MIT Sloan Executive Education
Certificate Holder Profile
Chad C. Fleck
Counselor and Senior Trade Commissioner (Food, Health & Lifestyle)
Embassy of Canada to Japan
Japan
Executive Certificate(s):
Chad currently leads the Canadian Embassy team responsible for international business development in the Food, Health & Lifestyle industries, where his team provides direct support to Canadian business clients who together represent more than four billion dollars of annual business volume in the Japanese market. He previously served as Chief of Staff within the 2010 Muskoka G8 and Toronto G20 Summits Management Office, where he gained a first hand view of the world's evolving system of global governance.
During his more than 19 years of service in the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, Chad has gained a broad range of international business experience in areas such as innovation, intellectual capital, technology development, marketing, branding, communications, government relations, market development, import/export, economics, public policy, general management, crisis management, and scenario planning.
He also previously served as deputy director in leading the team responsible for managing Canada's commercial relations with Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. In addition, Chad has served as the deputy director for science and technology, where he headed the team responsible for international technology development strategies in emerging fields such as nanotechnology, photonics, advanced materials, advanced manufacturing, information technology, life sciences, biotechnology, and clean and renewable energy. Chad has also served as a diplomat and international trade development professional in Chile and Panama, where he was responsible for information and communications technologies, forestry, aerospace and defence industries. He has worked directly in developing and negotiating various projects with business interests in the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, France, the Netherlands, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and Cuba.
In addition to an Executive Certificate in Strategy and Innovation from the MIT Sloan School of Management, Chad holds an MBA from the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA program, jointly issued by the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA and the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He also has a bachelor of commerce degree from the Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. These learning opportunities, in combination with his international experience working in a wide array of professional contexts, have given Chad a broad experience in working directly with international business in several industries in markets around the world.
''MIT Sloan has a longstanding track record of connecting technology to markets. Today, virtually every government is pursuing policies that are meant to lead to a sustainable competitive advantage on a national scale, making innovation a public policy priority in the context of that pursuit. The opportunity to be exposed to MIT Sloan's proven management principles associated with successful technology development and commercialization continues to be invaluable. While it remains a truism that nothing replaces good, hard work, it is equally true that without effective management frameworks such as those discussed at MIT Sloan, the likelihood of successful commercialization in the high risk environment of 21st Century technology development is dramatically reduced. In my case, I have found this to be especially important in working with my clients as they develop the international component of their technology development and commercialization strategy.''
