Grow Your Business – Investing in Canada

Embassy of Canada to Poland – Trade Commissioner Service, Montreal International, PAIH

Miller Thomson, Rymarz Zdort Maruta

People Can Fly

Stephanie Berlet started as Senior Trade Commissioner at the Canadian Embassy in Warsaw in August 2022. In this role, she overseas bilateral commercial relations and supports the strong and growing bilateral trading relationship between Canada and Poland.

She leads a team of highly skilled Trade Commissioners who help Canadian firms pursue international business development in Poland and promote foreign direct investment from Poland into Canada.

Over the last 20 years, Stephanie has held a number of positions with increasing responsibility at Global Affairs Canada/Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service – both at HQ and at postings abroad. Prior to joining government, Stephanie worked in the private sector in Canada and Asia. She holds a business degree from the University of Ottawa.

In her role as Trade Commissioner Katarzyna Piliszek-Kamińska is responsible for supporting development of Canadian businesses in Poland and for supporting Polish companies in establishing offices in Canada. Among others she led a discovery mission of Polish IT companies to Toronto and Montreal in June 2023 on the occasion of the Collision technology conference.

Prior to joining the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, Katarzyna pursued a career in strategic consulting working for multiple companies in Poland: Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, PwC, IQVIA.

Throughout her career, she has worked with the largest and most innovative corporations in a wide variety of industries. She has supported her clients in developing marketing strategies, international market entry strategies, restructuring, acquisitions and post-merger integrations.

She holds the Certified International Trade Professional (CITP|FIBP) designation.

Romi Jaszczynski currently holds the position of Head of Foreign Trade Office at the Polish Investment and Trade Agency in Canada.

Prior to this role, Romi served as a Senior Trade Advisor with the Ontario Ministry of International Trade and held positions at the U.S. Department of Commerce within the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw and the U.S. Consulate in Toronto. Additionally, Romi has gained valuable experience in global trade compliance within the aerospace and defense sector, working with companies from the US, France, and Canada.

As a Certified Customs Specialist and Certified International Trade Professional, Romi brings extensive knowledge and experience in commercial diplomacy. His background includes managing high-level global business missions, establishing key contacts, and facilitating trade and investment opportunities between Canada, the US, and Poland.

Alexandre Lagarde is Vice-President, Foreign Investment at Montréal International, the economic promotion agency responsible for attracting foreign investment, international organizations and international talent to the Greater Montréal area.

Over the last 15 years, Mr. Lagarde has specialized in economic development. His role is to attract direct foreign investment and contribute to the Montréal region’s international reputation. In this capacity, he has supported more than 100 foreign investment projects, totalling more than $2 billion, in the Montréal region.

Over the course of his career, he has organized more than 50 prospecting missions abroad to convince multinationals and SMEs to invest in Montréal’s economy. Elected officials from the metropolitan region took part in more than a dozen of these missions.

Prior to working at Montréal International, Mr. Lagarde held several positions in the federal government in the departments of Industry and International Trade.

Quebec Regional Managing Partner and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Phil practises corporate commercial law with a particular emphasis on acquisitions and divestitures, corporate finance, and venture capital. Philipp represents multinational corporations, private equity funds, venture capital funds, and start-up companies in various sectors and his transactional experience includes domestic and cross-border corporate transactions. Philipp has significant experience in venture capital and private equity transactions and has also developed an expertise in the video game and information technology sectors. He also has considerable experience in advising foreign corporations wishing to establish a presence in Canada.

Partner in the areas of corporate tax, particularly in domestic and cross-border corporate financing, corporate reorganizations, and mergers and acquisitions. Andrew also serves as Leader of Miller Thomson’s Tax Group. Andrew also has broad experience in designing tax-efficient ownership structures for owner-managed businesses. Within the scope of his practice, Andrew has represented clients in regard to Revenu Québec and Canada Revenue Agency tax audits.

An advocate, a partner and head of the Video Games & New Technologies practice of Rymarz Zdort Maruta. Michał has extensive experience in advising entities from the video games industry such as developers, publishers, industry investors, porting houses, asset providers, freelancers, youtubers and influencers, as well as e-sports teams. Michał specialises in providing comprehensive full-cycle legal advice on the creation and commercialisation of video games. Among other things, he advises on financing transactions for gaming entities, as well as in regard to companies preparing to launch IPOs.

An attorney-at-law admitted to practice in Poland, a partner of Rymarz Zdort Maruta and the head of the tax department. Leszek Tokarski has over 25 years of experience providing tax advisory services, which he gained at two of the Big4 consulting firms, where he headed specialist tax practices, and during his work for the Ministry of Finance.