TOMORROW'S LEADER
Nissan’s Garcia drives to success.
Fernando Garcia Nissan Canada
Fernando Garcia, general counsel at Nissan Canada and Infiniti Canada, struggled during elementary and high school after emigrating here when he was nine from Uruguay.
“It was difficult to learn the language,” Garcia says, this year’s recipient of the tomorrow’s leader award.
“I couldn’t really find my place,” he says, noting his marks were low and he was more focused on friends and socializing. “It was quite a challenge.”
So Garcia took time off from high school and worked a number of jobs, including at a temporary agency where he was exposed to a wide range of tasks. “I loved doing all the different jobs, but I didn’t see myself doing it forever.”
He went back to school and did well enough to get into university, and that’s where he excelled. “Nobody was forcing you to go to school,” Garcia says of university.
He had taken a law course in high school and “really liked it” so he pursued a labour studies program and eventually obtained his law degree and recently an MBA.
Garcia is one of the few Hispanic general counsel in Canada. He is responsible for risk mitigation, corporate compliance and government affairs for the Canadian divisions of the two auto companies.
Garcia, who joined Nissan in 2013 after working as general counsel at Navistar Canada, heads a team of five legal professionals who advise executives and management on all legal, regulatory, compliance and strategic management. That includes franchising, dealer operations, contracts and government affairs, where he advised on restructuring the dealers’ networks.
The company has grown 29 per cent annually since his arrival.
At Navistar, Garcia implemented, and defended in arbitration, drug and alcohol testing at the company’s distribution centre.
The biggest challenge to being a general counsel, he says, is managing the “diverse issues that come up all the time. It’s hard to be the master of all.”
Garcia grew up in the tough Jane and Finch area of Toronto, calling it a “valuable experience. I grew up with people from different backgrounds.”
Garcia is involved in a variety of associations and community groups, including Legal Leaders for Diversity.
“I like to get involved in a lot of diversity issues,” he says.
“At the end of the day, the only thing that separates us, is ourselves.”
It was difficult to learn the language ... I couldn’t really find my place. It was a challenge. — Fernando Garcia, general counsel at Nissan Canada and Infiniti Canada and winner of the 2015 Canadian General Counsel Award for Tomorrow’s Leader