Our Team
Craig Manness
Business Coach, Facilitator, & Trainer | Impact Group
Craig owns and operates Impact Group, an Alberta based business-coaching firm that specializes in helping improve businesses and organizations through planning, human resources, leadership development, and marketing.
Craig was raised on a Red River Valley grain and livestock farm in Manitoba. He graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture in 1978 (BSc Ag Economics) and along with wife Cheryl, returned to the family farm. In 1988, after facing the third drought in 10 years of farming, Craig and Cheryl left the farm and moved to Red Deer, Alberta where Craig accepted a job with Elanco, selling crop protection products.
In 1990, Craig accepted a position of Marketing Manager, Eastern Crop Products with the newly merged DowElanco and relocated his family to Newmarket, Ontario. In that position, he had to quickly learn the Eastern ag industry to do the job of managing the sale and usage of products into the corn, beans, vegetable, and potato markets.
In 1993, Craig joined Adfarm, a marketing and communications agency in Calgary, Alberta. Between 1993 and 2002, Craig learned the discipline of marketing to a far greater degree and developed skills in public relations, strategic planning, communication planning, training and skill development, and market research. Through AdFarm he worked as PR director and then Account Director with DowAgroSciences, Bayer, Agricore, Caterpillar, UAP, Bank of Montreal, Canadian Food Grains Bank, and Flexi-Coil. Craig became Chairman of the Board of AdFarm in 2000 and held that position until he sold his shares in the company in 2002.
In 2002, Craig started Impact Group, with the focus of giving his clients the tools they need to become more effective, all based on in-depth knowledge and needs assessment of their customers, clients, staff, and stakeholders.
Mike Klassen
Business Coach & Trainer | Impact Group / Vantage Theory
As a coach and business advisor, Mike Klassen has been helping businesses diagnose challenges, overcome barriers, and equip teams for over 14 years. Mike has a special focus in helping teams discover and implement tools to work and communicate more effectively with each other.
In addition to being a qualified Everything DiSC® and Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team® instructor, Mike has worked with Impact Group to develop strategic planning, leadership development, and sales training programs tailored specifically to address the unique challenges business professionals face in Western Canadian agriculture.
Mike grew up in Vancouver, BC and now lives in Calgary, AB with his wife Kate, and daughter Emma.
Impact Group is a Canadian business focused on coaching and training for small to medium-sized businesses with long-term experience working in agriculture and with agriculture-based businesses.
Our unique processes and service offerings provide a deep dive into businesses to fully understand the issues and find ideal solutions. All of our programs are customizable and can be personalized to fit your needs, from one-on-one coaching to team training to customer satisfaction discovery.
Rick Anderson
Senior Business Strategist | Impact Group
Rick is the CEO of Anderson, McDonnell & Associates Ltd., senior business strategists, advisors and trusted partners, deeply rooted in Agriculture and MRO, supporting clients and markets across Canada and the U.S. He has been a part of three very successful global industry leaders in his career, CaseIH, Finning and Grainger, serving in senior leadership roles with a focus on operations, strategic planning, and continuous improvement. Rick is passionate about helping organizations understand what their customers think and how they feel about doing business with them and translating the philosophical into the practical, the vision into reality, and words into actions that deliver results.
Rick is a family guy and avid sports fan.
Ed Rodenburg
Senior Business Strategist | Impact Group
Ed was born and raised on a dairy farm and has spent his career in food and agriculture production businesses working for, with, and in support of farmers in Canada.
Ed attended the University of Guelph, where he received a Bachelor of Science in agriculture, and later moved on to Wilfred Laurier University, where he achieved his MBA.
He started his career with Agricore as the general manager of agri business and later the general manager of grain division. He then moved on to GROWMARK, where he took the position of president, and later Lilydale Inc. as president and CEO. After retiring his CEO hat, he took a role as vice chairman and chief strategy officer at Sofina Foods and is now offering his advisory and coaching services as Rodenburg & Associates, where he works with Impact Group and other Canadian agriculture businesses with business advice and support.