diff --git a/octodns/manager.py b/octodns/manager.py
index 86b7f24..2d96c96 100644
--- a/octodns/manager.py
+++ b/octodns/manager.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function, \
     unicode_literals
 
 from StringIO import StringIO
+from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
 from importlib import import_module
 from os import environ
 import logging
@@ -46,6 +47,10 @@ class Manager(object):
         with open(config_file, 'r') as fh:
             self.config = safe_load(fh, enforce_order=False)
 
+        manager_config = self.config.get('manager', {})
+        max_workers = manager_config.get('max_workers', 4)
+        self._executor = ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=max_workers)
+
         self.log.debug('__init__:   configuring providers')
         self.providers = {}
         for provider_name, provider_config in self.config['providers'].items():
@@ -135,6 +140,24 @@ class Manager(object):
         self.log.debug('configured_sub_zones: subs=%s', sub_zone_names)
         return set(sub_zone_names)
 
+    def _populate_and_plan(self, zone_name, sources, targets):
+
+        self.log.debug('sync:   populating, zone=%s', zone_name)
+        zone = Zone(zone_name,
+                    sub_zones=self.configured_sub_zones(zone_name))
+        for source in sources:
+            source.populate(zone)
+
+        self.log.debug('sync:   planning, zone=%s', zone_name)
+        plans = []
+
+        for target in targets:
+            plan = target.plan(zone)
+            if plan:
+                plans.append((target, plan))
+
+        return plans
+
     def sync(self, eligible_zones=[], eligible_targets=[], dry_run=True,
              force=False):
         self.log.info('sync: eligible_zones=%s, eligible_targets=%s, '
@@ -145,7 +168,7 @@ class Manager(object):
         if eligible_zones:
             zones = filter(lambda d: d[0] in eligible_zones, zones)
 
-        plans = []
+        futures = []
         for zone_name, config in zones:
             self.log.info('sync:   zone=%s', zone_name)
             try:
@@ -181,17 +204,12 @@ class Manager(object):
                 raise Exception('Zone {}, unknown target: {}'.format(zone_name,
                                                                      target))
 
-            self.log.debug('sync:   populating')
-            zone = Zone(zone_name,
-                        sub_zones=self.configured_sub_zones(zone_name))
-            for source in sources:
-                source.populate(zone)
+            futures.append(self._executor.submit(self._populate_and_plan,
+                                                 zone_name, sources, targets))
 
-            self.log.debug('sync:   planning')
-            for target in targets:
-                plan = target.plan(zone)
-                if plan:
-                    plans.append((target, plan))
+        # Wait on all results and unpack/flatten them in to a list of target &
+        # plan pairs.
+        plans = [p for f in futures for p in f.result()]
 
         hr = '*************************************************************' \
             '*******************\n'
diff --git a/tests/config/simple.yaml b/tests/config/simple.yaml
index 604b772..cf970a9 100644
--- a/tests/config/simple.yaml
+++ b/tests/config/simple.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+manager:
+  max_workers: 2
 providers:
   in:
     class: octodns.provider.yaml.YamlProvider
diff --git a/tests/test_octodns_manager.py b/tests/test_octodns_manager.py
index 7ee4fbd..a6c4bce 100644
--- a/tests/test_octodns_manager.py
+++ b/tests/test_octodns_manager.py
@@ -128,6 +128,9 @@ class TestManager(TestCase):
             environ['YAML_TMP_DIR'] = tmpdir.dirname
             manager = Manager(get_config_filename('simple.yaml'))
 
+            # make sure this was pulled in from the config
+            self.assertEquals(2, manager._executor._max_workers)
+
             changes = manager.compare(['in'], ['in'], 'unit.tests.')
             self.assertEquals([], changes)