Gwenaële Montagner is a well-known figure in the Canadian international trade ecosystem. She is currently the Senior Director Trade & Growth Programs at the World Trade Centre Toronto and is directly responsible for mentoring hundreds of Canadian companies to expand their presence globally.
Under her leadership, the WTC Toronto developed and deployed the award-winning Trade Accelerator Program, creating thousands of new quality jobs and generating billions of US$ for the Canadian economy. New scale-up and deep dive programs promising to be as successful as TAP are in the process of being launched in the Toronto region.
Gwenaële is also the Chair of the Canada-Africa Business Council and is involved with numerous international trade initiatives. Prior to her arrival in Canada, Gwenaële was a Trade Commissioner and Sector Lead for the Extractive Sector in sub-Saharan Africa with the Global Affairs Canada in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Gwenaële holds an MBA from the University of Oxford Brookes, UK, and spent her bachelor years at the École Supérieure des Sciences Économiques et Commerciales (ESSEC) in Paris, France. She immigrated to Canada 10 years ago after 23 years in South Africa, fostering international trade between Africa, North America, and Latin America.