Flavio Volpe

Flavio Volpe is an internationally recognized champion of Canada's automotive industry & a Member of the Order of Canada. Since 2014, he has proudly led the APMA, one of the world’s most influential automotive industry bodies. Working closely with officials in Ottawa, Washington & Mexico City during the 2017-19 NAFTA renegotiations, he led the effort to secure an unprecedented increase in Regional Content for suppliers in the new USMCA. 

When the global COVID19 pandemic created a dangerous medical equipment shortage in Canada in 2020, he launched one of the biggest peacetime mobilizations of the country’s industrial capacity in its history. Dubbed a ‘Manufacturing Hero’ by the Toronto Star, his leadership resulted in the largest build-orders of critical ventilators, PPE & test swabs in Canada’s history. In 2022, when anti-government actors illegally blockaded Canada’s most critical international border crossing in Windsor - costing industry $1B - he broke the impasse with an injunction in Ontario Superior Court that forced the reopening of the Ambassador Bridge. In 2022, he was named to the Ontario Premier’s Council on US Trade & Competitiveness. 

Styled a ‘Man of Action’ by Automotive News, his response to the Prime Minister’s challenge for a net-zero 2050 was to launch an all-Canadian, zero-emissions, autonomous concept prototype, Project Arrow. Described by the Globe & Mail as ‘an audacious play to build an all-Canadian electric car’, it was revealed at the 2023 CES in Las Vegas to global coverage & serves as the premier showcase of Canada’s auto technology cluster. 

Flavio is a sought-after voice by leading global publications including The Economist, NYT, Bloomberg, WSJ, CNN, BBC, & Washington Post. He speaks frequently at House of Commons Standing Committees in Finance, Industry & Trade. He holds a BA in International Relations from the University of Toronto & an MBA from York University's Schulich School of Business.