Don Rutherford is an international consultant with over 25 years of business experience in Canada and has spent more than 8 years in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. He provides counsel and training in such areas as cross-cultural communication, multicultural teams, global business consulting, and executive coaching.
Since co-founding Culture Connect in 1997, Don has worked with large, medium and small enterprises to help their employees work more successfully with people of other cultures. Projects have included pre-departure and group business programs that have taken him across Canada and around the world. Helping organizations and individuals succeed in the Canadian business context is an area of expertise. Prior to founding Culture Connect, Don worked in the technology sector for a decade.
Don co-authored the 2007 book Recruiting, Retaining and Promoting Culturally Different Employees, as well as the Canada program of the Cultural Detective® series. He also developed the American Management Association’s program Managing a Multicultural Team.
Don is a senior Canadian business resource for relocation/intercultural companies Brookfield, Cartus, Global Dynamics, Intercultures.de, IOR, MIGroup and Weichert.
He has presented at the following conferences – Canadian Employee Relocation Council, Canadian Institute: Hiring Foreign Workers, Canadian Pensions & Benefits Institute, Canadian Society of Safety Engineering, Certified General Accountants, Engineers Without Borders, Human Resources Institute of Alberta, Infonex, Oil & Gas and Aboriginal Partnerships Conference, Petroleum Services Association of Canada and SIETAR (Society of Intercultural Education Training and Research) USA.
Ellen James loves the challenge, excitement and satisfaction of building personal relationships across cultures. Attending a cultural school in Denmark in 1976 started Ellen on the path of building bridges among people of different cultures. Her 8 years abroad include destinations in Asia, Africa, Europe, Australasia and Latin America.
Ellen, co-founder of Culture Connect, has applied her Bachelor of Education degree (with distinction) to teach students in public schools in Canada as well as private and International Schools in Japan, Malta and Mexico. Building on a solid educational foundation, Ellen develops programs both for inpatriates and expatriates that engage the learner and provide lasting value. She also provides education consulting services for families.
