Flavio Volpe

President and CEO

Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association (APMA)

Flavio Volpe is an internationally recognized champion of Canada’s automotive industry. Since 2014, he has proudly led the APMA, representing 200+ suppliers to the worldwide automotive industry.

Working closely with officials in Ottawa, Washington & Mexico City during the 2017-19 NAFTA renegotiations, he led the effort to secure an unprecedented increase in Regional Content for suppliers in the new USMCA. In 2022, he was named to the Ontario Premier’s Council on US Trade & Competitiveness.

When the global COVID19 pandemic created a dangerous medical equipment shortage in Canada in 2020, he launched one of the biggest peacetime mobilizations of the country’s industrial capacity in its history. Dubbed a ‘Manufacturing Hero’ by the Toronto Star for his leadership, this work resulted in the largest build-orders of critical ventilators, PPE & test swabs in Canada’s history.

In 2022, when anti-government actors illegally blockaded the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor costing the industry $1B, he led the APMA to secure an injunction in Ontario Superior Court to force the reopening of Canada’s most critical international border crossing.

A passionate technology leader, his response to the Prime Minister’s challenge for a net-zero economy by 2050 was to launch an all-Canadian, zero-emissions, autonomous concept prototype, Project Arrow. Described by the Globe and Mail as ‘an audacious play to build an all-Canadian electric car’, Project Arrow was revealed at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to global coverage & serves as a premier showcase of Canada’s automotive technology cluster.

Flavio is a sought-after voice by leading global publications including The Economist, New York Times, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, CNN, BBC, CNBC, FOX & the Washington Post. He speaks frequently on industry issues at House of Commons Standing Committees in Finance, Industry and Trade.