Automotive News Canada - December 2019 - v2 - 19

* D E C E M B E R 2019

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS CANADA
TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

SARA LeBLANC
DIRECTOR, GM CANADA
RESEARCH CENTRES

fter 29 years in demanding roles in the
General Motors engineering corps, Sara
A
LeBlanc faces her biggest challenge yet: To lead

ENABLING THE DISABLED

RICK HANSEN
FOUNDER OF RICK HANSEN
FOUNDATION

t age 15, Rick Hansen was thrown from the
bed of a pickup truck, leaving him paraA
lyzed from the waist down.

Today, the boy who would grow up to
become the globally known Man in Motion
believes cars and the people who sell them can
dramatically improve the lives of people with
disabilities.
As Hansen told a Trillium Automobile
Dealers Association (TADA) conference in the
May issue of Automotive News Canada, autonomous vehicles, ride-hailing apps and other
technologies promise mobility for those who
today cannot move around freely.
The paralympian, 62, suggested how dealerships can show leadership by removing
obstacles that hinder those with disabilities.
Beyond the obvious human-rights benefits,
improving access can bring in customers and
attract applications from people with disabilities; a "huge opportunity" in a tight labour
market, Hansen said.
TADA conference attendees were receptive to the challenge, pledging to discuss
with automakers the improvements that can
change dealerships, and lives, for the better.

REAL-WORLD EDUCATION

JASON DALE

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AUTOMOTIVE
BUSINESS SCHOOL OF CANADA
he Automotive Business School at Georgian
College in Barrie, Ont., has grown in both
Treputation
and reach under the tutelage of
Jason Dale.
The former dealership general manager
became executive director
in 2018, and the school's
job-placement rate has
risen from an already
remarkable 90 per centplus to a full 100 per cent
for graduates of its fouryear degree program and
95 per cent for two-year
diploma recipients.
Meantime, grad courses in dealership management are offered from Vancouver to Halifax,
with instruction in French in Quebec. Then
there's the annual student-organized outdoor
car show that this year showcased 26 brands
and drew 12,000 visitors.
For Dale, 47, one of the best parts is seeing
student ideas for evolving technology and a
shifting retail world.
"The car business is ever-changing," he
said, "and these students are the future of our
business."

GM Canada's transformation from automaker to
tech company.
"It's an exciting time to be working in the
automobile industry," said the director of GM's
Ontario r&d centres.
While GM is slated to end vehicle assembly
at its Oshawa plant at the end of the year - a
move that will displace about 2,300 of 2,600 hourly
workers - the company is recruiting high-tech
talent.
So far, it has hired about 700 of a planned
1,000 specialists, primarily for its new Markham
Technical Centre that develops infotainment and
autonomous-driving systems.
LeBlanc, 48, also oversees the Cold Weather
Proving Ground in Kapuskasing, Ont., and a
technical centre in Oshawa with a new autonomous-vehicle test track.

These facilities, said LeBlanc, are designed
to create an advanced automotive engineering
ecosystem that will help ensure the future of
Canada's auto industry.

CODING THE FUTURE

JOHN CHEN
CEO, BLACKBERRY LTD.

hen he took over as BlackBerry CEO in 2013,
the Waterloo, Ont.-based company was best
W
known for ceding to competitors the smartphone

market it once dominated.
Today, under John Chen's leadership and with
the help of the QNX software division acquired in
2010, BlackBerry is making a name as a top provider of automotive-security software, a segment
with near boundless upside. It has partnerships
with Jaguar and Hyundai and Tier 1 suppliers
including Denso and Bosch, and its QNX coding
runs dashboard systems in 150 million cars worldwide.
BlackBerry declared a $42-million net loss in its
last quarter and still has many market doubters.
But Chen, 64, is focused on a future of autonomous
cars and other connected devices, all with a need
for industrial-grade secure software. As he told
BNN Bloomberg in 2018, "We are just right at the
beginning of this potential market."

MENTORING

AGNES Di LEONARDI
GENERAL COUNSEL, SYM-TECH DEALER SERVICES

ome people turn 60 and contemplate slowing down. Agnes
Di Leonardi began thinking about how older employees are
S
often undervalued.

"That might be my new cause: ageism," Di Leonardi said.
Those who know the lawyer and tireless volunteer will hardly be surprised. Even as she made her mark in the legal departments of Canadian automakers and now Sym-Tech Dealer
Services of Thornhill, Ont., where she is general counsel, Di
Leonardi has spent a lifetime advocating for the under-recognized.
In May, as she turned 60, Di Leonardi received an honorary
doctorate from the University of Windsor. Like her Order of
Canada award in 2018, the degree recognized her leadership in
the auto sector and her work mentoring women business leaders through the global International Women's Forum.
As president of Emerging Leaders' Dialogues Canada, which
brings together early- to mid-career leaders from all sectors, her
mentoring continues.

Automotive News Canada - December 2019 - v2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - December 2019 - v2