About

Managing a team of five employees at Nissan Canada, general counsel Fernando Garcia has been a crucial element of the department’s transformation in the past three years. During his time in the role Garcia has created an open and transparent atmosphere in the office, ensuring all employees keep each other updated and aware of the matters that they encounter on a daily basis. As Nissan Canada’s sales have grown 24% per year since Garcia started, such an atmosphere is crucial to provide the effective support necessary for the expanding business. Garcia has also moved the department away from a “Yes or No” approach and instead is working with the business to develop alternatives to reach their desired solutions. Due to Garcia’s efforts, legal has become recognised as a strategic partner, rather than a roadblock to Nissan’s business. Despite having a heavy workload, family commitments and completing a part-time MBA in the last few years, Garcia has made an effort to work within his wider legal and ethnic community. He is an executive member of Legal Leaders for Diversity, an association of general counsel working to bring diversity and inclusiveness into the Canadian legal profession. Garcia is also a board member of the Toronto Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which aims to support economic development for Hispanic Business in Toronto, Canada and Latin America. While at his previous employer, Navistar Canada, Garcia was part of a task force charged with bringing into operation Navistar Defence Canada, a division that was responsible for government and quasi-government sales of military vehicles in Canada. The function Garcia performed required him to obtain and apply knowledge in areas where he had very little past experience, from incorporating and setting up the business, to obtaining and maintaining proper security clearances for the staff.