Panel Discussion: Localizing Supply Chains (Nearshoring)

Suri is a serial entrepreneur with over three decades in IT which includes experience in building successful global businesses for not only his own ventures but also for companies he worked for. He takes pride in having leveraged “Nearshore” as a key differentiator for both his entrepreneurial ventures that he started with US as its headquarters. He completed his degree in computer science from University of Ottawa (Canada) in 1983. He started his first venture, FocusFrame Inc. as a co-founder in 2001 with a successful exit in late 2006 to Hexaware Technologies. FocusFrame leveraged the concept of nearshore Mexico for the first time in 2001 and Suri found it a great complement to onsite and offshore options. While his current venture, Digital OnUs which was acquired by Tech Mahindra in 2021, delivered IP led Agile services around DevOps and other cutting-edge technologies, his vision to create a nearshore center in Canada and Mexico proved to be a great strategic differentiator again. At the time of acquisition, Digital OnUs had about 300+ Cloud Engineers/architects spread across 3 locations in Mexico (Monterrey, Saltillo and Guadalajara) and over 100+ Cloud Engineer/architects in two locations in Canada (Ottawa and Toronto).

Mustapha helps CEOs bring their vision to life very quickly. Mustapha is an expert in scaling organizations and delivering outstanding impact toward their mission. His experience has been in growth, product development, engineering, go-to-market, operations, strategy, and cost management. Mustapha has demonstrated world-class achievements in these areas for Tesla, where his team is responsible for the $16B non-cells raw materials across both the Global Supply Management and Supplier Industrialization Engineering activities, including saving Tesla >$1B in COGS. Mustapha earned his MBA from the University of Oxford, Saïd Business School and his B.S. in Investment Finance and Operations & Supply Chain Management from Brigham Young University - Hawaii. Mustapha loves basketball, coaching and mentoring, and reading biographies.

Mahesh is a seasoned technology executive having previously held leadership roles at Kroger, Walmart, Ticketmaster / Live Nation, eBay, PayPal. He has also held various CXO roles in multiple startups in the Silicon Valley. His focus has been leading the areas of engineering execution, software architecture, product and operations. Mahesh comes with deep technical/product expertise in cloud native platforms - PaaS & SaaS, microservices, eCommerce, cyber, hyper-scale, digital transformation, data & machine learning, mobile. He has also been scaling/growing technology organizations through his experience in identifying, attracting and retaining talent in multitude of locations around the world.

Chelsea Peet has served as the Consul and Senior Economic Officer leading the Ontario (Canada) Trade and Investment Office in San Francisco since November 2018. Co-located with the Canadian consulate, the office supports Ontario companies seeking to connect with new partners and buyers, and supports U.S. companies considering expansion opportunities in Canada. The office’s region covers California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Alaska and Hawaii. Chelsea came to this role from Ontario’s Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs – Cabinet Office, where, as the Senior Manager for International Operations, she led a team in the strategic planning and delivery of Premier-led international missions, as well as broader international engagement efforts in Ontario. She also previously served as the Senior Manager, as well as the Policy Manager, of the Program Policy and Design Unit at Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Chelsea has extensive policy and operations experience, and a broad background in international relations, including spending time with the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C, where she reported on trade issues and supported diplomatic outreach. She holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, as well as an Honours Bachelor of Arts from McMaster University, with a focus on international relations and comparative politics/public policy.

Martha is an international businesswoman by profession, advisor to various companies and institution. As a professional, she has been involved in different areas, from the private sector in the logistics area, in academia and in the public sector in international areas, such as; International Trade with the European Union, international promotion of the State and attraction of foreign investment. Likewise, it is involved in the process of supplier development, import substitution and production chain. In her 17 years in the public sector and as specialist in attracting investment, she has managed to complete more than 160 investment projects for the State of Jalisco, which represented an approximate investment amount of 2,357.6 million USD and around 9,719 new jobs. Currently, Martha Padilla is in charge of the General Direction of Business Development and Investment Attraction in the Secretariat of Economic Development of Jalisco, where she is in constant contact with all national and international companies established or to be established in the State from different sectors such as the automotive, aerospace, information technology, electronic. manufacturing, to name a few, as well as managing various government incentive programs to attract investment.