave helped create an HR platform that facilitated rapid growth and profitability. After fully revising the HR, Benefits, Retirement systems, Dave retired ..again.. in 2018.

Dave’s retirement activities include leading the Michigan Chapter of NCAN, dedicated to supporting individuals with a rare form of cancer, Neuroendocrine Tumors. In this role, he sits on the NCAN National Board and routinely counsels newly diagnosed patients.
He has assisted his daughter in establishing and bringing to profitability White Oak Farm, LLC, a 40 horse boarding and training facility in Lowell Mi.
Dave also maintains a “select client” consulting practice with an emphasis on HR Strategy and Benefits.
Creative, experienced, and not willing to accept the status quo, Dave is an able HR Consultant.