James Canada

About Jim

Driven to provide the highest-quality service and work through passion and integrity.

Jim has spent over 30 years in the corporate world developing a career that has spanned several major corporations including John Deere, American Airlines, Reuters, Stone Carlie, an architectural firm and several consulting firms. He has held the titles of Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Vice President of Facilities for North and South America, Vice President of Client Services, Director of Reengineering & TQM, Director of Human Resources, Senior Manager of Consulting Services, Manager of IdeAAs In Action and Corporate Administrator for two cost reduction programs for all North American factories.

Jim has five publications to his credit including; Reviewing the Effectiveness of your Suggestion System and Creative Thinking Seminar, both published by N.A.S.S. in Chicago, Illinois. He was co-editor of the popular Legal Guidelines for Suggestion Systems, which he has presented in a workshop series for numerous organizations. Along with Corporate to Entrepreneur and Smart Networking for Business & Personal Success.

A few of Jim’s honors include:

• Founders Award Recipient – for his work in the field of Employee Involvement (one of only 20 people in the United States to receive this honor)
• President of the National Association of Suggestion Systems
• Founder and first President of the Midwest Chapter of N.A.S.S. located in Moline, Illinois. Co-founder of the Central States Chapter of N.A.S.S. located in Tulsa
• Received Certification and elected to the Board of Examiners for the Oklahoma Quality Award Foundation
• Appointed to the Governor’s Quality Council for the State of Oklahoma by Governor David Walters
• Appointed to the Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce
• Chairman for Section 1409 of the American Society for Quality Control in Tulsa
• Appointed an Examiner for the Excellence in Missouri Foundation and also served as a Judge for the Team Quality Award
• Co-Founder of the PeopleSoft Regional User Group in St. Louis
• Co-Founder of ExecLink “Executives helping Executives” in St Louis
• Co-founder and President of Business Development Team in St Louis
• Co-founder of the non profit Community Value Alliance

Jim has developed and presented workshops, speeches and panel discussions to professional and civic groups as well as companies covering thirteen states within the U.S., Canada, Australia, Europe and Saudi Arabia. He has belonged to, or participated in, twenty-three civic and professional organizations at either a local, state or national level.

He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University. He is also is recognized as a Project Management Professional (PMP) by the Project Management Institute, Certified Manager of Suggestions Systems (CMSS) by N.A.S.S., as well as an Able Toastmaster Gold (ATM) from Toastmasters International.