Canadian Tire Corporation<\/em><\/p>\nJames is the VP, Global Sourcing & Merchandise Procurement for Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC). In this role, he leads enterprise Global Sourcing & Merchandise Procurement for CTC retail banners including Canadian Tire Retail, Mark\u2019s, and SportChek. Across dozens of categories, with a network of over 1800 global vendors, shipping from over 40 different ports around the world, James oversees billions in annual direct-source merchandise purchases for CTC. Accountable for cost of goods management, product stewardship, responsible sourcing, vendor audit, and quality assurance, James leads diverse teams driving impactful results here in Canada, in China and across South-East Asia. With over 25 years experience doing business across North America, Asia and Europe, James has an extensive experience and understanding of global supply chains.<\/p>\n
Prior to his role leading a Global Sourcing team for CTC, one of Canada\u2019s most respected companies, in 2014, James and his business partner sold their Langley, British Columbia based wholesale sporting goods business to CTC. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree (Econ) from the University of British Columbia.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Omid-Goharian-150x150.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Omid Goharian<\/strong>
\nManaging Director<\/em>
\nMagnovest Inc.<\/em><\/p>\nOmid Goharian is a trade and supply chain strategist and the Managing Director of Magnovest Inc., which he founded to drive sourcing, logistics, and growth initiatives in the construction and real estate sectors. With over 15 years of international experience, he has a proven track record in market development, brand launches, and cross-border operations. From 2012 to 2017 at GTC International, he managed more than 40,000 metric tons of commodities from China and South Korea, building expertise in high-volume global trade. Earlier, he served as the exclusive distributor of MihaBodytec in the Middle East and later as Supply Chain Manager at Arkfield Development, one of Ontario\u2019s leading real estate groups. He holds a master\u2019s in technology management and a bachelor\u2019s in industrial engineering.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Liu-Linlin-Mar-2025.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
LIU Linlin<\/strong>
\nConsul (Counsellor, Economic and Commercial)
\nChinese Consulate General in Toronto
\n<\/em><\/p>\nMr. LIU Linlin has had a distinguished career spanning over three decades in international trade, economic cooperation, and commercial diplomacy.<\/p>\n
Since August 2022, Mr. Liu has served as Consul (Counsellor, Economic and Commercial) at the Chinese Consulate General in Toronto. Prior to this, from April 2017 to August 2022, he held the position of Economic and Commercial Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Papua New Guinea. From October 2008 to April 2017, he served in various capacities at China\u2019s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), and Economic and Commercial Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand from October 2005 to October 2008.<\/p>\n
Mr. Liu’s extensive career also includes previous role at MOFCOM (2001-2005), the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (1996-2000), and the Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand, where he served as Attach\u00e9 and Third Secretary from 1992 to 1996. He began his career in 1988 at the Personnel Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.<\/p>\n
Mr. Liu holds a Master of Business Economics and Finance from Curtin University of Technology, Australia (2002), a Graduate Diploma in International Economics from the University of Adelaide, Australia (1998), and a Bachelor of Economics from the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade (1988), where he majored in Foreign Trade English.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Bijan-Ahmadi-1000x750-1-e1748960756471.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Bijan Ahmadi<\/strong>
\nExecutive Director and COO<\/em>
\nCanada China Business Council<\/em><\/p>\nBijan Ahmadi serves as the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Canada China Business Council (CCBC), overseeing the operations and activities of the Council across its seven chapters in Canada and China.<\/p>\n
Before joining CCBC, he co-founded and served as the Executive Director of the Institute for Peace & Diplomacy (IPD) from 2018 to 2024. IPD is a non-partisan think tank operating in Canada and the United States, dedicated to fostering constructive engagement and interest-based thinking in international affairs.<\/p>\n
During his tenure at IPD, Mr. Ahmadi launched the organization\u2019s Asia research program in 2020 and its flagship annual conference, the Indo-Pacific Strategy Forum (IPSF), in Ottawa in 2021. Today, IPSF is recognized as Canada\u2019s premier conference on the country\u2019s engagement in the Indo-Pacific region. He was also the co-editor of Canada-China Brief, a biweekly policy newsletter providing the latest developments and expert insights on political and economic relations between Ottawa and Beijing.<\/p>\n
In his work on China, Mr. Ahmadi has advised large corporations and SMEs on navigating Canada-China trade, policy, and regulatory developments. He has also spearheaded the publication of numerous research reports on China and Canada-China relations and led Track 2 diplomacy initiatives in collaboration with Chinese and American research institutions.<\/p>\n
Mr. Ahmadi holds a Master\u2019s degree in Global Diplomacy from SOAS University of London and a Master of Applied Science from the University of Toronto. Before founding IPD, Mr. Ahmadi worked in strategy and management roles in the financial services and real estate sectors, where he honed his skills in organizational leadership and operational planning. He also served on the executive boards of several Canadian non-profits and NGOs, including the Toronto branch of the Canadian International Council.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Jeff-Zhang-photo-.jpg\")
\nJeff Zhang<\/strong>
\nRegional Director, Central Canada<\/em>
\nCanada China Business Council<\/em><\/p>\nJeff Zhang has over 20 years of international experience in private, public and non-profit organizations in a variety of sectors including E-commerce, oil and gas, retail, commercial real estate, education and financial services. Prior to joining CCBC, Mr. Zhang worked in establishment and operation management at a Sino-Foreign joint venture company and in strategic partnership management at a Fortune 500 multinational company. He also led and assisted a number of Canadian companies and educational institutions into China where he was responsible for strategic partnerships and branding establishment.<\/p>\n
Mr. Zhang has an MBA in marketing and international business from Concordia University in Montreal and is fluent in Mandarin and English. He has also been a guest speaker at professional business associations in China and Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Canada China Business Coun […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1687,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"tribe_events_cat":[286,289,313],"class_list":["post-83389","tribe_events","type-tribe_events","status-publish","hentry","tribe_events_cat-ccbc-event-zh-hans","tribe_events_cat-english-zh-hans","tribe_events_cat-ontario-zh-hans","cat_ccbc-event-zh-hans","cat_english-zh-hans","cat_ontario-zh-hans"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/83389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tribe_events"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1687"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/83389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83573,"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/83389\/revisions\/83573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83389"},{"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events_cat?post=83389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/James-Prescott-e1757692872816.jpg\")