Alain Paul Martin
Management Faculty Chair

Printable Summary in PDF Format
About Alain Martin's book “Harnessing the Power of Intelligence”
“This is an extraordinarily thoughtful and well written book on a topic of great contemporary importance. Its advice is detailed, practical and completely on target.”

Professor Warren McFarlan, Harvard Business School


“I have used the framework described in this remarkable book successfully for several years, first, to orchestrate the turnaround of North America's fastest growing casualty-insurance company, and subsequently, to craft a vision and strategic direction of a $75 billion financial institution.”

John Harbour, Former President and CEO, Desjardins Casualty Insurance Group,
and President & COO, Desjardins Confederation

LANGUAGES
  • English, French and German
 PRO-BONO COMMUNITY SERVICE
  • Pro-Bono Funding and Consulting: Provides advice and opportunities to fund charities, including Canada Without Poverty, Food Banks of Canada, Harvard University Global Month of Service and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (2008-2011)
  • Initiated the creation of Partners in Health in Canada. Mobilized resources to (a) incorporate PIH and obtain a charitable-organization status; (b) link PIH to strategic allies, private foundations, corporate philanthropies and international-aid leaders; (c) host a charity drive and manufacture a fuel truck for PIH clinics in Haiti (2010-2011)
  • Founding Sponsor: Roger Fisher House, a conflict-resolution catalyst that is part of Mercy Corps NGO, which alleviates suffering, poverty and oppression by helping to build secure, productive and just communities.
EXPERIENCE
  • Fellow in Advanced Leadership, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (Dec. 2011-Present)
  • President and CEO - The Professional Development Institute: Leads a team of governance experts and IT architects, as CEO, serving the public, private and non-governmental sectors from 1985 to present. Developed a practical framework to reduce complexity, comprising tools and road maps on issue analysis, interest-based negotiation, strategy, risk and project management, strategic procurement, transparency and governance.
  • Faculty Member: Graduate Management Program, University of Quebec, 1997-99, 2006-2008
  • Workshop Leader: Advanced Risk Management, Nuclear Power, AECL, B&W, Ontario Power Generation (2003-2007)
  • Workshop Leader: Exemplary Leadership, Strategy, Risk, Governance, Advanced Negotiation, Conflict Resolution, Time and Project Management in the USA, Canada, Europe, Japan and China: Boeing, Desjardins, GE, P&G, PEMEX, Teck, Textron and governments. Participants: senior executives, middle managers, scientists, project directors, team leaders, administrative and executive assistants (EA) and other professionals (1991- present)
  • Executive Coach, Strategy & Risk: Biotechnology (2005-2010), Electronic Commerce (2001-2008)
  • Executive Member, non-partisan, Prime Minister’s Committee on Government Reform, (subsequently known as the Public Service Advisory Committee): Provided strategic advice on emerging mission-critical issues affecting the country (Canada); issues ranged from validating poverty- and deficit-reduction initiatives (proposed by departments to Cabinet) to geopolitical risk. (1994-97). Led a ground-breaking seminar titled "Building a Great Nation" for Cabinet ministers, senior executives and legislators (National Archives photo available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Paul_Martin).
  • Advisor to the Director General of the UNESCO and author of “Overhauling the UNESCO and Strengthening Its Essence”, a report dealing with literacy and core issues, including the reintegration of the United States to UNESCO, as a member state (1997). Report available at www.executive.org/unesco
  • Led assignments where sensitive multipartite negotiations were of paramount importance, including (a) the incubation of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, (b) a brainstorming retreat with Health-Canada’s executives and medical professionals to prepare a risk-management strategy nine months before Mad Cow was diagnosed in Canada (c) a proposal to the Prime Minister on defusing the growing tensions between Canada and its Asian trade partners, particularly Japan, following the discovery of mad-cow disease in Alberta in 2003, (d) the merger of five agencies mandated to protect investors, maintain the integrity of securities markets, and regulate financial institutions in Quebec, (e) the creation of a trilateral cooperation network to mobilize Canadian talent and know-how with petrodollar financing (Kuwait, Abu Dhabi) for the benefit of the poorest nations in Asia and Africa.
  • Principal Advisor to the President and CEO of Desjardins Casualty Insurance Group (GDAG): Played a hands-on role in crafting and executing innovative strategies to turnaround the Group from a lager to a leader, ahead of Zurich and ING (1985-97)
  • Led the architecture of cutting-edge algorithms and software products for planning and tracking large-scale international projects in partnership with Skanska and Boliden. Both companies applied the products globally.
  • Held managerial positions in operations research and systems development at Du Pont (chemicals), Domtar (pulp & paper, construction), Canadair (Bombardier Aerospace) and CBC News; built a monitoring system, across five time zones, to assist in balancing news coverage and eliminating systemic biases, notably during elections.
  • Directed the detailed engineering of international projects, including a 2,400-KM microwave link in Africa and the 660 KM highway corridor to maximize socioeconomic benefits to the region
  • Patent Holder: U.S.A., Canada, Japan
  • Award Recipient: Harvard University and the Harvard Alumni Association (2011), Canada Awards for Excellence (Certificate), Innovation Award (Canadair, now Bombardier)
  • Summer Jobs (Internships in Advanced Technology): SFB German Broadcasting in Berlin, Peugeot (France), Dept. of Nuclear Physics (University of Ottawa), Hydrodynamic Laboratory (Engineering Faculty, Carleton University)
  • German-Language Field Practice: Sales Department, Herzmansky (Vienna, Austria) now Peek & Cloppenburg
EDUCATION & EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT
I returned to Harvard University, in December 2011, as an Advanced Leadership Fellow in an initiative of six graduate schools (Medicine, Law, Public Health, Business, Education and Government). I am also an alumnus of the Harvard Business School where I studied entrepreneurship in the OPM program. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Concordia University and was trained in management of change at the Sloan School of Management (MIT), team building and people skills at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, and principle-based negotiation and mediation at the Harvard Law School. Details below:
  • Concordia University, Montreal: B. Com. Quantitative Methods & Operations Research, 1968-1973
  • Alumnus, Harvard Business School, Boston: OPM (27th Alumni Class), 1997-1999
  • Harvard Business School, Boston: Strategy (Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage)
  • Harvard Law School, Cambridge: Teaching Negotiation in the Organization
  • Harvard Law School, Cambridge: Negotiation for Senior Executives
  • Harvard Law School, Cambridge: Advanced Negotiation for Sr. Executives with Bill Ury
  • Harvard Law School, Cambridge: Negotiation for Lawyers with Emeritus Prof. Roger Fisher
  • Harvard Law School, Cambridge: Advanced Negotiation for Lawyers with Prof. Bruce Patton
  • Harvard Law School, Cambridge: Mediation with Prof. Robert Mnookin
  • MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge: Managing Complex Product Development Projects
  • MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge: Management of Change Seminars (R. Beckhard and Ed Schein)
  • MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge: Evaluation of Government Programs
  • MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge: Developing an Internet Business Strategy
  • Gestalt Institute, Cleveland: Gestalt Psychology and Intimate Systems (Team-building and People Skills)
  • Cognitive Behavior Modification Conference, B.F. Skinner & D. Meichenbaum, Los Angeles
  • Harvard-Business-School Global Forums: Berlin, Cleveland, Shanghai, Washington and Boston (HBS Centennial)
  • Risk and Decision Assessment using @Risk and the Decision Tools Suite, Palisade, Ithaca, NY
  • Risk Management, Options and Real Options with Dr. Michael Rees (Oxford, UK), New York, NY
  • Advanced Project Management: Arthur D. Little, Boston, MA
AUTHOR PROFESSIONAL & EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
  • Memberships Held: Harvard Faculty Club (Cambridge, MA), Harvard Alumni Association, Harvard Business School Club (New York and Ottawa), Society of Mathematics of France, Project Management Institute (PMI), American Management Association (AMA), Canadian Operations Research Society (CORS), Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS), Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), French-American Chamber of Commerce, Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce, Japan-Canada Trade Council, Jeunesses Musicales de France (JMF)
  • President: Harvard University Club (2009-Present); Harvard Business School Club, Ottawa (2005-2009). Plays a hands-on role in the planning and management of educational events, including the emerging geopolitical landscape, governance, social justice, pathways out of the current economic crisis, pandemics, health promotion and protection. Led the organization of a conference on “Overhauling Capitalism and Strengthening Democracy” to commemorate the first centennial of Harvard Business School in 2008.
OTHER INTERESTS
  • Governance, ecology (Sierra Club, Ducks Unlimited), Amnesty International, windsurfing, long-distance running (several marathons including Boston's) and mountain hiking
EXTERNAK LINKS PARTNERS Mentors and Coaches
  • Professor Herbert Shepard, President of the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland
  • Professor Richard Beckhard, Psychology and Organizational Behaviour, MIT
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