President of the Board
André-Philippe CHENAIL
Senior Project Director, Foreign Direct Investment
Investissement Québec International
Board of Directors
Mélanie has worked for over 18 years in the aerospace industry around the world (France, Canada and Japan). From 2016 to 2020, she worked at Mitsubishi Aircraft in Nagoya, Japan. Upon her return to Montreal in 2020, she joins the ROBIC team for a new facet of her career, in the field of protection and commercialization of intellectual property rights and other intangible assets in Canada.
In this role, she meets with local entrepreneurs and industrialists to assist them in protecting their intellectual property, but also with correspondents from around the world (including Japan) to help them transpose their intellectual property in Canada.
In addition to a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering (France, 2002), Mélanie also holds an MBA (Master of Business Administration) from HEC Montreal in 2016. She is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) since December 2020.
Secretary of the Council
Joanie LEROUX-CÔTÉ
Expert Advisor – Export and Internationalization – Japan/South-Korea, Investissement Québec International
For the past fifteen years, Joanie has established her management expertise for creative industries. She’s a passionate and reliable manager known for her skills in business strategy, marketing, public relation, operation and finance in both local and international markets. She evolved for 10 years with the company Les 7 Doigts, a production and exportation enterprise of cultural, entertainment and multimedia show, where she worked as Vice-President Strategy & Business Development.
In December 2020, she joined Investissement Québec International (IQI) as an Specialized advisor for the creative industry. In this role, she covered the Asia-Pacific and Oceania territory. In November 2021, she took a new role covering as an Expert advisor for Japan and South Korean markets.
She holds a Master degree of Management (MM) of Cultural Enterprises from HEC Montréal and she is also a National Circus School of Montreal graduate.
Member of the Board
Toshiharu TARUI
Deputy Consul-General
Consulate General of Japan in Montreal
April 1990: Entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)
June 1993: Third Secretary, Embassy of Japan, Antananarivo, Madagascar
July 1996: Second Secretary, Embassy of Japan, Paris, France
July 1998: Officer, First Africa Division, MOFA
July 2000: Officer, Fishery Division, MOFA
April 2003: Second Secretary, Japanese Delegation to the UN, NY, U.S.A
July 2005: Second Secretary, Embassy of Japan, Antananarivo, Madagascar
December 2007: First Secretary, Embassy of Japan, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
June 2011: Deputy Director, Western Europe Division, MOFA
September 2013: Deputy Director, Country Assistance Planning Division III, MOFA
October 2016: Principal Deputy Director, Non- Government Organizations, Cooperation Division, MOFA
September 2018: Principal Deputy Director, Cultural Affairs and Overseas, Public Relations Division, MOFA
March 2020: Deputy Consul General, Consulate General of Japan in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Member of the Board
Charles-Anica ENDO
President and CEO
AGY-ENDO Corporation
Dr. Charles-Anica Endo is CEO of AGY-Endo Corporation and EAM Advanced Materials. He has been working for more than 10 years in the fields of animal feed chemicals and advanced materials. Dr. Endo is best known for his background in nanotechnology. He has been a member of Prima Québec’s Board of Directors for Advanced Materials since 2016.
In his career, Dr. Endo has held various scientific and management positions, including with the Government of Quebec. At the university and graduate level, he has been involved in research and teaching. He has more than 40 publications and scientific conferences to his credit. He also led the Quebec initiative on the impacts of nanotechnologies (Ne3LS Network) for 5 years.
Dr. Endo has been involved in trade and business development for over 10 years in Canada, Asia and Europe where he distributes the products of major corporations including Sumitomo, GE and GSI Creos Corporation. He has also organized more than 18 economic missions to Asia (Japan, South Korea) in nanotechnology and environment. He has also organized more than 10 international conferences and is the initiator of 6 collaborative agreements between Canada and Japan. Dr. Endo was also awarded the 2009 International Collaboration Award by the Association for Nanotechnology Research (NTRA), the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST), South Korea.
Member of the Board
Go TAKAYANAGI
President
SHIMADZU SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT CANADA INC.
President
Montreal Japanese Association of Commerce and Industry
Mr Takayanagi is the president of SHIMADZU SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT CANADA INC (SSDC). SSDC is creating innovative and high performance software for medical X-ray systems. Mr Takayanagi was also appointed as the president of Montreal Japanese Association of Commerce and Industry in April 2021.
He obtained a Master’s degree of Engineering from Osaka University. He has been working for SHIMADZU in Japan for nearly 20 years before joining SSDC. He started his career as a software engineer where he developed medical X-ray products. He participated in the development team for the medical device software to provide improved features and usability of Radiography systems. Since 2014, he has been assigned as a project leader and was promoted to be a manager in 2018.
Member of the Board
Martin MICHAUD
President
iK3M Inc.
Originally from the Saguenay region, Mr. Michaud is an engineer by training from the École Polytechnique de Montréal in electrical engineering with a specialization in automation-robotics as well as a minor in Management in East Asian Studies. Mr. Michaud lived in Japan for 15 years, where he worked mainly in automation and embedded software development for the automotive industry. After obtaining his MBA in Knowledge Management, he moved into the field of Product LifeCycle Management: managing intelligent 3D digital models for clients such as Honda, Subaru, Mazda, Mitsubishi Motors and Hyundai Kia Motors.
He returned to Quebec in 2012 to pursue his career in consulting, particularly in business transformation in the construction sector, in the fields of BIM – Building Information Modeling, and BLM – Building LifeCycle Management. Japan has always been a great source of motivation and curiosity, among others by its cultural refinement, its business practices based on trust and the constant concern to give the best of ourselves.