Vantage Leadership Team
Jay Dietz
President and Chief Executive Officer | BS – University of Iowa
Started at Vantage in 2022.
Prior to joining Vantage, Jay worked at KONE for 32 years serving as Senior Vice President. He was responsible for all sales and field operations within the new equipment, modernization, and service businesses across the US, Canada, and Mexico and for the development and implementation of business plans to ensure growth and profitability. Jay also spent time at Montgomery Elevator early in his career.
Aaron Gibbs
Chief Technology Officer | BS – Clemson University | MBA – Colorado Technical University
Started at Vantage in 2024.
Prior to joining Vantage, he worked at TK Elevator as Head of R&D, North America, ABB as Global Product Group Director, Medium Voltage Switchgear & Controls, and Schneider Electric as a Global Product Manager and Motor Control Center Applications Engineer. He proudly served in the United States Air Force as a Network Warfare Engineer.
He is also a member of the ASME A17 Standards Committee.
John Granato
Chief Financial Officer | BEc – University of California Berkeley | MEc – London School of Economics | MBA – University of Chicago
Started at Vantage in 2024.
John has served as CFO, while leading IT at FXI, CFO at Tradesmen International, and The Andersons, Inc., where he also led IT. He’s served as Principal of Finance and Operations, Global Infrastructure Partners, Vice President Finance Rockwell Automation and Assistant Treasurer at Honeywell International.
He previously served on the Board of Directors for The United Way in Toledo, Ohio.
Ann Herten
Chief Human Resources Officer | BA – University of Waterloo
Started at Vantage in 2022.
Prior to joining Vantage, she worked as Vice President, Human Resources at the Gordie Howe International Bridge Project (Windsor-Detroit), Multimatic, Johnson Electric and as Global Director, Human Resources with Bombardier Aerospace and Woodbridge Foam.
She has previously served on the Board of Directors for The Canadian Chamber of Commerce (Shanghai), The Yves Landry Foundation and Auto21 – National Centers of Excellence.
Michael Kohout
Chief Operating Officer | BS – University of Kansas
Started at Vantage in 2019.
Mike worked as COO with Peterson Spring and VP of Manufacturing with Stelumar, a division of Mattamy Homes. Throughout his career at Woodbridge Foam, he held roles as General Manager, Technical Manager (Europe) and Director of Manufacturing.
He has previously served on the Board of Directors for Euromoulders and the Heavy Duty Manufacturer’s Association.
Justin Tomasino
Chief Commercial Officer | BSBA – Boston University
Started at Vantage in 2024.
Previously served as District Vice President for the New York region at KONE and President of Unitec Elevator Company. He began his career at Otis Elevator Company serving as a General Manager and in roles related to Service Sales, New Equipment Sales, and New Equipment Operations Management.
Marlande Wesselhoft
Chief Information Officer | BS – Hofstra University | MS – Baruch College
Started at Vantage in 2018.
Marlande worked at The Topps Company as Director of Global Infrastructure, Ipsos as Global Systems Manager, and Rivkin Radler LLP as Network Administrator and Database Administrator.
Tiffany Judd
Vice President, Product Management | BA – University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Started at Vantage in 2024.
Prior to joining Vantage, she worked at TKE as Vice President of Product & Program Management, North America and at ABB as Director of Product Management, Electrification Products Division North America.
Jonathan Kurowski
Vice President, Strategy & Corporate Development | BS – University of Rhode Island
Started at Vantage in 2022.
Previously served at Schindler Elevator as Senior Director of Mergers and Acquisitions, Barclays Investment Bank as Director of Industrials M&A and Coverage, Accenture as a Financial Services Strategy Consultant, and Raytheon as an Electrical Design Engineer in Ship and Torpedo Electronics.
Kelly Leitch
Started at Vantage in 2025.
Kelly began his career in the elevator industry in 1992. In 2010, he served as President & CEO, KONE Canada, where he oversaw service, modernization and the new equipment business in the Canadian market.
Sana Q. Tahir
Vice President, Transformation | BS – University of Toronto | MBA – University of Pittsburgh
Started at Vantage in 2018.
Prior to joining Vantage, she worked at PepsiCo, Smurfit Westrock, Avon Products, and Nestle Waters (BlueTriton) in the roles of Director of Finance and Business Transformation, Director of Finance Transformation, and Senior Manager of Finance.
James Varon
Vice President, Technical Services
Started at GAL (Vantage) in 1980.
He began his career at GAL in 1980 as a Mechanical Draftsman, designing new and improved elevator door equipment systems. He became Door Equipment Engineering Manager in 1985, then Engineering Manager in 2000, before progressing on to the position of Vice President of Engineering in 2014.
He previously served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Elevator Contractors and is a member of the ASME A17 Standards Committee.
