Honored to Serve as Vice Chairman of the Montreal Economic Institute

The call came at the right moment

I had been following the Montreal Economic Institute for years before I became involved with it.

The MEI is one of Canada's most credible free-market think tanks. Its researchers produce work that influences policy, shapes public debate, and defends the kind of economic principles that I believe in: individual initiative, competitive markets, limited government interference in business decisions.

When I was invited to join the board as Vice Chairman, I understood immediately what was being asked of me.

This is a governance role, not a ceremonial one

I want to be direct about that.

The MEI's board does substantive work. It oversees the institute's direction, its research priorities, and its public positions. It holds the organization accountable to its mission.

Being Vice Chairman means bringing the perspective of someone who has built and operated real businesses, in real markets, under real constraints. Not theoretical support for free markets. Practical, lived experience of what markets actually require from businesses and from policy.

That is the contribution I intend to make.

Why this matters to me personally

My father ran a construction business in Venezuela under inflation rates that would destroy most Western companies. He did not complain about the environment. He built processes that worked within it.

I grew up watching someone navigate a hostile economic environment with discipline and ingenuity. That experience shaped how I think about markets, about freedom, and about what governments owe to the people who build things.

The MEI defends those principles rigorously and publicly. Serving on its board is one of the clearest ways I can contribute to a cause I believe in.

What I hope to bring

I bring the perspective of a founder who built a company from nothing to sustained growth, who has navigated currency crises, government programs, R&D investment, and team building across twenty-plus years.

Free markets are not an abstraction to me. They are the context in which everything I have built became possible. 

I intend to defend that context as long as I serve.