A graduate of the Ivey Business School with a Masters in Business Administration, John Gradek also holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree from the Universite de Montreal (Loyola College) as well as a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from Carleton University. John Gradek began his professional career at Air Canada in 1975, starting in Airport Operations and progressing through management role in Carlo Operations, Marketing Strategy, Passenger Pricing, Operational Audit, Fleet Scheduling and Revenue Management. From 1993 through 1999, John was at Canadian Pacific Railway, first in Montreal and then in Calgary, undertaking change management roles within Business Process Reengineering, and subsequently responsible for locomotive fleet asset management and railway service design. In 1999, he joined Synergy Technologies in Calgary as President to lead the commercialization of heavy oil upgrading and the syngas production of ultra-low-sulfur transportation fuels. In 2000, John returned to the transportation domains, working with several consulting firms on asset management assignments across North America in rail and air transport. In 2007, John embarked on his executive search career, joining the firm of Stanton Chase and working out of the Montreal office. His transportation expertise led him to participate in a number of executive assignments across North America and to his participation as Aviation lead in the Transportation and Logistics practice group. In 2017, he joined Dergel Executive Search, a boutique retained executive search firm in Montreal, focusing on supply chain, logistics and transportation assignments for firms across North America. John is a strong believer in continuous learning, having been involved in both aviation management training with the International Aviation Management Training Institute as well as McGill University’s School of Continuing Studies. He is currently a faculty lecturer at McGill, lecturing in Supply Chain, Logistics, Operations Management, Strategic Management and Aviation programs. He continues to provide guidance to the design of new leading-edge commercial aviation programs for aviation executives, including McGill’s Global Aviation Leadership program. In 2018, John was appointed as a part-time member of the Transportation Appeal Tribunal of Canada for a four-year term. The TATC is a quasi-judicial body whose principal mandate is to hold review and appeal hearings at the request of parties subject to certain administrative actions taken by the Minister of Transport. John’s focus on the Tribunal has been on both rail and aviation matters. John has made appearances on Canadian media services as an expert resource on commercial aviation matters of interest and has been invited as a conference speaker on issues affecting air travel. John is married and resides in Montreal.