A front seat to Asia – and the 2010 Winter Olympic Games!

Creaform’s decision regarding my move to Vancouver, B.C. as Vice-President of Worldwide Sales, comes hand in hand with the strategic vision of the company about its expansion to Asia-Pacific; identified as a key market for Creaform. Asia-Pacific includes 3 of the top 5 largest and fastest growing economies in the world; Japan, China and India. Other economies in the region, such as South East Asian (ASEAN) nations and Australia are also growing at gigantic pace.

By being based in Vancouver, British Columbia, I am not only geographically closer to the region, but I also have access to a more diverse and efficient network of air transportation, which in turn adds mobility and offers better air fares due to a broader competition among air carriers.

Working hours are also a plus, since in late afternoon I can already start interacting live with our offices in China (-15 hours), Japan (-16 hours) and soon India (-12:30 hours). In practice, I can address issues and give answers to our teams in APAC almost a whole day ahead of our corporate office in Levis, QC.

My actual moving here was charged of emotions and challenges, as we drove across the nation (the second largest country in the world), from the East coast of Canada, all the way to the West coast; a total of 5,000 Km covered in 6 days of driving. I drove with the help of my wife Lucie, an average of 12 hours per day. At times is was really extenuating, especially that last stretch from Calgary, AB to Vancouver. The stretch between Alberta and Vancouver was also the most beautiful from the landscape point of view, but I have to mentioned that we were also impressed by the beauty of North West Ontario, between Sudbury and Sault Ste-Marie.

Once settled in Vancouver, I am ready to hit the road, and as a matter of fact I have done it twice already. It feels very nice to come back from a 2 or 3 week business trip, disembark from the plane and be home with no more connections. I am now looking forward to increasing my support to EMEA as well, as I also have the benefit of several direct flights from Vancouver to the most important cities in Europe. I still don’t have chance to unpack, but c’est la vie!