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Magali Amiel joined Decathlon Canada in November 2019 as its transportation leader. An experienced manager in the logistics and transportation sector, Amiel holds a doctorate in transportation geography and logistics and brings more than 10 years of experience in the industry. She started her professional experiences with IBI Group as a project manager and worked on transportation projects across North America. Then she joined CargoM (the logistics and transportation cluster of Greater Montreal) as director of strategy and projects, where she worked on projects for transportation fluidity, innovation, economic development, and workforce. Passionate about the issues related to logistics chain performance and to economic and strategic development in transport, she has developed expertise that is recognized by industry professionals. Amiel is especially keen on multimodal freight transport, the supply and logistics chain, structuring networks, and intelligent transportation systems. She is vice president of development and networking for the Quebec Chapter of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport North America.

Lori Benson is the inclusive and sustainable procurement lead for EY Canada. Benson successfully earned Supply Chain Management Professional (SCMP) designation in 1994. She actively supports development programs and networking opportunities that promote the sharing of best practices for supply chain professionals. Benson focuses on innovative and compelling supply chain and supplier diversity strategies to win in the market.

Fabrizio (Fab) Brasca is group vice president of global solutions and presales at JDA Software. In this role, he leads his organization to drive thought leadership, go-to-market strategy, and solution execution excellence for JDA’s customer base of over 4,000. Additionally, his organization works closely with customers to understand requirements and drive best practices and adoption of JDA solutions across the globe. Previously, Brasca was vice president of solution strategy of supply chain execution, responsible for developing innovative strategies across all industry verticals, strengthening executive-level relationships with JDA’s key customers and prospects, and advising companies on best practices to become more profitable. Brasca joined JDA as part of the i2 Technologies acquisition in January 2010 after spending more than 10 years at i2 serving in transportation-focused senior management positions. In these roles, he oversaw i2’s global transportation practice including marketing, presales, roadmap development, and services functions. Brasca holds an Honors Bachelor of Mathematics with a specialization in business and information systems from the University of Waterloo in Canada.

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Vito Cerone is an airline professional with more than 30 years of experience in the aviation industry. As the managing director of sales and commercial strategy for Air Canada Cargo, his responsibilities include the development and management of commercial strategies, business development, global marketing and communication, digital innovation, and brand management. In addition, Cerone is responsible for Air Canada Cargo global sales, which includes all aspects of sales and commercial activities. Since joining Air Canada Cargo in 2000 as general manager of postal affairs, Cerone has held several executive-level positions. His leadership and problem-solving skills, coupled with demonstrated management and commercial development capabilities, have established him as a strategic decision maker and entrepreneurial leader in the industry. Cerone holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in marketing from Concordia University.

Dean Davison is technical director of maritime for WSP in the United Kingdom. He previously gained 10 years of direct experience within the port-operating business at the Port of Tilbury, U.K., with Forth Ports, as well as time spent as a trade writer for Informa PLC. This was followed by more than 18 years as a specialist port and shipping consultant for a diverse range of companies. At WSP, Davison is responsible for the management and provision of a range of commercial, financial, and due diligence projects for private and public clients. He specializes in projects in North America and has previously lived and worked in New York and New Jersey. WSP’s Maritime Advisory team is a dedicated maritime consultancy group, providing commercial, financial, operational, technical and environmental consultancy services in the port and shipping sector. The team has completed over 300 projects in more than 65 countries for 200 different clients.

As chief economist and director general of the transportation and economic analysis group at Transport Canada, Christian Dea is responsible for providing advice to the minister of transport and the senior management of TC on the impact of economic and societal trends in Canada and around the world on the resilience and performance of Canadian supply chains and the transportation system in general. During his career, Dea held various positions in the federal and provincial public sector (i.e., Department of Finance federal and Quebec, Bank of Canada, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada) and the private sector (National Bank of Canada), where he was responsible for economic forecasting, tax policy reforms of the federal-provincial sale tax, reform of the taxation regime of the financial sector, intergovernmental relations and development/implementation of new Transfer Agreement with provinces, and development/implementation of departmental knowledge and data management strategy, and economic services. Dea received his graduate degree in Economics from the University of Montreal.

Curtis Doiron joined DP World Saint John as general manager in 2016 and was responsible for the launch of DP World’s first Eastern Canadian terminal operation. Doiron entered the maritime industry in 2004 and spent 10 years working in commercial roles with Logistec Stevedoring, most recently as general manager of sales based in Montreal. In 2013, he joined JD Irving Ltd. as general manager of its Logistics and Marine Division, where he had full P&L responsibilities for three diverse transportation companies specializing in marine construction and dredging, marine agency and husbandry, as well as a third-party non-asset based logistics company. Doiron holds an MBA from St. Mary’s University and a business degree from the University of New Brunswick. He has completed several executive development programs including Western University’s Ivey Leadership Foundations program. Doiron serves on the board of the Saint John Seafarer’s Mission as well as several other community non-profit organizations. He has extensive experience applying lean management concepts through adopting Six Sigma principles and has been fortunate to lead teams through many successful change management exercises.
Doiron has a passion for marine transportation and logistics and leads with a keen focus on delivering a superior customer experience.

Brian Friesen joined the Prince Rupert Port Authority in 2014 and currently holds the position of vice president of trade development and communications. Since joining the Port of prince Rupert, he has assumed progressive roles in marketing and trade development. In his current role, Friesen leads a team focused on enabling the growth and diversification of cargo at the port. He is responsible for business development, strategic planning, marketing, corporate communications, business analysis, and investment attraction. Prior to joining the port authority, Friesen held various roles in sales, marketing, and business development. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Victoria and a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University.

Michael Grier is senior vice president of operations for Dorel Home, Dorel’s billion-dollar furniture segment, responsible for Asia operations, customer service, IT, business intelligence and consumer insights, warehousing, distribution, and human resources. For nearly 30 years, Grier has held roles in the global supply chain and operations management for leading consumer products companies. He started his career in the early 1990s as a management trainee at Avon Products in Montreal, where he steadily rose through the ranks, touching many aspects of direct selling management, including production planning and inventory control, customer service, sales training and administration, business process redesign, as well as domestic and international transportation. Grier progressed to more senior roles at Avon’s headquarters in NYC, where he led the international logistics team, covering air, ocean, and customs for the US, Canada, and the Caribbean markets and later headed up their North American Supply Chain project management office and was the supply chain lead to its global business transformation initiative. During this time. Grier was recognized as one of the Global Supply Chain Council’s Top 25 Supply Chain Professionals and Supply Chain Executive of the Year by the Freight Management Association. He returned to Montreal in 2011 as Dorel Industries’ director of global logistics. Grier was instrumental in transforming its ocean procurement process of nearly 80,000 TEUs annually and was promoted to vice president in 2015. He is an active industry speaker and sits on the executive committee of the CargoM Logistics Cluster for the Port of Montreal.

Doron Grosman is the president and chief executive officer of GCT Global Container Terminals, with operations in Vancouver and Delta, British Columbia, as well as Bayonne, New Jersey, and Staten Island, New York. Grosman is a seasoned multi-industry executive with experience in a variety of C-suite roles at global Fortune 1000 companies as well as middle market, private equity owned companies. He started his career at Bain & Company, the strategy and management consulting firm, and then spent 11 years in various senior executive capacities at General Electric. Between 2007 and 2010, Grosman became president of Quebecor Magazine Printing Solutions and then of Hexcel Corp, a public company that is a global leader in advanced composites technology; he was responsible for the successful turnaround of both these businesses. From 2010 to 2017, Grosman was an operating partner at New York-based Court Square Capital Partners. He holds a MBA from Harvard Business School and a Master of Science in engineering from Witwatersrand University in South Africa.

Peter Hall is vice president and chief economist for Export Development Canada (EDC), which he joined in 2004. With over 30 years of experience in economic analysis and forecasting, he is responsible for overseeing EDC’s economic analysis, country risk assessment, and corporate research groups. In addition to preparing strategic advice for senior management at EDC, Hall is a featured speaker at conferences, international roundtables, and policy fora and regularly appears in television, radio, and print media commenting on the world economy and Canadian international trade issues. He produces a widely circulated print and video weekly commentary covering an eclectic range of current global economic issues. Prior to joining EDC, Hall directed the economic forecasting activities of the Conference Board of Canada. He has served as president of both the Canadian Association for Business Economics, a 600-member national association of professional economists, and its largest local chapter, the Ottawa Economics Association. He has also been a volunteer board and committee member for two Ottawa area private schools. Hall has degrees in economics from both Carleton University and the University of Toronto.

Peter Hawkins is the co-owner and managing director of MELLOHAWK Logistics, an international certified diverse freight forwarder. MELLOHAWK Logistics is the CGLCC Exporter of the Year and Xpert Logistics Global Service Provider of the Year, and MELLOHAWK Logistics staff have twice been named Canadian Young Freight Forwarder of the Year. Hawkins was the 2018 Mississauga Business Person of the Year. He is a member (and former vice president) of the Executive Committee of the Brazil Canada Chamber of Commerce, chair of the Professional Advisory Committee for the International Business Program for Sheridan College, and a mentor with ACCES Employment. Hawkins is a volunteer mentor and champion of newcomers, new grads, women entrepreneurs, and people re-entering the workforce. He speaks often at Schulich School of Business, Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management, Centennial College, Sheridan College, Lambton College, Mohawk College, and various chambers of commerce and associations.

Sarah Barnes-Humphrey is a logistician turned supply chain marketer, passionate about bringing stories to life in an industry that has traditionally been about stats and numbers. As the host of the popular Let’s Talk Supply Chain Podcast (LTSC) blog and The Trade Squad on YouTube, Barnes-Humphrey helps tell the stories and bring awareness to brands and hot topics in the industry, which includes her infamous Women in Supply Chain series. Recently named one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Supply Chain (global) as well the 100 Influential Women in Canadian Supply Chain, Barnes-Humphrey has spent the past 20 years in logistics and supply chain, learning everything she can. She recently ventured off on her own to grow the LTSC brand, including a new YouTube Channel called “The SC, supply chain tv,” where you can learn from real people talking about real supply chain topics. Barnes-Humphrey is also the co-founder and CEO of Shipz Inc., a new technology platform encompassing all of her experience and knowledge in the supply chain, bringing innovative, collaborative ideas together in one place for the supply chain industry.

Eric Johnson is the JOC’s senior editor of technology, where he leads coverage and analysis of technology’s impact on global logistics and trade. Johnson regularly reports on how shippers, carriers across all modes, and logistics companies use the software, as well as new concepts impacting core freight transportation processes like procurement, execution, visibility, and payment. Johnson is a regular presenter and moderator at industry events and webinars. Prior to joining the JOC in May 2018, Johnson spent 13 years with American Shipper in a variety of roles, most recently covering logistics technology and leading the production of a series of benchmark studies on the logistics industry. He has a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s in international business from the University of Leeds, UK. He has lived and worked in Southern California, the UK, and India, and now resides in the Washington, DC, area.

Rav Kapoor is the chief executive officer and founder at ETG Commodities Inc., one of Canada’s largest specialty crops exporters. Having spent the last 14 years in commodity trading for pulses and specialty crops, ETG Commodities has grown to become an indispensable partner to producers and the Canadian specialty crops industry. As CEO, one of Kapoor’s key priorities is to further strengthen the company as a catalyst of change for Canadian specialty crops by connecting producers and agribusinesses to local, national, and global markets. Kapoor has been working in c-level roles in the sector for over 10 years and has unparalleled experience in commodity export negotiations, change management, and stakeholder relations. Prior to ETG, he held leadership roles at BroadGrain Commodities and Eximcan. He has served on several boards over the years, including the Canadian Special Crops Association from 2012 - 2018 and as a member of Export Trade Group’s Pulses Vertical Executive Committee since 2015. Kapoor holds a postgraduate degree in international business from the University of Guelph-Humber.

Don Krusel, managing director of the Port of Quebec, is a seasoned and well-respected executive within the Canadian port and transportation industries. In 2018, Krusel was appointed the managing director of the Port of Quebec’s Laurentia initiative to promote and develop a new deep-water container terminal on the St. Lawrence Corridor. Prior to that, he served as an advisor to the Port of Quebec as well as a number of other transportation organizations. For 25 years, from 1992 to 2017, he was president and chief executive officer of the Prince Rupert Port Authority and shepherded British Columbia’s northern port through a transformative change that saw it become one of the leading trade corridor gateways for international container traffic and the fastest-growing port in North America. Krusel holds an MBA from the Ivey School of Management at the University of Western Ontario, is a Chartered Professional Accountant and is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors. He is currently a director of the British Columbia Assessment Authority and Ocean Networks Canada and is a past director of the Western Transportation Advisory Council, the British Columbia Trade Development Corporation, Green Marine Management Corporation, the Association of Canadian Port Authorities, and the Association of American Port Authorities. He also a member of the Board of Governors of the Business Council of British Columbia.

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Julia Kuzeljevich is the public affairs manager of the Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association (CIFFA), handling all communications and advocacy-regulatory issues for the association and managing quarterly seafreight, airfreight, and customs committees. Kuzeljevich brings more than 22 years of experience in transportation, beginning in the airline industry, followed by 16 years of working in the trade media covering the supply chain and logistics. She is a graduate of York University and Humber School of Journalism in Toronto.

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Patrick Lo is the president and CEO of Canaan Group. Lo started his career working in the logistics industry in the early 1990s, primarily focusing on supply chain and logistics between Canada and Asia, and spent 10 years working in various roles including sales, operations, and finance. In 2002, he assumed his current role as president and CEO of Canaan Group. Since then, he and his brother, Perry Lo, have grown the company from a small family business to a logistics conglomerate with over 76 offices worldwide under Tandem Global Logistics Network (TGLN). There are several divisions under the Canaan Group umbrella: freight forwarding, warehousing and distribution, custom brokerage, real estate, trucking, and venture capital. In 2018, Lo created a software start-up called Trakking, an online marketplace platform for shipping line and container trucking match-backs. Lo graduated from The University of British Columbia with an Honors Science degree and obtained his MBA at the Richard Ivey School of Business in 2002.

Jean-Baptiste Longin is the general manager of CMA CGM Canada. After multiple managerial experiences within CMA CGM group in the head office, Asia, the Middle East, and now Canada, Longin has developed a deep knowledge of the global shipping challenges of today and tomorrow. In his view, key elements for a competitive and sustainable future include the attraction and retention of talented employees, using the digitalization boost to bring value to the market and help saving costs to the overall supply chain, and a strong environmental consciousness.

Digiruptor CEO Sapna Malhotra understands the complexity of change and is known as an organizational change management guru. Malhotra has over two decades of international management consulting experience in the technology industry. Her career started at Accenture and includes leading the global business change and optimization consulting practice at Amdocs Consulting for over 350 consultants worldwide. Her consulting experience has taken her all over the globe helping clients increase their top line or bottom line. Malhotra is also a globally recognized and Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA). Her book — Connect the Dots, How to Turn Strangers into Meaningful Network Relationships — has become an Amazon Best Seller. She truly believes that education and awareness is instrumental in overcoming any obstacles and perception challenges both globally and locally. Malhotra is known for her constant industry curiosity in new and emerging technologies and being on the forefront of this innovation revolution while helping her coaching clients chart their own way. She has also started CanInnovate podcast (https://caninnovate.io/ ) focusing on professional business skills “top up” to help people win the game of complexity.

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Charles Raymond is president and chief executive officer of Ray-Mont Logistics. Raymond started his career at Ray-Mont in 1995 as a bagging handler. He pursued his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at École Polytechnique. Combining both his self-discipline and willingness to learn, he graduated in 2003 and accepted the position of computer programmer and project manager within the company. This gave him the opportunity to design, build, and innovate within Ray-Mont’s core competitive advantage. Following a perilous financial situation in 2006, Raymond took control of Ray-Mont as president. He redefined the company’s culture and succeeded in a dramatic turnaround in just 12 months, which enabled the company to survive. This major shift earned him an honorable mention as “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2008. Since then, Ray-Mont has grown exponentially, seeing the birth of merchandise brokerage firms in Montreal and Spokane Valley, Washington, as well as new terminals in Vancouver and Prince Rupert, British Columbia.

Audrey Ross, logistics and customs specialist for Orchard Custom Beauty, is a self-described #TradeGeek experienced in global shipping, supply chain operations, customs compliance, free trade agreements, and international tax. In her current role, she is an in-house expert tasked with managing the logistics and cross-border compliance of Orchard Custom Beauty’s global supply chain. Ross has been recognized as a Certified International Trade Professional (CITP® | FIBP®) by the Forum for International Trade Training. She is a board member of the Fashion Group International (Toronto Chapter) and the International Board for the Organization of Women in International Trade, and she has been a Girl Guides of Canada leader for more than 10 years. Ross is a regular panelist on the “The SC” YouTube channel’s new show, “The Trade Squad,” where she discusses the hot topics in the global supply chain.

Wolfgang Schoch, managing director at Hapag-Lloyd Canada, began his career at Hapag-Lloyd Italy in 1997. From 2001-2007, Schoch was head of finance of Region Asia, for Hapag Lloyd in Singapore, and between 2007-2012 he was managing director for Hapag-Lloyd South America East Coast, based in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 2013, Schoch moved to Hamburg as global head of customer service before relocating by the end of 2013 to Montreal and his current position. Schoch received a master’s degree in mathematics from Paris VI.

Shaun Stevenson was appointed president and chief executive officer of the Prince Rupert Port Authority in 2018. He joined PRPA in 1997, assuming progressive roles in helping lead the Port of Prince Rupert in its transformation and growth as a global trade gateway. In his previous position of vice president of trade development and public affairs, Stevenson played a leadership role in setting the strategic direction for the growth of the Prince Rupert gateway and the development of numerous port projects and related infrastructure advancing the growth and expansion of the Port of Prince Rupert to become Canada’s third-largest port, anchoring in excess of $50 billion in trade. Stevenson holds an MBA from Simon Fraser University.

Mark Szakonyi leads JOC.com and The Journal of Commerce. The JOC editorial team of 18 editors and correspondents provides business-critical and data-heavy business intelligence and analysis. Szakonyi oversees the magazine’s 100-plus special reports a year, including the Annual Review and Outlook and Top 100 Importers and Exporters issues. In addition to supporting all JOC events, including TPM, TPM Asia, and the Inland Distribution Conference, he is chairman of the annual Canada Trade Conference. His analysis and work have been quoted in mainstream news media including the BBC, The Economist, NPR, and USA Today.