COMPANY / LEADERSHIP
The People Behind Trade Science
Entrepreneurship, finance, technology and operational execution.
Michel Fontaine
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Michel Fontaine founded Trade Science in 2019. His entrepreneurial career began in 1985 with Bystat Inc., a business focused on static electricity control and electromagnetic protection. He subsequently built and led businesses spanning manufacturing, logistics, finance and technology, receiving multiple business awards over the course of his career.
Bystat was associated with Canadian fast-growth recognition. The original ranking, publisher, year and names of individual awards have not yet been documented in the materials supplied for this review, and will be detailed when the corresponding historical records are confirmed.
Michel has served as chief executive of more than twelve companies across several countries, with extensive board and international commercial experience. At Trade Science, he led the development of Jarvis, a supply-chain-finance platform designed to automate transaction workflows and invoice-level credit insurance.
His academic background includes studies in finance, marketing and chemical engineering. He is also a pilot, a former Royal Canadian Air Force officer, and has a history in team handball connected to 1976, subsequently serving in national sporting leadership. Details of any individual Olympic athlete participation are reserved for documentary confirmation.
Historical references and further reading
Selected sources supplied for the leadership profile. Links are research references, not independent confirmation of every biographical claim.
- Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), digital historical collections ↗ — search for Michel Fontaine and Bystat.
- Historical research link shared by Michel Fontaine ↗
- Professional profile ↗
A letter from the CEO
Building business on substance
When we established Trade Science, the objective was not to build another company that simply presents opportunities to the market. We wanted a business that understands what makes a transaction work.
From a distance, international trade looks simple: a buyer needs a product, a supplier can provide it, a company needs capital, an investor can provide it. In practice, contracts, financing, logistics, risk, documentation, timing and, above all, the credibility of the people involved decide whether an opportunity becomes an executable transaction.
Our two businesses, physical energy trading and structured finance, are different disciplines with one common requirement: understand the underlying transaction and build a structure that actually works.
We are selective about the people and organizations we work with. We expect transparency from our counterparties, and they are entitled to expect the same from us.
Credibility is not created by larger claims. It is built transaction by transaction, and by delivering what has been agreed.
Michel Fontaine
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Trade Science
Roberto Castro Cumsille
Chief Operating Officer
Roberto Castro Cumsille brings more than two decades of experience across entrepreneurship, technology, commercial development and operational management.
Before joining Trade Science, he founded and managed information technology businesses and led the development and implementation of software, communications infrastructure and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems for industrial and commercial clients. His operational work has included international procurement, industrial projects, logistics and multidisciplinary teams across Latin America.
At Trade Science, Roberto leads transaction execution: turning commercial agreements into defined processes, coordinating counterparties and documentation, and identifying execution risk before it materializes.
The discipline of execution
An operations perspective
An opportunity is not a transaction. Between initial interest and execution there are contracts to reconcile, counterparties to verify, financial conditions to satisfy, documents to validate, logistics to coordinate and risks to identify.
Operations means converting commercial intent into a sequence of actions that can be executed: what is missing, who is responsible, and which conditions must be met before the next step.
It also means knowing when not to proceed. A transaction that cannot withstand counterparty verification, contractual review or operational scrutiny should not advance because the opportunity looks attractive.
Strategy creates an opportunity. Execution determines whether it becomes real.
Roberto Castro Cumsille
Chief Operating Officer, Trade Science