Biographical note

Robert Kwon, Canadian Commercial Corporation President and CEO

Robert Kwon was the chief financial officer of global corporation Medipharm Labs. He was also a member of the Canadian Commercial Corporation’s Board of Directors. Prior to this role, Mr. Kwon was senior vice president at George Weston Ltd. overseeing the Executive Chairman’s Office. Previously he worked at Unilever in Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom in a number of senior finance and corporate positions, including CFO for the Canadian business and chief of staff to Group CEO in London.

Mr. Kwon currently serves on the Board of CPA Ontario and CFO Advisory Board of the Rotman School of Management and, in the past, on the Boards of Unilever Canada Inc. and GS1 (Retail Sector). He is an alumnus of the Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference, a volunteer at the Regent Park Community Centre, and supports several Korean-Canadian community organizations.

Richard Payette, Export Development Canada board of directors

Richard Payette was the president and CEO Manulife Quebec from September 2016 to January 2020.  A graduate from HEC Montréal, Mr. Payette was previously president and CEO for the Americas Region of Binder Dijker Otte (BDO) International, which includes Canada, the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. He was also president and CEO of the large accounting and advisory firm Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton and a member of the board of directors of this international network. Building on this expertise, he was chairman of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.